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Geocaching isn’t just for science class or the serious geography geek! A cache is simply a hiding place, and caching is hiding something like a treasure. Nature is full of treasures waiting to be explored. A popular movement called “geocaching” gets folks outside with their GPS units to find treasures hidden by other geocachers. If you haven’t tried it yet, it’s great fun! (www.geocaching.com) Folks are geocaching all over the world!
Many educators are taking that idea to the classroom to do campus investigations. Now you might expect that it’s the science teacher out looking at nature, but surprise your students in English Language Arts class with an outdoors writing assignment! Realizing that not all classrooms are created equally, here are some low-tech options as well as the spiffy high-tech ones. Either have students locate specific cached items or let them explore the landscape for surprises. Anyway you do it, get creative and allow the students to explore their creativity.
1. Create a map of your site with destinations. Use a hand-drawn map with destinations or use a tool like Sketch-A-Map (http://edgis.org/sketch) to create your map for students.
2. Students can create a poem or story based on the destinations on the map. Nature is an excellent way to pull more adjectives out of a student. I used a similar activity with my students in my book, Reading, Writing and Thinking around the Globe: Geospatial Technologies for English Language Arts Classroom and Beyond (www.barbareeduke.com) where students create topographic and geographic definitions for words. Visualizing vocabulary can help cement those words into a student’s personal dictionary.
1. Using your school’s or a set of loaner GPS units (www.gisetc.com). Set up waypoints with caches. Perhaps the students find words, phrases or starters for writing assignments. They could take photos and return to the classroom with real experiences. Don’t think that you have to have green spaces and trees to make this work. Urban explorations could be quite powerful as well! Perhaps tell the stories of graffiti or buildings changing over time.
2. Perhaps you decide to pair the GPS units with cameras (a reason for kids to use those cell phones) to create a photo essay. Just ask National Geographic if photos have a story to tell (http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/?source=NavPhoHome)!
3. Another option is to use a smart phone application. I have a GPS app on my iPhone (MotionX GPS) that integrates a picture and text with my waypoint. I can email this waypoint with the photo and text attached, and then view it in a virtual globe application like ArcGIS Explorer (http://www.esri.com/arcgisexplorer) or Google Earth (http://earth.google.com), another educational reason for kids to use that cell phone at school. Because applications like ArcGIS Explorer are equipped with a simple presentation creator, as a next step, you could combine all the stories and photos for a class-wide virtual tour.
4. For the more adventurous, you might like to check out a project called “confluencing” (www.confluence.org). This calls for a GPS unit and some planning. Check out some of my adventures with my friend, Dr. Joseph Kerski. (http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?visitid=14853). The post-adventure writing is the star here. You could take this same approach with your geocaching explorations as well, a detailed story of who, what, where, when, why and how is great practice for all those persuasive writing assignments!
The moral of the story here is: expand the borders of your classroom. Think beyond the text book and computer screen. Engage students with outdoor spatial experiences and watch their writing transform! | <urn:uuid:4845feda-9a10-479d-b0a7-1df1fe9a9ae0> | {
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The United States’ National POW/MIA Recognition Day is observed across the nation on the third Friday of September each year. Americans take this time to remember prisoners of war (POW) and recognize those who are still missing in action (MIA).
Many veterans organizations commemorate this day by setting an extra space at an empty table and saying a few words of remembrance. Known as the “POW/MIA Table Ceremony”, it reminds us that we can “Never Forget” the soldiers of America who have not come home:
-As you entered the dining area this evening, you may have noticed a small table in the place of honor near our head table. It is set for one.
The military caste is filled with symbolism. This table is our way of symbolizing the fact that the members of our profession of arms are missing from our midst.
They are commonly called, POW/MIA. We call them brothers. They are unable to be with us this evening and so we remember them because of their incarceration.
- This table set for one is small, symbolizing the frailty of one prisoner alone against his oppressors. Remember!
- The tablecloth is white, symbolizing the purity of their intentions to respond to their country’s call to arms. Remember!
- The single rose displayed in a vase reminds us of the families and loved ones of our comrades-in-arms who kept the faith awaiting their return. Remember!
- The red ribbon tied so prominently on the vase is reminiscent of the red ribbon worn upon the lapel and breasts of thousands who bear witness to their unyielding determination to demand a proper accounting of our missing. Remember!
- A slice of lemon is on the bread plate to remind us of their bitter fate. Remember!
- There is salt upon the bread plate symbolic of families’ tears as they wait. Remember!
- The glass is inverted, they cannot toast with us this night. Remember!
- The chair, the chair is empty, they are not here. Remember!”
The National League of Families’ POW/MIA flag symbolizes the United States’ resolve to never forget POWs or those who served their country in conflicts and are still missing.
Newt Heisley designed the flag. The flag’s design features a silhouette of a young man, which is based on Mr Heisley’s son, who was medically discharged from the military. As Mr Heisley looked at his returning son’s gaunt features, he imagined what life was for those behind barbed wire fences on foreign shores. He then sketched the profile of his son as the new flag’s design was created in his mind.
The flag features a white disk bearing in black silhouette a man’s bust, a watch tower with a guard on patrol, and a strand of barbed wire. White letters “POW” and “MIA”, with a white five-pointed star in between, are typed above the disk. Below the disk is a black and white wreath above the motto “You Are Not Forgotten” written in white, capital letters.
The POW/MIA flag can be displayed on Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Patriot Day and Veterans Day. The POW/MIA flag can be seen displayed on these memorial holidays and remembrance days at State Capitols, the White House, the Korean War Veterans Memorial the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, national cemeteries, various government buildings, and major military installations. | <urn:uuid:f0fcb52b-de70-46a2-8649-6b64780a7338> | {
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Learn how to protect yourself, identify and manage sexually transmitted diseases that can managed yet not be cured. Among this group are Herpes, HPV and HIV. Listen in to sex educator Amy Levine from Cherry TV as she provides all you need to know to stay safe.
Hi! Welcome to Cherry TV's Fresh Advice. My name is Amy Levine. Today, we're talking about viral sexually transmitted diseases, STDs that can be treated but not cured. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in four Americans have an STD. So it's important to be aware and understand that any new partner you hook up with, could potentially be infected. Viral STDs are caused by a virus, meaning there are treatments to make the disease manageable, but no cure. Common viral infections include Herpes, HPV and HIV, all of which I will talk about today. Here are the basics. First is Herpes. It's estimated that one in five people have genital herpes. This STD is transmitted to direct skin to skin contact with an infected area, whether or not symptoms are present during sex. Females and males are both at risk. If there are signs, they can look like a nick, cut, rash, blister, or sore, on or around the genital area or anus. There could be one or there could be more. These can be caused by the two types of Herpes, 1 and 2. Herpes 1 is often on the mouth and known as cold sores that can also be transmitted through kissing. A herpes infection can feel like the flu. When you're infected with the virus, it's possible to have no visible signs when it's latent in your body. However, once it becomes active, the outbreaks can occur more frequently with or without the symptoms. When someone has herpes they can take daily suppressive therapy, medication that can lower the chance of passing it on to sex partners, or when someone has an outbreak, they can take medicine to make the outbreak subside faster. A lot of people have herpes, so the stigma has lessened over the years. Well, it can be a nuisance, it's doesn't lead to serious health problems. The next is HPV. This STD is the most common. Some estimate that 80% of sexually active people will get HPV at some points in their lives. It's spread through vaginal and/or anal sex with an infected partner. There are many types of HPV, but most people who have genital HPV, don't even know they have it, since there are often no symptoms, plus it often goes away by itself without causing any sort of detectable health problem. However, if you have it, you can transmit it. When symptoms occur, they are usually in the form of flat or raised warts on or around the female and male genitals, anus and the woman cervix. Some warts can grow in size and need to removed by a health practitioner. Some strains of HPV don't cause warts, because cell changes. The cervix is the most common area it affects. If undetected, in some cases, this type of HPV infection can lead to cervical cancer. Gardasil is a vaccine that prevents some of the most common kinds of HPV infection. It can protect against the two types that cause cervical cancer and two types that cause genital warts. This vaccine is highly recommended for all females, 11-26 years old, and is most effective in those who have not been infected with these types of HPV. Women can be tested by a healthcare provider for the presence of the HPV virus, but men can't. They often never know they have it yet pass it on to their partner. Last, we have HIV and AIDS. HIV is sexually transmitted through blood, vaginal and seminal fluids during vaginal, anal and/or oral sex. The virus can be present in pre-ejaculate and menstrual fluid, but not saliva. Many people have HIV, but experience no symptoms for years. So they don't even know they're infected. When symptoms do occur, they are often mistaken for the flu. HIV can lead to AIDS, which is usually fatal. AIDS damages the immune system making one susceptible to all kinds of infections. While many people have died of AIDS, some people live for decades with HIV. At this point, there is no vaccine. Other viral STDs include Hepatitis B and molluscum contagiosum. You can find out more about them as well as testing and treatment options for all STDs through the resources listed at the end. To protect yourself and your partner from STDs, there are three things to keep in mind. First, use condom from the start of sexual encounters involving vaginal, anal and/or oral sex, dental dams on a woman. It's the only sure-fire way to reduce your risk. Second, if you or your partner have contracted a viral STD, it's important that this information is disclosed before you become intimate. Being honest isn't always easy, but it's the right thing to do. Third, it's important that you and your partner, both know it's normal for each of you. So if symptoms are present you know and can get checked out by your doctor or by going to a clinic like Planned Parenthood, right away. For more information, visit the following websites. www.cdcnpin.org/stdawareness/ www.ashastd.org Thanks for watching. I am Amy Levine with Cherry TV's Fresh Advice on cherrytv.com. Check out our archives for more great sex information. | <urn:uuid:2e96e2d5-a597-4d60-9432-ead637675bed> | {
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Laura formed as a slightly unusual sub-tropical storm in the northern mid-Atlantic on September 29, 2008. Subtropical storms are hybrids of tropical storm systems and extratropical storms, forming in cooler waters farther north (or south) of the usual hurricane formation regions. Laura formed quite far north, well away from major land masses. As of September 30, the National Hurricane Center predicted that the storm could hit Scotland by October 4. With peak sustained winds of around 95 kilometers per hour (55 miles per hour), Laura was a powerful storm, but not hurricane strength. It was unlikely that the storm would ever become a hurricane, but forecasters expected the storm to remain near its September 30 strength for several days.
This data visualization was made with observations from the QuikSCAT satellite taken on September 30, 2008, at 5:39 a.m. local time (7:39 UTC). It shows Laura as a tight ball of circular winds around a calmer core. The image depicts wind speed in color and wind direction with small barbs. White barbs point to areas of heavy rain.
QuikSCAT measurements of the wind strength of Laura and other cyclones (the generic term for typhoons, hurricanes, and similar storms) can be slower than actual wind speeds. QuikSCAT’s scatterometer sends pulses of microwave energy through the atmosphere to the ocean surface and measures the energy that bounces back from the wind-roughened surface. The energy of the microwave pulses changes depending on wind speed and direction.
To relate the radar signal to actual wind speed, scientists compare measurements taken from buoys and other ground stations to data the satellite acquired at the same time and place. Because the high wind speeds generated by cyclones are rare, scientists do not have corresponding ground information to know how to translate data from the satellite for wind speeds above 50 knots (about 93 km/hr or 58 mph). Peak winds in Laura measured in other ways are near this extreme limit, so values from QuikSCAT may not be reliable near the core of the storm system.
Also, the unusually heavy rain found in a cyclone distorts the microwave pulses in a number of ways, making a conversion to exact wind speed difficult. Instead, the scatterometer provides a nice picture of the relative wind speeds within the storm and shows wind direction. | <urn:uuid:9ed34bc9-0835-4317-a6cc-92f905d09392> | {
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The Savage Islands, or Ilhas Selvagens in Portuguese, are a small archipelago in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean between the archipelago of Madeira to the north and the Canary Islands to the south. Like these other island groups, the Savage Islands are thought to have been produced by volcanism related to a mantle plume or “hot spot.”
Typically, volcanoes are fueled by magma being generated where tectonic plates are colliding or being pulled apart. The active volcanoes remain at the plate boundaries, even as the plates shift. Mantle plumes, in contrast, are relatively fixed regions of upwelling magma that can feed volcanoes on an overlying tectonic plate. When a tectonic plate passes over the mantle plume, active volcanoes form, but they become dormant as they are carried away from the hot spot on the moving tectonic plate. Over geologic time, this creates a line of older, extinct volcanoes, seamounts, and islands extending from the active volcanoes that are currently over the plume.
These two astronaut photographs illustrate the northern (top) and southern (bottom) Savage Islands. The two views were taken 13 seconds apart from the International Space Station; the geographic center points of the images are separated by about 15 kilometers. Selvagem Grande, with an approximate area of 4 square kilometers, is the largest of the islands. The smaller and more irregularly-shaped Ilhéus do Norte, Ilhéu de Fora, and Selvagem Pequena are visible at the center of the lower image. Spain and Portugal both claim sovereignty over the Savage Islands.
All of the islands of the archipelago are ringed by bright white breaking waves along the fringing beaches. Reefs that surround the Savage Islands make it very difficult to land boats there, and there is no permanent settlement on the islands. The islands serve as nesting sites for several species of seabird including petrels and shearwaters, and they are included on the tentative list of additional UNESCO World Heritage Sites. | <urn:uuid:e698619d-b5f7-457e-a7c2-18345ce4f693> | {
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Can you imagine living back in the day of Fred Flintstone? Where cars were powered by feet instead of gasoline, and traveling by air consisted of climbing on top of the next available pterodactyl instead of sitting comfortably inside of an airplane. And instead of the ever present email we have today, the Flintstones had to chisel out their notes in stone, which never took more than a few seconds, and then a bird that needed to make a living would grip the stone in its beak and fly it to the proper recipient. Birds must have been smarter back then and their beaks stronger than they are today.
Thank goodness technology has evolved and we don't have to worry about chiseling out a business report or family newsletter anymore. Today we just go to the nearest computer, open up the word processing software and type away. Within a brief period of time we have a nice-looking, completely legible piece of information that we can print out or for faster service, we can email a document anywhere in the world and it shows up in minutes. We have definitely come a long way since the Fred Flintstone days.
So how did word processors evolve?
Wikipedia states that IBM invented the term "word processing" in the 1960s. By 1971 it was officially recognized by the New York Times as a "buzz word." However, back then word processors were much different than they are in today's modern society.
When the term was first used it referred to typing on semi-automatic typewriters and using dictating machines. Information was typed and then stored on magnetic tape or cards that could later be used for corrections and additional copies. However, if you were typing a form letter each one still had to be inserted into the typewriter to change in the variable data such as names and dates.
Later a calculator and word processors were interfaced to come up with an even more modern word processing system. Each time the enter key was pressed the typed data would be stored on a cassette tape. The information could later be viewed and edited.
After realizing what a breakthrough this had become, innovations continued. The next idea was to add a screen. No more printing out page after page to review corrected information and text. This was definitely something that would help companies and individuals alike in their scribing needs. Secretaries became worried that they would lose their jobs because they would have no place in the office workforce. However, just the opposite came true. Faster and more efficient typing on word processors meant more could be done in a short amount of time. Office productivity increased.
Transformation of word processors continued through to the addition of being able to hook up an apparatus to print these now nearly-flawless documents. Adding to the building blocks of the word processing evolution came along the ability to prints drafts using dot matrix printers and on up the line through the laser printers we use today.
During the rise of word processors personal computers were making their way into more and more homes. As the process unfolded, word processors were linked to computers and then eventually morphed into the available software packages we use today.
Can't decide which word processing application is right for you? Check out our word processing software review.
At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don't Have To.™ | <urn:uuid:2edbcc52-4752-4ace-b538-2337b18521f4> | {
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Definition: Dust Mites
Dust mites are microscopic bugs that live in household dust. They work their way into soft places like pillows, blankets, mattresses, and stuffed animals. Many people with asthma are allergic to dust - but in fact it's the droppings produced by the mites in the dust, along with the body fragments of dead dust mites, that really cause allergic reactions. When breathed in, these can lead a person to develop allergy or asthma symptoms. | <urn:uuid:7b1d4dac-2266-4e37-a5c8-34123a9cceca> | {
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FAQs: Japan nuclear concerns
What is the current risk of radiation-related health problems in Japan for those residing near the reactor in comparison to those in other parts of Japan?
- During the early phase of the nuclear emergency radiation-related health were dependant on exposure, which is turn were due to several things, including: the amount and type of radiation released from the reactor; weather conditions, such as wind and rain; a person’s proximity to the plant; and the amount of time spent in irradiated areas.
- The Government of Japan’s early actions in response to events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were in line with the existing recommendations for radiation exposure. The Government has evacuated individuals who were living within a 20-kilometre radius around the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Those living between 20 km and 30 km from the plant were asked to evacuate voluntarily. In general, people living farther away of the site of the event are at lower risk than those who live nearby.
- In light of evolving new information on levels of environmental radioactivity in the 20-30 km zone and some surrounding areas beyond the 30km zone, the Government of Japan established new planned evacuation zones from which residents were relocated to temporary housing based on the estimated cumulative doses they may receive in the 1 year following the accident.
- In addition, an emergency evacuation preparedness zone was also identified in which residents were asked to prepare their affairs in case they were asked to evacuate. These zones also follow administrative boundaries and extend beyond the 30 km radius.
Is there a risk of radioactive exposure from food contamination?
- Yes, there is a risk of exposure as a result of contamination in food.
- However, contaminated food would have to be consumed over prolonged periods to represent a risk to human health.
- The radioactive iodine and caesium in concentrations above the Japanese regulatory limits have been detected in some food commodities as a result of food monitoring
- Japanese authorities have advised residents to avoid these food and have implemented measures to prevent their sale and distribution.
Are there health risks to people living outside of Japan from radiation emitted into the atmosphere from damaged Japanese nuclear power plants?
Thus far, there are no health risks to people living in other countries from radioactive material released into the atmosphere from the Japanese nuclear power plants. Radiation levels measured to date in other countries are far below the level of background radiation that most people are exposed to in every day circumstances.
Radiation levels have been monitored by the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which operates 63 surveillance stations around the world. | <urn:uuid:34ac3ac0-df4e-4832-968c-aad8e56de668> | {
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A world in which tigers and other wild species are safe from harm and humans are encouraged to live in climate-harmony with natural ecosystems.
To help protect India’s biodiversity and threatened wildernesses by supporting and motivating forest departments, non-government organisations and individuals. To highlight the value of ecosystem services and to educate the public on the relationship between biodiversity and climate change.
The primary objective of WCT is to preserve, protect and conserve wildlife and natural ecosystems, terrestrial and aquatic. WCT intends to achieve this by:
- Supporting catalysing climate change mitigation and adaptation process through the restoration of degraded and fragmented ecosystems.
- Creating awareness amongst masses regarding the relationship between forests, biodiversity, water, climate change and human beings.
- Providing support for government and/or private institutions to strengthen conservation action for species and habitats.
- Providing for social welfare including medical and educational/vocational support to communities residing around protected areas.
- Providing financial support to scientific institutions and non-governmental organisations working towards conservation of nature and wildlife and also towards the mitigation of climate change.
- Highlighting the connection between ecosystem services, and the quality of human life for the benefit of policy makers in government and the corporate sector and the general public. | <urn:uuid:2aa97359-1370-4fb7-936a-850d1f3e026f> | {
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The Maldives has set itself a tough target to be the world’s first UNESCO Biosphere reserve nation and it aims to win the accolade by 2017. The Indian Ocean nation has put together an implementation plan to run between 2013 and 2017 that will see more than half of the nations island atolls implementing the ‘Biosphere Approach’ management plan.
Once over half the islands come nder the new plan it will trigger the ability for the nation to apply to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to have the entire country and its Exclusive Economic Zone classed as a Biosphere Reserve.
The whole country of Maldives will be a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve by 2017 – where public support for conservation of the country’s remarkable environment secures a vibrant green economy and a good quality of life for all Maldivians.
“The whole country of Maldives will be a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve by 2017 – where public support for conservation of the country’s remarkable environment secures a vibrant green economy and a good quality of life for all Maldivians,” said Dr Mariyam Shakeela, Minister of Environment and Energy, Republic of Maldives.
The implementation plan, Maldives as a Biosphere Reserve: An Implementation Plan 2013-2017, sets a road-map for 2013 to 2017, after which the plan will be updated based on progress and lessons learned.
The plan will be implemented by and for different atolls in a stepwise fashion, based on their readiness to adopt the “Biosphere Approach”. The plan was endorsed by the cabinet of Ministers in January 2013, showing the commitment from all stakeholders to this plan.
The President of the Maldives signalled intentions in June 2012, at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, RIO+20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to significantly ramp up efforts to protect the marine environment. The president outlined plans to implement a de-centralised system for environmental management and sustainable development, and was inspired by the success achieved in designating Baa Atoll as the first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Maldives.
Become a ‘nation biosphere reserve’ will also lead to the Maldives becoming a champion of the Aichi Targets. These targets form the basis of an internationally agreed strategy to address the loss of global biodiversity. There are 20 targets that signatory nations have agreed to meet by the year 2020,
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Executive Secretary Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias said:
“This pledge from the Maldives is extraordinary in size and potential impact. We should expect that it will be an inspiration to other CBD Parties, including Small Island Developing States and donor countries, to work harder toward the achievement of all of the Aichi Targets.”
“Global progress in the development of marine protected areas and in the sustainable management of fish stocks is lagging considerably,” he added. “Although there are still more than seven years before the 2011-2020 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and its 20 Aichi Targets are to be fully implemented, as agreed in Nagoya at CBD COP 10, we will only reach these targets by making ambitious pledges as the Maldives has now done.” | <urn:uuid:e216be7b-f574-499e-ba00-f11ca736caef> | {
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Key: "S:" = Show Synset (semantic) relations, "W:" = Show Word (lexical) relations
Display options for sense: (gloss) "an example sentence"
- S: (v) compel, oblige, obligate (force somebody to do something) "We compel all students to fill out this form"
- direct troponym / full troponym
- S: (v) force, thrust (impose urgently, importunately, or inexorably) "She forced her diet fads on him"
- S: (v) stick, sting (saddle with something disagreeable or disadvantageous) "They stuck me with the dinner bill"; "I was stung with a huge tax bill"
- S: (v) walk (make walk) "He walks the horse up the mountain"; "Walk the dog twice a day"
- S: (v) parade, exhibit, march (walk ostentatiously) "She parades her new husband around town"
- S: (v) march (cause to march or go at a marching pace) "They marched the mules into the desert"
- S: (v) coerce, hale, squeeze, pressure, force (to cause to do through pressure or necessity, by physical, moral or intellectual means) "She forced him to take a job in the city"; "He squeezed her for information"
- S: (v) turn up the heat, turn up the pressure (apply great or increased pressure) "The Democrats turned up the heat on their candidate to concede the election"
- S: (v) drive (to compel or force or urge relentlessly or exert coercive pressure on, or motivate strongly) "She is driven by her passion"
- S: (v) bludgeon (overcome or coerce as if by using a heavy club) "The teacher bludgeoned the students into learning the math formulas"
- S: (v) steamroller, steamroll (bring to a specified state by overwhelming force or pressure) "The Senator steamrollered the bill to defeat"
- S: (v) squeeze for (squeeze someone for money, information, etc.)
- S: (v) dragoon, sandbag, railroad (compel by coercion, threats, or crude means) "They sandbagged him to make dinner for everyone"
- S: (v) terrorize, terrorise (coerce by violence or with threats)
- S: (v) bring oneself (cause to undertake a certain action, usually used in the negative) "He could not bring himself to call his parents"
- S: (v) clamor (compel someone to do something by insistent clamoring) "They clamored the mayor into building a new park"
- S: (v) condemn (compel or force into a particular state or activity) "His devotion to his sick wife condemned him to a lonely existence"
- S: (v) shame (compel through a sense of shame) "She shamed him into making amends"
- S: (v) enforce, implement, apply (ensure observance of laws and rules) "Apply the rules to everyone"
- S: (v) run, execute (carry out a process or program, as on a computer or a machine) "Run the dishwasher"; "run a new program on the Mac"; "the computer executed the instruction"
- S: (v) execute (carry out the legalities of) "execute a will or a deed"
- S: (v) give (execute and deliver) "Give bond"
- S: (v) enforce, impose, constrain (compel to behave in a certain way) "Social relations impose courtesy"; "duty constrains one to act often contrary to one's desires or inclinations"
- direct hypernym / inherited hypernym / sister term
- S: (v) induce, stimulate, cause, have, get, make (cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner) "The ads induced me to buy a VCR"; "My children finally got me to buy a computer"; "My wife made me buy a new sofa"
- derivationally related form
- W: (n)
compulsion [Related to: compel] (using force to cause something to occur) "though pressed into rugby under compulsion I began to enjoy the game"; "they didn't have to use coercion"
- W: (n)
obligation [Related to: oblige, obligate] (the social force that binds you to the courses of action demanded by that force) "we must instill a sense of duty in our children"; "every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty"- John D.Rockefeller Jr
- sentence frame
- S: (v) oblige, bind, hold, obligate (bind by an obligation; cause to be indebted) "He's held by a contract"; "I'll hold you by your promise"
- S: (v) oblige, accommodate (provide a service or favor for someone) "We had to oblige him" | <urn:uuid:5cb11816-b171-4b8f-aa6f-fb84548d3a3f> | {
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Updated Mon, Feb 27, 2012 12:36 pm
On this edition of Conversations from Studio B, Jim Fuller and Bill Walker talk with Chris Meekins of the North Carolina State Archives.
The trio discuss the Burnside Expedition, a series of battles fought along the North Carolina coast under the command of Brig. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, which culminated in the Union occupation of Roanoke Island, New Bern, Morehead City, Beaufort and Washington.
For more information, visit the North Carolina State Archives' Sesquicentennial Blog.
Slideshow: The Burnside Expedition
Brig. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside
Flag captured by Union forces from the Confederate gunboat Fanny during the Battle of Elizabeth City, Feb. 10, 1862
Medal of Honor recipient John Davis risked life and limb by sitting on an open powder keg to keep it from catching fire
General Ambrose E. Burnside and Commander Stephen C. Rowan issued this proclamation as outreach to the people of North Carolina during the Burnside Expedition
Post-battle sketch of the positions and fortifications of both forces during the Battle of New Bern, N.C. | <urn:uuid:e4628eb6-f1f6-41fc-b64a-33c6a6f750fd> | {
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The physical things and the human society have formed into the world we live in. However, the emergence of information technologies enables a new infrastructure for a technical, economic and social revolution, which have changed the world we are used to. Cyber-physical systems couple the cyber aspects of computing and communications with the physical aspects of dynamics that must abide by the laws of physics. Social computing has become more widely known because of proliferation of online social networking in recent years. With the advent of ubiquitous sensing, future social networks will become cyber-physical, combining measured elements of the physical world. The convergence of computational and physical processes as well as human’s social behaviors exhibits a variety of complicated characteristics, which leads to a lot of challenges.
TOPICS OF INTEREST
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Track 1: Cyber-physical systems and society
- Track 2: Social computing
- Track 3: Pervasive/ubiquitous computing
- Track 4: Sensor/actuator networks
- Track 5: Security, privacy, and trust
- Track 6: Applications and services
Submission Due: June 15, 2011 (firm)
Notification of Acceptance: July 15, 2011
Final Manuscript Due: August 15, 2011
More info here. | <urn:uuid:2e5b9ce6-04c4-40fa-9f8e-0187a6bba5b9> | {
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|Direct Imaging of Asymmetric Magnetization Reversal|
The phenomenon of exchange bias has transformed how data is read on magnetic hard disks and created an explosion in their information storage density. However, it remains poorly understood, and even the fundamental mechanism of magnetic reversal for exchange-biased systems in changing magnetic fields is unclear. By using x-ray photoemission electron microscopy at the ALS to directly image the magnetic structure of an exchange-biased film, a team from the University of Washington and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory has identified separate magnetic-reversal mechanisms in the two branches of a hysteresis loop. This advance in fundamental understanding will provide new insights for developing the next generation of information storage and sensing devices where exchange bias is expected to play a critical role.
There are two basic energies involved in the manipulation and control of the magnetic properties of materials. Exchange controls magnetic order, and anisotropy controls magnetic orientation. A soft ferromagnet such as iron has a large exchange parameter but a small anisotropy, making ferromagnetic order stable at higher temperatures but with an unpredictable orientation of the magnetization, especially in structures of nanoscale dimensions. On the other hand, many antiferromagnets have weak exchange interactions (low ordering or Néel temperatures) but large anisotropies that result in very stable orientations.
Exchange bias arises when a thin ferromagnetic film is grown on an antiferromagnet and the resulting heterostructure is cooled in a magnetic field through the Néel temperature of the antiferromagnet. As a result of exchange coupling between the layers, the ferromagnet both retains a stable order and gains a higher anisotropy at room temperature. Moreover, the unidirectional character of the anisotropy results in a shifted hysteresis loop that is now centered on a non-zero magnetic field. This exchange bias makes the ferromagnet an excellent magnetic reference layer in modern nanolayer magnetic devices because it is very difficult to demagnetize it.
More than fifty years of research has provided varying insight into the exchange-bias phenomenon but not yet a comprehensive description of all its salient features. To gain more insight, the Washington–Stanford team resorted to x-ray photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) imaging of high-quality single-crystal ferromagnetic iron epitaxially grown on antiferromagnetic MnPd (all on an MgO substrate), samples that had been previously well-characterized magnetically and structurally.
At an iron absorption resonance, absorption of circularly polarized x rays at ALS Beamline 184.108.40.206 is sensitive to the angle between the magnetization within a ferromagnetic domain and the polarization vector. With the PEEM-2 microscope, this x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) effect allows an exact determination of the direction of the local domain magnetization at the surface of ferromagnets with a spatial resolution of 50 nm or less.
By means of XMCD measurements taken at points in hysteresis loops with the applied field in different crystallographic directions of the iron ferromagnet, the team has accumulated the first direct imaging evidence for an asymmetry in the magnetic-reversal mechanism in exchange-biased systems, evidence that until now has only been inferred indirectly by measurements such as neutron scattering.
Normally, magnetic reversal in ferromagnets occurs either by coherent rotation of magnetic moments in the domain or by nucleation and growth of reverse domains. Generally, the mechanism is determined by the material microstructure and is symmetric with respect to the applied field, i.e., it is the same in both branches of the hysteresis loop. However, the team found that in exchanged-biased ferromagnetic iron, the magnetization reversal occurs by moment rotation for decreasing fields, while it proceeds by domain nucleation and growth for increasing fields. The observed domains are also consistent with the crystallography of the bilayers and favor a configuration that minimizes the overall magnetostatic energy of the ferromagnetic layer.
Research conducted by P. Blomqvist and K.M. Krishnan (University of Washington) and H. Ohldag (Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory).
Research funding: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Operation of the ALS is supported by BES.
Publication about this research: P. Blomqvist, K.M. Krishnan, and H. Ohldag, "Direct imaging of asymmetric magnetization reversal in exchange-biased Fe/MnPd bilayers by x-ray photoemission electron microscopy," Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 107203 (2005). | <urn:uuid:6303857f-0867-4589-b8d6-612b9491697c> | {
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MISR Views Delaware Bay, Chesapeake Bay, and the Appalachian Mountains
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) images of Delaware Bay, Chesapeake Bay, and the Appalachian Mountains acquired on March 24, 2000 during Terra orbit 1417. The large image on the right was taken by the MISR camera viewing straight down (nadir). The series of smaller images, from top to bottom, respectively, were taken by cameras viewing 70.5 degrees forward, 45.6 degrees forward, 45.6 degrees aftward, and 70.5 degrees aftward of nadir. These images cover the environs of Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond. Differences in brightness, color, and contrast as a function of view angle are visible over both land and water. Scientists are using MISR data to monitor changes in clouds, Earth's surface, and pollution particles in the air, and to assess their impact on climate.
Credit: Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/JPL, MISR Science Team. | <urn:uuid:7b1c732a-d923-4689-93d1-4f4d9bdcac20> | {
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Alternate Names : Sexual Abuse, Sexual Assault
Rape is the physical act of attacking another person and forcing that person to have sex. It is the illegal sexual penetration of any body opening. Rape can happen to men, women, and children. It is often violent, although sometimes the threat is only implied. Rape can also occur without the victim knowing about it. This can happen if the victim is unconscious, intoxicated, or high on drugs.
Male rapists usually have an extreme hatred for women. They may feel inadequate and have problems with sexual performance. At least half the time, the rapist knows the victim and works or lives near the victim. Most rapes are planned ahead of time by the attacker. More than half of sexual assaults involve a weapon.
What is the information for this topic?
Following are some safety measures to help prevent rape when you are at home or in your car:
Don't let a stranger into the house without proper identification.
Don't list a first name on a mailbox or in a phone book.
Have the key ready before reaching the door of a car or house.
Keep a light on at all entrances.
Keep doors and windows locked.
Look in the car before entering.
Make arrangements with a neighbor for assistance in emergency situations.
Set the house lights to go on and off with a timer.
Other safety measures you can take to help prevent rape are as follows:
Appear strong and confident.
Avoid isolated and secluded areas.
Don't walk or jog alone at night.
Look for unusual behavior in those around you.
Scream loudly if attacked.
Sit in lighted areas and near other people such as the driver when using public transportation.
When someone has been raped, the rape should immediately be reported to the police. The victim should be taken to a medical facility and examined. The person should not bathe before this examination, as evidence might be destroyed. Additionally, clothing or samples of clothing might be collected by the police as evidence.
During this exam, a healthcare provider will take the following steps:
check for bruises, bite marks, and other trauma
remove pubic hair samples
take swabs from the anus and mouth
take swabs from the vaginal area if the victim is a female
test for pregnancy if the victim is a female, and provide emergency contraception as needed
test for sexually transmitted diseases and provide treatment as needed
The provider will treat all cuts and wounds. But often the emotional wounds are more severe than the physical wounds. It is very important that the victim get counseling and therapy. A local rape crisis center can help the victim through this trauma.
Recovery from rape varies from person to person. Usually the physical wounds heal quickly. Mental wounds can last for many years after the attack. A rape victim may be viewed as suffering a posttraumatic stress disorder. This usually has an acute phase, lasting a few days to a few weeks, which is followed by a long-term process of recovery. Many rape victims suffer from the following:
If the person doesn't receive effective treatment, he or she may experience these difficulties:
inability to establish long-term relationships
problems with sex
Rape victims can go on to lead normal lives. But it's very important to their mental health that they get proper counseling. Healthcare providers can help the victim work through many of the problems that result from rape. They help monitor the victim's healing, both physically and mentally. | <urn:uuid:e6437144-d5c4-4976-ae15-419bda125a5c> | {
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Cowie, Daniel B.
The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.
Daniel B. Cowie. In an article on other pages of this publication will be found some account of the salt industry in Kansas and some mention of the more prominent mines and companies. One of the most striking figures in the development of the salt industry in Kansas was the late James Cowie, Sr., and the above named is a son of that salt pioneer and is now general superintendent of the Independent Salt Company at Kanopolis.
The Cowie family are Scotch people, and in Scotland they were also identified with mining. The grandfather of Daniel was George Cowie, who spent his life in Scotland and was a successful coal contractor. James Cowie, Sr., was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland, in 1839. He grew up and married there and from an early age was a coal miner. Prior to his coming to America he was general manager for one of the largest coal companies in Scotland, having supervision over ten diffierent coal properties. On coming to the United States in 1884 he entered the employ of the H. C. Frick Coal Company at Connellsville, Pennsylvania.
James Cowie, Sr., came to Kanopolis, Kansas, in 1889. The credit is given him for originating the salt mining industry of Kansas and he was known in the press and to the general public as the "salt king." As manager of the Royal Salt Company he put in the first salt mine in Kansas just east of the city limits of Kanopolis. He managed that company until 1905 and then organized the Crystal Salt Company, of which he was manager and part owner. He bought from the Kanopolis townsite the salt rights underneath the town. The Crystal mine is just outside the limits of Kanopolis but its tunnels and underground work are partly beneath the town itself. At the time of his death James Cowie, Sr., was managing director of the Crystal Salt Company and also owned between 5,000 and 6,000 town lots in Kanopolis. Previously he was owner of about forty buildings in the town but had sold this part of his real estate. As an American citizen James Cowie, Sr., was a republican, was an active Presbyterian, and served a number of terms as mayor of Kanopolis and well justified the honors bestowed upon him by efficient service in the administration of municipal affairs.
James Cowie, Sr., married Elizabeth Barrowman. She was born in Scotland in 1842 and died at Kanopolis in 1915, while her husband passed away there in 1911. Her father, George Barrowman, was a prominent coal contractor in Scotland, where he died. James Cowie and wife had five children. George, the oldest, is manager of the Standard Salt Company at Little River, Kansas. James Cowie, Jr., is president of the Exchange State Bank of Kanopolis and is also mine foreman under his brother Daniel. Daniel is the third in the family. Janette married Samuel Hogsett, a loan and real estate man at Kansas City, Missouri. Elizabeth, the youngest child, is the wife of George P. Kelly, of Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Kelly is president of the American Salt and Coal Company of Lyons, Kansas, and at this writing is installing one of the largest combination rock salt and evaporation salt plants in the United States. The evaporation works are already in operation and the rock salt mines will be completed and in a producing state within six months.
Daniel B. Cowie, son of James Cowie, Sr., was born at Kylswith, Stirlingshire, Scotland, March 20, 1869, and was fifteen years of age when the family came to the United States. He received his education in the public schools of Stirlingshire and for two years taught school in Scotland. At the age of eighteen he began working as a miner, and had an intimate experience with that industry in every capacity from tapper boy to general superintendent.
Under his father he became expert in all branches of salt mining and manufacture. He was general superintendent of the Kingman Salt Company at Kingman, Kansas, until the plant was burned in 1903, after which he returned to Kanopolis and was general superintendent of the Crystal Salt Company and since 1913 had been superintendent of the Independent Salt Company. For 3½ years prior to 1915 Mr. Cowie was at Detroit, Michigan, his services being employed to straighten out the tangled affairs of the rock salt plant, wherein was involved an investment of over $1,000,000. The plant was in the hands of a receiver and the expert ability of Mr. Cowie was called into service, and he not only put the plant on its feet but developed it so that now it is one of the best salt mine propositions in the United States.
Mr. Cowie lives close to the Independent Salt Company's plant and in the superintendent's house furnished by the company. He owned six dwelling houses in Kanopolis, a farm of eighty acres near the city, and is a stockholder and director in the Exchange State Bank.
His fellow citizens have honored him with the office of mayor two terms and with that of city clerk two terms. For fifteen consecutive years he was a member of the school board and since 1913 had again been on the board and is now treasurer. He is a republican, an elder in the Presbyterian Church, is past master of Kingman Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, a member of the Royal Arch Chapter and the Knights Templar Commandery at Kingman, is past noble grand of Kingman Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, past master workman of Kingman Lodge, Ancient Order of United Workmen, and charter member of Kanopolis Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America.
Mr. Cowie enjoys an ideal home life and had a large and happy family. He first married at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1891, Miss Allie Matthews. She died in 1897, leaving two daughters: Elizabeth, now the wife of William McVittie, a member of the city fire department of Detroit, Michigan; and Janette, living at home. In 1900, at Emporia, Kansas, Mr. Cowie married Miss Ruth A. Haley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Haley. Her mother is deceased and her father still lives on a farm near Emporia. Mr. and Mrs. Cowie have seven children: Anna, born in 1901; Daniel, Jr., born in 1903; Margaret, born in 1905; Jane, born in 1907; Dorothy, born in 1909; Evelyn, born in 1911; and James, born in 1914.
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Iglesia Evangélica Luterana Boliviana (Bolivian Evangelical Lutheran Church) (IELB)
The Bolivian Evangelical Lutheran Church grew out of the work of the World Mission Prayer League from the USA, among Aymara Indians. In 1972, the American missionaries left the country, as the local people claimed greater participation in the decision-making bodies of the church. The Bolivian Evangelical Lutheran Church was constituted that same year. The church is composed entirely of indigenous people. It is the largest Amerindian Lutheran church on the continent.
The IELB's main priority is to promote a holistic approach to evangelism and service. The church is involved in a variety of projects: alternative agriculture, animal husbandry, provision of drinking water, educational campaigns to prevent cholera, formal education (elementary school), vocational training, and communication. | <urn:uuid:050c520c-584b-4e1c-b10b-51fdb323581d> | {
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Students who struggle with reading or school need caring adults to represent them. Being an advocate for a student can mean learning new terms, knowing your rights, and insisting that your student gets the help he or she needs to have the best opportunity to succeed. See the articles below to get started and visit our sister website LD OnLine.
Sort by: Date Title
Children who struggle with reading often need extra help. This help usually comes from the school, but some parents choose to look outside the school for professionals who can assess, diagnose, tutor, or provide other education services. The following article provides information on how to find the right person for your child.
Parents are often the best educational advocates for their children, especially children with a learning disability. The Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities (CCLD) has developed the following tips to help parents champion their child.
Literacy programs seem to have sprung up everywhere, but how can you tell the good ones from the bad ones? This guide identifies the key elements to consider in evaluating adolescent literacy programs.
This is a cautionary tale, not just for people who have no real idea of what a learning disability is and probably suspect the whole thing is an overindulgent scam, but also for any parent of a child struggling mightily through school.
This checklist prepared by the PACER Center will help parents prepare for and get the most out of Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings with the school staff.
"Solution Shop" is a counseling and study skills program designed to address the academic needs of struggling middle school students. In this program, the school counselor serves the critical role of developing and providing appropriate interventions, which range from individual and group counseling, study skills instruction, parent consultation, behavioral contracts, math and reading tutoring, and teacher meetings.
Learn to develop the evidence you need to support your belief that your child is not receiving the right help in school. Peter and Pamela Wright, from Wrightslaw, tell you how to interpret and chart your child's test scores, graph your child's progress, and successfully communicate with the educators who make decisions about your child. | <urn:uuid:560439ee-505e-400b-bd74-87e89c81be8b> | {
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Atypical pneumonia refers to pneumonia caused by certain bacteria, including Legionella pneumophila, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Chlamydophila pneumoniae. It is called “atypical” because the symptoms differ from those of pneumonia due to other common bacteria.
Mycoplasma pneumonia is a type of atypical pneumonia. It is caused by the bacteria M. pneumoniae. It typically affects people younger than age 40. For more information on this type of pneumonia, see: Mycoplasma pneumonia
Pneumonia due to chlamydia-related bacteria occurs year round and accounts for 5 - 15% of all pneumonias. It is usually mild.
Pneumonia due to Legionella is seen more often in middle-aged and older adults, smokers, and those with chronic illnesses or a weak immune system. It can be more severe.
Pneumonia due to mycoplasma and chlamydophila bacteria is usually mild.
Pneumonia due to Legionella pneumophila gets worse during the first 4 - 6 days, and then improves over 4 - 5 days.
Even though symptoms will improve, it may take a while for them to go away completely.
The most common symptoms of pneumonia are:
Cough (with Legionella pneumonia, you may cough up bloody mucus)
Fever, which may be mild or high
Shortness of breath (may only occur when you climb stairs)
Other symptoms include:
Chest pain that gets worse when you breathe deeply or cough
Confusion, especially in older people or those with Legionella pneumonia
Loss of appetite, low energy, and fatigue
Muscle aches and joint stiffness
Sweating and clammy skin
Less common symptoms include:
Diarrhea (especially with Legionella pneumonia)
Ear pain (with mycoplasma pneumonia)
Eye pain or soreness (with mycoplasma pneumonia)
Neck lump (with mycoplasma pneumonia)
Rash (with mycoplasma pneumonia)
Sore throat (with mycoplasma pneumonia)
Signs and tests
Persons with suspected pneumonia should have a complete medical evaluation. It may be hard for your health care provider to tell whether you have pneumonia or bronchitis, so you may need a chest x-ray. Depending on the severity of the illness, other tests may be done, including:
Control your fever with aspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen or naproxen), or acetaminophen. DO NOT give aspirin to children.
Do not take cough medicines without first talking to your doctor. Cough medicines may make it harder for your body to cough up the extra sputum.
Drink plenty of fluids to help loosen secretions and bring up phlegm.
Get a lot of rest. Have someone else do household chores.
Antibiotics are used to treat atypical pneumonia.
You may be able to take antibiotics by mouth at home.
If you have severe atypical pneumonia, you will likely be admitted to a hospital, where you will be given antibiotics through a vein (intravenously), as well as oxygen.
Antibiotics are used for 2 weeks or more
Antibiotics used to treat atypical pneumonia include:
Fluoroquinolones (such as levofloxacin)
Tetracyclines (such as tetracycline or doxycycline)
Most patients with pneumonia due to mycoplasma or chlamydophila do well with the right antibiotics. Legionella pneumonia can be severe, leading to problems in patients with kidney failure, diabetes, COPD, and a weak immune system. It can lead to death.
Mandell LA, Wunderink RG, Anzueto A, et al. InfectiousD iseases Society of America/American Thoracic Society consensus guidelines on the management of community-acquired pneumonia in adults. Clin Infect Dis. 2007;44:S27-S72.
Torres A, Menendez R, Wunderink R. Pyogenic bacterial pneumonia and lung abscess. In: Mason RJ, VC Broaddus, Martin TR, et al, eds. Murray and Nadel’s Textbook of Respiratory Medicine. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa:Saunders Elsevier; 2010:chap 32.
David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine. Denis Hadjiliadis, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M. Health Solutions, Ebix, Inc. | <urn:uuid:b30d2796-03a4-4cea-b50f-9ff144be4941> | {
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AfriGeneas Health and Wellness Forum
Obesity and African Americans
Statistics from the Office of Minority Health:
- African American women have the highest rates of being overweight or obese compared to other groups in the U.S. About four out of five African American women are overweight or obese.1
- In 2005, African Americans were 1.4 times as likely to be obese as Non- Hispanic Whites.
- From 2001-2004, African American women were 70% more likely to be obese than Non-Hispanic White women.
- In 2003-2004, African American children between ages 6 -17 were 1.3 times as likely to be overweight than Non-Hispanic Whites.
Messages In This Thread | <urn:uuid:63af2abc-ff06-46a9-86c6-83947cf5fc7d> | {
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TAU Researchers Part of Team of International Scientists to Uncover the "God Particle" Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Higgs boson particle crucial for explaining how the universe was built
Tel Aviv University's Prof. Yaron Oz, dean of TAU's Faculty of Exact Sciences, and Prof. Aharon Levy of TAU's School of Physics and Astronomy were among the theoretical and experimental physicists who made the groundbreaking discovery of a particle known as the Higgs boson or "God particle," a key to understanding how the universe was built. The discovery was made at Geneva's European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) and announced in early July.
First proposed in 1964 by a team of six physicists, including University of Edinburgh Professor Peter Higgs, the particle is said to explain the existence of mass. In particle physics, bosons are one of the two fundamental classes of subatomic particles. The Higgs boson is the final building block, missing until now from the "Standard Model," which describes the structure of matter in the universe. The model is to physicists what the theory of evolution is to biologists.
Prof. Yaron Oz
Albert Einstein would have been "very happy" at the discovery, Prof. Oz noted.
The term "God particle" originated with Prof. Max Lederman, an American experimental physicist who won the Nobel Prize in physics for his work with neutrinos. Prof. Lederman wrote a book using the term, "by which he meant the mysterious particle that's part of everything," Prof. Levy says. "Particle physics aims at understanding what conditions created the Big Bang that created the Universe, to look backwards as much as possible at that event."
Prof. Oz congratulated the group of researchers not only on their scientific achievement but also on their ability to put political considerations aside and work together for the good of humanity. Calling the huge CERN facility "what the UN should be," he said that "everybody is devoted to making the discovery as a team, without any politics or vested interests. I even worked with Iranians there, and there was never a harsh word between us. We all just want to understand. It was has already been proven that the nationals of the world can function together harmoniously for joint targets." | <urn:uuid:3395d913-9a54-4e42-8af6-a4b4a5198506> | {
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Using Bone Marrow to Protect the Brain Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Stem cell technology from TAU research begins clinical trial for Lou Gehrig's disease
The ability to produce neuroprotectors, proteins that protect the human brain against neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and ALS, is the holy grail of brain research. A technology developed at Tel Aviv University does just that, and it's now out of the lab and in hospitals to begin clinical trials with patients suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Developed by Prof. Daniel Offen and Prof. Eldad Melamed of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Felsenstein Medical Research Center, the technology is now a patent-pending process that takes stem cells from a patient's own bone marrow and causes them to differentiate into astrocyte-like cells, which are responsible for the well-being of the brain's neurons. The cells release neurotrophic factors, or neuroprotectants, which have been shown to play a key role in reducing the progress of ALS, a debilitating disease characterized by the progressive degeneration of motor neurons, resulting in paralysis of a patient's limbs and organ function.
The research has appeared in the Journal of Stem Cells Reviews and Reports and a number of other publications.
Trials in Jerusalem and Boston
This stem cell technology, says Prof. Offen, represents 10 years of development. Inspired by advances in embryonic stem cell research and its huge potential — but trying to bypass the ethical and safety issues — Prof. Offen and his fellow researchers turned to stem cells derived from a patient's own bone marrow.
After coaxing the cells to differentiate into astrocyte-like cells, whose natural function is to guard the brain's neurons and prevent deterioration, the researchers began testing the concept in animal models. "In the mouse model," Prof. Offen explains, "we were able to show that the bone marrow derived stem cells prevent degeneration in the brain following injection of selective neurotoxins." Researchers also demonstrated that transplantation of these cells increased the survival rate in the mouse model of ALS and significantly delayed the progress of motor dysfunction.
According to Prof. Offen, this is a uniquely successful method for differentiating bone marrow stem cells into astrocyte-like cells without manipulating the genetic material of the cell itself. They are the first team of researchers to demonstrate the efficacy of this technology in vivo in various models of neurodegenerative diseases.
The technology was licensed to BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics that has developed it into a clinical grade product called NurOwn™, which is now being used in a clinical trial at Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center. BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics has recently struck an agreement to expand clinical trials to Massachusetts General Hospital in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Home-grown therapy — and talent
The ongoing clinical studies are aimed at evaluating the safety and the efficacy of this treatment, says Prof. Offen. Because the original cells are drawn from the patients themselves, he adds, the body should have no adverse reactions.
Although the current study targets ALS, these cells have the potential to treat a broad range of neurodegenerative conditions, including Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. For many conditions, explains Prof. Offen, the current available treatments only attempt to alleviate the symptoms of these diseases rather than repair existing damage.
BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics, the company that is developing the technology, is a spin-off of TAU, Prof. Offen notes. The university has spearheaded the invention involved, and a number of the researchers working within the company graduated from TAU.
For more news about stem cell research from Tel Aviv University, click here. | <urn:uuid:a7ee6c9b-d1ce-4739-8977-fc87372e7781> | {
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Courtesy of Purdue Extension
Before farmers go full throttle into the 2012 planting season, they would be wise to inspect what's left of their 2011 corn crop for signs of mold, says a Purdue University agricultural engineer.
Richard Stroshine said he has heard scattered reports of Indiana farmers finding higher-than-normal percentages of moldy, discolored kernels when they've removed corn from storage facilities. Elevators and other buyers of corn pay less for mold-contaminated grain, if they buy it at all.
Corn stored in bins since the fall harvest could be at a heightened threat for mold, Stroshine said. The reason? A winter that wasn't cold enough for long enough to protect the grain from fungal infection.
Moldy corn can contain toxins harmful - even fatal - to livestock. Much of the corn grown in Indiana is used as animal feed.
"Farmers should constantly be checking their grain for mold growth," Stroshine said. "If they find mold, they've got to get that corn out of the bin as soon as possible so that it doesn't spread to other grain in the bin."
A typical winter with air temperatures regularly near or below freezing allows corn to be cooled to temperatures near freezing, inhibiting mold development. That is particularly important when corn is stored at or above 15 percent moisture. This past winter saw many days above 50 degrees Fahrenheit, creating conditions more favorable for mold growth.
When mold risks are high, farmers should take steps to evenly cool the grain in the bin. A common practice, known as coring, involves taking one or more truckloads of corn from the bin and leveling the crop that remains. The process removes fine material that often accumulates in the center - or core - of the bin, filling air pockets between kernels and restricting air circulation.
To ensure even airflow distribution, farmers should maintain a level surface at the top of the bin. Without sufficient and uniform air movement in the bin, heat can build up in some areas and promote mold growth.
Farmers who cored their bins reduced the likelihood of mold problems this spring but still should keep an eye on their leftover crop, Stroshine said. Those who didn't perform coring operations will need to be even more vigilant, he said.
Bins should be visually inspected and grain temperatures monitored weekly, Stroshine said. He recommended running bin fans for 30 minutes before entering the storage facility to conduct an inspection.
"Aeration will push musty odors, which are indicative of mold growth, to the headspace of the bin," he said. "If the problems are deeper in the bin it will take longer for odors to reach the surface. So you could run the fans another 2-4 hours and check again. | <urn:uuid:7f728ce7-fbf7-46aa-9ad5-d2b305a1115c> | {
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Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Institute of Bankers
The Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIB) was founded in 1879, as the professional body for members of the banking profession in the United Kingdom. It was granted its royal charter in 1988. In 2000 it rebranded itself as the Institute of Financial Services, reflecting the changing needs for professionalism across a wide range of financial services.
The CIB was, and continues to be, an important aid to the professionalism of bankers. After studying a series of Banking related topics and passing exams, and after working for a minimum period within the Banking Industry, it is possible to be elected to an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. The letters ACIB continue to demonstrate to others the experience and academic standards of the designee.
In the last two decades of the 20th century, the Financial Services Industry underwent significant change. Retail banks transformed themselves from transaction oriented deposit taking and lending institutions into deliverers of retail financial services. At the same time, additional complexity was introduced into the less retail forms of banking. New investment products developed. International finance became more complex. Derivatives became available to hedge risk, or in some cases to amplify risk. The distinctions between retail banks, investment banks, building societies, insurance companies and other financial services institutions became blurred. Institutions complimented their own services with additional ranges of services offered by other institutions. It became possible to satisfy all needs for financial services through one financial institution.
The CIB needed to respond to changes in the industry. In 1986, its professional exams were linked to and moderated by UMIST. Any student passing the exams required to attain ACIB status is now awarded a BSc(Hons) in financial services, underscoring the academic standards achieved by professional bankers.
Today the CIB provides courses leading to qualifications in all areas of the financial services industry, and it has a vision to be a school of finance that is recognised for the excellence and relevance of its range of qualifications.
In addition to providing education, the CIB also organises regionally based events to enable members to both network and keep abreast of developments within their fields of interest.
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details | <urn:uuid:9d1754ec-524b-4e52-8695-6a4b1c3f0b5c> | {
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Lightweight True Random Number Generators A Step Closer
17 September 2010
Queen's University, Belfast
The widespread use of true random number generators (TRNGs) has taken a step closer following the creation of the most lightweight designs to date by researchers at Queen’s University Belfast’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT).
Members of the Institute’s cryptography research team have produced a series of circuits that are up to 50 per cent smaller than anything else currently available. Optimised for digital circuits, FPGA and ASIC, they push efficiency to the limit by using just one logic gate, one look-up table and four transistors respectively.
TRNGs are essential for IT security because virtually any security application relies on unpredictable numbers such as cryptographic keys. Current systems however are either too expensive or are not fast enough for many applications. That is why more nimble pseudo-random number generators are in widespread use even though the sequences they generate can be detected under certain types of attack, making them much less secure.
The approach of ECIT researchers Jiang Wu and Dr Máire O’Neill has been to use the white noise inside the circuit to generate the randomness, effectively simulating the toss of a coin. To do this, they developed a new mechanism to measure the noise and generate the random output.
“The most challenging part of the work was to find the new mechanism that can effectively sample the noise,” said Wu.
“True random number generators have been extensively studied in recent years; many very efficient designs based on different noise measurement mechanisms have been proposed. It was not clear if more efficient designs were even possible. After investigating several candidates, finally we found a successful one.”
The next step is to find ways of making the generators sufficiently robust to be embedded in devices such as mobile phones, smartcards and RFID tags, and – where they are used for security applications - to secure them from attack and develop appropriate countermeasures.
Other related work currently underway at ECIT includes designs for highly efficient physical unclonable functions (PUFs). These authenticate individual chips by extracting and identifying – but without revealing - their unique fingerprints which can then be used in a variety of security applications. | <urn:uuid:49de90ac-4671-49af-810a-60a2d348ad5d> | {
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Population Guide: Dairy
How Many Is Too Many?
An effective control program keeps horn fly levels to fewer than 50 per animal. This at-a-glance-guide will help you easily evaluate the effect that horn flies currently have on your herd. Keep these other assessment tips in mind, too.
- The horn fly is charcoal gray and approximately five millimeters long (half the size of a typical house fly).
- Adult horn flies are located on the backs of cattle, often clustering on the midline and spreading down the sides. Sometimes, they settle around the base of cattle horns. When the weather is hot, they may move onto the animals' undersides.
- It's easiest to make the most accurate estimate in the morning, when horn flies are on the upper sides of the cows.
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by Jos Van der Poel
Down’s syndrome is a genetic disorder (in stead of two these persons have three chromosomes 21) that besides a number of physical characteristics leads to intellectual impairment.
It occurs in one out of every 1.000 births. Life expectancy of people with Down’s syndrome has increased substantially over the last century: about 50 % of them will reach the age of 60. Because of the trisomie 21 people with Down’s syndrome have an overexpression of the amyloid precursor protein. Amyloid is the main ingredient of the plaques, which are found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Symptoms and course
Not all persons with Down’s syndrome show evidence of cognitive deterioration or other clinical evidence of dementia even after extended periods of observation.
Clinical symptoms at first are increasing depression, indifference and a decline in social communication. Later symptoms are: seizures in previously unaffected persons, changes in personality, loss of memory and general functions, long periods of inactivity or apathy, hyperactive reflexes, loss of activity of daily skills, visual retention deficits, loss of speech, disorientation, increase in stereotyped behaviour and abnormal neurological signs.
Especially for brothers and sisters who are confronted with the responsibility for (the care of) their sibling with Down’s syndrome when their parents have died. It is distressing when this person develops Alzheimer’s disease at a relatively young age. Not only are they loosing the person they (often) love very much, but the burden of care gets heavier.
Causes and risk factors
In Down’s syndrome the development of Alzheimer’s disease seems to be linked directly to the overexposure to APP. The ApoE2 gene seems to have a protective effect in Down’s syndrome too, but whether ApoE4 increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in Down’s syndrome is not clear yet. Men and women seem to be equally susceptible.
Down’s syndrome originates in an extra copy of chromosome 21.
At least 36 % of the people with Down’s syndrome aged 50 – 59 years and 65 % aged 60 and older are affected by dementia. Brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease are found in 96 % of all adults with Down’s syndrome.
Diagnosing dementia in people with Down’s syndrome is very difficult, as the dementia symptoms are often masked by the existing intellectual impairment. Several screening and evaluation procedures have been developed. These evaluations must be performed at select intervals, thus comparing with the person’s previous score. Definitive diagnosis is only available after death.
Care and treatment
Because of limited personel in small scale living settings for people with an intellectual impairment, persons with dementia often have to move (back) to an institution for mentally retarded people. Research has shown that donepezil (Aricept®) has a positive though not significant effect.
Ongoing research/Clinical trials
Erasmus University Rotterdam (Evenhuis HM)
- Beer EFG de; De effecten van donepezil bij Downsyndroom; Down + Up 2003; 62
- Lott IT, Head E; Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease: a link between development and aging; Ment Ret Dev Dis 2001; 7
- Visser FE; Down en Alzheimer in perspectief; dissertation 1996
- Down’s Syndrome and Alzheimer’s Disease; Briefing North West Training & Development Team (1995)
- Dementia an Intellectual Disabilities; Fact sheet Alzheimer’s Disease International (s.a.)
Last Updated: vendredi 09 octobre 2009 | <urn:uuid:df06c0b9-a581-421c-8651-92c6b918c8b9> | {
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In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states.
It wasn't until October 1777 that all 13 colonies celebrated day of Thanksgiving.
The very first national day of Thanksgiving was held in 1789, when President George Washington proclaimed Thursday, Nov. 26, to be "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."
Though a national day of Thanksgiving was declared in 1789, Thanksgiving was not an annual celebration.
We owe the modern concept of Thanksgiving to poet and editor, Sarah Josepha Hale. Hale wrote the famous nursery rhyme, "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and was editor of "Godey's Lady's Book." She spent 40 years advocating for a national, annual Thanksgiving holiday.
In the years leading up to the Civil War, she saw the holiday as a way to infuse hope and belief in the nation and the constitution. So, when the United States was torn in half during the Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln was searching for a way to bring the nation together, he discussed the matter with Hale.
On Oct. 3, 1863, Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation that declared the last Thursday in November (based on Washington's date) to be a day of "thanksgiving and praise."
For the first time, Thanksgiving became a national, annual holiday with a specific date.
For 75 years after Lincoln issued his Thanksgiving Proclamation, succeeding presidents honored the tradition and annually issued their own Thanksgiving Proclamation, declaring the last Thursday in November as the day of Thanksgiving.
However, in 1939, during the Great Depression, the date of Thanksgiving was scheduled to be Nov. 30.
Retailers complained to President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) that this only left 24 shopping days to Christmas and begged him to push Thanksgiving just one week earlier. It was determined that most people do their Christmas shopping after Thanksgiving and retailers hope that with an extra week of shopping, people would buy more.
When FDR announced his Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1939, he declared the date of Thanksgiving to be Thursday, Nov. 23, the second-to-last Thursday of the month.
The new date for Thanksgiving caused a lot of confusion. Calendars were now incorrect. Schools who had planned vacations and tests now had to reschedule. Thanksgiving had been a big day for football games, as it is today, so the game schedule had to be examined.
Before 1939, governors followed the president in officially proclaiming the same day as Thanksgiving for their state. In 1939, many governors did not agree with FDR's decision to change the date and refused to follow him. The country became split on which Thanksgiving they should observe.
Twenty-three states followed FDR's change. Twenty-three other states disagreed with FDR and kept the traditional date for Thanksgiving. Two states, Colorado and Texas, decided to honor both dates.
This idea of two Thanksgiving days split some families because not everyone had the same day off work.
Did it work?
The answer was no. Businesses reported that the spending was approximately the same but the distribution of the shopping was changed.
For those states who celebrated the earlier Thanksgiving date, the shopping was evenly distributed throughout the season. For those states that kept the traditional date, businesses experienced a bulk of shopping in the last week before Christmas.
In 1940, FDR again announced Thanksgiving to be the second-to-last Thursday of the month. This time, 31 states followed him with the earlier date and 17 kept the traditional date. Confusion over two Thanksgivings continued.
Lincoln established the Thanksgiving holiday to bring the country together, but the confusion over the date change was tearing it apart. On Dec. 26, 1941, Congress passed a law declaring that Thanksgiving would occur every year on the fourth Thursday of November. | <urn:uuid:edb5a441-8784-4e07-bb35-02826d98185c> | {
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Identifying Hurdles to Renewable Electricity Transmission
SOURCE: AP/Thanassis Stavrakis
This article contains a correction.
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The next administration will face an extensive list of simultaneous policy challenges, not least of which include an international financial crisis, two wars abroad, and the growing climate crisis. While President Barack Obama navigates which issues and policies to prioritize, an essential element of our nation’s economic recovery must be investing in a clean energy economy in order to create jobs and spur economic growth and prosperity, while at the same time fighting global warming and addressing national security.
This report seeks to highlight the multiple challenges and opportunities for action to vastly increase our nation’s renewable energy generation and connect this clean energy to the grid via advanced electrical transmission construction. Identifying the significant, but by no means insurmountable, obstacles to implementing this vision is the first step toward designing policy solutions that enable investments to not only significantly reduce our nation’s global warming emissions but also to put us on a path to a clean energy future.
Our electricity grid is an integral but often overlooked element in the shift to a low-carbon economy. The current grid configuration cannot handle the growth in electricity demand expected over the next few decades unless we act quickly to modernize it. Grid modernization must be compatible with scaling up renewable energy generation, including the ability to incorporate intermittent renewable electricity generation, and carrying renewable power to city centers, which in many cases will require long-distance transmission. Additional important modernization efforts also include grid expansion, improved connectivity between different U.S. regions, increased efficiency of electricity transmission, improved security to ensure reliable supply of electricity, and adoption of smart grid technologies.
The electricity grid in the United States is often heralded as one of the world’s first great technological achievements in modern history. The grid pioneered national access to electricity and spurred prosperity, and it now represents a central piece of economic and societal infrastructure. But nearly a century after grid construction began, no major updates have occurred. In a recent publication, the Department of Energy frames the issue well: If Alexander Bell were to see his original invention—the telephone—today, he would be blown away by the progress of telecommunications. In stark contrast, not much has changed for electricity distribution and technologies since Thomas Edison’s time.
Currently, the United States derives only 2 to 3 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, excluding hydropower. A national Renewable Portfolio Standard, or RPS—which sets a target percentage of renewable energy generation by a certain year—would dramatically increase this percentage and can serve as an important step toward establishing a low-carbon economy and combating global warming. President-elect Obama has endorsed a national RPS of 10 percent by 2012 and 25 percent by 2025. In the absence of federal leadership, 27 states and the District of Columbia have established state-level RPS requirements, and six additional states have explicit renewable electricity goals. Thus, about 70 percent of the U.S. population is currently under a renewable electricity mandate or goal.
Reaching the target set by any type of renewable portfolio standard requires grid modernization and new transmission, yet how to proceed is a contentious and difficult policy challenge. A timely example is unfolding in Minnesota, where Xcel Energy and other regional utilities are working on a project called CapX 2020 to add more than 700 miles of new transmission in order to help meet the state RPS. The project is encountering a variety of obstacles, which reveal the difficulty that scaling up renewable electricity production is likely to face.
Implementation hurdles to CapX 2020 and other projects include environmental, public, and political concerns, siting authority, permit approval procedures, and environmental impact assessments. We will explore these issues here and briefly discuss other challenges that must be addressed, such as a qualified workforce, grid access, and cost recovery for new construction.
Even though new construction of renewable energy facilities and transmission lines offers significant environmental benefits—including reducing greenhouse gas emissions—any new construction risks facing public opposition for aesthetic, economic, or environmental reasons. Typical objections include charges that new construction obstructs views, reduces property values, and could harm endangered species and habitats.
One project that faced widespread public opposition is the offshore wind farm called Cape Wind in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the Nantucket Sound. The project was first proposed in 2001 and its developer spent years fighting public claims that the farm would be a visual sore, negatively affect tourism to the region, and threaten birds, bottom-dwelling fish species, and boat navigation. This type of opposition is frequently called the not-in-my-backyard syndrome, or NIMBY, which describes a common tendency for people to favor a project until it directly affects them. Six years after Cape Wind was proposed, in January 2008, the U.S. Minerals Management Service completed an environmental impact statement and approved the wind farm, concluding it would not have a significant, lasting effect on wildlife, tourism, or navigation. Efforts must be made to both integrate the public’s concern and expedite such decision-making processes.
The opportunities to modernize the grid and the added urgency to combat global warming highlight the need to act quickly. Involving constituents early in the decision-making process can help temper public opposition to renewable energy infrastructure. Working with different constituencies so that they understand the energy and global warming challenge and the employment and economic growth opportunities associated with clean energy infrastructure can generate greater support for these projects, too.
One successful case study is the western United States. Both the Western Governors’ Association and individual states like Colorado have aggressively pursued initiatives to expand renewable energy capacity on the grid. This year the WGA launched the Western Renewable Energy Zones Project to expedite the development and delivery of clean and renewable energy, and last year Colorado passed legislation (SB 100) requiring utilities to identify renewable energy resources and plan transmission lines to harness those resources. To accomplish these projects, WGA and Colorado have embarked on thorough stakeholder processes to ensure that invested voices have the opportunity to be heard. As a result, the West is making notable progress toward constructing the necessary renewable energy transmission infrastructure. In contrast, Pennsylvania and surrounding Mid-Atlantic states have seen opposition erupt over a transmission corridor designation, mainly due to the lack of sufficient consultation with the public and with state and local authorities.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires the Secretary of Energy to designate National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors, or NIETCs, in areas experiencing electricity transmission constraints or congestion. The law also grants the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission backstop eminent domain authority to grant permits for interstate transmission lines if a transmission developer is not able to site a line at the state level after a year or under certain other conditions, and the line is in an NIETC. Eminent domain authority allows the federal government to bypass or override state or local decisions on electricity transmission siting in the name of national interest, even when facing objections from states, localities, or private property owners. With this authority, the federal government has identified two NIETC corridors, one in the Southwest consisting of parts of Southern California and Western Arizona and the other in the Mid-Atlantic.
The Mid-Atlantic NIETC spans large parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, and has also drawn significant opposition. In Pennsylvania, the NIETC encompasses 50 of the state’s 67 counties, and includes historic sites, agricultural land, protected habitats, and national parks. During the public comment period, over 2,000 replies were submitted expressing concern over the corridor, and the extent of land incorporated caused Governor Ed Rendell to describe the designation “so broad as to be meaningless.” At least 14 senators representing Mid-Atlantic states are also opposed to the corridor. No fewer than three bills have been introduced in Congress to repeal or modify the federal government’s eminent domain authority in response to the Mid-Atlantic NIETC’s designation.
These examples shed light on a hurdle to new transmission and generation: The conflict over federal versus state jurisdiction over new transmission projects and authority over siting decisions. Navigating this question is proving to be politically contentious and time-consuming. Another pending conflict is in the Southwest, where Southern California Edison has launched a pre-filing consultation process with FERC in an effort to build a new transmission line between Arizona and Southern California after failing to reach agreement about this new line with Arizona.
There is still much to be done to facilitate work between federal and state authorities to determine new transmission corridors. This is especially important in light of the increasing demand for new transmission to meet new electricity demand, stabilize the grid, and facilitate connecting renewable electricity to the grid.
Permit Approval Procedures
Another hurdle to siting renewable energy infrastructure is that permit criterion, application, and review processes are inconsistent across municipalities, counties, states, and the federal government. Efforts must be ramped up to develop an integrated strategy for working across jurisdictions and federal agencies to ensure swift and comprehensive review and permitting. A wind farm proposal, for example, could fall to any one of eight federal agencies, but there is no streamlined process for coordinated action. Developing greater coordination across agencies and between state and federal government will be critical in order to reach ambitious goals for renewable energy penetration in our electrical supply.
In the three years since the Energy Policy Act of 2005 encouraged renewable energy development on federal land, the Bureau of Land Management has yet to approve a single concentrated solar or solar PV facility. Additionally, during the summer of 2008, the BLM attempted to entirely freeze solar applications on BLM-managed land until it could sort out its environmental assessment. However, the agency’s attempted moratorium was met with fervent protest and the decision was reversed within months.
Another example occured in October 2008, when the Department of Interior announced it compiled a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for geothermal applications on federally owned or managed land; however, the Environmental Protection Agency has raised concerns about groundwater and air quality impacts regarding the PEIS.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires coordinated effort by the secretaries of agriculture, commerce, defense, energy, and interior, in consultation with FERC, other governments, industries, and other interested parties to designate energy corridors for oil, gas, and hydrogen pipelines as well as electricity transmission and distribution facilities on federal lands, in part in an to attempt to reduce federal siting hurdles experienced by energy developers. Recently, the federal government designated the West-wide energy corridor, which stretches across 11 states and covers nearly 3 million acres. Western states that the corridor affects have made recent attempts to prioritize renewable energy generation and transmission, such as through the Western Renewable Energy Zones Project.
The West-wide designation has met with public opposition because of claims it should have given greater prioritization to renewable electricity, and that the involved federal agencies did not adequately consult regional or local entities before creating the energy corridors on protected federal lands, such as New Mexico’s Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and Arches National Park. This experience makes it clear that there are many priorities to consider as we develop our nation’s energy resources. While difficult choices between conflicting priorities will continue to arise, there will also be opportunities to address these challenges as efforts to scale up renewable energy proceed.
One of the goals of new renewable energy infrastructure and supporting electrical grid investments to connect areas of high renewable energy potential to regions of the country with the greatest demand is to advance the environmental goal of reducing our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions and to facilitate a shift to a low-carbon economy. The Center for American Progress has argued that federal permitting of new projects that require environmental impact statements under the National Environmental Policy Act should not only consider greenhouse gas emissions resulting from those projects, but also the projected impacts of global warming on these projects to ensure responsible spending of taxpayer dollars. Thus, when weighed against high-carbon energy development projects, renewable projects should be accelerated given global warming considerations. Yet new construction and development invariably have environmental impacts, and environmental review is indispensable to understand a project’s impact on natural habitats and wildlife, endangered species, water supply, water quality, and air quality. Decisions must be considered given regulation set by the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act, among others.
Recently the Environmental Protection Agency warned that the evaluation drafted by the Interior Department—the PEIS mentioned above—does not adequately consider geothermal energy’s effect on water quality. In the millions of acres identified by the DOI for geothermal development, there are 23 aquifers that people depend on for drinking water. Before moving forward on a large scale, the EPA argues we need a concrete understanding of if and how much water supply could be depleted (particularly in the West).
Still, the environmental impact of renewable energy is estimated to be far less than that of fossil fuels, particularly in terms of water withdrawal and land disturbance. Renewable electricity-generating technologies are estimated to use tens of billions of gallons less water than thermoelectric power plants. Coal mining is estimated to disrupt 400,000 hectares of U.S. land each year. In contrast, a Department of Energy scenario that sketches how to acquire 20 percent of our nation’s electricity from wind power by 2030 suggests that wind farms would cause a one-time disruption of 100,000 to 250,000 hectares. That is, if they cannot be sited on previously disturbed lands, such as “brownfield” sites. California has expressed a preference for siting new renewable energy generation on brownfield sites because reusing the land reduces environmental degradation, and the California Energy Commission wishes to see environmental criterion that weighs this benefit.
A qualified workforce, grid access, and the question of cost recovery are additional challenges to address.
Despite the political interest, enthusiasm, and necessity to revamp our energy and electricity infrastructure, we have not yet adequately invested in facilitating a ramped-up clean energy and transmission workforce, including engineers, manufacturers, and construction workers. A 2006 study by the National Renewable Energy Lab identified the shortage of skills and training as a leading non-technical barrier causing a bottleneck in the future growth of the renewable energy and energy-efficiency industries. This growing skills shortage is occurring even as the American Public Power Association reports that half of current utility workers will retire within the next decade. Policymakers must work to remedy this shortfall through comprehensive low-carbon energy and workforce training programs.
We have the opportunity to create a truly national electricity grid that facilitates renewable energy access. Currently, we do not have one, large grid; we have three, separate regional grids called Interconnects—the Western Interconnect, the Eastern Interconnect, and the Texas Interconnect. The current capacity to transmit electricity across interconnects is very limited. Therefore the grid’s current structure prohibits states with abundant solar or wind energy from transmitting large amounts of this power between interconnects, a technical barrier to transporting electricity to where it could be most needed.
Ensuring renewable energy access to transmission infrastructure—existing infrastructure as well as new transmission lines—is another imperative. Part of this challenge requires load integration between renewable and traditional sources. Because renewable electricity is an emerging market with fresh actors, certain energy providers have yet to prioritize renewable electricity and are in the process of learning the best techniques to integrate renewable energy, especially since it is often an intermittent source. Yet transmission lines are in high demand, and new transmission networks also need to be built out. As the example of the West-wide corridor illustrates, renewable energy still needs to emerge as a priority in planning stages so that it is not disadvantaged in terms of accessing transmission capacity.
Finally, utilities, developers, and policymakers have to decide how to distribute costs and create a plan to pay for renewable energy transmission infrastructure. Should electricity ratepayers who benefit see a slight increase in prices, or should a renewable energy-compatible overhaul be something that taxpayers help fund in the greater interest of their state, region, or nation? Here, too, we may need innovation and a national approach to problem solving.
Traditional strategies for rate recovery allocate the costs of new projects to those rate payers who benefit, but this regional allocation of costs may not be sufficient when the benefits of improved reliability and greater use of clean energy are benefits that accrue to the nation at large, or the scope of the benefits is much larger than any single utility or service area. In these cases, there may be strong reasons for a federal commitment to take on the costs of upgrading our electrical infrastructure to provide a truly national clean energy network. Regardless of the ultimate resolution of this question, it is a near certainty that innovative financing and policy tools will be important moving forward.
Our economy is in trouble, and a massive investment in clean energy must be part of the solution. We are in need of major investments to rejuvenate communities, create new markets and growing industries, and create jobs rebuilding our infrastructure. At the same time we also need to take significant steps to reduce our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.
America’s electricity grid is a vulnerable intersection of our national security interests and our energy and economic security as well, yet it can be a tremendous source of inspiration for America’s spirit of innovation, and a good way to invest in a more prosperous future. A clean energy economy is not only better for the environment, but it is also more modern, more efficient, safer, and enables tremendous cost savings for American workers and their employers. As the Obama administration sets its priorities, it must take a close look at new renewable electricity generation and the advanced transmission that will be required to take wind, solar, and geothermal to a national scale. As the administration lays new plans for infrastructure, government at all stages must be engaged in finding new solutions and new opportunities for collaboration to meet our shared national interest in building a green, prosperous, and vibrant low-carbon economy.
Special thanks to Bracken Hendricks and Benjamin Goldstein.
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Every generation has to reinvent the practice of computer programming. In the 1950s the key innovations were programming languages such as Fortran and Lisp. The 1960s and '70s saw a crusade to root out "spaghetti code" and replace it with "structured programming." Since the 1980s software development has been dominated by a methodology known as object-oriented programming, or OOP. Now there are signs that OOP may be running out of oomph, and discontented programmers are once again casting about for the next big idea. It's time to look at what might await us in the post-OOP era (apart from an unfortunate acronym).
The Tar Pit
The architects of the earliest computer systems gave little thought to software. (The very word was still a decade in the future.) Building the machine itself was the serious intellectual challenge; converting mathematical formulas into program statements looked like a routine clerical task. The awful truth came out soon enough. Maurice V. Wilkes, who wrote what may have been the first working computer program, had his personal epiphany in 1949, when "the realization came over me with full force that a good part of the remainder of my life was going to be spent in finding errors in my own programs." Half a century later, we're still debugging.
The very first programs were written in pure binary notation: Both data and instructions had to be encoded in long, featureless strings of 1s and 0s. Moreover, it was up to the programmer to keep track of where everything was stored in the machine's memory. Before you could call a subroutine, you had to calculate its address.
The technology that lifted these burdens from the programmer was assembly language, in which raw binary codes were replaced by symbols such as load, store, add, sub. The symbols were translated into binary by a program called an assembler, which also calculated addresses. This was the first of many instances in which the computer was recruited to help with its own programming.
Assembly language was a crucial early advance, but still the programmer had to keep in mind all the minutiae in the instruction set of a specific computer. Evaluating a short mathematical expression such as x2+y2 might require dozens of assembly-language instructions. Higher-level languages freed the programmer to think in terms of variables and equations rather than registers and addresses. In Fortran, for example, x2+y2 would be written simply as X**2+Y**2. Expressions of this kind are translated into binary form by a program called a compiler.
With Fortran and the languages that followed, programmers finally had the tools they needed to get into really serious trouble. By the 1960s large software projects were notorious for being late, overbudget and buggy; soon came the appalling news that the cost of software was overtaking that of hardware. Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., who managed the OS/360 software program at IBM, called large-system programming a "tar pit" and remarked, "Everyone seems to have been surprised by the stickiness of the problem."
One response to this crisis was structured programming, a reform movement whose manifesto was Edsger W. Dijkstra's brief letter to the editor titled "Go to statement considered harmful." Structured programs were to be built out of subunits that have a single entrance point and a single exit (eschewing the goto command, which allows jumps into or out of the middle of a routine). Three such constructs were recommended: sequencing (do A, then B, then C), alternation (either do A or do B) and iteration (repeat A until some condition is satisfied). Corrado Böhm and Giuseppe Jacopini proved that these three idioms are sufficient to express essentially all programs.
Structured programming came packaged with a number of related principles and imperatives. Top-down design and stepwise refinement urged the programmer to set forth the broad outlines of a procedure first and only later fill in the details. Modularity called for self-contained units with simple interfaces between them. Encapsulation, or data hiding, required that the internal workings of a module be kept private, so that later changes to the module would not affect other areas of the program. All of these ideas have proved their worth and remain a part of software practice today. But they did not rescue programmers from the tar pit.
Nouns and Verbs
The true history of software development is not a straight line but a meandering river with dozens of branches. Some of the tributaries—functional programming, declarative programming, methods based on formal proofs of correctness—are no less interesting than the mainstream, but here I have room to explore only one channel: object-
Consider a program for manipulating simple geometric figures. In a non-OOP environment, you might begin by writing a series of procedures with names such as rotate, scale, reflect, calculate-area, calculate-perimeter. Each of these verblike procedures could be applied to triangles, squares, circles and many other shapes; the figures themselves are nounlike entities embodied in data structures separate from the procedures. For example, a triangle might by represented by an array of three vertices, where each vertex is a pair of x and y coordinates. Applying the rotate procedure to this data structure would alter the coordinates and thereby turn the triangle.
What's the matter with this scheme? One likely source of trouble is that the procedures and the data structures are separate but interdependent. If you change your mind about the implementation of triangles—perhaps using a linked list of points instead of an array—you must remember to change all the procedures that might ever be applied to a triangle. Also, choosing different representations for some of the figures becomes awkward. If you describe a circle in terms of a center and a radius rather than a set of vertices, all the procedures have to treat circles as a special case. Yet another pitfall is that the data structures are public property, and the procedures that share them may not always play nicely together. A figure altered by one procedure might no longer be valid input for another.
Object-oriented programming addresses these issues by packing both data and procedures—both nouns and verbs—into a single object. An object named triangle would have inside it some data structure representing a three-sided shape, but it would also include the procedures (called methods in this context) for acting on the data. To rotate a triangle, you send a message to the triangle object, telling it to rotate itself. Sending and receiving messages is the only way objects communicate with one another; outsiders are not allowed direct access to the data. Because only the object's own methods know about the internal data structures, it's easier to keep them in sync.
This scheme would not have much appeal if every time you wanted to create a triangle, you had to write out all the necessary data structures and methods—but that's not how it works. You define the class triangle just once; individual triangles are created as instances of the class. A mechanism called inheritance takes this idea a step further. You might define a more-general class polygon, which would have triangle as a subclass, along with other subclasses such as quadrilateral, pentagon and hexagon. Some methods would be common to all polygons; one example is the calculation of perimeter, which can be done by adding the lengths of the sides, no matter how many sides there are. If you define the method calculate-perimeter in the class polygon, all the subclasses inherit this code.
Object-oriented programming traces its heritage back to simula, a programming language devised in the 1960s by Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard. Some object-oriented ideas were also anticipated by David L. Parnas. And the Sketchpad system of Ivan Sutherland was yet another source of inspiration. The various threads came together when Alan Kay and his colleagues created the Smalltalk language at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in the 1970s. Within a decade several more object-oriented languages were in use, most notably Bjarne Stroustrup's C++, and later Java. Object-oriented features have also been retrofitted onto older languages, such as Lisp.
As OOP has transformed the way programs are written, there has also been a major shift in the nature of the programs themselves. In the software-engineering literature of the 1960s and '70s, example programs tend to have a sausage-grinder structure: Inputs enter at one end, and outputs emerge at the other. An example is a compiler, which transforms source code into machine code. Programs written in this style have not disappeared, but they are no longer the center of attention. The emphasis now is on interactive software with a graphical user interface. Programming manuals for object-oriented languages are all about windows and menus and mouse clicks. In other words, OOP is not just a different solution; it also solves a different problem.
Aspects and Objects
Most of the post-OOP initiatives do not aim to supplant object-oriented programming; they seek to refine or improve or reinvigorate it. A case in point is aspect-oriented programming, or AOP.
The classic challenge in writing object-oriented programs is finding the right decomposition into classes and objects. Returning to the example of a program for playing with geometric figures, a typical instance of the class pentagon might look like this: . But this object is also a pentagon: . And so is this: . To accommodate the differences between these figures, you could introduce subclasses of pentagon—perhaps named convex-pentagon, non-convex-pentagon and five-pointed-star. But then you would have to do the same thing for hexagons, heptagons and so forth, which soon becomes tedious. Moreover, this classification would give you no way to write methods that apply, say, to all convex polygons but to no others. An alternative decomposition would divide the polygon class into convex-polygon and non-convex-polygon, then subdivide the latter class into simple-polygon and self-intersecting-polygon. With this choice, however, you lose the ability to address all five-sided figures as a group.
One solution to this quandary is multiple inheritance—allowing a class to have more than one parent. Thus a five-pointed star could be a subclass both of pentagon and of self-intersecting-polygon and could inherit methods from both. The wisdom of this arrangement is a matter of eternal controversy in the OOP community.
Aspect-oriented programming takes another approach to dealing with "crosscutting" issues that cannot easily be arranged in a treelike hierarchy. An example in the geometry program might be the need to update a display window every time a figure is moved or modified. The straightforward OOP solution is to have each method that changes the appearance of a figure (such as rotate or scale) send a message to a display-manager object, telling the display what needs to be redrawn. But hundreds of methods could send such messages. Even apart from the boredom of writing the same code over and over, there is the worry that the interface to the display manager might change someday, requiring many methods to be revised. The AOP answer is to isolate the display-update "aspect" of the program in a module of its own. The programmer writes one instance of the code that calls for a display update, along with a specification of all the occasions on which that code is to be invoked—for example, whenever a rotate method is executed. Then even though the text of the rotate method does not mention display updating, the appropriate message is sent at the appropriate time.
An AOP system called AspectJ, developed by Gregor Kiczales and a group of colleagues at Xerox PARC, works as an extension of the Java language. AOP is particularly attractive for implementing ubiquitous tasks such as error-handling, the logging of events, and synchronizing multiple threads of execution, which might otherwise be scattered throughout a program. But there are dissenting views. Jörg Kienzle and Rachid Guerraoui report on an attempt to build a transaction-
processing system with AspectJ, where the key requirement is that transactions be executed completely or not at all (so that the system cannot debit one account without crediting another). They found it difficult to cleanly isolate this property as an aspect.
Surely the most obvious place to look for help with programming a computer is the computer itself. If Fortran can be compiled into machine code, then why not transform some higher-level description or specification directly into a ready-to-run program? This is an old dream. It lives on under names such as generative programming, metaprogramming and intentional programming.
In general, fully automatic programming remains beyond our reach, but there is one area where the idea has solid theoretical underpinnings as well as a record of practical success: in the building of compilers. Instead of hand-crafting a compiler for a specific programming language, the common practice is to write a grammar for the language and then generate the compiler with a program called a compiler compiler. (The best-known of these programs is Yacc, which stands for "yet another compiler compiler.")
Generative programming would adapt this model to other domains. For example, a program generator for the kind of software that controls printers and other peripheral devices would accept a grammar-like description of the device and produce an appropriately specialized program. Another kind of generator might assemble "protocol stacks" for computer networking.
Krzysztof Czarnecki and Ulrich W. Eisenecker compare a generative-programming system to a factory for manufacturing automobiles. Building the factory is more work than building a single car by hand, but the factory can produce thousands of cars. Moreover, if the factory is designed well, it can turn out many different models just by changing the specifications. Likewise generative programming would create families of programs tailored to diverse circumstances but all assembled from similar components.
The Quality Without a Name
Another new programming methodology draws its inspiration from an unexpected quarter. Although the term "computer architecture" goes back to the dawn of the industry, it was nonetheless a surprise when a band of software designers became disciples of a bricks-and-steel architect, Christopher Alexander. Even Alexander was surprised.
Alexander is known for the enigmatic thesis that well-designed buildings and towns must have "the quality without a name." He explains: "The fact that this quality cannot be named does not mean that it is vague or imprecise. It is impossible to name because it is unerringly precise." Does that answer your question?
Even if the quality had a name, it's not clear how one would turn it into a prescription for building good houses—or good software. Fortunately, Alexander is more explicit elsewhere in his writings. He urges architects to exploit recurrent patterns observed in both problems and solutions. For the pattern of events labeled "watching the world go by," a good solution is probably going to look something like a front porch. Taken over into the world of software, this approach leads to a catalogue of design patterns for solving specific, recurring problems in object-oriented programming. For example, a pattern named Bridge deals with the problem of setting up communications between two objects that may not know of each other's existence at the time a program is written. A pattern named Composite handles the situation where a single object and a collection of multiple objects have to be given the same status, as is often the case with files and directories of files.
Over the past 10 years a sizable community has grown up around the pattern idea. There are dozens of books, web sites and an annual conference called Pattern Languages of Programming, or PLoP. Compared with earlier reform movements in computing, the pattern community sounds a little unfocused and New Age. Whereas structured programming was founded on a proof that three specific structures suffice to express all algorithms, there is nothing resembling such a proof to justify the selection of ideas included in catalogues of design patterns. As a matter of fact, the whole idea of proofs seems to be out of favor in the pattern community.
Software Jeremiahs usually preach that programming should be an engineering profession, guided by standards analogous to building codes, or else it should be a branch of applied mathematics, with programs constructed like mathematical proofs. The pattern movement rejects both of these ideals and suggests instead that programmers are like carpenters or stonemasons—stewards of a body of knowledge gained by experience and passed along by tradition and apprenticeship. This is a movement of practitioners, not academics. Pattern advocates express particular contempt for the notion that programming might someday be taken over entirely by the computer. Automating a craft, they argue, is not only infeasible but also undesirable.
The rhetoric of the pattern movement may sound like the ranting of a fringe group, but pattern methods have been adopted in several large organizations producing large—and successful—software systems. (When you make a phone call, you may well be relying on the work of programmers seeking out the quality without a name.) Moreover, beyond the rhetoric, the writings of the software-patterns community can be quite down-to-earth and pragmatic.
If the pattern community is on the radical fringe, how far out is extreme programming (or, as it is sometimes spelled, eXtreme programming)? For the leaders of this movement, the issue is not so much the nature of the software itself but the way programming projects are organized and managed. They want to peel away layers of bureaucracy and jettison most of the stages of analysis, planning, testing, review and documentation that slow down software development. Just let programmers program! The recommended protocol is to work in pairs, two programmers huddling over a single keyboard, checking their own work as they go along. Is it a fad? A cult? Although the name may evoke a culture of body piercing and bungee jumping, extreme programming seems to have gained a foothold among the pinstriped suits. The first major project completed under the method was a payroll system for a transnational automobile manufacturer.
Ask Me About My OOP Diet
Frederick Brooks, who wrote of the tar pit in the 1960s, followed up in 1987 with an essay on the futility of seeking a "silver bullet," a single magical remedy for all of software's ills. Techniques such as object-oriented programming might alleviate "accidental difficulties" of software development, he said, but the essential complexity cannot be wished away. This pronouncement that the disease is incurable made everyone feel better. But it deterred no one from proposing remedies.
After several weeks' immersion in the how-to-program literature, I am reminded of the shelves upon shelves of diet books in the self-help department of my local bookstore. In saying this I mean no disrespect to either genre. Most diet books, somewhere deep inside, offer sound advice: Eat less, exercise more. Most programming manuals also give wise counsel: Modularize, encapsulate. But surveying the hundreds of titles in both categories leaves me with a nagging doubt: The very multiplicity of answers undermines them all. Isn't it likely that we'd all be thinner, and we'd all have better software, if there were just one true diet, and one true programming methodology?
Maybe that day will come. In the meantime, I'm going on a spaghetti-code diet.
© Brian Hayes | <urn:uuid:810d86e4-c8e4-4ea2-a9e6-937895141aaa> | {
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Each month there is a special South Carolina token or medal that is highlighted as the Token or Medal of the Month. This month we will showcase an interesting early 20th century trade token from the city of Charleston.
The city of Charleston has always played a significant role in the history of the state of South Carolina. From its beginnings in 1670 as a small colonial settlement at the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, through its growing importance as a seaport for the fledgling nation, to its part as the incendiary flashpoint in the sectional conflict which became the Civil War, the city has enjoyed a prominence that seemingly lifted it above similar communities in the state. It is no small wonder then, that some of its citizens thought the city to occupy a pedestal raised above its South Carolina neighbors.
It was this feeling of superiority that occasionally led some Charlestonians to consider themselves immune from the laws and social mores governing the rest of the state. And this sentiment, in turn, gave rise to the issuance of this month's token, which so publicly flaunted Charleston's opposition to the state dispensary law and the temperance movement behind it.
On its surface, the 29mm aluminum token shown above does not appear to carry any hint of its true nature. The innocuous inscription on the obverse reads GOOD FOR 5¢ IN TRADE AT CHICCO'S CAFE. The pictorial of the blindfolded tiger on the reverse, however, is a blatant advertisement for the "supposedly" clandestine saloon which Vincent Chicco operated in conjunction with his cafe. And, as such, the token speaks volumes on Charleston's open opposition to the state legislature's attempts to outlaw saloons and the sale of liquor by the drink in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
During the aforementioned time period hundreds of "blind tigers," as they were commonly called, sprung up in Charleston and other cities in South Carolina. The illegal drinking establishments were a logical response to Governor Ben Tillman's attempt to legislate the drinking habits of a populace which liked its liquor. Tillman had much difficulty in controlling the "blind tigers" across the state, but especially so in the city of Charleston. Several times during his tenure in office he had to send out state constables to arrest any proprietors they could catch selling alcohol illegally. Vincent Chicco was one of the first people arrested after the enactment of Tillman's dispensary bill. A scant two weeks after the bill became law, Chicco was arrested and brought before a judge for illegal liquor sales. The details of his arrest and subsequent legal proceedings were covered prominently in the Charleston newspapers and Chicco's case became infamous. Despite his brush with the law, he continued to sell alcohol to his customers in open defiance of the dispensary law and was subsequently arrested at least three times, in 1901, 1902, and 1903.
Chicco apparently operated more than one clandestine saloon, and became known as the "King of the Blind Tigers." His main base of operations was at 83 Market Street, where he and his growing family lived in an apartment above the premises. At times Chicco's business was listed in the city directories as a grocery, a delicatessen, a cafe, and a restaurant. Prior to July 1893, when the dispensary act came into effect, Chicco was listed as a saloonkeeper. In 1894 and beyond, his business was never again described as a saloon, but his advertisements in the city directories certainly made it known that he sold wines and liquors.
Chicco parlayed his notoriety for opposing the dispensary law into his election to the Charleston City Council as alderman for his ward. He was elected to five consecutive terms and for his earnestness in representing the members of his district he gained the unofficial epithet "Mayor of Ward 3." Chicco died in 1928 at the age of 78. His obituary in the Charleston newspaper characterized him as "possessing a forceful personality" and a "raconteur of ability." The newspaper mentioned his emigration to this country from Italy as a teenager after a short stint as a merchant seaman. Chicco then worked on one of the local railroads for a short period, after which he was employed as a policeman for the city of Charleston. He started his saloon business in 1892. He married Miss Mary Ann Burke of Charleston and had four children, Joseph, Vincent, Jr., Natalie, and an unidentified daughter.
Incidentally, the term "blind tiger" as a synonym for an illegal drinking establishment can be traced back to the 1850s. A sister term "blind pig" dates from the 1870s. The terms derive from clandestine establishments that would advertise exotic animals on their window blinds, charging admission to see the said animals, which of course were not inside. Once admitted, patrons were then served with the illegal refreshment of their choice. The following limerick summarizes the ruse:
On the store, though behind it you'd find
Neither bengal nor cat,
Just a liquor-filled vat
And the patrons who paid didn't mind.
Copyright 2006 by Tony Chibbaro.
The South Carolina Dispensary & Embossed S.C. Whiskey Bottles & Jugs, 1865-1915 by Harvey S. Teal and Rita Foster Wallace, Midlands Printing Company, Camden, S.C., 2005.
South Carolina Postcards, Volume I, Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester Counties by Howard Woody and Thomas L. Johnson, Arcadia Publishing Company, Charleston, S.C., 1997.
The Red Tape Cocktail: Charleston's Reaction to the South Carolina Dispensary System by Helen Glenn Smith, published in Chrestomathy: Annual Review of Undergraduate Research, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Charleston, Volume 4, 2005: pp 195-217, College of Charleston, 2005.
Chicco Funeral This Afternoon in News & Courier, October 26, 1928.
OEDILF: The Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form online at http://www.oedilf.com.
If you collect or have a casual interest in South Carolina tokens or tokens issued by cotton mills, lumber companies, or other types of businesses, you may want to purchase my book, South Carolina Tokens and its three supplements. To read a description of these standard references, please click on this link: Books.
Token or Medal of the Month Main Page
A Short History of Token Use in South Carolina
South Carolina Trade Tokens for Sale - Page 1
South Carolina Trade Tokens for Sale - Page 2
Other South Carolina Exonumia for Sale
Trade Tokens from Other States for Sale
eBay Auction Listings
South Carolina Stereoviews
The Charleston Exposition
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March 2003 | Monitor on Psychology | Vol. 34 No. 3
COVER: Cover topic: Anger
- When anger's a plus
Despite its mixed reputation, anger can play a constructive role at home, at work and in the national consciousness, psychologists are finding
- Angry thoughts, at-risk hearts
Researchers are exploring whether angry and hostile people's coping and social support affect their risk for poor cardiovascular health.
- Hostility associated with immune function
Aggression and hostility can affect tumor necrosis factor — a protein that is released by immune cells and other tissues.
- 'Goo, gaa, grr?'
Researchers are still looking for consensus on how and when anger first appears in infants.
- Anger across the gender divide
Researchers strive to understand how men and women experience and express anger.
- Advances in anger management
Researchers and practitioners are examining what works best for managing problem anger.
Honeybees can use short-term memory to alternate between two food sources, a new study suggests.
- Study shows high rates of mental disorders among detained youth
- New database will help dispatch psychologists to disasters
- Psychologist/engineer team builds robot that senses emotions
- P. Kennedy will receive award at State Leadership Conference
- Foundation accepting applications for Seligman positive psychology award
- Study examines neural correlates of sympathy
- Even hands-free cell phones may impair driving
- Members expand mission statement, student representation, membership category
- Make plans for 2003 regional psychological association meetings
Allegations of politicization are threatening the credibility of the federal government's scientific advisory committees.
HIPAA's minimum necessary requirement was created to limit the amount of patient information that managed-care companies can request.
A psychosocial treatment model at Walter Reed Army Medical Center helps breast cancer patients and their partners find comfort and answers.
As more children survive cancer, psychologists are helping them overcome the academic, social and cognitive obstacles that result from the disease and its treatments.
A new APA interdivisional coalition aims to showcase psychology's research findings on education to the public and policy-makers.
Is the nation's rise in nontraditional faculty for better or worse?
Psychologists journey to Antarctica to evaluate those stationed there during the severe winters.
Organizers hope that changes introduced at APA's 2002 Annual Convention will pave the way to increased attendance at future conventions.
Interdisciplinary psychology programs focused on the underserved have secured $2 million in federal funding.
Nominate your colleagues now for next year's Annual Convention.
PUBLIC POLICY UPDATE
Health and education programs facing termination could use psychologists' advocacy. | <urn:uuid:49cdb529-acff-479c-a863-7e0e8e8ba16e> | {
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Thursday, July 19, 2012
Come learn about a local endangered species.
On August 8th my wife Pam and I will be part of a panel discussion at the Aquarium of the Pacific on a population of an endangered species that has chosen an improbable environmental niche in which to survive, the Green Sea Turtles of the San Gabriel River.
Not much is known about the Green Sea Turtles that take refuge in the warm water produced by power-plants on the river that provide electricity to parts of Los Angeles and Orange County. These turtles are more normally associated with the warmer waters of Mexico and Hawaii. Dan Lawson of NOAA, Pam and the Aquarium vet Lance Adams will talk about the recent research on these animals and the rehabilitation and tracking of stranded turtles. Many of my sea turtle images will be used in the talks and I’ll also be part of the panel discussion.
Since 2008 my wife Pam and I have been making regular treks to the San Gabriel River to gather information on these urban sea turtles. Pam taking notes on turtle sightings and incidental sightings of other wildlife while I photograph the brief instances that these sea turtles are at the surface. The Aquarium shares the data that we gather with the NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service.
How hard is it to photograph an urban sea turtle in the murky waters of the San Gabriel River? Unlike the sea lions and sea otters that I work with at the Aquarium I can’t tell these wild sea turtles to come up exactly when and where I want them to. To give you an idea of the short window of opportunity I have while trying to photograph these turtles try this exercise. Place your camera in your right hand and hold it at your waist. Take a coin and place it on your left hand thumb in a flipping position. Flip the coin in the air while at the same time bringing your camera up to your eyes. Before the coin hits the ground you have to find it in your viewfinder, focus and shoot a picture of it. That’s about how much time you have to photograph a sea turtle when it surfaces, takes a breath and dives.
Fortunately I do have a way of increasing my chances of getting a good shot of a sea turtle. When photographing any animal it helps to know your subjects. When the Aquarium of the Pacific opened in 1998 one of my duties along with taking care of the pinniped was to help out in caring for the four green sea turtles then on exhibit. This experience helps me understand a little bit of turtle behavior and helps me predict when and where they may surface in the river. I basically figure out a spot in the river where there is a high probability of a sea turtle surfacing, the approximate time between surfacing and hold my camera in a ready position in anticipation. It seems to work.
Come on down to the Aquarium of the Pacific on Wednesday August 8th and learn more about these local urban sea turtles.
Have Something to Say? Leave a Comment!
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The Douglasfir is to the world of trees what a decathlon winner is to the Olympics. This tree is an all-around champion. It is one of our most important lumber species, a magnificent ornamental tree, and one of the most popular Christmas trees in America. Additionally, a large number of bird and animal species find shelter and food in its majestic foliage.
This magnificent evergreen has a dense, cone-shape when young becoming more open and pyramid-shaped with maturity. It has a straight trunk with thin, smooth bark with resin blisters when young becoming thicker and furrowed on older trees. It reaches 40'-80', 12'-20' spread in the home landscape to over 200' in natural conditions. Coast Douglasfir needles are a dark yellow green although on some trees bluish green. In Rocky Mountain Douglasfir, the needles are blue green, but occasionally are yellowish green. The light brown, 3"-4" cones grow downward on the branches with distinctive 3-pointed bracts protruding from the between the scales. The Coast Douglasfir grows best in deep, moist, well drained, acid or neutral soil with atmospheric moisture, but the hardier Rocky Mountain variety is found in its native range on rocky mountain slopes. It does not tolerate dry, poor soils, and breakage is common on the side exposed to high winds. (zones 4-6)
Douglasfir seeds are used by blue grouse,songbirds, squirrels, rabbits, and other rodents and small animals. Antelope, deer, elk, mountain goats, and mountain sheep eat the twigs and foliage. It provides excellent cover for a wide range of animals.
While the Douglasfir may have first been introduced to cultivation by botanist-explorer David Douglas in 1826, its importance to American history continues unabated. As well as being the country's top source of lumber today, the Douglasfir also helped settle the West, providing railroad ties and telephone/telegraph poles. The Douglasfir was crucial to American soldiers in World War II as well, being used for everything from GIs' foot lockers to portable huts and even the rails of stretchers that carried many a soldier from battle. But perhaps one contribution of the Douglasfir symbolizes its place in America's evolving history more than any other. When in 1925 the time came to restore the masts of "Old Ironsides," the USS Constitution, sufficiently grand White Pine trees could no longer be found. Today, Old Ironsides proudly sails in the Boston Navy Yard under the power of three Douglasfir masts.
There are two geographical varieties of Douglasfir: Coast Douglasfir, Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii native to British Columbia along the Pacific coast to central California and western Nevada; Rocky Mountain Douglasfir native to the inland mountains of the Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountains from central British Columbia south to northern and central Mexico. The Coastal variety is faster growing, long-lived, and can reach over 300' tall. The needles are usually a dark yellow-green although some trees they may be bluish green. Rocky Mountain Douglasfir, Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca is hardier, slower growing, shorter lived and seldom grows over 130' tall. The needles are shorter and bluish green although in some trees may be yellowish green. The cones are barely 3" in length with bracts bent upwards.
Douglasfir is written as one word or hyphenated to show it is not a true fir.
Sensitive to drought conditions; requires good drainage.
The needles are spiral, simple, 1-1/2 inches long, shining, shade of green depends upon the variety, two bands of stomata beneath. Coast Douglasfir has dark yellow-green, occasionally bluish-green needles. Rocky Mountain Douglasfir has shorter, bluish-green, occasionally yellowish green needles.
male is red
female is green with prominent bracts
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SAN MARINO, CA.-
Drawing on the unparalleled manuscripts collection on the topic held by The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
, a major exhibition illuminates the remarkable changes wrought in the United States by the planning, construction, and completion of the transcontinental railroad. Visions of Empire: The Quest for a Railroad Across America, 18401880, on view April 21 through July 23 in the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery, coincides with the 150th anniversary of the 1862 Pacific Railroad Act, which led to the rail connection between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean. The exhibition features some 200 items, the vast majority from The Huntingtonincluding maps, photographs, illustrations, newspapers, magazines, letters, and diaries, most of which have never before been on public display.
Visions of Empire is our first large-scale effort to share with the public The Huntingtons trove of materials relating to the history of the American railroad, said David Zeidberg, Avery Director of the Library. With his purchase of a few major collections early in the 20th century, Henry Huntington brought together hundreds upon hundreds of the most significant books and pamphlets on the trans-Mississippi West. Those materials, combined with the scores of invaluable manuscript, photographic, and ephemera collections on the West acquired over the succeeding decades, form a massive foundation for what we hope will be an extraordinary exhibition.
Peter Blodgett, H. Russell Smith Foundation Curator of Western Historical Manuscripts at The Huntington and curator of the exhibition, has chosen to tell a couple of stories. As much as the exhibition will cover the technological marvels, engineering feats, and entrepreneurial audacity of the railroad age, it also tells the story of how the vision of American continental expansion evolved through a range of historical contextsfrom the age of Andrew Jackson through the Gold Rush, Civil War, and Gilded Age of the late 19th century, says Blodgett.
Beginning with the handful of passionate and obstinate dreamers before the Civil War who first imagined a railroad stretching to the Pacific Ocean, Visions of Empire portrays the drive to move westward in the face of unrelenting geographic obstacles. Published engravings and original drawings from the 1830s and 40s depict romanticized landscapes navigable only by foot or on horseback, by wagon or by boat. One such example is the exquisite hand-illustrated diary of British army officer William Fairholme, which captures the landscape of the southern Great Plains in the 1840s; others include several of the hundreds of drawings by gold seeker J. Goldsborough Bruff as he takes part in the harrowing overland migration to Gold Rush California. Karl Bodmers hand-colored engravings of steamboats on western rivers from Maximilian of Wieds Travels in the Interior of North America (ca. 1834) not only represent one of the first great visual epics of Western American history, according to Blodgett, but they portray the early appearance of the new technology of steam power beyond the Mississippi, a generation before the arrival of the train.
Such images, reflecting the increasing movement of people and goods west in the 1840s, helped to fuel widespread popular debate about railroad expansion across western plains and mountains to the Pacific Coast. In 1845, New York merchant Asa Whitney submitted a petition to the U. S. Congress proposing the construction of a railroad from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean, igniting a debate that would unfold over the ensuing decades.
The exhibition features letters, newspaper articles, railroad convention proceedings, and speeches in Congress that depict the points of view in play. These many perspectives echo the multitude of hopes and dreams that different individuals held for their futures, from profit-hungry railroad entrepreneurs and financiers pursuing federal largesse to Chinese and Irish laborers attracted by the promise of work involved in laying nearly 1,700 miles of track.
Throughout the exhibition, says Blodgett, visitors will encounter the voices of many Americans celebrating, critiquing, commending, and condemning the new world being stitched together in those decades with iron rails.
Structured chronologically, the exhibition consists of six sections, beginning with a prologue called Early Visions and Visionaries. From there, visitors will follow the narrative through four major sections: Charting the Course, 184062; Launching the Enterprise, 186265; Spanning the Continent, 186569; and Creating a New Country, 186980. An epilogue will take visitors to the cusp of the 20th century: Iron Horse America.
Rare items from The Huntingtons collections will be supplemented with several loans for the installation, including artifacts such as hands tools used by railroad laborers, a payroll sheet for Chinese employees of the Central Pacific Railroad, and advertising cards for clipper ships carrying goods and passengers to Gold Rush California.
Part of the exhibition takes a deeper look at the Pacific Railroad and Telegraph Act. Here visitors can engage in exploring physical evidence in a more immersive and interactive mode. Hundreds of the Huntington's Alfred A. Hart photographs will be on view for the first time in a striking wall-sized installation. Some of these will also be able to be seen close-up through a stereographic viewer, a 19th-century apparatus that brings a dramatic three-dimensionality to images of landscapes, laborers, campsites, and supplies of the 19th-century West. Other highlights of this area include a hands-on Morse code station, where visitors can try their hand at the new communications system sweeping the country at the time, and a "walkable" map of the United States tracing the route of the transcontinental railroad.
A Widespread Impact
While the development of California and the West provided the allure for a transcontinental railroad, Visions of Empire tells an even broader, national storyone tied to the railroads place in American aspirations to dominate international trade and commerce with Asia, in the evolving role of the federal government in the life of the nation, and in the efforts to preserve the Union during the American Civil War.
A ballot from the presidential election of 1856, showing the last name of Republican John C. Frémont emblazoned across an image of a steaming locomotive, advertises the first national candidate to associate himself with the idea of a transcontinental railroad. Abraham Lincoln, the successful Republican candidate in 1860, signed the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862, mindful of the importance of the West to the preservation of the Union. The launching of the first American transcontinental railroad during the 1860s represented a new and dynamic phase in the enduring struggle among Americans over what role they imagined government should play in building a nation and shaping a social order.
Visions of Empire depicts the monumental challenges faced by this great enterprise, as captured in survey reports, engineering sketches, treaties with Indians, photographs and engravings of toiling construction crews, and correspondence highlighting the triumphs and travails of the so-called Big FourMark Hopkins, Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, and Collis P. Huntington (uncle to Henry E. Huntington, founder of The Huntington).
Elsewhere in the exhibition, maps, photographs, and political cartoons trace the progress of this great endeavor and evolving popular attitudes toward it. Early maps offer glimpses of the young American republic pushing its web of market places and depots westward, while later versions depict the routes and towns that proliferated from Missouri to California in the wake of the meeting of the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific in 1869. Similarly, during the 1850s and early 60s, publications such as Harpers Weekly, Leslies Illustrated News, and the London Illustrated News portrayed these events in human terms through detailed engravings based on the burgeoning practice of photography.
By the late 1860s, as photographic technology advanced, book publishers began issuing volumes filled with massive plate photographs, such as Andrew J. Russells The Great West Illustrated (1869). While many of those photographs echoed images from the 1840s with their romanticized views of the open landscape, many also captured the human toll of the brutal labor required to span the continent. Cartoonists, such as the celebrated Thomas Nast, added yet another layer of interpretation for readers as they mocked wealthy businessmen, lampooned corrupt politicians, or demonized Chinese immigrants.
The Transformation of American Society
Long before the last spike was hammered in place, when the east- and westbound tracks finally met at Utahs Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869, the first locomotives traveling west unleashed irrevocable social, political, and economic changes. Completion of this initial enterprise only accelerated the pace of such changes, including the inauguration of other transcontinental lines.
To illuminate the decade following completion of the transcontinental railroad, Visions of Empire incorporates the letters and diaries of engineers, travelers, and investors who experienced first-hand the triumphs and the failures that characterized this massive undertaking. Outlining the rise of new railroads, communities, and industries across the West, it emphasizes the rapid pace of change in the 1870s spurred by this crossing of the continent. The era of exploration and discovery had quickly given way to a new age of tourism, as travelers could now see captivating landscape from their railroad car windows rather than simply in books or newspapers. Transportation became associated with luxury, as railroad lines used gloriously colorful lithographic posters to advertise the comforts of traveling east to westand west to eastin elegant compartments and dining cars.
John Gasts famous painting American Progress (1872), as reproduced in the 1874 edition of Crofutts Trans-continental Tourist, demonstrates that notions of empire had become as expansive as the views captured by photographers such as Alfred A. Hart and as wondrous as the poetry of Walt Whitman, whose poem A Passage to India, in printed broadside form, is displayed. Singing my days, wrote the beloved poet, Singing the great achievements of the present, Singing the strong, light works of engineers . . . . I see over my own continent the Pacific Railroad, surmounting every barrier; I see continual trains of cars winding along the Platte, carrying freight and passengers.
Contrasting with Whitmans exuberant and celebratory prose, however, are other texts that remind the viewer of the inextricable link between the expansive march of railroads across the West and the conquest of native peoples such as the Sioux and the Cheyenne, the corruption of politicians and corporate officials, and the havoc wrought by the unceasing exploitation of the land and its resources. | <urn:uuid:4bac0410-7d3d-430f-9388-d5c823ca16b5> | {
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Types of Arthritis
There are over 100 types of arthritis, and these diseases affect more than 46 million individuals in the U.S. alone. This figure is expected to breach the 60 million mark before 2030. Various types of arthritis are unique and distinct from each other and each type has its own treatment approach. This highlights the necessity and importance of accurate tests and diagnostic procedures in determining the specific type of arthritis that a person is suffering from.
Once you are able to isolate the triggers of the pain and inflammation associated with the disease, then you will be able to undertake the necessary steps in finding relief from the effects of the disease and maintain a relatively normal daily routine.
Diversity of the Types of Arthritis
If you live long enough, there is a strong likelihood that you will experience a touch of at least one of the more than 100 types of arthritis. This chronic medical condition can take the form of a mild tendinitis and bursitis or a debilitating systemic disease like rheumatoid arthritis. There are also some forms of arthritis and arthritis-related conditions such as fibromyalgia and systemic lupus erythematosus that are widespread and affect different parts of the body.
Arthritis is not a medical condition of the old. There are certain types of the disease that specifically affect infants and children, and these include juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and septic arthritis. There are also a significant number of men and women who are suffering from this disease at the prime of their lives. A common denominator for these types of arthritis is the presence of musculoskeletal and joint pain, and this is the primary reason why these conditions are collectively referred to as arthritis.
Major types of arthritis include:
This type of arthritis is a degenerative disease and is also referred to as arthrosis, degenerative joint disease or degenerative arthritis. Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis. It is a medical condition that is characterized by low-grade inflammation which triggers persistent pain in the affected joints. This condition is the result of the progressive deterioration of the cartilage, and its deteriorated condition affects its capacity to protect and act as cushion of the joints.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disorder that primarily affects the joints. It is a painful and debilitating inflammatory condition and can lead to substantial impairment of normal mobility as a result of the persistent pain and damage to the affected joint. Rheumatoid is also a systemic condition and can affect the extra-articular tissues in various parts of the body. These include the muscles, lungs, hearts, blood vessels and the skin. The highest incidence of the disease is observed in men and women within the 30-60 years age range.
Gout is characterized by the sudden and severe episodes which usually affect the big toe, although any joint is prone to these gout attacks. This type of arthritis is a metabolic problem brought about by the accumulation of uric acid in the bloodstream. The precursor of the condition is the buildup of harmful crystals in the joints and other parts of the body. Specific medications and proper diet are essential in the control and management of gout.
Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory disorder that affects the spine. In its advanced stage, the condition is characterized by the stiffness of the spine and fusion of the vertebrae. In most cases, it is more difficult to detect and diagnose the disease in women than in men. The persistent pain and discomfort are the results of the inflammation in the vertebrae or spinal joints. Aside from the fusion of the vertebrae, the abnormal bone growth can lead to immobility and forward-stooped posture.
Ankylosing spondylitis can also lead to stiffness, pain and inflammation on the other parts of the body, including the joints of the hands and feet, heels, ribs, hips and shoulders. There are also some rare cases where the disease can affect the eyes, a condition known as Uveitis or Iritis, as well as the heart and lungs.
Juvenile arthritis, or simply JA, is a chronic disease that is associated with the inflammation of one or several joints. This disease affects individuals below the age of 16. The inflammation is the common denominator of the various forms of juvenile arthritis, although such forms of the disease have distinct nuances and require different treatment modes.
Psoriatic arthritis is the type of arthritis that is common in patients who are suffering from a chronic skin disorder known as psoriasis. It has some similarities with rheumatoid arthritis, although most patients who have psoriatic arthritis exhibit mild to moderate symptoms. This chronic disorder affects both men and women, and it can lead to further complications and serious health problems when left untreated. The progress of the disease is generally slow and affects specific joints.
Septic arthritis is brought about by haematogenous spread of infection, although there are instances where the condition is triggered by the introduction of infecting agents from adjacent infection, as in the case of osteomyelitis, or through a penetrating wound. The condition is common in children and premature neonates, although it can also affect the elderly and individuals who are immune suppressed.
There is no cure for arthritis, but there are several treatment modes that we can use to alleviate or mitigate the effects of the disease. Among your options are several natural arthritis treatment options that have been proven to be effective and safe when used in the management of the disease. | <urn:uuid:8cfeb7cb-f6cd-417c-8b2b-c1e7ff990823> | {
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Dangerous Cooking Habits
All men love barbecues but too much of them can be bad. Mom was right (sort of); burnt food can cause cancer so do not eat open-flame grilled food too often. But don't panic just yet; look at the details.
Studies on animals have shown that charred and burnt meats are carcinogenic, and so is the smoke generated by burnt fat that drips from meat. On a more reassuring note, Alexis Currie-Williams, Nutrition and Physical Activity Manager for the American Cancer Society, states that, "while grilling foods may increase the risk for cancer, it's not at the top the cancer-causing list." In other words, grilling is bad, but not very bad, especially if proper cooking measures are taken.
When grilling food from now on, don't:
Avoid Genetically Modified foods for now. The GM food industry is still in its infancy, so we don't know how such foods can affect people. In rare cases, allergic reactions, nerve damage and poisoning have all been reported.
Food makers must inform people which products are genetically modified so people could at least know what "can" have dangerous effects. Canola seeds, soya and maize are some of the most widely modified foods.
Cooking foods properly, keeping the kitchen area and utensils clean to avoid cross-contamination, drinking pasteurized milk, and washing food before eating are all practices that can prevent Listeria.
Listeria is a pathogen that makes people ill and causes meningitis. Vegetables, milk, cheese, meat, and seafood should all be handled carefully and properly.
North Americans normally tend to avoid picking mushrooms themselves, but Eastern Europeans and Asians enjoy picking their own shrooms.
This practice can be dangerous when the same wild species of mushrooms are consumed on different continents. Some mushrooms are safe in one part of the world, but can be poisonous in another, even though they are the same species.
Possible microwave risks include increased LDL cholesterol levels (the bad kind). The study was conducted by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University Institute of Biochemistry.
On the other hand, most national safety agencies maintain that microwaves are safe. My suggestion is to use microwave ovens as little as possible. I myself don't even own one, yet I still manage to survive.
Many of the aforementioned habits don't pose an immediate danger to your health, but long-term use and a combination of these might lead to problems later on in life. Don't overreact, just be mindful of the possibilities. | <urn:uuid:e446c021-827b-401c-8e86-7e60aab2a9d1> | {
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Researchers Model Fetal-To-Adult Hemoglobin Switching: Important Step Towards Cure For Blood Diseases
Researchers have engineered mice that model the switch from fetal to adult hemoglobin, an important step towards curing genetic blood diseases such as sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia. The research is published in the February 2011 issue of the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology.
They also produced for the first time a mouse that synthesizes a distinct fetal-stage hemoglobin, which was necessary for modeling human hemoglobin disorders. These diseases manifest as misshapen hemoglobin, causing anemia, which can be severe, as well as other symptoms, which can range from minor to life-threatening. The cure would lie in causing the body to revert to use of fetal hemoglobin.
“The motivation for our research is to understand the basic mechanisms of gene regulation in order to cure human disease,” says Thomas Ryan of the University of Alabama Birmingham, who led the research. “If we can figure out how to turn the fetal hemoglobin back on, or keep it from switching off, that would cure these diseases.”
The new model “mimics precisely the timing in humans, completing the switch after birth,” says Ryan. “The previous models didn’t do that.” In earlier models, researchers inserted transgenes, large chunks of DNA containing the relevant genes, randomly into the mouse chromosome. In the new model, the investigators removed the adult mouse globin genes, and inserted the human fetal and adult genes in their places.
The successful engineering of a mouse with a fetal-stage hemoglobin means that humanized mouse models with mutant human genes will not die in utero.
While the basic principals behind the research are simple, the details are complex. For example, Ryan and Sean C. McConnell, a doctoral student who is the paper’s first author, had to deal with the fact that hemoglobin switching occurs twice in H. sapiens, from embryonic to fetal globin chains in early fetal life, and then to adult globin chains at birth, while wild type mice have a single switch from embryonic to adult chains early in fetal life. “Instead of the single hemoglobin switch that occurs in wild type mice, our humanized knock-in mice now have two hemoglobin switches, just like humans, from embryonic to fetal in early fetal life, and then fetal to adult at birth,” says Ryan.
Hemoglobin switching is believed to have evolved to enable efficient transfer of oxygen from the mother’s hemoglobin to the higher oxygen affinity fetal hemoglobin in the placenta during fetal life.
(S.C. McConnell, Y. Huo, S. Liu, and T.M. Ryan, 2011. Human globin knock-in mice complete fetal-to-adult hemoglobin switching in postnatal development. Mol. Cell. Biol. 31:876-883.) | <urn:uuid:82df9a01-85eb-4c12-a8ca-02e629384f79> | {
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July Rendezvous with Vesta
"We often refer to Vesta as the smallest terrestrial planet," said Christopher T. Russell, a UCLA professor of geophysics and space physics and the mission's principal investigator. "It has planetary features and basically the same structure as Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. But because it is so small, it does not have enough gravity to retain an atmosphere, or at least not to retain an atmosphere for very long.
"There are many mysteries about Vesta," Russell said. "One of them is why Vesta is so bright. The Earth reflects a lot of sunlight — about 40 percent — because it has clouds and snow on the surface, while the moon reflects only about 10 percent of the light from the Sun back. Vesta is more like the Earth. Why? What on its surface is causing all that sunlight to be reflected? We'll find out."
Dawn will map Vesta's surface, which Russell says may be similar to the moon's. He says he expects that the body's interior is layered, with a crust, a mantle and an iron core. He is eager to learn about this interior and how large the iron core is.
Named for the ancient Roman goddess of the hearth, Vesta has been bombarded by meteorites for 4.5 billion years.
"We expect to see a lot of craters," Russell said. "We know there is an enormous crater at the south pole that we can see with the Hubble Space Telescope. That crater, some 280 miles across, has released material into the asteroid belt. Small bits of Vesta are floating around and make their way all the way to the orbit of the Earth and fall in our atmosphere. About one in every 20 meteorites that falls on the surface of the Earth comes from Vesta. That has enabled us to learn a lot about Vesta before we even get there."
Dawn will arrive at Vesta in July. Beginning in September, the spacecraft will orbit Vesta some 400 miles from its surface. It will then move closer, to about 125 miles from the surface, starting in November. By January of 2012, Russell expects high-resolution images and other data about surface composition. Dawn is arriving ahead of schedule and is expected to orbit Vesta for a year.
Vesta, which orbits the Sun every 3.6 terrestrial years, has an oval, pumpkin-like shape and an average diameter of approximately 330 miles. Studies of meteorites found on Earth that are believed to have come from Vesta suggest that Vesta formed from galactic dust during the Solar System's first 3 million to 10 million years.
Dawn's cameras should be able to see individual lava flows and craters tens of feet across on Vesta's surface.
"We will scurry around when the data come in, trying to make maps of the surface and learning its exact shape and size," Russell said.
Dawn has a high-quality camera, along with a back-up; a visible and near-infrared spectrometer that will identify minerals on the surface; and a gamma ray and neutron spectrometer that will reveal the abundance of elements such as iron and hydrogen, possibly from water, in the soil. Dawn will also probe Vesta's gravity with radio signals.
The study of Vesta, however, is only half of Dawn's mission. The spacecraft will also conduct a detailed study of the structure and composition of the "dwarf planet" Ceres. Vesta and Ceres are the most massive objects in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn's goals include determining the shape, size, composition, internal structure, and the tectonic and thermal evolution of both objects, and the mission is expected to reveal the conditions under which each of them formed.
Dawn, only the second scientific mission to be powered by an advanced NASA technology known as ion propulsion, is also the first NASA mission to orbit two major objects.
"Twice the bang for the buck on this mission," said Russell, who added that without ion propulsion, Dawn would have cost three times as much.
UCLA graduate and postdoctoral students work with Russell on the mission. Now is an excellent opportunity for graduate students to join the project and help analyze the data, said Russell, who teaches planetary science to UCLA undergraduates and solar and space physics to undergraduates and graduate students.
After orbiting Vesta, Dawn will leave for its three-year journey to Ceres, which could harbor substantial water or ice beneath its rock crust — and possibly life. On the way to Ceres, Dawn may visit another object. The spacecraft will rendezvous with Ceres and begin orbiting in 2015, conducting studies and observations for at least five months.
Russell believes that Ceres and Vesta, formed almost 4.6 billion years ago, have preserved their early record, which was frozen into their ancient surfaces.
"We're going back in time to the early solar system," he said. | <urn:uuid:62f9a0fe-badd-43cc-ae00-acdb6adf5f1a> | {
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Why does this galaxy have so many big black holes?
No one is sure.
What is sure is that
NGC 922 is a ring galaxy created by the collision of a large and small galaxy about
300 million years ago.
Like a rock thrown into a pond, the
ancient collision sent ripples of
high density gas out from the impact point near the center that partly condensed into stars.
Pictured above is NGC 922 with its beautifully complex ring along the left side, as imaged recently by the
Hubble Space Telescope.
Observations of NGC 922 with the
Chandra X-ray Observatory, however, show several glowing X-ray knots that are likely large black holes.
The high number of massive black holes was
somewhat surprising as the gas composition in
NGC 922 -- rich in heavy elements -- should have discouraged almost anything so massive from forming.
Research is sure to continue.
spans about 75,000 light years, lies about 150 million light years away, and can be seen with a small telescope toward the constellation of the furnace (Fornax).
Acknowledgement: Nick Rose | <urn:uuid:3231bdb9-63f9-4af7-ba27-fa67dc6013bb> | {
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Click Image to Enlarge
Thanks to a metal oxide cathode rather than one based on graphite, this lithium-ion battery offers 35% greater range for electric vehicles.
“Range anxiety,” or concern that electric vehicles (EVs) don’t pack enough power to get drivers everywhere they need to go in one charge, remains an issue. However, this could change thanks to the development of a new battery that offers 35% more range than existing technologies. The battery achieves this by integrating lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells with metal oxides to offer greater energy density, and thereby greater range. The battery is a result of work performed by battery supplier Axeon, engineering services firm Ricardo, and special-purpose vehicle builder Allied Vehicles.
While most Li-ion battery cells feature graphite cathodes, this battery uses cathodes composed of nickel, cobalt and manganese. The engineers packaged the cells into pouch-like modular blocks, a design that reduces cell-level volume by 50% and mass by 30% compared to conventional batteries.
A driver-assistance module that integrates radar and vision sensing to provide active safety features such as forward collision warning, adaptive headlight control and autono-mous braking has been developed by Delphi (delphi.com). This module, the RACam, is a single-box system that is
small enough (123 x 68 x 38-mm) to be installed on the forward-facing side of a vehicle’s rearview mirror. What’s more, Delphi says it’s cheaper than conventional radar and vision systems, which are typically offered separately. The RACam is expected to launch in 2014.
Although night-vision cameras are currently only offered on select premium vehicles, they’re expected to become more widespread as automakers look to enhance driver perception in dark and poor weather conditions. Northwestern University’s Center for Quantum Devices (cqd.eecs.northwestern.edu) may have a hand in this: its scientists have developed a next-generation camera that can be tuned to simultaneously absorb a range of infrared wavelengths and infrared bands.
Today, the two types of commonly used infrared cameras are passive systems, which capture thermal radiation emitted by objects, and active systems, which use an infrared light source to provide high-resolution images of objects. Center for Quantum Devices director Manijeh Razeghi says that by absorbing infrared wavelengths and bands, their camera offers the benefits of both active and passive systems. Additionally, he says the camera features longer range detection and improved sensitivity for better overall performance. | <urn:uuid:2b574d3d-f289-4802-b878-9fa518bf0847> | {
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How Are Women Faring In Ukraine?
On the eve of the January 17 presidential elections in Ukraine, Olena Suslova, Chair of the Board at Women’s Information Consultative Center in Kiev, offers a glimpse of the status of women and women’s rights there.
By Masum Momaya
AWID: What is the status of women and women’s rights in Ukraine generally?
Olena Suslova (O.S.): Women in Ukraine have equal constitutional rights as men in the economic, political, cultural and social fields, as well as in the family, but there is some difference between formal legal equality and reality. For example, women make up 48% of Ukraine’s labor force, and while our Constitution guarantees equal pay for equal work – and this is mostly observed – industries dominated by female workers have the lowest relative wages and are the ones most likely to be affected by wage arrears. Moreover, some employers refuse to hire younger women likely to become pregnant or women over 35. Generally, women also have fewer opportunities for career advancement.
AWID: Will the upcoming (January 17) elections provide an opportunity to elect officials that might advance women’s rights or are the elections simply a formality?
O.S.: The upcoming elections will elect the President but not officials, who will ultimately influence public policy. Depending on who is elected, new officials may be appointed, including diplomats and the Attorney General. However, under Ukraine’s constitution, the President has limited powers. In general, I don’t think that the upcoming elections will radically change public policies related to gender equality.
AWID: Are women’s groups mobilizing around the elections?
O.S.: No. This time women’s groups are not active themselves, and political parties are not mobilizing women either.
AWID: Is there much political participation generally by women in Ukraine, as voters, candidates and officials?
O.S.: Female voters in Ukraine are more engaged than male voters. As individuals, women more actively participate in campaigns and vote more often. In this upcoming election, 3 of the 18 candidates for Parliament are women. And currently, 75.5% of government officials are women, but most are not in positions of power.
AWID: Are corruption and bureaucracy major factors in how people experience and interact with the political system?
O.S.: Yes, corruption and bureaucracy influence how people interact with the political system; however other factors are important, too, including people’s ignorance of the political system, mutual bias and stereotypes, lack of activism and some “activist depression” after the Orange Revolution.
AWID: Has the presence of a prominent woman leader, Yulia Tymoshenko, made any difference in terms of women’s rights?
O.S.: No and yes.
Yulia Tymoshenko is not considered by most to be a leader with feminist thinking and declarations. Usually she is gender neutral in her expressions and approaches, avoiding raising issues of women’s leadership and sometimes pointing out the masculinity of her own actions and those of “real men”.
At the same time, by example, she has encouraged women to get more involved in politics and motivated women to be more insistent, confident and forthcoming in their career advancement.
In my opinion, Tymoshenko walks a feminist path but is not ready to declare it. In previous years, she did a lot to support “big wise men” even after many of them betrayed her, but lately, she has finally understood that she needs to leave behind the “supportive” gender role. Now, she often talks about how badly men have managed our country and why we need to give women an opportunity.
AWID: Ukraine has experienced much economic transition since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. What kinds of occupations do women work in? And what is the situation of women economically more recently amidst the global economic crisis?
O.S.: Women in Ukraine have been economically active for many generations, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union has not decreased this. Still, most women work in “female” fields like education, trade and the hospitality industry. Now, though, more women work in “male” dominated fields like the military and information technology.
There is not yet much research on the influence of the global economic crisis in Ukraine from a gender perspective, but, in general, the crisis has not hit Ukraine as hard as many other countries. We are not as integrated into the global economy as many other countries. Also, we went through a very harsh “vaccination” period during the first years after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, when our economy experienced many shocks. Inflation rates during those years reached 1000%, and unemployment increased from practically zero to 5 – 10%. Women did a lot of compensating during this time.
These economic shocks were compounded by a cultural shock in which people had to reformulate their words, actions and lives. So the current economic crisis is not as difficult as what we went through nearly 20 years ago.
AWID: Does the Eastern Orthodox Church exert much influence on women’s rights today?
O.S.: The influence of the Eastern Orthodox Church on women’s rights is not substantive in general. Traditional values such as the prohibition of abortion and the subordination of women are not visible in society as a whole and not aggressive. The church could have much influence within some families, but this is more exception than the rule.
AWID: What is the status of sexual and reproductive rights for women in Ukraine? And are these rights complicated by Ukraine’s low birth rates and natalist policies?
O.S.: Sexual and reproductive rights for women are not limited by law, and Ukraine has one of the highest abortion rates in the world. The government has been trying to encourage women to have children through financial incentives, but this policy has not been very effective, because, even with the incentives, people cannot afford to have children. Moreover, in rural areas, there is limited access to hospitals and health care.
AWID: How strong are civil society and the women’s movement in Ukraine? Are they adequately resourced? And is the spirit of the Orange Revolution still alive in these movements?
O.S.: Civil society in Ukraine has had more and less favorable times during its 20 years in existence. The Orange Revolution could be considered as an opportune moment for civil society despite deep disappointment among population related to lost expectations.
The number of active NGOs including women’s ones is less than it was 10 years ago; however the quality of NGO work has grown. Because of the Orange Revolution, government bodies are more open and this has given civil society organizations more space to make change, including pushing for a more tolerant and human society.
Some women’s NGOs became the first gender advisors of governors after the Equal Opportunity Law entered into force after the Orange Revolution in 2005.
AWID: Is the concept of “rights” well received in Ukraine?
O.S.: The perception of the concept of human rights in Ukraine has changed over time. In the first years after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, donors and other stakeholders were excited to make it a “cure–all” for the ills of the dictatorship; later, it brought a lot of disappointment because changes didn’t take root and did not come so fast. Also, donors declared and supported this concept, but in practice were very often not sensitive; they ended up themselves violating these human rights. This led to a period when NGOs did not address rights visibly and directly. Now, we see some maturity of civil society in Ukraine, and this gives us the opportunity to return to this concept again at more deep and reflective level, converting it into more practical steps.
The author would like to thank Betsy Hoody at the Global Fund for Women for her support with this interview. | <urn:uuid:4865a786-bd24-4ad3-a72a-ec1c7eca737d> | {
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Serious head injuries are rare in the wilderness. But get hit square on the melon by a falling rock, and the resulting brain swelling can cause dangerous intracranial pressure. Unlike skin gashes and broken bones, traumatic brain injuries don't always bleed or even cause pain, making early diagnosis tricky.
Since brain injuries can occur without exterior wounds, the best indicator of serious trauma is a person's level of consciousness, says Jeffrey Isaac, curriculum director at Wilderness Medical Associates.
Use the AVPU scale to establish a person's alertness and monitor any deterioration in brain function. The farther down the scale (A is the best, U the worst) the person registers, the more serious the brain injury.
(A) Victim is Alert and oriented; he knows who he is, where he is, and what happened.
(V) You get a response to Verbal stimuli, but victim is confused and disoriented.
(P) Victim responds only to Painful stimuli, like pinching his arm or rubbing his breastbone.
(U) Victim is Unresponsive to all of the above.
Record any periods of unconsciousness. Blackouts lasting longer than two to three minutes indicate a serious head injury, especially if accompanied by persistent disorientation.
Because brain swelling can develop slowly, evaluate the victim's mental state for 24 hours after the injury.
Watch for behavioral indicators like combativeness, restlessness, or acting drunk, as well as severe headache, nausea, and persistent vomiting.
Move the victim to a safer location if necessary. Don't leave a victim in a dangerous place or where you can't treat life-threatening injuries just because you are unable to stabilize the spine, says Isaac. Recent studies have shown that cervical spine damage occurs in a tiny percentange of victims with traumatic head injuries. As a result, new first aid protocols recommend spine "protection" over stabilization when hazardous conditions require moving the victim.
Monitor a victim's breathing and pulse rate, and keep him hydrated and warm. Treat for shock by raising the legs while you gauge his level of consciousness.
Initial disorientation or confusion can improve in a short period. The duration a person remains unconscious isn't as important as how quickly he returns to normal brain functioning, says Isaac.
Contrary to popular belief, the victim of a head injury can doze or sleep as long as he is monitored and woken up every few hours to check alertness.
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Is the evidence strong enough to support a medieval Welsh settlement in North America?
First recorded almost four hundred years after the lifetime of Madoc ap Owain Gwynedd, there is little to indicate that the story was known before Humphrey Llwyd. While there certainly were medieval stories about a Madoc, who seems to have been more well known in Flanders than in Wales, it is by no means certain that the Madoc of the stories and poems was Madoc ap Owain. All that can be said of the medieval romances is that they concern a sea-farer of some renown. That is as far as the medieval sources go.
Where Humphrey Llwyd got the story is unknown. It is in none of the sources he translated into English and it is so far from the medieval versions that they cannot have been the sole inspiration. It is possible, perhaps even probable, that he simply made it up. As a proud Welshman at a time when the English government was doing its best to anglicise the recently-created province (following An Acte for Lawes & Justice to be ministred in Wales in like fourme as it is in this Realme of 1536), making a claim that the Welsh had discovered the New World long before the English (and, indeed, the Spanish) had ever set foot there would have been a strike by Llwyd in favour of national pride.
The flawed evidence of the Bat Creek Stone
In 1991, archaeologists Robert C Mainfort Jr. and Mary L Kwas, writing in The Tennessee Anthropologist 16 (1) identified the hoaxer of the Bat Creek Stone as John Emmert, the assistant who claimed to have found it. Cyrus Thomas had doubts about Emmert’s abilities, believing his judgement to be impaired by the drink problem that eventually led to his sacking. Following a series of begging letters to Thomas, Emmert was reinstated in 1888, promising to give him “greater satisfaction than I ever did before” and agreeing with Thomas’s hypothesis that the Cherokees were the moundbuilders. Emmert certainly had the motive for producing a spectacular find and despite Cyrus Gordon’s identification of the script as Hebrew, it is passable for the Cherokee syllabary. Alas, the Cherokee syllabary was invented in 1819 by the native American silversmith Sequoyah (c 1767-1843, also known as George Gist/Guess/Guest) and a radiocarbon date on material from Mound 3 of 1605 ± 170 bp (409 ± 174 CE) is much too early.
So, could Blackett and Wilson be right in identifying the inscription as sixth-century Welsh, in the Coelbren script? Once again, we find Coelbren to be a modern invention, having been first published in 1791 by Edward Williams (1747-1826, better known as Iolo Morganwg), a serial forger. Although claims have been made for an earlier origin (such as in the “Welsh runes” attributed to the scholar Nennius or Nemnivus and said to have been invented because an Englishman had taunted him that the Welsh had no writing system), nothing like Coelbren is attested before the time of Edward Williams. It is also evident that if it incorporates symbols for mutated consonants and such mutations are not written before the period of Middle Welsh orthography (twelfth to fourteenth centuries CE), long after the date claimed for the Bat Creek inscription by Wilson and Blackett, then Coelbren can be no earlier that the twelfth century CE.
Dismissing the recent claims
Wilson and Blackett are keen promoters of an alternative Arthurian archaeology that uses some very poor evidence that does not stand up to critical scrutiny. Indeed, there is even a suggestion that some of the evidence they use is fraudulent. Their frequent complaint that they are not taken seriously by academe is typical of Bad Archaeologists: they tell their readers that the reasons for being ignored are professional jealousies, an inability to see beyond accepted ideas and even darkly political conspiracies. Like so many other Bad Archaeologists they seem incapable of recognising that the real reason the professional archaeologists do not give them the recognition they believe they deserve is that their ideas are poorly thought out, supported by inadmissable evidence and, ultimately, rubbish. | <urn:uuid:7c3039c4-06c2-45fb-b1a1-5259e71ff037> | {
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Household Dust and Allergies in Children
The use of mattress covers on children’s beds, along with intensive education and assistance in dust-reduction measures in the home, prevents the development of allergies in children at high risk, according to a recent article in Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine (2002;156:1021–7).
Childhood allergies are a common and growing problem, and children who suffer from allergies frequently develop chronic allergic conditions, including asthma. In the United States, asthma is the most commonly diagnosed chronic disease of childhood, affecting nearly nine million children. Conventional medical management of childhood allergies and asthma includes the use of antihistamines, inhaled drugs that dilate the bronchial passages (bronchodilators), and inhaled and oral steroids. All of these medicines can have serious side effects, and a child’s likelihood of needing to continue treatment into adulthood is high. Antihistamines can affect the central nervous system, causing either overstimulation or sedation; bronchodilators can also stimulate the nervous system, causing anxiety and insomnia. Over long periods of time, inhaled steroids can damage the immune defenses of the respiratory system, leading to increased rates of infections, and oral steroids have negative effects on adrenal function and the entire immune system. For these reasons, preventive approaches should be pursued whenever possible.
According to some, but not all, studies, dust mite allergy is a predictor of asthma and other types of chronic allergies such as eczema. One previous study found that reducing the amount of dust in children’s home environments prevented the development of dust mite allergies. Another study found that the use of mattress covers effectively reduced dust mite exposure in the home. In the current study, the combined effect of mattress covers and intensive dust reduction measures on the development of dust mite allergies was evaluated.
The 566 European children who participated in this one-year study were between 18 months and five years of age. All had some allergy symptoms, such as asthma, hay fever, or eczema, but tests for dust mite allergy were negative. Each had at least one parent with allergy symptoms and positive results on the dust mite allergy test, putting these children at high risk for becoming allergic to dust mites themselves. The children were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Both groups’ parents received standard information about environmental influences on children’s health and recommendations for allergy prevention.
Recommendations for allergy prevention included avoiding exposure to pets in bedrooms, ventilating bedrooms well, avoiding cigarette smoke, and washing bedding and cleaning bedrooms regularly to minimize dust. In addition, parents of children in the intervention group were given more detailed dust-reduction instructions and assistance, and a mattress cover to prevent dust accumulation on children’s beds. The children were evaluated for allergy symptoms after six months, and tests for dust mite allergies were repeated after one year. The percentage of children who had developed allergies to dust mites by the end of the trial was 6.5% in the group that received standard instructions, compared with only 3% in the intervention group.
The results of this study add to a growing body of evidence that preventing exposure to house dust mites may significantly reduce the development of dust mite allergies, and therefore might decrease the incidence of childhood allergies and asthma. These measures should be recommended in conjunction with other allergy prevention approaches that have been shown to be effective. For example, observational studies have shown a 30 to 50% reduction in childhood asthma in those who receive exclusive breastfeeding for three months. Several studies have demonstrated a protective effect of dietary supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids. Restricting allergenic foods in the diets of nursing mothers and infants has been shown to prevent some types of allergies. Controlled trials have shown that probiotic supplements (which support the growth of healthy gut bacteria) and hydrolyzed milk formulas (in which potentially allergenic proteins are broken down to smaller, non-allergenic sizes) reduce allergies and asthma in infants. The cumulative effect of these preventive measures remains to be evaluated.
Maureen Williams, ND, received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University in Seattle, WA. She has a private practice in Quechee, Vermont, and does extensive work with traditional herbal medicine in Guatemala and Honduras. Dr. Williams is a regular contributor to Healthnotes Newswire.
Copyright © 2003 Healthnotes, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of the Healthnotes® content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Healthnotes, Inc. Healthnotes Newswire is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. Healthnotes, Inc. shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Healthnotes and the Healthnotes logo are registered trademarks of Healthnotes, Inc. | <urn:uuid:b2182296-217b-4544-870c-1f8d52133c2a> | {
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Black-Scholes: The maths formula linked to the financial crash
It's not every day that someone writes down an equation that ends up changing the world. But it does happen sometimes, and the world doesn't always change for the better. It has been argued that one formula known as Black-Scholes, along with its descendants, helped to blow up the financial world.
Black-Scholes was first written down in the early 1970s but its story starts earlier than that, in the Dojima Rice Exchange in 17th Century Japan where futures contracts were written for rice traders. A simple futures contract says that I will agree to buy rice from you in one year's time, at a price that we agree right now.
By the 20th Century the Chicago Board of Trade was providing a marketplace for traders to deal not only in futures but in options contracts. An example of an option is a contract where we agree that I can buy rice from you at any time over the next year, at a price that we agree right now - but I don't have to if I don't want to.
You can imagine why this kind of contract might be useful. If I am running a big chain of hamburger restaurants, but I don't know how much beef I'll need to buy next year, and I am nervous that the price of beef might rise, well - all I need is to buy some options on beef.
But then that leads to a very ticklish problem. How much should I be paying for those beef options? What are they worth? And that's where this world-changing equation, the Black-Scholes formula, can help.
"The problem it's trying to solve is to define the value of the right, but not the obligation, to buy a particular asset at a specified price, within or at the end of a specified time period," says Professor Myron Scholes, professor of finance at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and - of course - co-inventor of the Black-Scholes formula.
The young Scholes was fascinated by finance. As a teenager, he persuaded his mother to set up an account so that he could trade on the stock market. One of the amazing things about Scholes is that throughout his time as an undergraduate and then a doctoral student, he was half-blind. And so, he says, he got very good at listening and at thinking.
When he was 26, an operation largely restored his sight. The next year, he became an assistant professor at MIT, and it was there that he stumbled upon the option-pricing puzzle.
One part of the puzzle was this question of risk: the value of an option to buy beef at a price of - say - $2 (£1.23) a kilogram presumably depends on what the price of beef is, and how the price of beef is moving around.
But the connection between the price of beef and the value of the beef option doesn't vary in a straightforward way - it depends how likely the option is to actually be used. That in turn depends on the option price and the beef price. All the variables seem to be tangled up in an impenetrable way.
Scholes worked on the problem with his colleague, Fischer Black, and figured out that if I own just the right portfolio of beef, plus options to buy and sell beef, I have a delicious and totally risk-free portfolio. Since I already know the price of beef and the price of risk-free assets, by looking at the difference between them I can work out the price of these beef options. That's the basic idea. The details are hugely complicated.
"It might have taken us a year, a year and a half to be able to solve and get the simple Black-Scholes formula," says Scholes. "But we had the actual underlying dynamics way before."
The Black-Scholes method turned out to be a way not only to calculate value of options but all kinds of other financial assets. "We were like kids in a candy story in the sense that we described options everywhere, options were embedded in everything that we did in life," says Scholes.
End Quote Professor Ian Stewart Warwick University
By 2007 the trade in derivatives worldwide was one quadrillion (thousand million million) US dollars ”
But Black and Scholes weren't the only kids in the candy store, says Ian Stewart, whose book argues that Black-Scholes was a dangerous invention.
"What the equation did was give everyone the confidence to trade options and very quickly, much more complicated financial options known as derivatives," he says.
Scholes thought his equation would be useful. He didn't expect it to transform the face of finance. But it quickly became obvious that it would.
"About the time we had published this article, that's 1973, simultaneously or approximately a month thereafter, the Chicago Board Options Exchange started to trade call options on 16 stocks," he recalls.
Scholes had just moved to the University of Chicago. He and his colleagues had already been teaching the Black-Scholes formula and methodology to students for several years.
"There were many young traders who either had taken courses at MIT or Chicago in using the option pricing technology. On the other hand, there was a group of traders who had only intuition and previous experience. And in a very short period of time, the intuitive players were essentially eliminated by the more systematic players who had this pricing technology."
More or Less: Behind the stats
Listen to More or Less on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, or download the free podcast
That was just the beginning.
"By 2007 the trade in derivatives worldwide was one quadrillion (thousand million million) US dollars - this is 10 times the total production of goods on the planet over its entire history," says Stewart. "OK, we're talking about the totals in a two-way trade, people are buying and people are selling and you're adding it all up as if it doesn't cancel out, but it was a huge trade."
The Black-Scholes formula had passed the market test. But as banks and hedge funds relied more and more on their equations, they became more and more vulnerable to mistakes or over-simplifications in the mathematics.
"The equation is based on the idea that big movements are actually very, very rare. The problem is that real markets have these big changes much more often that this model predicts," says Stewart. "And the other problem is that everyone's following the same mathematical principles, so they're all going to get the same answer."
Now these were known problems. What was not clear was whether the problems were small enough to ignore, or well enough understood to fix. And then in the late 1990s, two remarkable things happened.
"The inventors got the Nobel Prize for Economics," says Stewart. "I would argue they thoroughly deserved to get it."
End Quote Ian Stewart University of Warwick
Long-Term Capital Management showed the danger of this kind of algorithmically-based trading”
Fischer Black died young, in 1995. When in 1997 Scholes won the Nobel memorial prize, he shared it not with Black but with Robert Merton, another option-pricing expert.
Scholes' work had inspired a generation of mathematical wizards on Wall Street, and by this stage both he and Merton were players in the world of finance, as partners of a hedge fund called Long-Term Capital Management.
"The whole idea of this company was that it was going to base its trading on mathematical principles such as the Black-Scholes equation. And it actually was amazingly successful to begin with," says Stewart. "It was outperforming the traditional companies quite noticeably and everything looked great."
But it didn't end well. Long-Term Capital Management ran into, among other things, the Russian financial crisis. The firm lost $4bn (£2.5bn) in the course of six weeks. It was bailed out by a consortium of banks which had been assembled by the Federal Reserve. And - at the time - it was a very big story indeed. This was all happening in August and September of 1998, less than a year after Scholes had been awarded his Nobel prize.
Stewart says the lessons from Long-Term Capital Management were obvious. "It showed the danger of this kind of algorithmically-based trading if you don't keep an eye on some of the indicators that the more conventional people would use," he says. "They [Long-Term Capital Management] were committed, pretty much, to just ploughing ahead with the system they had. And it went wrong."
Scholes says that's not what happened at all. "It had nothing to do with equations and nothing to do with models," he says. "I was not running the firm, let me be very clear about that. There was not an ability to withstand the shock that occurred in the market in the summer and fall of late 1998. So it was just a matter of risk-taking. It wasn't a matter of modelling."
This is something people were still arguing about a decade later. Was the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management an indictment of mathematical approaches to finance or, as Scholes says, was it simply a case of traders taking too much risk against the better judgement of the mathematical experts?
Ten years after the Long-Term Capital Management bail-out, Lehman Brothers collapsed. And the debate over Black-Scholes and LTCM is now a broader debate over the role of mathematical equations in finance.
Ian Stewart claims that the Black-Scholes equation changed the world. Does he really believe that mathematics caused the financial crisis?
"It was abuse of their equation that caused trouble, and I don't think you can blame the inventors of an equation if somebody else comes along and uses it badly," he says.
End Quote Myron Scholes
The fundamental issue is that quantitative technologies in finance will survive, and will grow”
"And it wasn't just that equation. It was a whole generation of other mathematical models and all sorts of other techniques that followed on its heels. But it was one of the major discoveries that opened the door to all this."
Black-Scholes changed the culture of Wall Street, from a place where people traded based on common sense, experience and intuition, to a place where the computer said yes or no.
But is it really fair to blame Black-Scholes for what followed it? "The Black-Scholes technology has very specific rules and requirements," says Scholes. "That technology attracted or caused investment banks to hire people who had quantitative or mathematical skills. I accept that. They then developed products or technologies of their own."
Not all of those subsequent technologies, says Scholes, were good enough. "[Some] had assumptions that were wrong, or they used data incorrectly to calibrate their models, or people who used [the] models didn't know how to use them."
Scholes argues there is no going back. "The fundamental issue is that quantitative technologies in finance will survive, and will grow, and will continue to evolve over time," he says.
But for Ian Stewart, the story of Black-Scholes - and of Long-Term Capital Management - is a kind of morality tale. "It's very tempting to see the financial crisis and various things which led up to it as sort of the classic Greek tragedy of hubris begets nemesis," he says.
"You try to fly, you fly too close to the sun, the wax holding your wings on melts and you fall down to the ground. My personal view is that it's not just tempting to do that but there is actually a certain amount of truth in that way of thinking. I think the bankers' hubris did indeed beget nemesis. But the big problem is that it wasn't the bankers on whom the nemesis descended - it was the rest of us."
Additional reporting by Richard Knight | <urn:uuid:60661b3e-b310-4f54-a3ff-cb2bc47de90a> | {
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Purim is a holiday celebration like no other
Surrounded by a natural arena of sunset-tinged and snow-capped peaks, it is impossible to imagine a more wild and spectacular location than Lago Pehoé in southern Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park. The jaw-dropping scenery is also filled with wildlife, so between bouts of trekking, river rafting and horse riding, ticking off the park’s most iconic fauna comes remarkably easily to the curious traveller.
Just a few decades ago the llama’s close cousin the guanaco was endangered, but now there are more than 3,000 of the camelids (also close relatives of the camel) living in the Torres del Paine National Park. They are a deceptively compact animal - just over 1m-high at the shoulder - but still easily spotted on the grassy tundra punctuating Torres del Paine’s dramatic combination of alpine lakes, soaring peaks and turquoise-tinged glaciers. Count on being greeted with a look that is a quizzical cross between “Can I help you?” and “What are you staring at?”
More than 3,000 guanacos are apparently more than enough to sustain a growing population of pumas. The Patagonian puma is the southernmost of all mountain lions, and also one of the largest. Like any cat they are solitary and independent creatures, so any sightings are likely to be restricted to bigger than expected paw prints in the snow. Keep your eyes peeled for the more delicate prints of puma cubs, padding along beside their graceful, but powerful mothers.
The Andean Grey Fox
In the brutally pragmatic Patagonian eco-system, it is not just pumas targeting the guanacos. Getting close to a sleek Andean grey fox is surprisingly straight forward, especially if they are hungry and preoccupied with eating. They prefer target hares and rodents, but will happily chow down on any guanacos that have already been killed by pumas.
The Andean Condor
The surging and swirling thermals of Patagonia’s cliffs, peaks and valleys are the perfect environment for the mighty Andean condor. A wing-span of more than 3m – the largest of any land bird – enables these impressive scavengers to stay aloft with minimal effort. Explorer and naturalist Charles Darwin actually noted watching one soar for half an hour without moving its wings. Pack good binoculars for the best views of these magnificent birds.
The South Andean Deer
There are only around 2,000 of the endangered South Andean deer or huemul alive, which together with the Andean condor, is featured on Chile’s National Coat of Arms. Like the guanaco, the huemul is a relatively compact animal, standing around 1m high. Keep an eye on the stunning lakeside trek from Lago Pehoé to Glaciar Grey and you might be lucky. Hey, it has happened before. | <urn:uuid:4c810e9a-1019-44dd-98c4-2bf44d6047ae> | {
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Question: Can you suggest some resources that will help me understand more about celiac disease, gluten sensitivity and the gluten-free diet?
Answer: May is celiac awareness month so it is a great time to highlight some resources, guides, information sheets and articles about celiac disease, gluten sensitivity and the gluten-free diet. Explore and enjoy these links. Print them out. Hang them on your refrigerator or bring them grocery shopping with you. Use them as reference for yourself, and also share them with others in order to spread more awareness, visibility and knowledge about celiac disease.
Basics on Celiac Disease, Gluten Sensitivity and the Gluten-Free Diet: If you are looking for a handout that explains the difference between celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, as well as an overview of the gluten-free diet, nutritional concerns, labeling, resources and helpful links– this guide is for you.
A Quick Reference for Allowed & Non-Allowed Foods for the Gluten-Free Diet: The only treatment for celiac disease and gluten sensitivity is a gluten-free diet. And it can get confusing when it comes to what grains are a “GO” and what grains are a “NO”! All forms of wheat, rye and barley must strictly be avoided, including spelt, kamut, einkorn, emmer, faro, durum, couscous, semolina, bulgur and triticale. Barley malt, barley malt extract, barley malt flavor, brewer’s yeast, malt vinegar, as well as barley-based ale, beer and lager must also be avoided. Here is a more detailed list of foods allowed, to avoid and to question.
Looking for Some Facts about Celiac Disease? This blog post addresses 10 facts about celiac disease that will help you understand the disease and better explain it to others.
What is the Difference Between Celiac Disease, Gluten Sensitivity and a Wheat Allergy? This is one of the most common questions I receive. This blog post addresses facts and pointers regarding each of these conditions to help you understand the differences in these somewhat similar, yet very unique medical conditions.
Nutrition and the Gluten-Free Diet? The gluten-free diet can create challenges when it comes to getting the proper nutrients. This chart provides a quick reference and ideas to improve the nutritional quality of your meals and snacks.
Is the Gluten-Free Diet Healthy for Everyone? Gluten-free foods are popping up everywhere and the gluten-free diet is being promoted for everything that ails you. To separate the “wheat from the chaff” you need to check out the facts in this article.
What’s New in the Gluten-Free World? Although there is still a lot we don’t know about celiac disease, there is a lot we do know, thanks to research efforts across the globe. This article recaps some of what we do know about the disease, as well as some important new developments in the gluten-free world.
Finally, as a dietitian specializing in celiac disease and the gluten-free, my mission has been to provide consumers, health professionals, the food industry, media and others with accurate and practical information. One way I’ve accomplished this is through my book, Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide, now in its 4th edition, 9th printing. In addition, my website www.glutenfreediet.ca, newsletter, blog and Q&A columns – like the Ask Shelley Case column on BeFreeForMe.com feature lots of free information. Happy reading!
Ask Shelley Case is a feature of BeFreeForMe.com. It is published the second Tuesday of each month. Shelley Case, RD is a Consulting Dietitian, Speaker and Author of Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide. Visit Shelley and get more gluten-free tips & info at: GlutenFreeDiet.ca | <urn:uuid:726c079f-3c53-4ca0-9e28-ce0c859a4a34> | {
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One of the world's most ancient societies has been given a legal buffer zone to guard it from the modern world.
India's Supreme Court has banned all commercial and tourism activity near their habitat in the country's remote Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Indian Ocean.
The ruling bars hotels and resorts from operating within a three-mile buffer zone around the Jarawa reserve, which is home to the Jarawa tribal people. The order means resorts that had opened nearby will have to close.
The Jarawas are among the world's most ancient people, with many still hunting with bows and arrows and rubbing stones together to make fire. Scientists believe they were among the first people to migrate from Africa to Asia around 70,000 years ago.
Jarawas did not have any contact with government authorities until 1996 and did not begin leaving their habitat until a few years ago, when they began moving out of the reserve in small groups for a brief while before returning. Scientists say there are around 320 Jarawa tribespeople living in the southern and middle Andaman islands.
The Indian government has come under increasing criticism from rights activists for failing to protect the Jarawas. Critics say the local government has allowed unscrupulous tour operators to promote "human safaris."
In 2002, the Supreme Court ordered that a road passing through the reserve be closed, but the local government still has not barred the Andaman Trunk Road, enabling tourist buses and vehicles to enter Jarawa habitats deep in the jungle.
India's cabinet recently authorised stiff penalties for those trying to organise tours to Jarawa habitats or photographing the tribespeople.
Last year, activists were outraged when media reports and videos surfaced of local policemen forcing bare-chested Jarawa women to dance for tourists in exchange for food.
Survival International, a London-based international rights group for indigenous people, welcomed the new order, but said the Indian government has "missed" an opportunity by allowing the road to remain open to tourists. | <urn:uuid:f4a87cfe-698f-49cb-b9f6-4e766d72cd04> | {
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The Importance of Breakfast
It often amazes me how
people take better care of their cars
than their bodies. I have yet to meet a
person who said, “God has a plan as to
when my car should ‘die’ and I do not
need to worry about it. I don’t need to
check or change the oil, or perform any
routine maintenance. And I don’t need to
worry about the type of gasoline I use.”
We recognize the necessity of proper
care to get the longest life and best
performance out of our automobiles. When
will we realize that proper care also
gives our bodies the longest life and
Today, a wealth of
scientific research has confirmed that
most of the leading causes of death and
chronic diseases are preventable. We
have been talking about the lifestyle
factors that will help us improve our
health. Adding breakfast to your eating
pattern is a major step to improving
your lifestyle. Well, why bother with
breakfast? Food is fuel. Many studies
have emphasized the importance of
breakfast. If you want to make the most
of your day, fuel your body early with
the right stuff.
AT A TIME: WHAT TO DO
THE IMPORTANCE OF
studies have even linked healthy
breakfasts with less chronic disease,
increased longevity and better health.
Starting your day with a good breakfast
boosts your energy, increases your
attention span, and heightens your sense
of well-being. You’ll be in better
control of your emotions. A good
breakfast is one that provides at least
one third of the day’s calories.
Most people give a
variety of reasons for not eating
breakfast. A common reason is that they
are not hungry in the morning, which is
a result of eating a full meal late in
the evening or late snacking. When they
go to bed, the body is still busy
digesting all that food. Digestion then
goes into a slower gear during the hours
of sleep and there is still food in the
stomach in the morning. The stomach
needs a rest too. A tired stomach does
not feel like digesting a big breakfast.
When you get up in the morning, your
glucose or blood sugar level is at its
lowest point in the day. Glucose is the
basic fuel for the brain and central
nervous system. A good breakfast will
keep you from being tired and irritable
The effects of a skipped
breakfast are short attention span, lack
of alertness, longer reaction time, low
blood sugar, decreased work
productivity. Surely, breakfast is the
most important meal of the day. Take
time to eat a large, balanced breakfast.
It’s a good investment of your time.
Once you get into the habit of eating
breakfast, you may feel hungry in the
APPLICATION: HOW TO DO IT
Breakfast is a great way
to get more fiber into your diet. Plan
wisely for a healthy breakfast. Many
prepared cereals have added refined
sugar, often hidden. Read labels
carefully to select cereals prepared
without excessive sugar, salt, fat, and
excuse for not eating breakfast?
• “No time?” How much
time does it take to eat a bowl of
cereal? Make toast and eat it on your
way to work. Make your breakfast the
night before. Making time for breakfast
is making time to be healthy.
• “Not hungry?” To
get started, don’t eat anything after an
early supper. Finish supper by 6:30 p.m.
• “Might gain
weight?” Eating breakfast will actually
help you reach and maintain your healthy
weight. Your appetite will be satisfied
longer. You’ll be eating food when you
can best burn the calories. You’ll feel
great. Eat breakfast.
• You “don’t like
breakfast foods?” You don’t have to eat
traditional breakfast foods. You can eat
leftovers, or a sandwich. Any healthy
food is fine. Caffeine may mask hunger.
• You “don’t like eating
breakfast?” It is in your best interest
to eat breakfast. Take the step. Do the
right thing. Eat breakfast.
Simple, easy ways to add
• Start Small. If
your not a breakfast eater, begin with
whole wheat toast and/or a piece of
fruit. In a few days, add more food.
• Choose Fruit for
Breakfast. Fruit gives you fiber. Fresh
fruit is the best choice. There are many
to choose from: oranges, grapefruits,
apples, bananas, grapes, kiwis, mangos,
melons, berries. Eat two servings of
fruit every morning. Canned fruit packed
in juice is also a good choice. Add
dried fruit to your cereal.
• Eat High Fiber Hot
Cereal. Hot cereal is the best choice,
but there are several brands of cold
cereal on the market that are high in
fiber and low in sugar. Oatmeal is a
favorite hot cereal. Try a seven grain
cereal and experiment with different
grains such as millet, brown rice,
quinoa, corn grits for a variety. Try
cooking grains in a crock pot overnight
and it’s already the next morning. Or
cook up a large batch and re-heat the
next day. Make your own granola. Add a
high fiber cereal to your favorite low
fiber cereal. Gradually increase the
amount of the high fiber cereal and
decrease the amount of the low fiber
cereal. For example, if you like
cornflakes, add Wheat Chex to the
cornflakes. Each morning add a little
more Wheat Chex and a little less
• Choose Whole Grain
Bread. Eat two slices of toast in the
morning or a whole grain bagel. Spread
with fruit spread or applesauce or your
favorite nut butter.
• Make Healthy
Pancakes or Waffles. Have you ever
considered topping your pancakes or
waffles with fruit?
• Instead of scramble
eggs try scrambled tofu. You’re in for a
• The sky’s the limit.
The only limitation is your imagination.
Make it a priority. Eat breakfast.
High fiber, ready to
eat cereals and whole grain breads.
--Choose a cereal with at
least 3-5 grams of fiber per serving.
--Choose cereal that have
5 grams or less of sugar per serving.
Remember 4 grams of
--Choose bread with at
least 2 grams of dietary fiber per
CHALLENGE: YOU CAN DO IT!!
Try this simple
experiment. Eat one or two servings of
fresh fruit every
for the next three weeks. Eat as
many different kinds as you can find.
And remember, Health is
by Choice...not by chance! The choice is
yours. You don’t have to be a statistic.
By adopting a better diet and wiser
lifestyle habits, you can live longer,
feel better, and enjoy a healthier, more
And remember, Health is by Choice...not by chance! The choice is yours.
You don't have to be a statistic. By adopting a better diet and wiser lifestyle
habits, you can live longer, feel better, and enjoy a healthier, more
productive life. While it may be considered "helpful", individuals without a
masters in health administration degree, nutrition & fitness degree, or
even an MBA in healthcare degree are capable of taking care of their bodies.
All a person needs is the motivation to be healthy!
Nancy Schmieder works with the Better
Living Ministries in Wayland , NY as a
Certified Lifestyle Consultant and
Specialist. The Better Living Ministries
is a Community Resource for Lifestyle
Education and Support. Health by Choice
is a practical, simple journey on how to
incorporate healthy habits into your
lifestyle. Nancy is a Mother of five and
she lives with her family in Springwater
, NY . Her e-mail address is | <urn:uuid:1c9f44d5-5f6b-4f00-b080-8a7c7a1a69f2> | {
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The National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska,says drought has produced an above-normal wildfire potential this season along the leeward sides of all the Hawaiian Islands, including the western third of Hawaii Island. Most of our state has received above-normal precipitation, but not parts of Hawaii Island. The result: the danger of out-of-control brush fires is significant.
Elsewhere on the United States mainland, the situation is similar. The NDMC says snowpack was disappointing in many states–in Colorado and Utah, they had only half the usual snowpack. Colorado had its first wildfire of 2012 last month in a conflagration that took 700 firefighters more than a week to control the fire. January and February were the driest on record in California.
Hawaii County Fire Department warns residents to clear brush from near their houses, and to have an evacuation plan should there be a fire. They also warn that tossing lit cigarettes out of cars is not only illegal, but not trigger a fire.
The National Drought Mitigation Center says areas on Hawaii Island and elsewhere that have not had soakings of brush, grass, and trees, and the wildfire fuels don’t have water and cannot resist fire. Hawaii Island’s west side usually has a rainy summer season and there have been some mauka showers, with residents hoping for more. Hilo has gotten lots of rain this winter, but other areas around the island vary in how much rain they’ve received.
The NDMC, established in 1995, is based in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The organization helps people and institutions develop and implement measures to reduce societal vulnerability to drought, stressing preparedness and risk management rather than crisis management. It works with several different agencies to collaborate on drought issues–United States Department of Agriculture, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Geological Survey, the National Climate Data Center, and international organizations, among others. | <urn:uuid:e76221f1-7c87-4c3c-89f2-95c160897c49> | {
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Scientists identified seven new species of bamboo coral discovered on a NOAA-funded mission in the deep waters of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Six of these species may represent entirely new genera, a remarkable feat given the broad classification a genus represents. A genus is a major category in the classification of organisms, ranking above a species and below a family. Scientists expect to identify more new species as analysis of samples continues.
"These discoveries are important, because deep-sea corals support diverse seafloor ecosystems and also because these corals may be among the first marine organisms to be affected by ocean acidification," said Richard Spinrad, Ph.D., NOAA's assistant administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. Ocean acidification is a change in ocean chemistry due to excess carbon dioxide. Researchers have seen adverse changes in marine life with calcium-carbonate shells, such as corals, because of acidified ocean water.
"Deep-sea bamboo corals also produce growth rings much as trees do, and can provide a much-needed view of how deep ocean conditions change through time," said Spinrad.
Rob Dunbar, a Stanford University scientist, was studying long-term climate data by examining long-lived corals. "We found live, 4,000-year-old corals in the Monument meaning 4,000 years worth of information about what has been going on in the deep ocean interior."
"Studying these corals can help us understand how they survive for such long periods of time as well as how they may respond to climate change in the future," said Dunbar.
Among the other findings were a five-foot tall yellow bamboo coral tree that had never been described before, new beds of living deepwater coral and sponges, and a giant sponge scientists dubbed the "cauldron sponge," approximately three feet tall and three feet across. Scientists collected two other sponges which have not yet been anal
|Contact: Christine Patrick| | <urn:uuid:ad26ba98-1713-48a2-a39f-70743debf943> | {
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Diamond Says Sleep With Your Kids, Spare Parents: Books
Human beings and apes went their separate ways 6 million years ago, Jared Diamond notes near the beginning of “The World Until Yesterday.” Yet agriculture has been around for just 11,000 years, and the first state government arose only 5,400 years ago.
In other words, life as we know it accounts for a small fraction of human history. By looking closely at the world’s last few “traditional” (i.e., tribal) societies -- especially in New Guinea, where he’s spent much of the past half-century -- Diamond shows what it must have been like before that.
He deftly explodes a few myths, beginning with Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “speculative and ungrounded theory” that “humans were naturally compassionate in a state of nature, and that wars began only with the rise of states.”
The reality was the opposite -- maniacal xenophobia and perennial war. If you encountered a stranger on your path, you had essentially two options: run or fight.
The percentage of people that tribal societies typically lost in conflicts dwarfs German and Russian war losses during the 20th century (even if the numbers seem less dramatic at first because they aren’t in the millions).
That’s why they’ve so often accepted state control with so little protest: Since states, for their own reasons, suppress tribal warfare, life under their authority is less dangerous and a lot more pleasant.
“The World Until Yesterday” is packed with fascinating information of this kind. But because Diamond has constructed it as a series of lessons we can learn from what once were called primitive peoples, it’s also problematic.
I don’t doubt his good faith when he declares, “My own outlook on life has been transformed and enriched by my years among one set of traditional societies, that of New Guinea.” (He previously wrote about these societies, among others, in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Guns, Germs and Steel.”)
But then what does he tell us we can learn from them? To value mediation as a method of settling legal disputes. To treat the elderly with greater dignity. To watch our salt and sugar intake.
Fifty years of study -- for that?
Diamond’s most intriguing discussion, in terms of novel and usable information, involves child rearing. I was happy to find him advocating, for example, that parents allow small children to share their beds; I’m still mad about how strictly my own parents barred me from theirs.
But even when Diamond offers convincing arguments about “the precocious development of social skills” in the children of hunter-gatherers, he dulls them with an irritating habit of belaboring the hyper-obvious:
“Naturally, I’m not saying that we should emulate all child-rearing practices of hunter-gatherers. I don’t recommend that we return to the hunter-gatherer practices of selective infanticide, high risk of death in childbirth and letting infants play with knives and get burned by fires.”
Or, on the elderly: “I don’t know any individual American whose devoted care of his aged parents goes as far as pre- chewing their food, nor any who has strangled his aged parents and been publicly commended as a good son for doing so.”
Much like his friends in the New Guinea jungle, for whom “there is no time pressure, no schedule,” Diamond is in no hurry to get where he’s going.
What disturbs me more than the leisurely blandness of his style, though, is his apparent conviction (or maybe it came from his agent or his publisher) that he had to make his book relevant by delivering news you can use. The idea that knowledge isn’t sufficient in itself is depressing if not insulting.
I was absorbed as I read “The World Before Yesterday.” But faced with the embarrassing question its subtitle poses -- “What Can We Learn From Traditional Societies?” -- I would have to answer: Not all that much.
Muse highlights include Elin McCoy on wine.
To contact the writer on the story: Craig Seligman at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:5ed55cec-6b98-4ea4-a7ac-8c06d1678eea> | {
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March 22, 2000
UPTON, NY - Painting a bridge can be a costly and time-consuming undertaking, especially if the paint job doesn't last. So scientists have been working on ways to test paint durability before the brushes even get wet. At a March 22 session at the American Physical Society meeting in Minneapolis, scientists from the University of Missouri at Kansas City, who worked in collaboration with physicist Bent Nielsen of the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, will present findings that could lead to the development of an extremely sensitive and quick durability test.
The technique is called positron annihilation. Essentially, the scientists bombard small painted samples of metal with a beam of positrons, or positively charged electrons. When these "antielectrons" interact with the electrons in the molecules of the paint, they annihilate one another and send out gamma rays that give the scientists information about the molecules in the paint. The technique can detect nanometer-scale holes and defects in the paint molecules; free radicals, which indicate the presence of broken chemical bonds; and cross linking, which may make the paint brittle.
"These experiments show that this technique is extremely sensitive to detecting damage early," says Brookhaven's Nielsen - well before the formation of any visible cracks in the paint. "So you can test the paint on a much shorter time scale - a day instead of half a year. That's a big advantage," Nielsen says.
The scientists typically test the paint samples before and after exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light, one of the components of sunlight known to damage bridge coatings. The more sensitive the paint is to UV damage, the less durable the paint would be on a bridge exposed to sunlight day after day. They've also exposed samples to UV light during the positron annihilation test to see if they could detect the damage as it occurred. In both cases, the damage increased with UV exposure time, and was most severe near the surface of the paint.
In addition to laying the foundation for a quick paint durability test, the detailed observations made possible by positron annihilation may also help scientists learn more about the fundamental mechanisms of paint degradation. That knowledge, in turn, may eventually lead to the development of more durable paints.
Brookhaven was a pioneer in developing positron beams in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, a medical technique used to learn about the function of body organs such as the brain, works on a similar principle, Nielsen says.
This paper will be presented at session L36 on March 22, 2000, at 10 a.m. in the Exhibit Hall of the Minneapolis Convention Center.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory creates and operates major facilities available to university, industrial and government personnel for basic and applied research in the physical, biomedical and environmental sciences and in selected energy technologies. The Laboratory is operated by Brookhaven Science Associates, a not-for-profit research management company, under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.
Note to local editors: Bent Nielsen lives in Port Jefferson, New York.
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Multiple Choice Questions
This section contains 180 multiple choice questions about The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Multiple choice questions test a student's recall and understanding of the text. Use these questions for chapter quizzes, homework assignments or tests. Jump to the quiz/homework section for the multiple choice worksheets.
Multiple Choice - Part 1, Chapters 1-5 | Part 1, Chapters 6-10
1. Why is Tomas attracted to Tereza?
a) Her beauty is unlike any other.
b) He opens up to her like he does with no one else.
c) She seems like a child to him.
d) She is submissive.
2. Why does Tereza stay at Tomas's home for a week during her initial visit?
a) He invites her to stay.
b) She comes down with the flu.
c) She asks to stay, dreading returning to her mother's home.
d) She sprains her ankle.
3. After she returns home to her small...
This section contains 6,535 words|
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Short Essay Questions
The 60 short essay questions listed in this section require a one to two sentence answer. They ask students to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the text. Students must describe what they've read, rather than just recall it.
Short Essay Question - Introduction
1. Describe the essential conflict of the Iron Heel.
2. What is the two-tiered future described in the Iron Heel?
3. What does the contemporary author H. Bruce Franklin describe about London?
4. What does the Iron Heel reveal about workers according to Franklin?
5. What tension did London experience in his own life that is reflected in the Iron Heel?
6. Why is it important to be vigilant in society in the Introduction?
Short Essay Question - Forward and Chapter...
This section contains 674 words|
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- slide 1 of 4
There are two ways of fighting fire on board a ship - by using portable marine fire fighting equipments or by using different types of fixed fire fighting installations. The type of system used for fighting fire depends on the intensity and type of fire. Moreover, not all types of fixed fire installation systems can be used for any type of ship. A specific type of fixed fire fighting installation can be used only for a certain type of ship. In this article we will learn about a ship's fire main or the main fire fighting installation system.
- slide 2 of 4
A ship's main emergency fire system consist of a specific number of fire hydrants located at strategic positions across the ship. A series of dedicated pumps are provided to supply to these fire hydrants. The number and capacity of pumps required for a particular type of ship is decided by an international governing authority.
All these pumps are supplied power from the main power system. Apart from that, an emergency fire pump is also provided , which is located remote from the machinery space. The emergency fire pump has its own independent means of power source, which can be used to take over in case of main power failure.
Moreover, all the hydrant outlets are provided with an isolating valve so as to isolate those valves which are not in use. The fire hydrants are also provided with standard size flanges in order to attach hoses which have nozzles attached to them. All the hoses are provided with snap in connectors for easy and quick engaging and disengaging operation. The nozzles attached to the hoses are generally of two types - jet and spray , depending on the type of discharge required for extinguishing the fire. Both the nozzles can be adjusted according to the type of spray and flow required, which could be played over the fire to cool it without spreading.
The pumps are connected with the main sea water connection, having appropriate head to prevent any type of suction problem. The valves supplying water to these pumps are always kept open to provide a constant supply of sea water to fight fire at any point of time. Though sea water is the best mode of fighting fire, the main emergency fire fighting system can only be used on fires of Type A. However, in case of class B fires, if all modes for extinguishing fire fails, sea water from main emergency system can be used.
- slide 3 of 4
International Shore Coupling
The standard sized flanges provided at every strategically positioned hydrant are known as international shore connection. The international shore connections are always carried on all the ships and has standard dimensions decided by an international governing authority. The flange is also slotted in order to fit any shore side fire main and bring water onto the ship whenever required. The practice of international shore coupling has been followed to prevent difficulties at time of emergency when an external help is providing relief work.
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Exponential growth refers to an amount of substance increasing exponentially. Exponential growth is a type of exponential function where instead of having a variable in the base of the function, it is in the exponent. Exponential decay and exponential growth are used in carbon dating and other real-life applications.
I want to talk about exponential growth, I have an example here the population of mice in the Duchy of Grand Fenwick grows at a rate of 6% per year. How long will it take for the population to double or quadruple? I have a table of values here I wanted to show you why this is exponential growth. Increasing at 6% per year means very year we're multiplying by 1.06 and so we get p sub 0 when t=0, p sub 0 times 1.06 when t=1 and p sub 0 times 1.06 squared when t=2 and so on.
This would suggest the formula p sub t equals p sub 0 times 1.06 to the t and that's an exponential growth formula. Now to find the doubling time I need to plug in twice the initial population here. I don't know what the initial population is but twice the initial population is 2 times p sub and after you plug in you can see that the actual initial population doesn't matter it's going to cancel out. So now I have the equation 2=1.06 to the t, this is an exponential equation and the way we solve exponential equations is to take the log of both sides. I'm going to take that natural log of both sides, it doesn't matter what log you use as long as it's on your calculator so you can use either the common log or the natural log.
Okay before I calculate I actually need to use the property of the logs, natural log of 1.06 to the t this is the log of a power so the exponent can come out in front t times ln of 1.06 and then we have a simple linear equation to solve this all we need to do is divide both sides b y natural log of 1.06. So ln 2 over ln of 1.06 now I'd like a numerical answer so I'm going to calculate this value ln2 divided by ln 1.06 enter, I get t, t is approximately 11.89566 and that would be in years. Because the population growth rate was given as 6% per year, I want to round this off let's say your teacher likes you to round off to the nearest hundredth then when I calculate quadrupling time a reason like this in order for a population to quadruple, it's got to double and then double again. So we're going to have 2 doubling times in a row. So it stands to reason that the quadrupling time is twice the doubling time. Twice this, but if I write 23.80 years my answer is not quite right let me multiply in my calculator answer times 2. it's actually 23.79 years.
You have to be really careful when you're using rounded values to do calculations. These values rounded to the nearest hundredth and when I double it I double whatever round off error there was. So the best way to get my final answer for quadrupling time is to double this value which is still stored in the calculator so multiply this times 2 and you get the correct value to the nearest hundredth. This is my answer. | <urn:uuid:d2dd73a6-860a-4d35-a21c-b746c236c544> | {
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advocacy by Jefferson
...to receive foreign ministers in run-down slippers and frayed jackets. He shunned display, protocol, and pomp; he gave no public balls or celebrations on his birthday. By completing the transition to republicanism, he humanized the presidency and made it a symbol not of the nation but of the people. He talked persuasively about the virtue of limiting government—his first inaugural address...
series of 85 essays on the proposed new Constitution of the United States and on the nature of republican government, published between 1787 and 1788 by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay in an effort to persuade New York state voters to support ratification. Seventy-seven of the essays first appeared serially in New York newspapers, were reprinted in most other states, and were...
history of Portugal
During the period from 1890 to 1910, the relatively stable politics of rotating governments under the constitutional monarchy disintegrated. Feuding monarchist parties and politicians agreed that Portugal faced severe economic, financial, and social problems, but they quarreled over solutions. The republicans increased their support in Lisbon and the larger towns as well as in the rural south....
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sarangiArticle Free Pass
sarangi, also called saran or saranga , short-necked fiddle used throughout South Asia, particularly for folk and classical Hindustani music. Measuring about 76 cm (30 inches) long, the instrument has a roughly rectangular slightly waisted body and broad fretless neck generally carved from a single piece of wood. It has three melody strings made of gut, usually tuned a fifth and a fourth apart, and 11 to 37 sympathetically vibrating metal strings. At least two convex bone bridges are required to accommodate the three melodic strings on top and the many vibrating strings below. The musician, who is seated, normally holds the instrument against his left shoulder in a vertical position and plays with an arched bow held in an underhand grip in his right hand. The cuticles (or sometimes the space on the fingernail just above the cuticles) of the left hand are pressed against the strings to sound specific pitches.
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Family Megalopygidae ( flannel moths)240 species in Central and South America; larvae similar to those of Limacodidae, but with normal prolegs and traces of additional ones; setae very toxic and...
What made you want to look up "flannel moth"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:1468355c-3c1f-45db-ae94-69b998b5c0c8> | {
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died July 31, 1981, near Penonomé
dictator-like leader of Panama (196878), who negotiated the Panama Canal treaties with the United States, leading to Panama's eventual assumption of control of the canal.
Educated at a military school in El Salvador, Torrijos also studied military-related subjects in the United States and Venezuela. In 1952 he was commissioned second lieutenant in the National Guard of Panama (Guardia Nacional; the country's only military force), becoming lieutenant colonel (1966), colonel (1968), and brigadier general (1969). In October 1968 he participated in a coup by the National Guard that overthrew President Arnulfo Arias, and he gradually emerged as leader of the new military junta with the title Chief of Government and Supreme Leader of the Panamanian Revolution. He became one of the few Latin American leaders who visited Fidel Castro in Cuba, but he also suppressed leftist labour agitators and students in Panama. Under his rule, social services expanded, and Panamanians of African descent had more prominent roles in government; however, corruption and drug trafficking increased.
Transfer of the Panama Canal and Canal Zone to Panamanian sovereignty became Torrijos's main objective, and he pursued it to a successful conclusion when on September 7, 1977, he and President Jimmy Carter of the United States signed two treaties by which the transfer would take place gradually; Panama assumed full control of the canal on December 31, 1999.
In the election of October 1978, Torrijos declined to run for the presidency, though he retained command of the National Guard. He died in an airplane crash in a jungle area while making a military inspection tour. In 2004 his son Martín was elected president of Panama. | <urn:uuid:80f3f173-0cb9-4960-a7b3-f6d0292f579e> | {
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History's greatest empires covered a fifth of the world, ruled hundreds of millions of people, and lasted anywhere from 100 years to over a millennium.
Empire, which comes from the Latin "imperare" meaning "to command," is a collection of states or ethnic groups united under one ruler or oligarchy.
It is a term that has been used to describe recent US foreign policy. Wrote filmmaker Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick in a recent USA Today op-ed: "Obama is about to enter his second term as heir of George W. Bush's imperial strategy unless his latest foreign policy appointments signal significant change."
Each empire seemed unstoppable for an age, but in the end they were all consigned to history. | <urn:uuid:2670d017-b7f8-471e-a9d3-dd5a50f84fe7> | {
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Lateral Thinking, Logical Thinking, Applied Creativity
Certain processes enhance creative output and others enhance innovative output. Defining creativity as problem identification and idea generation and innovation as idea selection, development and commercialisation, this article will tackle stages two and three using the three-stage process of lateral thinking, logical thinking and applied creativity.
The start of the process involves building a sizeable idea pool of quality ideas. In this article, we can define quality as being a large number of ideas and a large number of diverse and novel ideas.
Simply creating the above three categories enhances the size of the idea pool. Whereas we might initially have come up with 20 ideas, we are now consciously able to come up with 20 ideas and then 20 others that are purposefully diverse and yet still 20 more that are purposefully novel. This framework that we are beginning to construct begins to show the value of frameworks and models. They break up problems into smaller, more manageable parts and allow the mind to focus on each.
We can also use lateral thinking techniques to enhance the size of our idea pool. This involves processes such as generating ideas without conscious direction, for the sake of generating ideas, purposefully ridiculous ideas, ideas generated from links to diverse and novel objects that have no relation to the apparent problem.
Next, we can use logical thinking to generate ideas and increase the quality of the idea pool still further. This involves using established models and associations that are recognised as being linked to the problem to generate ideas. For example, a million business models exist to address particular problems. SWOT, PEST, Five Forces, Competitive Advantages etc can be used if the issue is indeed a business one.
All of the above requires that creative thinking in general be used. That is daring, uninhibited, free-spirited, imaginative, unpredictable and revolutionary.
With a sizeable and good quality idea pool, we now begin to use critical thinking to reduce the ideas to feasible ones ? applied creativity. Critical thinking involves being reductive, logical, focused, conservative, practical and feasible.
Once we have a list of feasible ideas, we then further reduce the selection further through risk-reward mechanisms such as the S-curve and idea source probabilities. That is because most organizations do not have the resources to innovate all their good ideas and so only the most likely are given the resources and opportunity to succeed.
This topic is covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com. You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.
Kal Bishop, MBA
You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author's name and site URL are retained.
Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com.
Delegate Tasks to the Right Person
SELECTING THE RIGHT PERSON: To whom should tasks be delegated? Selecting the right subordinate to do the work is an evaluative process, and managers must be able to identify individuals both capable and willing to handle responsibility.
5 Surefire Ways to Bring Your Business Objectives Full Circle with Technology
All small to mid-sized company owners want to know where their dollar is being spent when it comes to computer technology in their organization. The challenge is for them to get the information they need to make the right purchasing decisions. 'Tell me in English why you think we need this technology in our company?' That question goes through every company owner's mind and mouth. Getting the answer that makes sense to them is another story. How can the people in charge of your company understand what the value is of specific technology if their computer support people cannot articulate why it is so important?
Delegate or Die!
You Can't Do It All - Learning To Delegate
Can What Someone Does Off-hours Affect Your Business?
Q: How much do I have to worry about what people who are part of my far-flung "virtual" corporation do when they're not working directly for me? I can't share too many details because the situation is touchy, as you might expect, but basically I have someone working for me as a writer, contributing material for my blog, and I have been hearing that he's writing some pretty far out, offensive material on other sites. Do I need to worry about it?
Rethinking Workplace Security: How the Rules Have Changed
The workplace has traditionally been a dangerous place. Very early in mankind's history perils emanated from the place and type of work they performed. Long before industrialization, men mined precious metals, gems and fuel in the form of peat and coal hidden beneath the earth's surface. Extracting these materials brought with it the risk of cave-ins and being buried alive. Moreover, the quest for the most basic of all life giving substances, water, could also end in sudden death or severe injury as well shafts were dug in the soft earth.
Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines Part II
SEXUAL HARASSMENT COMPLAINT INVESTIGATION PROCEDURE
Three Foundation Stones for Building Organizational Integrity
When the stock market crashed in 1929, there were a lot of people who lost everything they had. You would think that the result of that event would be complete and utter despair. And, in fact, there were those who reacted that way. There were numerous cases of people who committed suicide because they lost their life savings on that fateful day. They simply went into a depression and just couldn't bring themselves to go on with life.
Focus on Outcomes to Keep Your Business On-Course
Did you know that an airplane in flight is off course nearly 98% of the time? No flight is completed in a straight line from Point A to Point B. Gravity, side winds, updrafts, and downdrafts are continually moving the plane off course. And yet, the majority of flights arrive at their planned destinations safely and on time. How do airline pilots make this happen? They continually keep the outcome or result in mind, say departing from Los Angeles and arriving in Honolulu. Pilots constantly make corrections to compensate for outside forces affecting the plane and use a proven set of process steps to keep everything on course.
The Comfort Zone
The Comfort Zone I have a friend named Gene, a serial entrepreneur who currently runs a software business. Like many people, last year was a tough one for his company. They survived largely by providing add-on services to existing customers - a decent response to difficult circumstances. They even grew revenues a bit. But here's something else that happened: They got comfortable. They decided they could exist on their base of customers, and then they "realized" there would be no new ones.
Million Dollar Support System For You and For Your Business
Whether you are a consultant, coach, business owner, doctor, professional, corporate elite or student, whatever your profession is, moving towards your dream requires taking courageous steps. Making long-lasting changes requires us to create a network of support. Surrounding yourself with a community of nice-giving-good people, committed to their own growth, will give you tremendous emotional strength to move forward.
The Top 5 Signals That Your Business Is Running You
Starting your own business is a great undertaking but running the day-to-day aspects of your business is the true challenge you will face as an entrepreneur. Do you find that the business you started to suit your lifestyle somehow taken over your life and home? If this sounds familiar, then your business is running you. Learn how to run your business again with these top five warning signs and helpful tips.
50 Great Ways to Motivate and Not Break the Bank
Quick, Easy, and Even Fun!
How to Get Your Procedures Project Done
Wouldn't it be nice for business owners and executives to be finished with their policies and procedures project already? They know they need to get it done, but maybe it's taking too long. Or perhaps their people are staring at a blank piece of paper, and they don't know where to begin. Or maybe they're not sure what to write. Or they're just too busy.
Involving People Gave Us the Improvements We Needed
We had a problem with handling materials in a production department. Our process required raw materials to enter the department, be processed, and leave the department. The raw material was placed on pods, delivered for production, removed from the pods, placed on a staging fixture, removed from the fixture and process materials were then placed on another pod and delivered to an internal customer. Internal customer had to place on still another pod.
Creativity and Innovation Management :- Thought Leadership
Leadership is only sustainable when leaders consistently come up with good ideas ? when they are dependable thought leaders. It follows then that leaders would be more effective if they knew how to manage creativity and innovation.
Outsourced Learning: Are You Ready for Learning BPO?
As the business world enters a period of hyper-competitiveness, every business process will be subjected to examination and possible restructuring. We have already seen outsourcing and offshoring used to an extent what nobody would have dreamed of a few years ago. McDonald's is testing the offshoring of its drive-thru process to India. How about, "Do you want fries with that?" with a New Delhi accent?
The Top 10 Requirements for Your Business to Become and Remain Profitable
We live in a relentlessly competitive world. The daily pressure to work "better, cheaper and faster" can make even talented business owners and entrepreneurs lose site of first principles. As you cope with the decisions and details of running your business, focus on the fundamentals! Regardless of the type of business or the products or services you sell, here are my suggestions for the Top 10 Basics that will make your fortune:
The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - The 6th C: Changing Vision
A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that can indicate a partnership is in trouble.
Goodwill is an Intangible Asset
'Goodwill' is regarded as an intangible asset in a business. Goodwill carries a value over and above the tangible assets of a business, and representing all benefits derived from the distinctive location, trade and brand names, credit rating, reputation, cusotmers and patronage of the business. When a business is sold, a charge is usually applied for the goodwill as one of the assets.
Are You Ready to Sell Your Business
Make Sure You Understand Your Motivation for Selling | <urn:uuid:43d98c61-dedb-46d4-b91c-4d84fbd66beb> | {
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THE LAW. The Equal Pay Act (EPA) of 1963 prohibits employers from dishing out different wages or bene-fits on the basis of gender for "equal work on jobs (requiring) equal skill, effort and responsibility and which are performed under similar working conditions."
The EPA applies to all employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which means virtually all employees, and has no exclusion for small businesses. The law is administered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which can conduct equal-pay audits even if it hasn't received a complaint and can initiate lawsuits on behalf of workers.
WHAT'S NEW? There's evidence the wage gap is widening, and that could spark more complaints and more inspections.
Also, the EEOC is already seeing the fruits of an Equal Pay Task Force it set up two years ago. Last year, employees filed 1,251 equal-pay charges and the EEOC brought in a record amount of monetary awards for workers, more than $5 million, compared with less than $2 million just five years ago.
HOW TO COMPLY. The law seems very straightforward: It requires that men and women be given equal pay for equal work. The jobs don't have to be identical, but they must be "substantially equal." Focus on the job content, not titles, to decide whether jobs are substantially equal.
When doing a self-audit of your workplace (or determining if a worker has a valid equal-pay case), always look at the factors a court would examine:
Skill. Look at the experience, ability, education and training required to perform a job, not what skills the individual employees have. Example: Two accounting jobs could be considered equal under the EPA even if one of the employees has a master's degree in physics, since that degree isn't required for the job.
Effort. Look at the physical or mental exertion needed to do the job. Suppose men and women work on an assembly line, but the employee at the end must perform his task and also lift the product into a box. That job requires more effort than the other jobs if the extra lifting is a substantial and regular part of the job. Net effect: You could pay that person more.
Responsibility. Look at the level of accountability needed to do the work. If you're assigning a minor difference in responsibility, it wouldn't be a factor.
Working conditions. This encompasses two things: physical environment, like temperature or ventilation, and workplace hazards. A more dangerous or demanding environment allows for a higher pay grade.
Key point: You can also set "pay differentials" when they're based on seniority, merit, quantity or quality of work or another business reason other than gender. Just be prepared to show a sound business reason why those differentials exist, and have good documentation of your reasons for employee pay levels.
Three other tips:
- Have accurate job descriptions to help justify pay-for-performance disputes.
- Offer equal amounts of overtime. It's illegal to favor a man because of a woman's "family constraints" or pregnancy.
- If you discover equal-pay problems, it's illegal to lower the wages of either sex to equalize the pay.
Resources: Equal Pay Act
- The EEOC's Equal Pay and Compensation Discrimination Web page, www.eeoc.gov/epa.
- The Equal Pay Act in full, www.eeoc.gov/laws/epa.html.
- Ten steps to performing an equal-pay self-audit at your company, www.dol.gov/wb/10step71.htm.
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Enumerators in C#
In this article I will explain you about Enumerators in C#.
This article has been excerpted from book "The Complete Visual C# Programmer's Guide" from the Authors of C# Corner.
As explained earlier, C# has a new iteration syntax called foreach. The foreach statement can only be applied to objects of classes that implement the IEnumerable interface. The IEnumerable interface exposes the enumerator, which supports a simple iteration over a collection. Enumerators are intended to be used only to read data in the collection and cannot be used to modify the underlying collection. The enumerator does not have exclusive access to the collection. To understand what happens in the background, consider the code snippet in Listing 5.57.
Listing 5.57: Enumerator Example 1
foreach (int i in a)
This code functions just like the while loop used in Listing 5.58.
Listing 5.58: Enumerator Example 2
a = x.GetEnumerator();
Please refer to the C# Language Specification (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa645596(VS.71).aspx) for more details and recent updates to the C# language.
Before entering the statement block, the compiler generates the code to call the method GetEnumerator of the object passed as the second parameter in the foreach statement. The GetEnumerator method must return an object, having a property named Current, of type similar to the first argument of the foreach statement. Also this object must have a MoveNext method of return type bool. This method informs the runtime when to terminate the loop.
When an enumerator is instantiated, it takes a snapshot of the current state of the collection. If changes are made to the collection, such as the addition, modification, or deletion of elements, the snapshot gets out of sync and the enumerator throws an InvalidOperationException. Two enumerators instantiated from the same collection simultaneously can have different snapshots of the collection.
If the enumerator is positioned before the first element in the collection or after the last element in the collection, the enumerator is in an invalid state. In that case, calling Current throws an exception.
The enumerator is positioned before the first element in the collection initially. The Reset function brings the enumerator back to this position. The MoveNext method must be called to advance the enumerator to the first element of the collection before reading the value of Current, after an enumerator is created or after a Reset. The Current property returns the same object until either MoveNext or Reset is called.
Once the end of the collection is passed, the enumerator is in an invalid state and calling MoveNext returns false.
Calling Current throws an exception if the last call to MoveNext returned false. With this information under your belt, you should insert your enumerating code inside a try-catchfinally block to prevent unexpected exits.
Hope this article would have helped you in understanding Enumerators in C#. See other articles on the website on .NET and C#.
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First of all, students in smaller classes generally perform better in academics than those in larger classes. Project STAR was a project run in Tennessee from 1985 to about 1999. It compared the academics of kindergarten through third grade children taught in smaller classes (13-17 kids) to those in larger classes (22-26 kids). The results were stunning. The small class children substantially outperformed the larger class children. The rates of second grade suspension went down. The district even went from low tier in math and reading to middle tier in the state. Since smaller classes have been proven to outperform larger classes, then we should transition to smaller class sizes.
Secondly, being in smaller classes early on has lasting effects throughout the child's years in school. Project STAR saw that fourth grade children who had been in smaller classes in K-3 were better behaved, probably due to the less discipline needed to quiet a smaller class. Students also had better grades than those in larger classes, even when taking into account demographics, resources, and cost of living, according to a study by Harold Weglinsky. The Weglinsky study, which pretty much repeated the Project STAR studies but in different cities, also showed that fourth graders in the inner city were three quarters of a grade level ahead of children enrolled in larger classes. There was also a stronger bond between students. I know the bond part is true because last year in band class we had a grand total of ten people. We all got to know each other better.
The story doesn't end there. Project STAR also noted that the small class kids found in high school, and were more likely to graduate on schedule and less likely to drop out. More smaller class kids were found in honors classes, and more took the SATs and ACTs, indicating a higher rate of going to college. Since studies prove again and again that smaller classes are better for your kids, isn't it the logical choice?
The benefits of smaller class sizes keep going on. Smaller class sizes can actually save money. In smaller classes, there's a smaller teacher to child ratio, so that means that there's more time for children to talk directly to the teacher for assistance. Children receive a more personalized education that fits their needs. In smaller classes early on, during K-3 years, teachers can give personalized education to those who may have learning problems, rather than referring his or her parents to costly special education programs. Fewer children get left out since teachers don't have as many kids to teach. Since smaller classes save money, why shouldn't classes downsize?
The more and more time we take, the more children are left undereducated, the more money we spend on special education, tests, and false answers. Cutting class sizes is proven to be better. It saves your money, your child's education, and their future. We should minimize the classes as soon as possible in order to make sure our children get the education they need. If we don't act now, it could be too late for an entire generation of children. | <urn:uuid:e96abcc2-044d-474c-b3fe-e372bf008dff> | {
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Story last updated at 9/19/2012 - 12:46 pm
Near the mouth of the Stikine River is a rounded point along the mainland shore. When Navy Officer Jefferson Moser investigated Alaska's salmon resources in 1897 for the federal government, he named it Gerard Point, but fails to tell us for whom it was named. At that time, Fort Wrangel (as Wrangell was then known) was about to experience the Klondike Gold Rush when prospectors and miners thought the Stikine River was a short way to the Interior.
It is at Gerard Point that a sawmill and salmon cannery were constructed soon after Moser passed by in the "Albatross," a coal burner ship. The site has been described in early fishery reports as being on the mainland opposite Point Highfield (today's airport site), at the junction of Eastern Passage and the "southeast stream of the Stikine delta."
More than hundred years ago, the Stikine River delta had not extended itself as far south as Point Gerard, and a substantial deep-water wharf could accommodate steamers, that today, would run aground.
With the Gold Rush men coming to Fort Wrangel, Theo Nicholai, an experienced mill man from Portland, Ore., saw his chance to make money that wasn't grubbing for gold. His company, Stikeen Lumber Mills, constructed a saw mill in early 1898 at the head of the Stikine's deep water navigation. As manager, he selected J. Milner as the general superintendent. The mill had a capacity of 20,000 board feet per day, cutting principally spruce and cedar, undoubtedly harvested from the mountainside behind the site. The wharf was constructed and other buildings erected. Once started from 15 to 20 men worked supplying lumber for the Wrangell and Stikine River trades.
Apparently Nicholai didn't make as much money as he thought he would, because he sold the sawmill to Thlinket Packing Company, organized at Portland, Ore., by James T. Barron. It was in Portland that Barron and Nicholai closed the deal in spring 1899. Barron used the mill to cut lumber for his new fish processing plant.
The site chosen was not on level ground. Consequently the cannery building was small and crowded with men and equipment. With the wharf and cannery over deep water, the current carried away the gurry (heads and guts). This made it one of the few canneries of the times that did not have unpleasant odors, which so often were associated with canneries, where rotting fish parts accumulated on the beach.
Under the superintendency of Barron, president of the company, the cannery processed mainly pinks or humpback salmon the first year. The fleet was made up of one steamboat, the "Perhaps," sixteen fishing skiffs for imported company fishermen, and the chartered "Baranof." Local Natives also sold fish to the cannery, and in 1900 it paid collectively $8,000.
The site was close the mouth of the Stikine River because Barron and his company surmised that any river of that size must support large runs of salmon. Compared to many smaller streams in the same region, the river proved a great disappointment. Fishermen were forced to fish at streams on nearby islands, Cleveland Peninsula and the east and north coasts of Prince of Wales Island. The "Baranof" packed the fish longer distances.
Before the runs began, a Chinese crew imported from the Pacific Coast made cans by hand. Once fish were delivered to the fish house, the Chinese butchered the fish, and then hand-packed pieces into cans. Eight hundred cases of 48 cans each could be canned each day using some machinery: two steam boxes for creating a vacuum, a crimper to put on can lids, two retorts for cooking the fish under pressure, and a can-washer to remove the oil from the exterior of the processed cans.
In early 1902, Barron decided to sell his two canneries: Point Gerard and Santa Anna, south of Wrangell. A newly organized conglomerate, Pacific Packing and Navigation Company chose not to operate either cannery that year.
The new company's grandiose plans did not work out. It went into receivership in 1903. The receiver inventoried the Gerard plant during the summer and took steps to perfect title to the land. However, the land was never patented, and it remains part of the National Forest today.
The receiver wrote that, "On account of nearness to Santa Anna...the Gerard site is of considerable value as a fishing station if nothing more. The buildings are in good shape." The wharf was somewhat dilapidated, so the receiver arranged to have it reinforced to stand the stress of water and ice until spring.
Crews removed the machinery and gear to other canneries the receiver operated in 1903. The remaining fishing gear, machinery, wharf and fish site were estimated to be worth $19,789. The wharf and building probably cost, according to the appraiser, in the neighborhood of $12,000 to $15,000.
The bankruptcy court sold the canneries, and Barron successfully bid on the Gerard site. He had no use for the small cannery so the site and buildings were abandoned. Barron, using money from the sale of his two other canneries, had built a cannery in 1902 at Funter Bay.
The Point Gerard cannery ran for only three years, packing a total of 63,300 cases. Today when boaters pass by, the former cannery site is impossible to distinguish in the brush and trees. The late Dick Stokes of Wrangell thought the site was just south of the point near a waterfall that provided water for the processing.
Pat Roppel is the author of numerous books about mining, fishing, and man's use of the land. She lives in Wrangell. She may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:6d9e2bf9-7030-415a-8127-cee1cfacc67d> | {
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Overspending can be very stressful when it comes time to pay your credit card bill. However, it's the added interest that makes overspending just that much more expensive.
Spending your future income
One survey of 21- to 35-year-old college graduates found that this group owes an average of $30,000 in student loans. The several hundred dollars these graduates pay each month to pay off the loan is money that can't be saved or invested for the future. It can't be spent on other necessities, such as emergency car repairs or household expenses either. It's money that's tied up until the debt is repaid.
While debt for education is considered "good" debt because it's an investment in your future, all debt obligates your future income because of the payments that must be made. So make sure you use debt wisely-eliminate "bad" debt (debt for depreciating assets, such as car loans and credit card debt) and limit the "good" debt to reasonable amounts.
Paying the price of debt
Interest payments on debt work against you. New college graduates carry an average credit card balance of $3,000. Let's say you're lucky—or better yet, careful—and you accumulate only $2,200 in credit card debt. Your interest rate is 18% and you pay the minimum amount each month on your card ($40) without any further purchases on your card. How long will it take to pay off your balance? Did you guess five years? Try 10. It will take almost 10 years to pay off the debt. Your total cost will be $4,680 (original balance of $2,200 plus $2,480 in interest).
Getting into debt is easy
It's easy to run up a credit card. How many times have you gone to dinner, put the whole bill on your credit card, collected money from friends for their portion of the bill, and then found that money gone by the time the bill arrives in the mail? How easy is it to buy another sweater on sale, not so much because you need it but because it was a good bargain? Pretty soon you've built up a large balance on your credit card. You could easily charge $2,200 on your credit card in two months, but it will take 10 years to pay it off if you only pay the minimum balance each month. Two months versus 10 years. Now that's downright scary! | <urn:uuid:2e18c3ce-2288-47e2-ab44-e3d3bbb6457c> | {
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When was the last time you farmed after a devastating drought, and tried to figure out how to balance all of the agronomic challenges it presented. Lack of soil moisture? Herbicide carryover? Fertility needs? Biomass? Soil tilth? Dad and Granddad may or may not have worried about any of those, but today’s agriculture will put some or most of those on a high priority list. Although it may take most of the winter to learn how to address most of those issues, it may soon be time to take action on some of those. And to kill multiple birds with one stone, a cover crop may be that stone
You may be new to the concept of a cover crop, and some research may be necessary, but it could be just the answer for questions that you have not yet thought about. Purdue agronomist Eileen Kladivko will tell you that a cover crop will be one way to keep your unused 2012 nitrogen on your farm and recycle it into the 2013 crop.
Her factsheet in a recent Purdue crops bulletin says the residual nitrates that were not used by the crop this year will soon be leached out of the soil by fall precipitation. While she is most concerned about where the nitrates will go (into waterways, streams, and the river), Kladivko says, “For farmers who lose the residual N, they are also losing the opportunity to trap that N and keep it in their fields for subsequent crop use. Cover crops are an excellent practice to scavenge residual N and recycle it through their plant biomass (shoots and roots).”
click image to zoom Kladivko says when the cover crop decomposes next spring some of the nitrogen it has absorbed will be released for use by the next row crop planted in that field. And some will help build the organic matter in the soil. How much uptake of nitrogen there will be depends on how much residual nitrogen you have in the soil, the type of cover crop that is planted, how much it grows until it is terminated, and how it decomposes next spring.
But Kladivko says, “This is precisely the type of year when a cover crop is needed, to trap the much larger amount of residual N that will be present after the poor (corn) crop. Cover crops will help the farmer recoup part of the fertilizer N investment from this season, and will provide some benefits in improving soil organic matter and soil biological activity.”
Her study of cover crops points to many other benefits, including protecting against soil erosion, and providing food for soil organisms.
If a cover crop is something that may be of interest, there are many decisions to make, particularly what you are going to plant, and how to manage it. Kladivko suggests:
- If the main focus of the cover crop is to scavenge N and build soil organic matter, then grasses such as oats, cereal rye, or annual ryegrass, perhaps mixed with oilseed radish, are good options.
- If fall grazing is desired, then turnips or crimson clover could be mixed with the oats and cereal rye.
- Farmers need to consider their next cash crop and have a plan for cover crop termination in the spring, as an important step before seeding cover crops this fall.
- Careful spring management is essential if cover crops are to be beneficial to the farmer and not pose major difficulties in planting the next crop.
- The amount of N scavenged by these cover crops is difficult to predict but may be in the 50 to 100 lb N/acre range in a year like this one.
- Although the amount of N released by the cover crop for next year’s crop is also difficult to predict, it may potentially be up to half of the N in the above-ground biomass, if the cover crops or cover crop mixture have a low C:N ratio and are terminated while in the vegetative state.
- A pre-sidedress nitrate test (PSNT) would be one way to help determine whether sidedress N applications could be reduced next year.
- Herbicides applied to row crops this year may have an impact on the cover crop to be planted, so read the label for the herbicide that was used.
Kladivko says a lot of advice is available from the Midwest Cover Crops Council.
Many farmers, who have explored the use of cover crops in the past and have been frustrated with the rules about insuring row crops following a cover crop, are advised that USDA’s recent drought initiatives have addressed some of the issues. While the official authorization has not yet occurred, USDA indicates it will allow insurable row crops to be grown after a cover crop has been cultivated over the winter.
Corn ground which may have unused nitrogen could be a great candidate for a fall/winter cover crop, to help with soil retention, capture the unused nitrogen, provide that nitrogen for the next crop, increase soil organic matter, and feed soil organisms. The drought this year has left this year to be a perfect time to plant a cover crop.
Source: FarmGate blog | <urn:uuid:d9b155ce-3ded-4207-ae58-38d20e970853> | {
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NATURE Science Education SeriesExplores science topics of adaptations, animal survival, climate change, extreme environments, and changes in plants and animals in our world.
Creative Reading and Writing with Roald DahlWelcome to the mad and merrily macabre world of British author Roald Dahl, who continues to capture the imaginations of young readers.
Fundamental MathematicsGreat resources for helping students understand the fundamental aspects of Mathematics
Cultural Legacies of Ancient Civilizations SeriesThis series explores the life and times of a diverse array of ancient civilizations, including the Egyptians, Minoan, Greeks, Romans, Mayans, and Incas.
Secrets of Plant Genomes: Revealed!This program takes viewers on a lively and upbeat journey that explores how plants got to be the way they are and how we can make better use of them in the future.
Teachers have embraced media as an educational tool. Students, too, view media in the classroom as an extension of the media-rich environment in which they live. New Dimension Media has taken educational media beyond simple video playback in the classroom by pioneering an interactive media-on-demand system, CCC! Video on Demand. CCC! is a rich content and multimedia resource for educators and students to find pathways to teaching and learning for the world of tomorrow.
As schools and districts look to upgrade their curriculum to meet the new rigor of STEM, many are finding that their resources are insufficient. This collection represents content from the most respected producers in today's educational media industry including Disney Educational Productions, Nature, Britannica and the National Science Foundation. This STEM program is a must if you want to help reduce the pressure your teachers feel today about insuring their students are ready for college and the world of work tomorrow!
Visit the STEM home page to learn more!
Veteran Educator Credits CCC! with Assisting in Award Win
Mike McGowan - Supervisor of Technology at Lincoln Elementary School District 156 in Calumet City, Illinois - has been named the 2012 SMART Exemplary Educator of the Year by SMART Interactive Solutions. Mike credits his incorporation of CCC! streaming educational media from New Dimension Media (NDM) with helping him to achieve this national recognition.
CCC! Now Serves Over 200,000 students in New York State
Over the past few months, a number of new school districts and BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) have signed on to bring their classroom into the 21st century by adding CCC! streaming media. This means that over 200,000 students in New York State utilize CCC!'s award-winning content in their classrooms.
CCC! Content Partner Wins Three Emmys
New Dimension Media is pleased to announce that Atlantic Productions -producers of several of the over 4,500 programs on its CCC! streaming media service - has received three 2011 Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Atlantic Productions won Emmys for...
NDM Provides Professional Development for Interactive Classroom Media
New Dimension Media (NDM) is helping teachers create interactive lesson plans incorporating streaming media, interactive whiteboard technology, and Web 2.0 through a new professional development program. Under this program, NDM representatives travel to CCC!-subscribing schools and school districts to train educators on these new technologies, provide model lesson plans, and share cutting-edge classroom technology practices.
About CCC! VOD
Founded in 1978, New Dimension Media, a division of Questar, Inc., is the premier producer and distributor of original core curriculum media content created for K-12 classrooms. NDM programs have won over 100 of the industry's most prestigious honors, including the CINE Golden Eagle and the Golden Apple. NDM content is used in over 100,000 schools around the country.
The 21st Century Classroom
Teachers have embraced media as an educational tool. Students, too, view media in the classroom as an extension of the media-rich environment in which they live. New Dimension Media has taken educational media beyond simple video playback in the classroom by pioneering an interactive media-on-demand system, CCC! Video on Demand. CCC! is a rich content and multimedia resource for educators and students to find pathways to teaching and learning for the world of tomorrow. Its powerful, multifaceted software empowers teachers to seamlessly integrate thousands of core curriculum programs into their lesson plans. The CCC! library is comprised of over 3,500 titles, with hundreds of new programs added each year. | <urn:uuid:3d8be1a5-b1d7-49a5-9bba-699bd254a0a3> | {
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The creation of three distinct and separate branches of government were meant to create the necessary checks and balances to ensure that no one branch would be able to oppress the people as had been the case in England. Georgia's Constitution follows that same concept with a separate Article for each of the three branches of Government that defines the offices of each branch and their responsibilities.
It is no surprise that leaders want to amass powers, always promising to never abuse them. It is up to the members of each branch to defend the powers assigned to them by the Constitution.
We have certainly seen our share of those exercises during these first four days of our 2013 Legislative Session.
We began our first day, as we begin each day, with the pledge to both the U.S flag and the Georgia flag followed by our devotion and prayer. We then took our oath to support the Georgia and U.S. Constitutions. We also swore that we were not the holder of any unaccounted for money due to the state or any political subdivision or authority thereof.
It was an honor to be sworn in by former State Senator and now Superior Court Judge Bill Hamrick.
It all began on Monday when we convened for the first day. As we began to take our seats, amendments to the rules by which the Senate conducts its business we're introduced. We had the opportunity to see these proposed changes as we were convening in the Senate Chambers.
As we began our day, newly proposed Senate rules were distributed.
These rules made some significant changes in how the Senate would conduct itself. The most notable changes were a change in who controls every action in the Senate and a cap on lobbyist gifts to senators, albeit with many exceptions.
Article V of the Georgia Constitution lists the members of the Executive branch and their duties and powers. Paragraph III of this article addresses the office of the Lieutenant Governor. This paragraph states, "The Lieutenant Governor shall be the President of the Senate and shall have such executive duties as prescribed by the Governor and as may be prescribed by law not inconsistent with the powers of the Governor or other provisions of this Constitution."
The newly proposed amendments to the Senate rules gave the Lieutenant Governor, clearly a member of the Executive Branch, the powers to decide which committees each member serves on and who chairs those committees.
Prior to this change those powers had resided in the Senate itself, thereby preserving the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. The Lieutenant Governor was also given the powers to assign each bill to the committee of his/her choice.
While these changes don't necessarily give the Executive Branch the power to pass legislation, it certainly gives it the power to stop any legislation.
In an effort to be the first to claim the adoption of "Ethics Reform," the rules included a prohibition of any "gift" with a value in excess of $100. Of course there were exceptions. Among them were "actual and reasonable expenses for admission, registration, food, beverages, travel, and lodging attributed to participating in events, seminars, or educational programs sponsored by or in conjunction with a civic, charitable, governmental, educational, professional, community, or business organization or institution where attendance is related to the Senator's official duties." Of course these rules only apply to Senators, not members of the House of Representatives, Executive or Judicial Branches.
As I promised to do on day one, I introduced SB 36 that prohibits any gift to any public officer by a lobbyist. The law already includes the definition of a gift as something with a value in excess of $100.
On Thursday, the Senate took up SB 24. The stated purpose of the bill is to allow the continued collection of what has been referred to as the hospital bed tax.
In 2010, the hospital bed tax was coupled with a reduction in insurance premium taxes (once the state's Revenue Shortfall Fund reached $500 million) as a temporary measure to mitigate a Medicaid funding shortfall due to the declining revenues of the state.
SB 24 grants the Department of Community Health the ability to tax net hospital revenues at any rate up to the cap set by the Federal government of 6 percent for up to four years.
In an attitude of compromise, recognizing the difficulties facing the state, conservatives in the Senate fought for amendments that would have limited the measure to only two years, cap the rate at the current 1.45 percent and adopt reform measures that are predicted to save approximately $1 billion. Those amendments failed and ultimately the measure passed on a vote of 46 to 9.
It is an honor to represent you, the constituents of the 31st Senate District at the State Capitol. If you ever have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to call or email my office. | <urn:uuid:2f097b34-20d7-4349-9d67-ea64672a0d10> | {
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“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Most designers will recognise the quote, but it’s a shame so many fail to follow its advice in their writing. Good writing conveys information more clearly, of course, but the reader isn’t the only beneficiary. Writing also makes us better thinkers. Even a talented wordsmith must first clarify his thoughts and eliminate ambiguity to make a convincing argument.
Editing is integral to this thought process. Yet we often overlook it as the unglamorous relation; perhaps it doesn’t flatter our mental model of the creative scribe giving birth to a masterpiece.
Designers know well that we often miss problems until we review our intended solutions. Similarly, we may think we have a clear argument until the blank page forces us to find the right language to describe it. Therefore, just as we appreciate the power of iteration in design, we should embrace the power of editing. In essence, editing is critique for the written word: review, question, revise. Like its design counterpart, it involves attention to detail, viewing the problem from many angles, and even the familiar outflanking death-spiral: “Why is this section even here? Why am I even writing this piece?”
Here are a few tips I’ve found useful when bringing the iterative mentality to the written word.
The best writers are inquisitive readers, just as the best designers are attentive users. We need only look at our terminology to see the parallels: “design vocabulary”, “design literacy”. So a good writer reads incessantly. Absorb different styles and approaches: quality, trash, everything. Find writers whose style you admire, and consider what attracts you to their style. Find writers whose style you loathe, and again consider why. Deconstruct their language to understand better how to use it in useful ways.
Make every word matter
Every wasted word is an unnecessary design element. In fixed-length pieces, you lose space to tell your story, but even in open pieces an unnecessary word distracts the reader’s focus, diluting your message. The data-ink ratio isn’t just for graphics.
This rule applies at many levels in parallel.
- If a word doesn’t notably improve a sentence, remove it.
- If a sentence doesn’t notably improve a paragraph, remove it.
- If a paragraph doesn’t notably improve a text, remove it.
Screenwriters know that every line, page and scene should either
- advance the storyline, or
- provide depth to the characters and setting so that the storyline can advance later.
Adopt a similar mentality.
Cut adjectives and adverbs
Superfluous adjectives and adverbs are the staple of the pedestrian writer. It’s easy to see why: they appear to add spice to bland text. But adjectives and adverbs are often mere props, and editors I’ve worked with tend to slaughter them without mercy. This can be alarming: without this seasoning, where is my flavour going to come from?
The answer? Replace your adjective and adverbs with richer nouns and verbs.
- “Apple’s auteur”, not “Apple’s demanding CEO”.
- “The barman snarled”, not “The barman replied gruffly”.
- “An environmental obscenity”, not “A dreadful environmental accident”.
Memorable nouns are the nodes in your story. The static components; the space; the architecture. Nouns form mental models and associations: Apple’s leader is talented, painstaking and difficult.
Lively verbs describe the interactions in your story. The dialog, the motion, the time. They drive the text, giving it momentum and feel.
A broad vocabulary – a happy by-product of regular reading – will help you choose better nouns and verbs, but don’t be ashamed of a good thesaurus too. However, the most convincing language may not lie in synonyms but in creative parallels that help the reader to make unexpected associations. So use your inventive, lateral instincts to think of descriptive metaphorical words. A lothario might ooze across the dancefloor. A face might melt into tears.
Active, not passive
Active verbs encourage vigorous writing. It’s dogmatic to decree the passive a sin, but you should have a good reason in mind if you use it. Scientific writing rewards use of the passive – presumably to discourage the appearance of individuality (and hence subjectivity) within the scientific process – but non-scientific writing needs individuality. So rephrase passive sentences by focusing on the subject of the sentence – the thing or person that’s doing something. Then rewrite the phrase, putting the subject first and choosing the verb that correctly follows.
- “Designers overestimate the power of research”, not “The power of research is overestimated by the design community”.
Kill these redundant phrases on sight:
- “blah blah blah is that” – for example “One such issue is that…”
- “In my opinion” – It’s obviously your opinion, you’re the writer.
- Clichés – The Comic Sans of writing.
- “As X, we Y” – “As UX people, we must have empathy”, and so on. A well-targeted piece doesn’t need to remind its readers who they are; so know your audience and address it directly.
From the Longman Guide To Revising Prose:
“One of the factors that limits and warps the development of a theory of composition and style by teachers of the subject is the tendency to start with failed or inadequate writing”
Here, we have a string of prepositional phrases (phrases beginning with “in”, “of”, “by”, “with” etc) linked by a non-descriptive verb “is”. It’s easy to inadvertently chain together these monster sentences, but they’re a clear warning sign of overloading. To untangle the knot, follow the same principle as for passives: identify the subject first, then the natural verb. Split into multiple sentences if you like. Here’s one way to rewrite the sentence above:
“Teachers tend to start with inadequate writing. This limits students’ understanding of composition and style.”
Singulars and plurals
Look at the subject of your sentence, and make sure that your verbs and pronouns match.
- “The user (singular) might not understand why she (singular) needs to enter her password”, not
- “The user (singular) might not understand why they (plural) need to enter their password”.
English has no gender-neutral singular pronoun. Cater for this by alternating gender where appropriate – just don’t change someone’s gender mid-paragraph.
For added bonus points, remember that in British English, companies and teams are usually plural: “Microsoft have released an update”. In American English, they’re singular: “Microsoft has released an update.”
In short, choose the simple explanation over the complex one. Again, a sentiment we recognise in design, but it should also apply to language. Simplify, simplify. This doesn’t spell the end of rich verbs and nouns – instead, use Occam’s Razor to eliminate redundancy and buzzwords:
- “Use”, not “Utilise”
- “Quickly”, not “In a timely manner”.
The design industry is, of course, as ridden with jargon and gobbledygook as any specialist group.
- “Make the logo bigger”, not “Increase the visual hierarchy of the masthead brandmark”
- “Make it obvious what to do”, not “Expose the primary function of the interface”.
The Plain English Campaign offers a range of free guides that can help those with a jargon affliction.
Just like music, language has a tempo. An album of songs at the same speed quickly becomes boring, so use different sentence lengths to vary the pace of your writing.
The paragraph on the right mixes long, detailed sentences and short, punchy ones. Different sentence lengths give rhythm and variety to your writing. So mix it up.
Proofing your work
Some people say writing should be like speech. I don’t agree – I believe writing presents more scope for density and precision – but a writer must find her own voice.
However, the common tip of reading your work aloud is definitely helpful. It will help you to draw out clumsy phrases, and show where you need to quicken the pace or elaborate on a point. Some swear by reading their work backwards, from the last paragraph to the first. Other suggestions include proofing on paper, or changing the typeface to force you to re-parse the text.
What works for you?
For further advice, I recommend Austin Govella’s (More) tips for writing well. | <urn:uuid:cdc07f53-b664-4989-9f2e-5ed6d76cf780> | {
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Want to 'Win the Future'? Start by Reimagining Education
The little red schoolhouse—full of bright-eyed pupils carrying satchels and an apple for teach’—doesn’t exist anymore. Innovation, collaboration, and social entrepreneurship must be the lesson plans of tomorrow.
New studies show that three-quarters of American college students would not be able to study without some form of technology—almost half said they can’t even go ten minutes without checking their laptop, smartphone, or ereader. Notes are taken with keyboards instead of paper, presentations are carried by flash drives instead of poster board, and questions are asked in pixels. Number 2 pencils? Haven’t seen one in years.
Our current education system is failing our students in two areas: area of interest and delivery. Our standardized approach to education is leaving all students behind. They see a world growing smaller each day, woven tighter by a web of digital and Internet-based connections. Unfortunately, we too often look at the flawed, underfunded education system with tired eyes as we dust off old ‘solutions’ to persisting problems.
The 21st century school bell is ringing with a different tone, commanding a novel approach to education. Education must be deeper and richer. It must be faster and more complete. It must be inclusive and more accessible. And above all, it must speak to our children’s passion for technology, mathematics, engineering, and other science related fields (STEM). Tapping into that innate curiosity is paramount if we expect to see innovative ideas brought to life.
We now find ourselves living in the Imagination Age, according to Rita J. King, Executive VP of Business Development at Science House, a period between the dark and grimy industrial era and the embedded technological revolution. At its very core is “collaboration, rapid prototyping, a deeper understanding of failure as part of the process and the ability to think in the long-term despite the accelerated pace of transformation”—an approach that must be adopted in schools, from “K to 12” and beyond.
Charles Leadbeater, a researcher at the London think-tank Demos and former advisor to Tony Blair, during his TEDSalon talk in London last year called for a new, imaginative response to our global society’s educational needs.
“Education is a global religion—and education, plus technology, is a great source of hope,” said Leadbeater. “Mass education started with social entrepreneurship in the 19th century, and that’s desperately what we need again on a global scale. And what can we learn from all of that? Well, we can learn a lot because our education systems are failing desperately in many ways. They fail to reach the people they most need to serve. They often hit the target but miss the point. Improvement is increasingly difficult to organize. Our faith in these systems, incredibly fraught. And this is just a very simple way of understanding what kind of innovation, what kind of design we need.”
According to Leadbeater, sustaining and disruptive innovations are essentially kindling to fuel the fire behind an educational reinvention. What the world needs, and at scale, is threefold:
- A radical inception of new ideas about what education could be—we mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger.
- Community efforts to supplement schools because just as much, if not more, learning takes place outside of the classroom walls.
- And transformational innovation to empower all the world’s citizens with information and learning.
When President Obama delivered his State of the Union this past January, he voiced an undeniable determination to win that future. They way forward is not to fold in the face of adversity, but to re-up with a new course of action. There must be a greater emphasis on math and science, on research and new technologies, on innovation and imagination. So while this nation is transforming the American Dream, shouldn’t we give the latest dreamers a legitimate chance of making it a reality?
It is a pass-or-fail examination and the big, fat clock on the wall is ticking. The choice is simple: we must evolve as educators to prepare our children, our students with STEM education in order for them to succeed in the future.
A curriculum built around cross-border, cross-cultural collaboration and tied together with rich STEM learning is the only solution. Why force our students to view their world through the bifocals of iron and steel, when they should be exploring an open sourced world of global connections in three dimensions? Such a dedication to innovation and entrepreneurship, when adopted by faculty and peer-educators worldwide, will shift the worldviews of students. They’ll analyze problems with systems in mind and see unlimited potential for change in interdisciplinary solutions.
That brand of education is the key to America’s economic growth and prosperity and our ability to compete tomorrow's labor market. STEM education is the root of success, growing compelling opportunities for relevant, vibrant, and up-to-the-minute learning. Can we nurture that nature?
Photo courtesy of pastel (cc) | <urn:uuid:8cab17b5-e5c0-4687-806a-c2c8caf0b871> | {
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"Heavy womenís chances higher."
By Lindsey Tanner from The Washington Times.
CHICAGO ó Obesity during pregnancy may increase chances for having a child with autism, provocative new research suggests.
Itís among the first studies linking the two and, though it doesnít prove obesity causes autism, the authors say their results raise public health concerns because of the high level of obesity in this country.
Studied women who were obese during pregnancy were about 67 percent more likely than normal-weight women to have autistic children. They also faced double the risk of having children with other developmental delays.
On average, women face a 1-in-88 chance of having a child with autism; the results suggest that obesity during pregnancy would increase that to a 1-in-53 chance, the authors said. The study was released online Monday in Pediatrics.
Since more than one-third of U.S. women of child-bearing age are obese, the results are potentially worrisome and add yet another incentive for maintaining a prescribed normal weight, said researcher Paula Krakowiak, a study co-author and scientist at the University of California, Davis.
Previous research has linked obesity during pregnancy with stillbirths, premature births and some birth defects.
Dr. Daniel Coury, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said the results ďraise quite a concern.Ē
He noted that U.S. autism rates have increased along with obesity rates and said the research suggests that may be more than a coincidence.
More research is needed to confirm the results. But if mothersí obesity is truly related to autism, it would be only one of many contributing factors, said Dr. Coury, who was not involved in the study.
Genetics has been linked to autism, and scientists are examining whether mothersí illnesses and use of certain medicines during pregnancy might also play a part.
The study involved about 1,000 California children, ages 2 to 5. Nearly 700 had autism or other developmental delays, and 315 did not have those problems.
Mothers were asked about their health. Medical records were available for more than half the women and confirmed their conditions. Itís not clear how mothersí obesity might affect fetal development, but the authors offer some theories.
Obesity, generally about 35 pounds overweight, is linked with inflammation and sometimes elevated levels of blood sugar.
Excess blood sugar and inflammation-related substances in a motherís blood may reach the fetus and damage the developing brain, Ms. Krakowiak said.
The study lacks information about blood tests during pregnancy. Thereís also no information on womenís diets and other habits during pregnancy that might have influenced fetal development.
There were no racial, ethnic, education or health insurance differences among mothers of autistic children and those with unaffected children that might have influenced the results, the researchers said.
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Heart disease: first signs different, but threat similar for men and women
(BPT) - While heart disease
continues to receive a lot of attention, certain myths surrounding the disease persist.
A couple of the most common myths are that heart disease is more common in men than women, and that the first signs of a heart attack are the same for both men and women, says Dr. Mary Ann McLaughlin, medical director of the cardiac health program at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in men and women in the United States
, affecting both sexes relatively equally. "Women are more afraid of dying from cancer," says McLaughlin. "But in fact, they are much more likely to die from heart disease."
Also, the first signs of a heart attack can manifest themselves in different ways between men and women. While both men and women can experience the more well-known symptoms like chest pain or tightness and a shooting pain in the left arm, here are the most common differences in symptoms by sex, according to McLaughlin.
The more obvious symptoms are more prevalent in men, which might be why research shows that men go to the emergency room with symptoms much earlier in than women.
More subtle symptoms are more likely in women. These include shortness of breath, sweating or dizziness, nausea, severe fatigue, sudden sleep disturbances, pain radiating through the jaw, small of the back or between the shoulder blades.
"Women with diabetes are about twice as susceptible to heart attacks as men with the condition," says McLaughlin. "Increased risk factors for women also include having an autoimmune disorder and a history of gestational diabetes or preeclampsia during pregnancies."
Knowing the first signs of a heart attack
is important, but reducing your risks for heart disease is the best way to avoid experiencing one. McLaughlin offers the following tips for a healthy heart:
* Reduce salt intake. Limiting your consumption of processed foods can help with this, as they are often high in salt.
* Choose your fats wisely. Use olive oil instead of butter, snack on nuts instead of other sugary and high-fat snacks, and take supplements like flax seed oil that can boost your levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which can reduce artery inflammation. Consuming more omega-3s can also help you reduce your LDL (bad cholesterol) levels.
* Get regular exercise. A good rule of thumb is when balanced with a proper diet, 30 minutes of exercise a day will help you maintain your current weight, while 60 minutes will help you lose weight. If that seems like a lot, try to work exercises in to your daily tasks by taking the stairs instead of the elevator or walking or biking to work. Maintaining a healthy weight lowers your risk for cardiovascular disease.
* Ask your doctor whether a daily regimen of low-dose aspirin would be appropriate for you, as it could lower your risk of a heart attack.
* Maintain a daily intake of 1,000 mg of vitamin D, which can be found in some of the same fatty fish that contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Vitamin D supplements can also help you achieve this, as low levels are associated with heart disease and high blood pressure. Exposure to sunshine also helps your body produce vitamin D, but don't forget your sunscreen.
* Know your numbers. Your doctor can help you get your readings and give you advice on how to meet the following goals for optimum heart health:
Total cholesterol: less than 200
LDL (bad cholesterol): less than 100
HDL (good cholesterol): greater than or equal to 40
Total cholesterol to HDL ratio: less or equal to 4.4 for women and less than or equal to 5 for men
Triglycerides: less than 150
Blood pressure: less than 120 systolic and less than 80 diastolic
Non-fasting glucose: less than 120
Fasting glucose: less than 100
Hemoglobin A1c: less than 7
To learn more about heart disease and care, and to hear stories from patients who have experienced heart disease, visit www.mountsinai.org/heart | <urn:uuid:996d6f98-23ba-4045-b4f2-2725e9df54ad> | {
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With the economic situation as bad as it is, can we really afford to support sustainable agriculture? It’s a question of priorities, says Carlo Petrini, founder of the international Slow Food movement, and a question of waste. If we as a society were more conscientious eaters, we could cut our waste and not have to spend as much on food. And the price of food must be fair—which does not, of course, necessarily mean cheap.
Over the last two decades, journalist and political activist Carlo Petrini has led the grassroots Slow Food movement - which began as a critique of fast food fast life - and watched it grow into a global phenomenon with nearly 100,000 members in 150 countries around the world. This past weekend, Mr. Petrini was in Toronto to receive an Eco-Hero award from the Planet in Focus International Environmental Film & Video Festival. He also met with Slow Food leaders from across Canada who had gathered in Toronto to incorporate Slow Food Canada.
The Globe and Mail spoke to him on his first visit to English-speaking Canada.
Never before has food been such a popular topic in newspapers, magazines and on television. Does this mean progress?
We are in the presence of many paradoxes. We have never talked so much about food, and yet we have never had so much soil that is infertile, or a water table so polluted.
We have never talked so much about food, and yet farmers are disappearing. We have never talked so much about food, and yet it has never been less tasty. Everywhere, all over the world, at every hour of the day, there is always someone on television with a frying pan. You get the recipe, the aesthetic vision of food, but not the history or where it comes from. It risks becoming food pornography. We need instead a new gastronomy, a fuller vision of gastronomy.
What kind of food should we be eating?
Food must be good to eat, because it must be pleasurable. It must be clean, because the production must respect the environment. It must be fair because it must respect those who work the land. If one of those things is not present, quality is not there.
There must be a fair price for the people who produce our food, and a fair price for the co-producer. A fair price does not mean a low price.
How can we afford to pay more for our food when our budgets are shrinking with the economic recession?
Why don’t we look at what we waste, instead of what we spend? In Italy, we throw away 4,000 tones of food everyday. If we waste less, we can afford to consume better.
You prefer to call consumers “co-producers.” Why?
Because we can decide what we consume - this is where our power lies. We are all accomplices of the current system. When you go home, open your refrigerator and see what a family tomb it is! The parsley is dying, little jars are filled with mould. The refrigerator was invented to preserve food, not to bury it.
What do you say to people who call Slow Food elitist and see it as a gourmet tasting club rather than a political movement?
The day we become elitist, we have lost our mission. I think we are called elitist because society has a bad relationship with food and pleasure. Slow Food wants to reconcile pleasure with duty. Pleasure is a universal right. And responsibility is a universal duty. | <urn:uuid:e7d5a878-0f70-4033-af21-f8d39661828d> | {
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Your child needs elective surgery and a date has been scheduled. Unlike emergency surgery, an elective procedure isn't done as an immediate matter of life and death. Having an elective procedure gives you the time to prepare your child psychologically for the hospital and the surgery.
Good preparation can help kids feel less anxious about the anesthesia and surgery and get through the recovery period faster. But, like parents everywhere, you're probably uncertain about the best way to prepare your child.
The key is to provide information at your child's level of understanding, correct misunderstandings, and get rid of fears and feelings of guilt. Help your child understand why the surgery is needed and become familiar with the hospital and some of the procedures he or she will undergo.
Kids of all ages cope much better if they have an idea of what's going to happen and why it's necessary. To do that, prepare yourself first and correct any misconceptions of your own. If a parent is anxious and nervous, a child will often reflect these feelings and behaviors as well. It's a good idea to educate yourself, feel comfortable with the process, and make sure all your questions are answered.
The horror stories you heard from grandparents and parents about traumatic parent/child separations and very limited hospital visiting hours belong to days gone by. Hospitals have changed enormously and have become more family-friendly and patient-centered. For example, many surgeries are now "same-day" procedures requiring no overnight or prolonged stays; most kids are back home, in their own beds, the same night.
Furthermore, most U.S. hospitals permit at least one parent to stay with the child at all times except during the operation. After the surgery, you may return to your child in the recovery room. As your child awakens, he or she will not even realize you left.
Ask the doctors, nurses, or staff for the information you need about what will take place so that you can prepare your child and deal with your own fears or concerns. To parents, one of the most fearful aspects of surgery is anesthesia. Anesthesia is much safer today than in the past, but still carries some risk. You should discuss any concerns you have in advance with the anesthesiologist.
When hospitalization is required overnight or longer, most hospitals avoid separation anxiety by permitting at least one parent to stay with the child day and night. Check with the hospital about its rules regarding parents staying over and when other close family members can visit.
As soon as your child is able, he or she may be playing with other children, toys, and games in a children's recreation room — even if that involves taking along an intravenous (IV) bag on a rolling support.
Explain the Problem
Now that you're more at ease, start preparing your child. Begin by explaining the reason for the surgery in simple, nonthreatening words. Explain — at your child's level of understanding — about the medical problem and why surgery is necessary. Don't use alarming language like "the doctor will cut you," "open you up," or "sew you with a needle." Say that the doctor will fix the problem, and explain that many kids have this problem and must get it fixed at the hospital.
Although they seldom express it, kids may fear that their parents aren't telling them everything — that their health problem is worse than they've been led to believe. To build trust, don't mislead your child — tell as much of the truth as your child can understand.
Many kids fear that an operation will be painful. It can help to explain that a special doctor, called an anesthesiologist, gives medicine to make patients sleep very deeply so they won't feel anything during the operation and once it's finished, they'll wake up. (Older kids, in particular, need special assurances that they will wake up.)
Again, avoid frightening language — don't say, "You'll be given gas" or "You'll be put to sleep." Young kids may confuse "gas" with the fuel that can poison or kill and "put to sleep" with what can happen to sick pets.
Explain that you'll be there when your child wakes up — and a favorite toy can come along, too. Tell your child that if anything feels sore right after the operation, a doctor or nurse can give medication that will make it feel better.
Common surgery-related fears of young children are the possibility of separation from (or abandonment by) parents and the possibility of pain. School-age kids also fear needles, knives, and damage to their bodies. Give a child this age clear, rational information as well as assurances that the surgery is to fix an existing problem, not create a new one.
The fears of teens go well beyond those of younger kids. Besides pain, change of appearance, and disfigurement, a teen might be afraid of losing control, missing out on events, being embarrassed or humiliated in public, and sounding childish by expressing fear, anxiety, or pain. A teen may also be afraid of waking up during the operation — or not waking up afterward.
Anticipate these fears, then emphasize that expressing fear, anxiety, and response to pain is quite normal (and OK) at any age, even adulthood. Correct any misconceptions about disfigurement or injury. And explain that anesthesia is very safe today and that patients do not wake up during operations but will certainly wake up afterward.
Encourage your teen to read up on the medical condition and share the information with the family. Reading and sharing information is an excellent coping mechanism.
One further fear that affects kids of all ages is being seen naked and having their "private parts" touched. If the operation involves the genital or anal area, your child will cope better if you explain in advance that although it might be embarrassing, doctors and nurses will need to examine these private areas, especially to check if they're healing after the operation. Explain that doctors, nurses, and parents are the only exceptions to the rules about privacy.
Encourage your child's questions about the health problem and hospital experience, so that other fears and anxieties can be expressed. Take all questions seriously and answer them to the best of your ability. If you don't know an answer, tell your child that you'll find it out, and explain that the doctors and nurses are happy to answer questions, too.
Children often believe that their medical problem and operation are really punishments for "being bad." They may not say so, but they may feel guilty and believe that they've brought events on themselves.
Explain that the medical problem is not the result of anything your child may have done or failed to do, and that the operation is not a punishment, but simply the way to "fix" the problem.
On the other hand, if the medical problem was caused by an accident that could have been avoided by obeying safety rules, make sure your child understands the reason for the rules and will follow them in the future.
Explaining What Will Happen
Find books, appropriate to your child's level of understanding, about what to expect at the hospital. Reading together and discussing the surgery will make the hospital seem less threatening. Discuss each idea and encourage your child's questions.
Young kids also will benefit from practicing on a doll or stuffed teddy bear with toy doctor-kit "instruments." Your child can take the toy's "temperature" and "pulse" and listen to its "heartbeat" and "breathing."
Ask your doctor for suggested videos or multimedia tools for parents or kids that can help explain the procedure.
As you discuss the hospital and surgery, remember that in addition to your words, your nonverbal cues convey assurance: your tone of voice, facial expressions, gestures, and body language send powerful messages. If you appear fearful, your child is likely to feel fearful regardless of the words you use.
Pre-Operative Orientation and Tour
Many hospitals offer special pre-operative children's programs, family orientations, and hospital tours, conducted by specially trained nurses or licensed child-life specialists. Child-life specialists are a valuable resource for parents and children. They are professionals trained to talk to kids and teens about medical procedures, comfort them if they're upset or need extra support, and organize "play time" for hospitalized kids and teens to get together and hang out.
Call the hospital to schedule a pre-operative tour, program, or orientation as soon as possible, even from the doctor's office when the appointment for the surgery is made. It's best to schedule the appointment for a few days before the surgery.
An orientation program can remove the mystery of the surgery for kids and their families by making the hospital familiar and friendly and the experience predictable.
On the Day of Surgery
When you arrive on the day of surgery, your young child can play with toys and books you bring from home or sit on your lap and be cuddled during the waiting time.
You won't be allowed to stay in the operating room during the surgery, but afterward, you'll be escorted to the recovery room to be with your child as he or she awakens. Upon discharge, you'll receive instructions for further recuperation at home and for a follow-up visit to the surgeon.
During recovery, there may be times of discomfort for your child. It can help to explain that your child may be sore or uncomfortable, but will get better.
Distracting your child, whether with a new book or a visit from a relative or friend, also can make recovery more pleasant. Just make sure your child gets plenty of time to rest and recuperate.
Reviewed by: Yamini Durani, MD
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What is skin testing for allergies?
The most common way to test for allergies is on the skin, usually the forearm or the back. In a typical skin test, a doctor or nurse will place a tiny bit of an allergen (such as pollen or food) on the skin, then make a small scratch or prick on the skin.
The allergist may repeat this, testing for several allergens in one visit. This can be a little uncomfortable, but not painful.
If your child reacts to one of the allergens, the skin will swell a little in that area. The doctor will be able to see if a reaction occurs within about 15 minutes. The swelling usually goes down within about 30 minutes to a few hours. Other types of skin testing include injecting allergens into the skin or taping allergens to the skin for 48 hours.
With a skin test, an allergist can check for these kinds of allergies:
- environmental, such as mold, pet dander, or tree pollen
- food, such as peanuts or eggs
- medications, such as penicillin
Some medications (such as antihistamines) can interfere with skin testing, so check with the doctor to see if your child's medications need to be stopped before the test is done. While skin testing is useful and helpful, sometimes additional tests (like blood tests or food challenges) also must be done to see if a child is truly allergic to something.
While skin tests are usually well tolerated, in rare instances they can cause a more serious allergic reaction. This is why skin testing must always be done in an allergist's office, where the doctor is prepared to handle a reaction.
Reviewed by: Larissa Hirsch, MD
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May 24, 2011
Contact: Rachel Salis-Silverman, Department of Public Relations, 267-426-6063
Using immunotherapy—biologic agents that stimulate the body’s immune system—pediatric oncologists have achieved the first substantial increase in over a decade in cure rates for the childhood cancer neuroblastoma. A newly released study shows that the new treatment improved two-year survival rates by 20 percentage points, compared to standard treatment for an aggressive form of neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system.
The study appears in the Sept. 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, along with a separate COG study on intermediate-risk neuroblastoma. The corresponding author of the immunotherapy study is Alice L. Yu, MD, PhD, of the University of California, San Diego.
“We expect these findings will change clinical practice, setting a new gold standard of treatment for this often-deadly disease,” said John M. Maris, MD, a co-author of the study and director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Maris is the chair of the neuroblastoma committee of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), the cooperative multicenter research organization that sponsored the study.
Neuroblastoma, a cancer of the peripheral nervous system, usually appears as a solid tumor in the chest or abdomen. It accounts for 7 percent of all childhood cancers, but because it frequently occurs in an aggressive form, it causes 15 percent of all childhood cancer deaths. While low-risk forms of neuroblastoma may spontaneously disappear, in high-risk forms, the cancer tends to return after initial treatment, usually with lethal results.
In the current study, researchers assigned 226 high-risk patients at multiple cancer centers to receive one of two treatments:
Immunotherapy consisted of:
Monoclonal antibodies are molecular “guided missiles” engineered to kill cancer cells by targeting a substance appearing on those cells. Cytokines are naturally occurring signaling proteins that regulate immune responses.
The Cancer Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has been using this immunotherapy regimen as part of standard treatment for children with high-risk neuroblastoma for more than a year, since preliminary trial results were reported in June 2009. Children have arrived from around the world to receive this treatment at Children’s Hospital, which has a long-established research and clinical program in neuroblastoma.
Dr. Maris is internationally prominent as a neuroblastoma expert. Some highlights of his neuroblastoma research efforts include:
“Together, these studies report important advances in care for children with this challenging cancer,” said Maris. “We will continue to investigate treatments to further refine the standard of care.”
This study, Outcome after Reduced Chemotherapy for Intermediate Risk Neuroblastoma, found that physicians could substantially reduce the dose and duration of chemotherapy used for neuroblastoma and still achieve very high survival rates of 98 percent among children receiving the treatment. The benefits of lower doses include:
The corresponding author of this study was Katherine K. Matthay, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco.
Grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration supported the immunotherapy study. Grants from the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, supported the study of intermediate-risk neuroblastoma. Both studies were conducted through the Children’s Oncology Group. | <urn:uuid:b856d888-7d36-4398-b5ff-6222c8333173> | {
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By Katrina Vogelgesang, Contributing writer
For April Gottung, an active and healthy young girl, a heart issue shouldn't have been a worry. Yet, April had spells of fainting for six years until her issues peaked with a seizure at the age of 14, when she was rushed to the hospital.
Diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia, April had to have a defibrillator put in her chest, restrain from all strenuous activity, and will be on medication for the rest of her life.
An arrhythmia is an interruption in the electrical impulses that cause your heart to contract. With many different kinds of arrhythmias, and many different magnitudes as well, arrhythmias are more common than you think.
According to WebMD, an arrhythmia can sometimes be present without showing any symptoms. Often times, though, an arrhythmia causes palpitations, shortness of breath, fainting, dizziness, discomfort in the chest and weakness, according to WebMD. You should see a doctor if any of these symptoms occur frequently or suddenly, or at times when you would not expect, instructs the Mayo Clinic. If any fainting or collapsing occurs, 911 should be called immediately.
There are two types of arrhythmias, according to the Mayo Clinic. A Tachycardia is a sped up heart rate, and a Bradycardia is a slowed heart rate.
According to the Mayo Clinic, arrhythmias can be hereditary, but can also be caused by scarring on the heart, stress, smoking and other substance abuse, diabetes, or other health issues. Blocked arteries or changes in the heart structure can also cause an arrhythmia.
Some of the most common types of arrhythmias include PVC's and atrial fibrillations.
A PVC is a premature ventricular contraction. This is a common arrhythmia that we all experience from time to time. It can be due to many things, including stress or caffeine, according to WebMD. If someone has an unusual amount of PVC's, they should have their heart examined by a doctor, says WebMD.
Atrial fibrillations are when the upper chambers of the heart contract abnormally.
To diagnose both the magnitude and type of arrhythmia, the Mayo Clinic states that the doctor will most likely perform an electrocardiogram, or an ECG. This test attaches sensors to your chest to monitor your heart. Other tests could include bringing a monitor home to wear over a period of time in hopes of recording an arrhythmia. This will allow your doctor to examine your heart's pattern.
Once diagnosed, there are several treatments that can help cure or harbor an arrhythmia. Sometimes, it simply requires a lifestyle change, such as less caffeine or alcohol intake, stopping smoking, or restraining from certain activities.
Other times the condition is more serious, and requires drugs or surgery. According to WebMD, the most common drugs used are drugs that control heart rate or reduce the risk of blood clots. If drugs are not suitable, a doctor may suggest some sort of surgical procedure, whether it be to insert a device or directly operate on the heart.
A pacemaker is a device that helps the heart beat at a suitable rate. Other devices that serve relatively the same purpose include electrical cardioversion and an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), states WebMD.
WebMD also says that heart surgery may be necessary to cure heart disease, which could be the cause of the arrhythmia. Whichever treatment you receive depends on the severity and type of your arrhythmia.
Anyone at any time can have an arrhythmia. It's important to know what the symptoms of an arrhythmia are, and when it's time to go get checked out. It's also important to know what usually causes an arrhythmia, and what kind of tests will be run to figure out the state of your arrhythmia. It's important to be informed on something as common as arrhythmias so that you can stop them before they progress, or even prevent them all together. | <urn:uuid:3abfccf3-0514-4c82-8b55-d4c6d3d9ba00> | {
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by Michael Morris, Parks Canada
June 5, 2002
En route to Rogers Pass, Park Warden Tim Laboucane braked in time to avoid a debris flow on the highway. As he parked well back from the mess of muck, rock, and timber, he felt the shock wave and the subsequent roar of another landslide as it hurdled down on to the Trans-Canada Highway, just west of Glacier National Park.
While new and unexpected debris flows have occurred along the highway in recent weeks, park staff expect this sort of trouble each spring at the Heather Mountain landslide near the eastern boundary of Glacier National Park. Slumping on Heather Mountain was first noticed by helicopter pilot Don McTighe in January 1997 when an unseasonably warm front including heavy rain caused water to percolate into the exposed fractures near the top of Heather Mountain. When the weather cooled quickly to minus 20 degrees Celsius, the rock face froze and the pressure of trapped water in behind the face created the slope separation.
Flying for nearby heli-skiers, McTighe watched the cracks in the slope grow day by day. Blocks failed and slid, and by spring grew into a massive debris flow that ended up as mud on the highway. Here the failing rock is a talc-rich mica schist that is strong enough when dry but disintegrates easily when it comes in contact with water. Talc is the same mineral as in talcum powder. Over the next two springs, the exposed surface was eroded and lubricated by the combination of rain and melting snow, creating an mountainside gash about two kilometers long and half a kilometer wide. It’s a wound that continues to ooze each spring, some years more than others, depending on the rate of melt of the snowpack and concurrent rain events.
While checking this place out I noticed that the freshly broken rocks on the landslide have an iridescent sheen and smell like rotting vegetation. The newly exposed surface is a mix of small and large boulders and mud as slick as soap. Walking across it was a process of finding the least slippery spots. Then there’s the clatter of the occasional tumbling rock departing the headwall. It’s not a place to visit.
The bottom of the landslide is a jumble of shattered timber with several outlets of café-au-lait colored mud which flow through 500 meters of forest to a diversion berm. Culverts under the highway to help the mud on its way into the Beaver River. Sometimes the debris flow is more than the catchment basin and culverts can handle. The result is mud spread over the road and highway crews working around the clock, passing traffic whenever possible.
With the advice of scientists from the Geological Survey of Canada, Parks Canada established a monitoring program to keep an eye on this chronic safety concern. Similar to the remote weather recording stations used in the prediction of avalanche activity or forest fires, a site on Heather Mountain transmits temperature and precipitation amounts to Parks Canada’s Highway Service Section in Rogers Pass, alerting road crews that the debris flow may increase, though the situation remains far from predictable.
Recognized as a National Historic Site because of its role in national transportation history, the Rogers Pass story continues to unfold. Landslides, avalanches, floods and other land-forming events occur all through the mountains but are only noticed when it interferes with our activities.
The road crews, flag persons, and park wardens that work on the highway contribute to an essential service that sees ever-increasing expectations. On the highway we’ve come to expect to get from point A to point B in a certain amount of time and are put out if we are delayed. However, the mountains don’t care. Occasionally the highway is closed for safety reasons as we respect that not everything in these rugged mountains can be controlled.
Columbia Mountains Institute of Applied Ecology
Box 2568 Revelstoke, B.C. V0E 2S0
Tel: 250-837-9311 Fax: 250-837-9311 | <urn:uuid:d64b5a60-64c0-4d03-b0cd-df949b2f518a> | {
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London (CNN) -- Bamboozled by eurozone debt crisis jargon? CNN is here to help you tell your bond yields from your banking interventions, your defaults from your haircuts. And if you need anything more explained, please submit your questions to Soundoff at the bottom of the story.
The euro is the common currency used by a bloc of nations within the European Union. The 17 states that use the euro -- including Germany, France, Italy and Spain -- form the eurozone. A further 10 EU nations -- including the UK, Sweden and Denmark -- continue to use their own currencies.
A recession is technically defined as two consecutive quarters of shrinking output -- or a country going backwards financially. The eurozone is currently teetering on the edge of recession, triggered in part by the crisis which has rolled on since May 2010. A double dip recession is when a country which has been in recession enters a downturn again after a brief and weak recovery.
The "contagion effect" referred to in the eurozone crisis is the fear that one country's financial problems will spill over to another country. This happens because the capital markets -- where sovereign bonds are bought and sold -- can be influenced by sentiment as well as the fundamentals of each country. Contagion can also occur because the more countries within the bloc struggle, the higher the cost to others of giving aid.
Countries, or companies, default when they can no longer pay their bills on time. Defaults can come in different forms: "Orderly" -- when investors holding the bonds can agree to take haircuts (see below) -- or "disorderly," where losses are unexpected and sudden.
Countries raise money by issuing sovereign bonds which are then purchased by investors. The '"yield" of the bonds - which can be thought of as IOUs -- is how much the investor wants to be paid to hold that bond. So, a higher yield indicates a higher risk bond. For sovereign bonds a yield of more than 7% is considered unsustainable for any extended period of time, because a country's earnings are unlikely to be able to cover repayments.
Liquidity is the oil which greases the world of finance. It refers to the ease at which funds -- cash, for example -- can flow through the system. A market with lots of buyers and sellers is liquid, while one without is illiquid.
A haircut refers to a cut in the value of investments lenders are asked to take. For example, a 50% haircut on an investment means you'll get back only half of what you paid. Investors in Greek bonds have been asked to take a haircut on their debt. It would be in their interest to do so if they thought the value of the debt could drop further in the future. Investors can also be asked to swap bonds maturing soon for longer dated ones which would pay out at a much later date.
The ratings agencies -- Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings being the big three -- award scores based on a company or country's credit worthiness. "Junk" refers to when that rating drops below investment grade. Once a credit rating drops below the BBB level, it is "sub-investment" grade and is commonly referred to as junk.
Eurobonds are being suggested as a way to tie the finances of the eurozone's 17 countries more closely. A eurobond would be a bond -- or debt which investors buy in return for yield -- backed by all the countries of the bloc. The idea remains under discussion, although it has rejected by the eurozone's two most powerful leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier this year. Francois Hollande, Sarkozy's successor, has been more favorable to the idea.
Fiscal unity is centered on integrated taxation and spending. The eurozone is a monetary but not fiscal union, meaning its 17 members maintain their own taxation policies and also raise money to fund themselves. However, the bloc does have a central bank -- the European Central Bank (see below) -- which maintains monetary policy. The bloc appears to be moving toward closer fiscal integration as it seeks to stem the crisis.
European Central Bank
The European Central Bank, based in Frankfurt, Germany, was set up in 1998 to maintain monetary policy for the eurozone under its common currency, the euro. The ECB's mandate is to keep inflation at around 2% or below, and ensure some level of stability for the countries that use the euro. Like other central banks, the ECB's main tool for keeping to these targets is by raising or lowering interest rates -- a key tool for influencing financial markets. The ECB has also been actively buying the sovereign bonds of troubled eurozone economies, in the hope that it will lower those countries' funding costs.
European Financial Stability Facility
The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) is Europe's temporary bailout fund. It was hurriedly set up after Greece needed its first bailout in May 2010, and has since become a key tool to combat the debt crisis. European leaders have increased its lending capacity from around €250 billion to €440 billion, and are investigating ways to boost its clout. A permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, or ESM, will be operational mid 2012.
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund, which is based in Washington D.C., is an organization of 187 countries. It is designed to assist countries in financial trouble. Member countries contribute to the fund, relative to their economies, when assistance is needed. It has been a key player in the European bailouts.
A group of auditors from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank tasked with monitoring the progress of nations that have requested sovereign bailouts such as Greece, Portugal and Ireland. | <urn:uuid:c5f257e2-d499-4469-b170-de65abce8b8e> | {
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Editor's note: MainSail is CNN's monthly sailing show, exploring the sport of sailing, luxury travel and the latest in design and technology.
(CNN) -- One of the world's largest private superyachts is the latest to set sail on an expedition to uncover the secrets of a British battle cruiser lost during World War II.
Octopus -- a 414 foot megayacht -- was donated to the British Navy by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. Allen will fund the recovery and research expedition, sparing the British government any cost.
This week the recovery team will return to the wreck site with a two-fold mission: Retrieve the ship's bell and document the remains of the battle cruiser in the hopes of later determining what happened in the Hood's final moments.
David Mearns, director of Blue Water Recoveries, said the ship's bell was "lovingly looked after" by the crew. Its recovery is seen by those who lost loved ones as a way to commemorate those who died.
The HMS Hood was sunk during a battle in the North Atlantic with German battleship Bismarck in 1941. The Hood remains the largest Royal Navy vessel to have gone down, and resulted in the largest loss of life suffered by any single warship in British history.
The wreck of HMS Hood is designated under the Protection of the Military Remains Act, meaning the recovery team had to seek permission from the British Navy in order to retrieve the bell.
The mission was agreed to by the British Government, and the Ministry of Defence say the bell -- if recovered -- will form a tangible and fitting memorial to the ship and the 1,415 men who died when she sunk in the North Atlantic.
Mearns recalls the astonishment of the team when they located the ship's bell, on their first dive, in 2001.
"There was just a miscellaneous pile of twisted and torn metal... most of it was very angled steel but there was this curved shape," Mearns remembers. "We pushed in on the camera and, lo and behold, there was the bell sitting basically unattached, not connected to the ship [and] all by itself on its side."
The team, Mearns recalls, "were just stunned by it."
The 40,000 ton wreck is strewn over two and half kilometers of seabed, and uncovering the bell was a stroke of luck for the recovery team.
"It's a really iconic item and personal symbol of the ship, but we were there conducting this investigation on a 'don't touch' basis. It never occurred to us, even for a second, 'What if we recovered the bell? Should we attempt to?'" Mearns tells CNN.
By the time Mearns and his team had returned to land, news of the bell's discovery had broken. A public debate had erupted over the ethics of disturbing a wreck where so many lives had been lost.
Mearns gained the support of the HMS Hood Association -- whose members include veterans and relatives of those who died -- before seeking financial support to return and recover the bell.
The association's president, rear admiral Philip Wilcocks, said in statement on the mission: "There is no headstone among the flowers for those who perish at sea."
Wilcocks added, "future generations will be able to gaze upon [the Hood's] bell and remember with gratitude and thanks the heroism, courage and personal sacrifice of Hood's ship's company who died in the service of their country."
If recovered, the bell will go on display in 2014, at an exhibition at the Royal Navy Museum in the southern English port of Portsmouth -- where the Hood was based.
Mearns says: "It's been out there as a wish of the association to do this and I've just been looking for the right sponsor to do it in the right way and to get the permission to do it.
"I'd been working with Vulcan, Paul Allen's company, and it just so happened we could combine the availability of Octopus in the region at the right time, because you can only really work in this area two months of the year."
The Octopus, the world's 13th largest megayacht, is a "fantastically capable vessel," Mearns says.
Despite being classified as a yacht, the Octopus carries equipment including a deepwater diving ROV [remotely operated vehicle] and survey and navigation equipment. The Octopus, says Mearns, "is very qualified" for the job.
The British Royal Navy has asked the team to place an ensign on the site of the wreck, Mearns added.
The mission also hopes to shed light on the final moments of the battle cruiser, which broke in two during the attack. It was under sustained fire from the Bismarck, but its own ammunition also exploded. The cause of its sinking has never been clarified.
"I think we are going to make a real improvement in the imagery and information that we bring back from the wreck to allow naval architects to look at and come to some firm conclusions about the damage," Mearns added.
"This isn't just a trophy hunt to go get the bell." | <urn:uuid:4bef4035-f614-4288-b441-5af2a0d37468> | {
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In all modern languages like C# and Java, we gain benefits of garbage collection. What about implementing our own. In this article, I will try to explain how to implement garbage collector for C language.
What is Garbage Collection?
In C language, dynamic memory management operations are done with
free() functions. When a piece of memory area is required, programmer calls the
malloc() function and receives a pointer of this area, and releases this area using
free() function when it is not used anymore. This is really a very easy task, you create memory area using
malloc() and release it using
free(). What if the programmer forgets to call the
free() function or application breaks before the
free() function is executed? If
free() function is not called, operating system cannot use this area and still thinks that it is in use. Large chunks of unreleased memory areas can affect system performance vitally.
Need for an automated garbage collection mechanism is born at this point. Automated garbage collection mechanism guarantees that all allocated memory during program run are released at the end.
There are a lot of garbage collection algorithms such as mark and sweep, copying, generational, reference counting, etc. In this article, I will try to explain mark and sweep algorithm.
What about Conservation?
Garbage collectors (abbreviated GC from now on) should not force developers to tag data or force to use special
datatype as pointers. GC also should work on existing source code. Working on existing code without compilation would be a more elegant solution. GC should not force to change on compilers. Conservative garbage collection approach provides GC solution preserving the above mentioned tasks.
In order to work properly, GC should have knowledge about the following tasks:
- Variables actively in use
- Which variable is a pointer and which is not
- Information of the allocated memory
Information about the allocated memory can be collected while GC allocates memory.
In C language collection about variables in use can be done with a special scanning on heap, stack and static data of the application. This solution is highly hardware dependent.
Also in C language, we do not have knowledge of a type at runtime. This means, at runtime phase it is not an easy task to distinguish pointers from non-pointers. Again we receive no assistance from the compiler. Once we have information about variables actively in use, we can scan this list with a special pointer identification algorithm to distinguish pointers. This step has some shortcomings but efficiency can be provided with elegant algorithms.
Conservative approach allows developers to use GC in their already written codes without any change on it. Developers call
malloc() function and never call
free() again inside the code. The rest is handled by GC as a smart servant.
Stop the World Approach
I mentioned that we scan memory areas of the application. We also need to release unused memory areas. These operations take additional CPU cycles. So when garbage is being collected, we need to use CPU. At this point, there are two main approaches for use of the CPU. These are stop the world and concurrent approaches.
Concurrent approach handles GC cycles on different threads. For this approach, complex locking mechanisms are needed. As a result, it benefits high performance which is desirable by most of the modern architecture. For further information, you can search on Tri-Color Marking Algorithm.
Stop the world approach stops program execution, does garbage collection and resumes program execution. This has a completely big disadvantage, it does not allow the application to use CPU while garbage is collected. This can cause the application to pause while garbage is being collected. Also we cannot use multi processor even if hardware has more than one CPU which can be a big performance gap. Although it has a lot of disadvantages, it is really very easy to implement so in this article we will use this approach.
Mark and Sweep Algorithm
Mark and Sweep Algorithm is the first algorithm which handles cyclic references. This algorithm is one of the most commonly used garbage collectors with combination of some other techniques.
Mark and sweep algorithm is a tracing collector so it traces through all available pointers to distinguish used and unused memory areas. It consists of two phases. The first phase is the marking phase. In marking phase, GC traces through all available variables and finds pointers using pointer identification algorithm. Once pointers are determined, marking phase finds the heap area of the pointers and marks them as used. In the second phase, GC traces through the heap and picks unmarked areas. Unmarked areas are the memory areas which are not currently used. These areas are reclaimed.
As mentioned, mark and sweep can handle cyclic references. Moreover, it includes no overhead on variables.
Conservative GC faces two main difficulties, the first is for identifying where to find root set and the second is how to identify pointers.
Root set can be described as the variables which are in use at time(t). Finding root sets without the assistance of the compiler is a highly system and hardware dependent issue. Root sets can be found on stack, registers and static area of the application. In order to implement our GC, we should find base addresses of these memory areas.
GC should discover the bottom and top of the stack. Stack is the main stack of the application. If we take a closer look into the CPU architecture, we can see that there is a dedicated stack which holds addresses of execution points, passed parameters to functions and local variables. Stack grow direction may change in each architecture. When a new item is pushed into the stack in some architectures, the stack grows downward and in some, it grows upward. GC should be aware of this. Stack bottom and top addresses can be found by combination of EBP, ESP and DS register values of 32bit architecture. Also there are alternative ways.
Static areas are held in the data segment register in 32Bit CPUs and stored in the heap of the running application. Static areas are the memory block where local static and global variables are held. In a realworld application, we can have some global and static local variables which hold pointers. GC should be aware of these variables.
Registers are CPU registers of the hardware. These memory areas are highly system dependent. GC should be aware of the root sets held in the registers before GC takes place. Reclaiming of the memory areas which are in use could cause severe bugs.
The second difficulty that Conservative GC faces is identification of the pointers. In C and C++ languages, pointers can be held inside the integer variables. In some cases, it is not an easy task to distinguish a pointer with a 32 bit integer value. As GC has no assistance from the compiler, it has to handle identification of the pointers by itself. In general, the approach for conservative garbage collector is that "GC must treat any word (integer) that it encounters as a potential pointer unless it can prove otherwise"¹.
While in this step, GC should be aware of pointers to pointers. In this project, I implemented depth first search as pointer traversal algorithm. In order to identify pointers, GC should have some test steps to filter pointers with non-pointers. Some of the tests are mentioned below:
- Does a potential pointer refer to the atom pointer.
- Does a potential pointer refer to application heap
- Does a potential pointer refer to root sets. If so, execute pointer traversal algorithm to find which portion of the heap it refers.
- If potential pointer refers to heap, traces through allocated block to find exact block that it points.
Atom pointers are the pointers which are used by GC itself. GC should distinguish these pointers from actual application pointers. Also GC should give the ability to the developer to identify custom atom pointers. Atom pointers are being skipped at pointer identification phase and they are not recognized as pointers by GC. GC never touches the memory areas of these pointers.
If a potential pointer passes these tests, it is treated as a pointer and marked as in use at mark phase. Pointer identification has some deficiencies such as false pointers. False pointers are the integer values which hold heap addresses. Assume that we have an integer
i which holds random 32bit value, also assume that this value is
0x003932e8. When GC takes place, we have also a pointer
p which points to
0x003932e8 heap address with size in MBs.
p is set to NIL and not used anymore. Application requests new memory block but having less memory GC cannot allocate free space and steps into collection phase. In collection phase,
p should be reclaimed so it is not used anymore but
i can be recognized as a pointer actually which is not. This type of situations can be troublesome. Boehm reports that certain classes of data, such as large compressed bitmaps, introduce false references with an excessively high probability [Boehm, 1993].
After a lot of theoretical information, let's take a look at how we can implement that type of automated memory manager.
As mentioned, the GC we will design will be highly system and hardware dependent. We will use IA32 architecture and Windows Operating system.
The first thing GC should do is to find root sets. Stack top can be found by retrieving address of the last created variable. In Windows environment, the address of the last created variable can be used to query active memory block using
VirtualQuery function. This function tells the base address and other properties of the related memory area². After calling
VirtualQuery function with top of the stack, we can retrieve full set of stack roots. This root set gives us the variables currently in use. Defining
static root sets requires another call to
VirtualQuery function. This time we query memory area using a created
static local variable. Register roots can be retrieved using
When developer calls
malloc function of GC, our code should add additional header information to this memory block. This block is linked to doubly linked list. Using this list, we can store and query which memory areas are allocated by GC. In my implementation, allocation does not invoke collection step which it should do when system gets low on memory, it does only create new memory area using low level
malloc and returns address of this block. In future releases, my implementation of
gc_malloc should work in a smarter and elegant way.
In our implementations, the developer should be able to call
collect function of GC. Calling this function is not recommended but for flexibility we can allow developers to call our
Collect function should invoke the following steps. First it should determine root sets, then it should invoke mark and sweep phases respectively.
In mark phase, GC should trace through whole root sets. Code should invoke pointer identification step for each possible pointer in the root set. Once possible pointer is passed identification step code should mark it as in use (in my current implementation, I have two lists. The first list holds used areas, and the second holds free areas. When I mark a pointer as used, I remove it from the used area and link it to a free area which decreases CPU use on sweep phase).
In sweep phase, GC should trace through the whole heap. In this step, only marked areas are not reclaimed and the rest is reclaimed. (In my current implementation, I free the memory area when it is not used anymore. This can cause performance penalties. A more advanced approach can be used at this step.)
The last thing GC should do is reclaiming the whole heap when the application quits. We can use
atexit() function of standard C. In this function, we will trace through the whole heap to reclaim all used memory.
Source Code and Last Words
This project is an open source project. Please feel free to join this project. If you wish to work on this project, please let me know. Source repository of this project can be found here.
Please note that this project is actively in development. Also the current version supports a fully working GC mechanism and it has a lot of deficiencies on performance issues.
- Garbage Collection - Algorithms for Automatic Dynamic Memory Management 1996, Richard Jones, Rafael Lins
- An introduction to garbage collection part II, Richard Gillam
- Mark-and-Sweep garbage collection
- Why conservative garbage collectors
- Automatic garbage collection
- Fast multiprocessor memory allocation and garbage collection, Hans-J.Boehm, HP Laboratories
- Composing high-performance memory allocators, Emery D. Berger, Benjamin G.Zorn, Kathryn S. McKinley
- Hoard: a scalable memory allocator for multithreaded applications, Emery D. Berger, Kathryn McKinley, Robert D. Blumofe, Paul R. Wilson
- Managing heap memory in win32
- Heap pleasures and pains
- The measured cost of conservative garbage collection, Bejamin Zorn
- Conservative garbage collection for general memory allocators, Gustavo Rodriguez-Rivera, Charles Fiterman
- Conservative garbage collection for C, Christian Höglinger
Yasin has more than 10 years of professional experience. He has several published articles includes graphics programming, robotics and application development in academic resources and national press. He is now working as a software developer for semi-governmental organization in Turkey. | <urn:uuid:ce19234a-ce21-4e12-b5cb-ff091e5c29bd> | {
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Declaration on genuine democracy adopted on 24 January 2013
The Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) of the Council of Europe,
1. As an active player in promoting democracy and defending the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights;
2. Noting that “genuine democracy”, a term enshrined in the Statute of the Council of Europe, goes hand in hand with “the protection of human rights” and “the rule of law” as a requirement for accession by states to membership of the Council of Europe;
3. Believing that there is a need for the fundamental elements of genuine democracy to be brought together in a reference text based on existing Council of Europe conventions and declarations, as well as the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights;
4. Recalling the work of the Council of Europe on the principles of genuine democracy*, which served us as basis for the drafting of this Declaration;
5. Underlining the need to determine and clarify more effectively the fundamental elements of the three complementary and inseparable principles that are the distinguishing features of the Council of Europe’s common heritage, namely respect for the universal and indivisible rights of the individual, the rule of law and the genuinely democratic nature of political systems;
6. Underlining the crucial part which civil society, in particular NGOs, can play in building a genuine democracy;
7. Believing that a general declaration on the fundamental principles of pluralist democracy will help to expand and consolidate democracy in Europe and throughout the world;
8. Recommending that this text be used to determine the conditions required for becoming or remaining a member state of the Council of Europe;
9. Bearing in mind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as the Statute of the Council of Europe and all the texts adopted by the organisation listed in the appendix;
10. Urging those states which have not yet ratified the conventions included in the list to do so as soon as possible;
11. Believing that genuine democracy is a political, legal and cultural system based on respect for human rights, the rule of law and the ability of all individuals to take part in public life;
12. Aware that democracy entails the active commitment of individuals and their governments to equality, tolerance, and respect for diversity, as well as to social integration;
13. Recognising that education is the key means of developing democratic values in the young, and wishing to encourage them to exercise fully the rights and assume the responsibilities of citizenship;
14. Believing that effective democracy and good governance at all levels are essential for preventing conflicts, promoting stability, facilitating economic and social progress, and hence for creating sustainable communities where people want to live and work, now and in the future, and that this can only be achieved through the active involvement of citizens and civil society;
15. Wishing member states to maintain and develop effective, transparent and accountable democratic institutions, responsive to the needs and aspirations of all;
16. Adopts the present declaration:
A. PRINCIPLES AND VALUES OF GENUINE DEMOCRACY
I. HUMAN DIGNITY
a. Genuine democracy must ensure respect for the dignity and the equal value of all persons and for their inalienable rights.
II. EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION
a. All persons are equal under the law and shall be entitled to the equal protection of the law without any discrimination.
b. Gender equality is a fundamental criterion of democracy which must be ensured in all areas of public and private life.
c. Any discrimination based on sex, ethnic origin, language, religion, political or other opinions, national or social origin, association with a national minority, sexual orientation, property, birth or other status is prohibited.
d. Genuine democracy ensures that all individuals enjoy equal and effective protection against any form of discrimination and also affords them full equality of opportunity.
e. No measure aimed at correcting existing imbalances or hastening the achievement of equality may be regarded as discriminatory.
III. RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY AND TOLERANCE
a. The principles of pluralism and tolerance require respect for the cultural and linguistic identity of all persons, as well as respect for their freedom to hold or not to hold religious or philosophical beliefs and to change them insofar as their manifestations remain compatible with human rights.
b. Genuine democracy must stand firm against all those who seek its destruction, in particular those advocating racial hatred, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, persecution on religious or ideological grounds or violence and terrorism.
c. The activities of any organisation which opposes the democratic order through violence or the encouragement of violence shall be punished by the law.
IV. UNIVERSALITY AND INDIVISIBILITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS
a. Human rights and fundamental freedoms are inherent in the individual and are inalienable; their protection is the primary responsibility of states. Respect for, and full enjoyment of, human rights and fundamental freedoms are the bases on which liberty, justice and peace are founded.
b. Civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent.
c. Any derogation from obligations to respect human rights shall remain within the limits provided for in international and European law. Such derogations are by definition of an exceptional nature and shall be applied and interpreted restrictively.
V. INTERDEPENDENCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS, DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
a. Genuine democracy and human rights are intrinsically related concepts which cannot exist without each other. Political rights and freedoms form part of human rights, while respect for human rights is essential to the establishment and maintenance of a democratic system. The implementation of a democratic culture helps to develop a human rights culture and vice versa.
b. Genuine democracy must maintain a balance between the requirements of the general interests of the community and the need to safeguard the fundamental rights of all individuals.
c. Democracy, human development and respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms are interdependent and mutually enhancing.
VI. THE RULE OF LAW
The principles of the rule of law include, in particular:
a. Respect for the principles relating to human rights and fundamental freedoms provided for in international law and, in particular, in the European Convention on Human Rights;
b. Respect for a constitutional order implementing fundamental rights and conformity of laws to this constitutional order;
c. The fact that the government and all other public authorities are subject to the law;
d. Legal certainty, which includes the principle of accessibility to the law and the principles of predictability and proportionality in the application of laws;
e. Refusal of impunity, which means that:
- In the event of violation of the rule of law, it shall fall to states and the international community to make sure that such violation does not go unpunished;
- Gross violations of human rights, in particular, torture, genocide, ethnocide, systematic rape and massacres should be condemned and their perpetrators punished.
VII. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY
a. In a genuine democracy, those in authority are accountable for their acts to all citizens on whose behalf they exercise power and to their representatives.
B. POLITICAL CONDITIONS FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT OF GENUINE DEMOCRACY
I. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION
1. PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC AND POLITICAL LIFE
a. Genuine democracy presupposes power sharing as well as freedom based on solidarity.
b. Genuine democracy shall permit and encourage full and equal participation by women and men in the democratic process, including balanced representation at all levels of decision-making in public and political life.
c. Every citizen has a right to participate in the conduct of public affairs, either directly or through freely chosen representatives, both at European and national level and at local and regional level, as well as to vote and be elected.
d. Every citizen has a right to participate in the voluntary sector.
e. Every citizen has a duty to take part in the promotion of and respect for human rights and democratic values.
f. Genuine democracy shall encourage and recognise work done by non-governmental organisations or any voluntary association, whether national or international, working to protect human rights and democratic institutions.
g. Every foreign national residing lawfully on the territory of a state has the right to participate in public life and the voluntary sector, at least at local level.
2. FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS
a. Elections shall be free and fair, in accordance with international and European standards.
b. Periodic elections to political office are an essential means of enabling the will of the people to be expressed.
c. Such elections shall be based on universal and equal suffrage and held by secret ballot. They shall take place in circumstances guaranteeing the possibility of a genuine choice for the electorate and respect for its opinion, and ensuring the proper conduct and legality of procedures, as well as the legality of election results.
d. The presence of international observers and of the international press shall not be regarded as interference in the internal affairs of the state.
3. POLITICAL PARTIES
a. A genuinely democratic society requires the existence of a multi-party system.
b. The right to freedom of association includes the right to establish political parties. The role of these parties is to engage and promote political debate.
c. The setting up of political parties or other groupings shall be free in accordance with the law. The setting up of political parties may not be obstructed and political parties may only be banned in the cases mentioned under point A-III-b of this declaration. In no circumstances may a political party seek the destruction of democracy or fundamental rights.
d. The funding of political parties shall be regulated by law.
4. ASSOCIATIONS, NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS AND TRADE UNION ORGANISATIONS
a. Associations, non-governmental organisations and trade union organisations are necessary for the proper functioning of democracy; they provide citizens with a means of action and expression.
b. They have a specific independent role to promote the values of democracy and human rights and contribute to their effective implementation.
c. Their activities shall not be limited or forbidden in so far as they are carried out in the framework of the law and the respect for human rights.
5. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
a. Freedoms of thought, opinion, expression, information and communication are essential requirements for the functioning and progress of a democratic society and individual fulfilment. They shall not justify calls to violence, incitement to hatred or any form of discrimination.
6. THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA
a. The freedom and independence as well as the pluralism and diversity of the media are essential for the functioning of a democratic society.
b. The media’s responsibility for ensuring respect for all human rights is an essential counterpart of media freedom. The exercise of this freedom shall not be used to incite violence, hatred or any form of discrimination.
c. Free circulation of information and ideas across borders must be guaranteed as an important factor in promoting understanding between nations, close relations between peoples and the mutual enrichment of cultures.
d. The possibilities offered by new information and communication technologies must be taken into consideration to develop a genuine democracy.
7. RESPECT FOR PERSONS BELONGING TO MINORITIES
a. While based on the principle of majority rule, genuine democracy must at the same time secure the respect of all rights of persons belonging to minorities.
II. LOCAL AND REGIONAL GOVERNANCE
a. Local and regional self-government is an important element of genuine democracy. It must have an institutional and legal basis.
b. Such a form of government contributes to the strengthening of a democratic Europe based on the principle of subsidiarity and decentralisation on all levels at which power is exercised.
c. This includes the ability of local authorities, within the limits of the law, to regulate and manage a substantial share of public affairs under their own responsibility and in the interests of the local population.
d. This right shall be exercised by bodies composed of members elected by universal suffrage. This provision shall in no way affect recourse to assemblies of citizens, referendums or any other form of direct citizen participation where it is permitted by statute.
e. The conditions of office of local elected representatives shall provide for free exercise of their functions.
III. EXERCISE OF POWER IN A STATE GOVERNED BY THE RULE OF LAW
1. SEPARATION OF POWERS
a. Democracy requires the separation and independence of the legislature, executive and judiciary.
b. The role of the legislature, as the representative of the electorate, is to draw up and pass legislation, to vote taxes and to hold the executive to account. To this end, the legislature must have independent powers of investigation and scrutiny and its representatives must enjoy immunity from executive pressure or coercion in the exercise of their office.
c. In implementing and upholding the law, the executive shall be answerable to the people and their representatives. In particular, it must ensure that the law is strictly applied by the agencies entrusted with law enforcement.
d. Judicial authority shall be exercised independently by the courts and their decisions shall be executed by the competent public authorities in each state.
e. The independence of judges shall be safeguarded. They shall be impartial and give their rulings within a reasonable time. Judges’ decisions shall not be influenced by the interests of the executive, the legislature or any other public authority or private group.
f. The independence of lawyers shall be recognised and protected, especially with regard to the conditions of their access to the profession and the performance of their duties.
2. IMPARTIALITY OF THE STATE
a. In keeping with the principle of non-discrimination, genuine democracy presupposes the impartiality of the state with respect to religions, beliefs and convictions.
b. The state must never favour the interests or values of a specific group.
3. EFFECTIVE PROTECTION AGAINST VIOLATIONS OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
a. Every person alleging a violation of his or her recognised rights and freedoms is entitled to an effective remedy before a competent national body, including when the alleged violation was committed by persons acting in the course of their official duties.
b. Every democratic state must offer any person within its jurisdiction the opportunity of submitting an individual complaint to an international body in the event of a violation of their fundamental rights.
c. Every democratic state must provide for setting up the office of ombudspersons, commissioners or other national human rights institutions, with the power to take any measure to ensure effective respect for the rights of all persons living on the territory of the state.
4. DEROGATIONS FROM OBLIGATIONS RELATED TO RESPECT FOR RIGHTS
a. Where the life of the nation is threatened, any exceptional measures taken shall be aimed solely at preserving the democratic system, upholding the rule of law and ensuring respect for fundamental rights and freedoms.
b. Where the executive authorities are legally empowered to take a decision to impose a state of emergency, the decision shall be subject to approval and review by the legislature. The measures taken shall not be exempt from judicial review under ordinary law.
C. ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONDITIONS FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT OF GENUINE DEMOCRACY
I. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
a. Genuine democracy shall develop economic systems aimed, amongst other things, at achieving social justice, sustainable economic development, well-being, the promotion of employment and the rational use of economic and environmental resources out of respect for future generations.
b. Genuine democracy must secure access to essential goods and services for all citizens.
c. Any economic system must promote the development and self-fulfilment of every individual and the social development of the community aimed at global sustainable development.
II. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
1. A GENUINE DEMOCRACY MUST BE A SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
a. Democracy cannot be genuine unless it has a social dimension. Lack of respect for fundamental social rights threatens legal and political equality, the foundation of any democracy.
b. Social debate and collective bargaining are elements of social development. Trade unions and other social partners must be able fully to play their role here.
2. PROTECTION AGAINST MARGINALISATION OR EXCLUSION
a. Democracy can be measured by the way in which it recognises and treats those who are excluded from society.
b. Any genuine democracy must take concrete measures to eliminate extreme poverty, economic, social and cultural deprivation and marginalisation, in particular:
- By giving the means to persons suffering poverty and social exclusion to obtain information and make themselves heard and to take part in decision-making on public policy, in particular when it affects them;
- By facilitating access by such persons to comprehensive services, including appropriate training to enable them to develop their abilities.
III. CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. RIGHT TO EDUCATION
a. Genuine democracy involves giving effect to the right to education, as an integral part of human rights, with a view to lifelong learning.
b. Education in human rights, in the values and practice of democracy and in active and responsible citizenship is an essential part of the education system which must be provided not only as part of compulsory general education but also in other forms and at other levels of publicly funded education and lifelong learning. In particular, it concerns members of the judiciary, the police and the armed forces and, in general, those who are expected to ensure respect for the rights of individuals.
c. The right of parents to ensure that their children receive an education in keeping with their religious and philosophical convictions must be guaranteed insofar as this is compatible with human rights and respects the right of children to their own development.
2. PARTICIPATION IN CULTURAL LIFE
a. Genuine democracy requires everyone to have access to, and be able to participate actively in, cultural life, information and social communication without any discrimination.
b. All cultural communities, including those disadvantaged on account of their size, their specific cultural or religious characteristics or their conditions of existence, shall be entitled to pursue their own cultural policy without prejudice to human rights and the rights of other communities.
IV. INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION OF DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES
a. Democratic principles must play an ever-increasing role in the conduct of European and international affairs. Every democracy has a duty to support states in the process of transition to democracy, as well as a duty of solidarity with persons who are oppressed or live in conditions harmful to their development.
b. Every genuine democracy must defend democratic principles. It should promote human rights protection and democratic principles in its international relations.
c. The protection of universal human rights is an essential responsibility of the international community and of each of its members and no state may invoke the principle of non-interference in its internal affairs when instances of abuse of human rights are reported.
d. Preserving and accommodating, on an equal footing and in permanent structures, the democracies which will make Europe a vast area of democratic security must remain one of the major objectives of the Council of Europe. Democracies are therefore invited to commit themselves to the principles and values set out in this declaration.
A P P E N D I X
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950) and Protocols
European Cultural Convention (1954)
European Social Charter (1961), its Protocols and the revised European Social Charter (1996)
European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987) and Protocols
Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at Local Level (1992)
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1994)
Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (2005)
Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (2011)
European Charter of Local Self-Government (1985)
Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority (2009)
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (1992)
Revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Municipal and Regional Life (2003)
Vienna Declaration adopted by the heads of state and government of Council of Europe member states at their first summit on 9 October 1993
Strasbourg Declaration adopted by the heads of state and government of Council of Europe member states at their second summit on 11 October 1997
Warsaw Declaration adopted by the heads of state and government of Council of Europe member states at their third summit on 17 May 2005
Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on Human Rights (1978)
Declaration of the Committee of Ministers regarding intolerance – A threat to democracy (1981)
Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on freedom of expression and information (1982)
Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on equality of women and men (1988)
Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on cultural diversity (2000)
Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters (2004)
Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the Code of Good Practice for Civil Participation in the Decision-Making Process (2009)
Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on religious freedom (2011)
European Landscape Convention (2000)
Recommendation Rec(2002)1 of the Committee of Ministers to member states
on the Guiding principles for sustainable spatial development of the European continent
Resolution of the Ministers responsible for spatial/regional planning of the member States of the Council of Europe (CEMAT) on the contribution of essential services to the sustainable spatial development of the European continent, Moscow (2010)
* Final activity report of the Project group “Human Rights and Genuine Democracy” (CAHDD), CM(96)12 Addendum I | <urn:uuid:0df5a4ef-4763-44a3-952c-6a0b08539f9f> | {
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Patent no. 1433. Filing year 1872.
"Improvements in Sewing Machines," C. Raymond.
For most of our history, the close relationship between Canada and the United States has been conducive to the flow of people and ideas across the border. Scottish immigrant Alexander Graham Bell, for example, divided his working life between Canada and the U.S., while inventors such as Thomas Leopold Willson and John J. Wright developed their ideas south of the border before applying them here.
Charles Raymond of Guelph, Ontario, could be considered an example of what the Canadian media has recently termed the "reverse brain drain." Born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, Raymond had already invented two types of sewing machines before legal patent disputes with the Singer Company inspired him to relocate in 1860 to Montréal, the hub of Canada's textile industry. He soon lost money on a sewing-machine business and, in 1862, he and 15 tradesmen relocated to Guelph where he established the Raymond Sewing Machine Company. Here he finally found success, making and selling sewing machines and accessories based on a string of patents, including the one above.
Patent no. 1433 is of particular interest because it was preceded by a caveat filed by Raymond in 1869. A caveat, as it applies to patents, is a legal notification of the intention to file a patent for a concept still under development. Raymond's caveat claimed the invention of "the application of a check, lever, or spring to a single thread sewing machine, by which the thread is held up to or on the hook or looper, and thus prevented from dropping stitches." He just wasn't sure where to put the lever, but promised to perfect the design "as speedily as possible." His 1872 patent, above, included the completed lever mechanism.
Caveats were typically used when the stakes were high. One famous example is American inventor Elisha Gray's caveat for a telephone, filed in the United States Patent Office just two hours after Alexander Graham Bell filed his telephone patent. The sewing machine business in the 1800s was particularly competitive, and Raymond's experience with Singer in the U.S. may have prompted him to take extra precautions.
Over the years, Raymond's business instincts served him well. His Canadian base proved advantageous during the U.S. Civil War, which hampered his American competitors. Later, his emphasis on selling to European markets paid off, while many Canadian competitors failed because of their concentration on the domestic market. In 1870, he employed nearly 80 workers; ten years later, he owned two factories with a workforce of 200.
Raymond's health problems prompted his semi-retirement in 1877, though he continued to invent. He filed a number of patents unrelated to sewing, including an improvement to skates (no. 13026) and a cash register (no. 43108), and was working on a gasoline engine before his death in 1904. A religious man, Raymond was also involved in the local temperance movement, which doubtless would have put him at odds with fellow Guelph innovator and industrialist George Sleeman.
Grosvenor, Edwin S., and Morgan Wesson. Alexander Graham Bell: The Life and Times of the Man Who Invented the Telephone. New York: Harry S. Abrams, 1997.
Nash-Chambers, Debra L. "Raymond, Charles." Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
(accessed November 7, 2005).
Van Dulken, Stephen. Inventing the 19th Century: 100 Inventions That Shaped the Victorian Age, From Aspirin to the Zeppelin. New York: New York University Press, 2001. | <urn:uuid:477b6ef9-9801-4cdb-9796-ba1e36840e5f> | {
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Before 1980, most of the Chinese who came to Canada were from countries in the southeast of Canton and so the Chinese spoken was mainly Cantonese. This is just one of the many dialects spoken in China. Today, Cantonese and Mandarin are the two Chinese dialects most spoken in Canada.
Although the Chinese brought their own religious beliefs with them, about ten percent of Chinese immigrants had changed to Christianity by 1923. By 1961, close to sixty percent of Chinese Canadians were Christians. Buddhism and Islam were also important religions for Chinese people in Canada.
The Chinese hold many celebrations throughout the year. The most important one is the Chinese New Year. It usually is celebrated in February and is a time for settling debts and cleaning house. Red packets containing small amounts of money are given away, especially to children, and firecrackers are set off.
The Lantern Festival takes place on the 15th day of the New Year. Lanterns are hung in homes, along with symbols of good fortune, happiness and health.
The Ching Ming Festival falls in April and is also known as Remembrance of Ancestors Day. Chinese visit the graves of their loved ones and clear away the weeds.
One of the best known festivals, the Dragon Boat Festival, is usually celebrated in June. Boats from 45 to 120 feet long, and decorated with dragon's heads and tails race each other in competition. Paddlers keep in stroke to the beat of loud drums.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for people to gather and watch the moon. As darkness falls, lanterns are lit and everyone enjoys moon cakes (a mix of ground lotus, mashed beans, sesame seeds and dates) while watching the rise of the large autumn moon.
The Winter Soltice Festival takes place on the longest night of the year (December 22 or 23). As people look forward to longer days, they visit with family and enjoy a yummy banquet. | <urn:uuid:f13478ae-99e2-4bfd-9560-9dfcb571ebce> | {
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Some of our most interesting prints were once given away in a magazine. Today they comprise an important social history resource for the nineteenth century, illustrating spectacles and other visual devices in use by some of the most significant people of the day.
Vanity Fair was a Victorian magazine, founded in 1868 and aimed at the middle and upper sections of society. From the very beginning its illustrations included a distinctive satirical portraiture of a type which was new to English journalism. These portraits were designed to be collectible and many households or clubs enjoyed gathering their own gallery of the most distinguished politicians, clergymen and lawyers of the day. The artists became well-known by their pseudonyms such as 'Spy' and indeed their works are often known by the shorthand label 'Spy cartoons'. The caricatures were reproduced by the relatively new colour printing process of chromolithography.
Many of the Vanity Fair portraits include spectacles, monocles or pince-nez, often with a neck cord attached. In some cases the depiction is indistinct; the artist, usually working in watercolour, was interested only in providing an impression of the device. In other portraits however, the optical device is very clearly shown or else exaggerated such that it becomes a defining motif for the person concerned. An example would be the huge monocle filling the socket of Mr Maguire, the campaigner for Irish Home Rule.
The portraits are a useful source for studying the spectacle fashions of the second half of the nineteenth century and the Edwardian period. The manner in which a frame is worn, held or suspended is often clearly shown. This may be from a cord, or a coat button. The spectacles may be flourished in the hand or parked out of the way on the forehead. In one instance, the son of the novelist Charles Dickens is illustrated actually cleaning his spectacle lenses with a cloth.
Educated Victorian readers held contemporary scientists in a level of esteem that would be unfamiliar today. In consequence, certain distinguished names in the fields of optics and ophthalmology are to be found amongst the Vanity Fair portraits. This includes Mr Frank Crisp, the well-known collector of microscopes, Sir George Airy, reputedly the first to use a cylindrical lens for his own correction, Sir William Crookes the Chemist (a former Superintendent of the Radcliffe Observatory) and R Brudenell Carter who found fame through his operations on corneal staphyloma.
There are so many relevant Vanity Fair portraits (the BOA Museum has 68 for example) that a comprehensive listing would seem superfluous. Below is attached a list of some of the best that an enthusiast might consider including in his collection. It should be noted that many of these prints are available quite cheaply as modern reproductions.
Wearing Pince-Nez or Nose spectacles
Wearing a monocle
Other optical devices
The MusEYEum Guide to the pseudonyms of Vanity Fair cartoonists:
|Ao||= L’Estrange. Floruit 1903-7.|
|APE||= Carlo Pellegrini (1839-1889). Born Capua. Came to England 1864. Adopted name ‘APE’ from 1869.|
|F.C.G.||= Sir Francis Carruthers Gould (1844-1925).|
|F.T.D.||= F.T. Dalton. Floruit 1890.|
|GUTH||= Jean Baptiste Guth. Floruit 1883-1921.|
|Hay||= Floruit 1888-1893.|
|Lib||= Liberio Prosperi. Floruit 1886-1903.|
|PAL||= Jean de Paleogu. Born 1855.|
|SPY||= Sir Leslie Ward (1851-1922). Adopted name ‘SPY’ from 1873, working 36 years for Vanity Fair. Knighted 1918.|
|STUFF||= Possibly H.C. Sepping Wright (i.e. his name becomes the ‘wright stuff’). Floruit 1894-1900.|
|T||= Theobald Chartran (1849-1907).|
|w.a.g.||= A.G. Witherby. Floruit 1894-1901.| | <urn:uuid:c1ed48bd-9c35-4500-8cf0-74140fc68226> | {
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Latino adolescents who share knowledge from the classroom, new media and information technology among immigrant families function as "civic information leaders," a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder shows.
Their role helps family members assimilate to American culture and also represents a powerful channel through which to campaign to immigrant parents, according to journalism Associate Professor Mike McDevitt, lead author of the study.
"There is a reason for optimism, as opposed to despair, in thinking about the prospects for reaching a demographic typically portrayed in social science as chronically disengaged from civic and political life," said McDevitt.
"Schools, news media and campaign strategists should view adolescents as the most effective way to mobilize Latino families for active citizenship," he said. "They should not try to reach parents directly, but instead reach out to teens. This can trigger a trickle-up influence."
The study was conducted primarily with Latino participants from Centaurus High School in Lafayette, Colo. Surveys completed by 74 students served as the basis of four focus group discussions involving 53 students and parents. In addition, 12 students completed diaries tracking their media and information technology use over 48 hours.
The student participants were surveyed on their use of media and information technology for schoolwork, entertainment and social interaction. Their consumption of traditional resources -- radio, newspapers, magazines and television -- and newer tools -- the Internet, MP3 players, cellular telephones and texting -- was measured.
They also were surveyed on their political views, activities and willingness to discuss civic issues in school and in family settings. Participants rated their willingness to listen to opponents, initiate discussion and to disagree, among other questions.
"Latino adolescents' use of traditional media and particularly new information technology is perhaps more frequent than many would expect," said McDevitt. "Youth are tapped into general information and issue awareness, which builds confidence in the classroom and serves as a bridge to the home front, where parents are otherwise disconnected and distrusting of mainstream media."
The focus group discussions revealed that Latino youth and immigrant parents experience distinct sets of information sources that rarely overlap. School and media efforts aimed at increasing civic participation should strive to increase the overlap, said McDevitt.
Immigrant parents commonly face language barriers and the undocumented status of many of them causes fear of societal rejection and marginalization, according to the study. Many parents in the focus groups also reported shaky computer skills and a skepticism of English-language news media.
However, McDevitt said there is a downside to the dynamic of Latino teens serving as information leaders when immigrant parents feel their authority is undermined.
"Family communication can be thwarted when Latino youth act as information leaders, changing the usual structure of authority," said McDevitt. "On the other hand, these provocations can promote reciprocal influence in the family because parents want to keep up with their kids and retain a leadership role, particularly about controversial political issues."
The study recommends figuring out ways to preserve family cohesion, cultural identity and parental leadership while taking advantage of Latino youth's propensity for leadership in accessing and using new media.
"For many decades, political scientists have often ignored the family in terms of strategy for promoting political participation, or have viewed the family as a barrier, as a private domain that must be overcome," said McDevitt. "The family is not something to overcome; it's not a deficit; it's a resource for political engagement."
Mary Butler, a graduate of CU-Boulder's communication department, co-authored the study, which is published in the current issue of InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies.
Student coaches from Public Achievement, a service-learning program of CU-Boulder's Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement, helped to recruit study participants and to facilitate focus groups. Collaboration on the study also involved mentors from the I Have A Dream Foundation. | <urn:uuid:32dabadf-24c7-4075-9921-2f67d5a7670b> | {
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Students learn basic skills in electricity, line work installation, repair, cable splicing, and system testing, as well as transformer connections, underground electric installation and effective operation of digger derricks. Electric lineworkers install and repair cables or wires used in electrical power or distribution systems. They locate line trouble, climb poles, use hot line tools, and operate and maintain substations. This program prepares students to work for power line construction and utility companies.
All students are required to obtain a Red Cross First Aid card and a CPR card before a certificate is issued.
Electric Line mechanic | <urn:uuid:52cb73a8-6db8-405d-a81c-3680c85b1f31> | {
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The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston
Take to you handfuls of soot of the furnace, and let Moses throw it heavenward in the sight of Pha- raoh; and it shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast, throughout the land of Egypt. [Exodus 9:8-9] WHATEVER ONE’S views on the historicity of the biblical plagues, it is remarkable how closely this passage resembles a description of modern biological warfare. A handful of smallpox virions, each about the size of a particle of soot, contains enough pestilent material to infect millions of people. Released at a high enough altitude, a cloud of such viral dust might spread invisibly for 50 miles or more. Anyone who breathes in as few as a half-dozen grains could become symptomatic in a fortnight, breaking out with blisters and sores or with bleeding skin.
About the Author
Kevin Shapiro is a research fellow in neuroscience and a student at Harvard Medical School. | <urn:uuid:90d6ca84-7f7a-4e1e-bd27-d733c8f23baa> | {
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Practical and Common-Sense Breast Cancer Dietary Tips
1. Avoid trans-fats
Avoid consumption of processed foods, which is the main source of industrially produced trans-fatty acid.
An increased intake of trans-fatty acids may raise the risk of breast cancer by 75 percent, suggest the results from the French part of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.
Women with breast cancer have higher levels of trans fats in their bodies than other women, suggesting–but not proving–that eating trans may raise the risk of the disease, says a new report from the European Community Multi-center Study on Antioxidants, Myocardial Infarction, and Breast Cancer.
Scientists at the national scientific research center at the University of Paris in France, discovered the link between trans-fats and breast cancer after carrying out a study of women taking part in a large European cancer trial.
The team found that women with the highest blood levels of trans-fats had about twice the risk of breast cancer compared to women with the lowest levels.
Trans-fats can be found in cooking fats, baked goods, snacks and a variety of other prepared foods.
2. Avoid vegetable Oils
Increased consumption of omega-6 fatty acids, found in corn oil and most of the oils used in bakery products, could be a reason for the rise in incidence of breast cancer in recent years, say many health researchers.
Omega-6 fats have been linked to the development of breast cancer, with a Spanish team reporting in 2004 that the fats enhanced expression of certain genes that accelerate the disease.
Omega-6 fats are found in refined supermarket cooking oils such as soy oil, corn oil, sunflower, safflower oil, in margarine, and in all processed foods that use these.
3. Eat Omega-3 fatty acids
Epidemiological research has clearly identified a significant inverse correlation between a woman’s consumption of foods rich in omega-3 fats and her risk for breast cancer.
Eat at least three servings a week of cold-water fish such as tuna, wild salmon, halibut, mackerel, haddock, cod, and sardines. If you don’t eat fish, you can also take fish oil capsules (2 to 10g a day).
4. Eat only organic free-range eggs
Avoid commercially produced eggs and eat only eggs that come from free-roaming hens fed on organic Omega 3 enhanced feed. Free-range, cage-free chickens have a greater variety of diet, producing eggs that contain more omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E.
Omega 3 enhanced eggs are from hens fed a diet flax seed or fish oils. Omega 3 enhanced eggs contain more omega 3 fatty acids and Vitamin E than the regular eggs. An independent test conducted by the CBC’s TV show Marketplace found that omega-3 enhanced eggs contain approximately 7 times more omega 3 fatty acids than regular white eggs.
Free-range organic eggs have nearly twice the vitamin E, four times the beta carotene (a precursor to vitamin A), four times the omega-3 fatty acids, and half the cholesterol. In addition, the free-range eggs have a significant amount of folic acid.
Several studies have shown similar results—one even showed free-range organic eggs to have thirteen times the omega-3 fatty acids!
Research has confirmed that the essential nutrient choline, which is found in eggs, can significantly reduce the risk of getting breast cancer.
In 2003, a Harvard University study indicated that subjects who consumed more eggs and fiber than the average girl during adolescence had a smaller risk of developing breast cancer as adults. Eating one egg per day was associated with an 18 percent reduction in risk.
Conclusion: Eat only organic/hormone free egg products that are free of residue of estrogenic hormones that have been linked to promoting breast cancer.
5. Avoid processed soy products
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recently announced results of research suggesting that the highly purified soy foods and soy supplements marketed in the United States may promote the growth of some pre-existing breast cancers.
6. Eat whole soy products
There have been many studies suggesting that eating whole soy products can help to lower the risk of breast cancer. It’s been shown for example that Oriental women, who have a lower-than-normal incidence of breast cancer, consume much larger amounts of soy products than most American women. When Asian women move to the United States, however, their intake of soy products goes down and their incidence of breast cancer goes up. | <urn:uuid:786f4329-9416-46eb-937d-4435dd67969d> | {
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A brochosopy is a procedure in which a long, lighted scope is inserted into the lungs in order to examine the airways of the lungs and to assess lung function.
Chest fluoroscopy may be performed when the motion of the lungs, diaphragm, or other structures in the chest need to be evaluated.
Chest ultrasound is a procedure in which sound wave technology is used alone, or along with other types of diagnostic methods, to examine the organs and structures of the chest.
A chest X-ray is used to examine the chest and the lungs and other organs and structures located in the chest.
CT/CAT scans are more detailed than standard x-rays and are often used to assess the organs of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems,and esophagus, for injuries, abnormalities, or disease.
A lobectomy is a surgical procedure that removes one of the lobes of the lungs.
A lung biopsy is a procedure in which tissue samples are removed with a special needle to determine if cancer or other abnormal cells are present.
A lung scan is a procedure that uses nuclear radiology to assess the function and structure of the lungs. It is most often performed when problems with the lungs and respiratory tract are suspected.
In a lung transplant, one or both diseased lungs are removed and replaced with a healthy lung from another person.
A mediastinoscopy is a surgical procedure performed to examine the mediastinum - the space behind the sternum (breastbone) in the middle of the chest that separates the two lungs.
Oximetry is a procedure used to measure the oxygen level—or oxygen saturation—in the blood.
Peak flow measurement is a procedure that records the amount of air flowing out of your lungs. Peak flow can be measured with either a spirometer or a peak flow meter.
A pleural biopsy is a procedure in which a sample of the pleura (the membrane that surrounds the lungs) is removed with a special biopsy needle or during surgery to determine if disease, infection, or cancer is present.
Positron emission tomography (PET) is a specialized radiology procedure used to examine various body tissues to identify certain conditions. PET may also be used to follow the progress of the treatment of certain conditions.
A pulmonary angiogram is aa procedure that uses a combination of contrast dye and X-rays to examine the blood vessels in the lungs and evaluate blood flow to the lungs.
Pulmonary function tests measure how well your lungs are functioning and are used to help diagnose certain lung disorders.
A sinus x-ray is a type of x-ray used to obtain images of the sinuses - the air-filled cavities lined with mucous membranes located within the bones of the skull.
A sleep study - or polysomnogram - consists of a number of medical tests performed at the same time during sleep. The tests measure specific sleep characteristics and help to diagnose sleep disorders.
Thoracentesis is a procedure in which a needle is inserted through the back of the chest wall to remove fluid or air from between the lungs and the interior chest wall. | <urn:uuid:278f4e85-fab7-4fe2-a6eb-bd47701a4c08> | {
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Now that the X-37B space plane is spotted, what is its mission?
Amateur astronomers say they have found the X-37B in an orbit that takes it over Afghanistan and Iraq. A former Air Force missile officer offers up four possible uses for the space plane – and weapon is least likely.
Now we know where the X-37B is. Amateur sky-watchers have spotted the Air Force miniature space plane traveling in low-earth orbit at an inclination that takes it over Iraq and Afghanistan, among other nations.Skip to next paragraph
But this big question remains: What the heck is the X-37B doing up there, anyway?
The Air Force isn’t saying. It’s secret. “The actual on-orbit activities we do classify,” said Gary Payton, Air Force Undersecretary for Space Programs, during a conference call with reporters in late April.
On April 22 an Atlas V rocket roared into the sky from Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying the X-37B on its first orbital test flight. At that moment the reusable craft vanished, as far as the general public was concerned. The Air Force did not say where in space the X-37B was going.
But last week a team of sky-watchers with members who specialize in tracking orbiting objects announced that they’ve spotted what they are certain is the X-37B in space, about 255 miles up, circling the earth every 90 minutes.
The X-37B is traveling in a an area bounded by 40 degrees north latitude (the mid-Atlantic of the US, Spain, the Middle East) and 40 degrees south latitude (Argentina, South Africa, Australia), according to Greg Roberts, a South African member of the spotting team.
The Air Force says that the performance of the system itself is the biggest thing this launch is testing. They want to see how the X-37B performs in orbit, how it flies itself back to the ground, and how quickly they can get it ready to re-launch. The goal is to be able to turn the X-37B around as fast as the Air Force could turn around a high-performance spy plane such as the SR-71 Blackbird. | <urn:uuid:0dedd98a-87cb-46e9-9a75-9b9a532cc099> | {
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Phishing: The Basics
Here's how to be on your guard against phishing attacks
CSO — Phishing is a method of trying to gather personal information using deceptive e-mails and websites. Pharming also aims to collect personal information from unsuspecting victims by essentially tinkering with the road maps that computers use to navigate the Web. You don't want either one working its evil genius on you, your employees or your customers. Here's how to be on your guard against both phishing and pharming. Last updated: April 2009
- What is phishing?
- Can we prevent phishing attacks?
- What can my company do to reduce our chances of being targeted?
- What plans should my company have in place before a phishing incident occurs?
- How can we quickly find out if a phishing attack has been launched using our company's name?
- How can we help our customers avoid falling for phishing?
- If an attack does happen, how should we respond?
- Any legal/regulatory requirements we should be aware of?
- What action can we take against the phishers themselves?
- How might phishing attacks evolve in the near future? (E.g. "spear-phishing)
- How can we guard against pharming attacks?
Q: What is phishing?
A: Phishing is a method of trying to gather personal information using deceptive e-mails and websites. Typically, a phisher sends an e-mail disguised as a legitimate business request. For example, the phisher may pass himself off as a real bank asking its customers to verify financial data. (So phishing is a form of "social engineering".) The e-mail is often forged so that it appears to come from a real e-mail address used for legitimate company business, and it usually includes a link to a website that looks exactly like the bank's website. However, the site is bogus, and when the victim types in passwords or other sensitive information, that data is captured by the phisher. The information may be used to commit various forms of fraud and identity theft, ranging from compromising a single existing bank account to setting up multiple new ones.
Early phishing attempts were crude, with telltale misspellings and poor grammar. Since then, however, phishing e-mails have become remarkably sophisticated. Phishers may pull language straight from official company correspondence and take pains to avoid typos. The fake sites may be near-replicas of the sites phishers are spoofing, containing the company's logo and other images and fake status bars that give the site the appearance of security. Phishers may register plausible-looking domains like aolaccountupdate.com, mycitibank.net or paypa1.com (using the number 1 instead of the letter L). They may even direct their victims to a well-known company's actual website and then collect their personal data through a faux pop-up window.
Can we prevent phishing attacks?
Companies can reduce the odds of being targeted, and they can reduce the damage that phishers can do (more details on how below). But they can't really prevent it. One reason phishing e-mails are so convincing is that most of them have forged "from" lines, so that the message looks like it's from the spoofed company. There's no way for an organization to keep someone from spoofing a "from" line and making it seem as if an e-mail came from the organization.
A technology known as sender authentication does hold some promise for limiting phishing attacks, though. The idea is that if e-mail gateways could verify that messages purporting to be from, say, Citibank did in fact originate from a legitimate Citibank server, messages from spoofed addresses could be automatically tagged as fraudulent and thus weeded out. (Before delivering a message, an ISP would compare the IP address of the server sending the message to a list of valid addresses for the sending domain, much the same way an ISP looks up the IP address of a domain to send a message. It would be sort of an Internet version of caller ID and call blocking.)
Although the concept is straightforward, implementation has been slow because the major Internet players have different ideas about how to tackle the problem. It may be years before different groups iron out the details and implement a standard. Even then, there's no way of guaranteeing that phishers won't find ways around the system (just as some fraudsters can fake the numbers that appear in caller IDs). That's why, in the meantime, so many organizationsand a growing marketplace of service providershave taken matters into their own hands.
What can my company do to reduce our chances of being targeted by phishing attacks?
In part, the answer has to do with NOT doing silly or thoughtless things that can increase your vulnerability. Now that phishing has become a fact of life, companies need to be careful about how they use e-mail to communicate with customers. For example, in May 2004, Wachovia's phones started ringing off the hook after the bank sent customers an e-mail instructing them to update their online banking user names and passwords by clicking on a link. Although the e-mail was legitimate (the bank had to migrate customers to a new system following a merger), a quarter of the recipients questioned it.
As Wachovia learned, companies need to clearly think through their customer communication protocols. Best practices include giving all e-mails and webpages a consistent look and feel, greeting customers by first and last name in e-mails, and never asking for personal or account data through e-mail. If any time-sensitive personal information is sent through e-mail, it has to be encrypted. Marketers may wring their hands at the prospect of not sending customers links that would take them directly to targeted offers, but instructing customers to bookmark key pages or linking to special offers from the homepage is a lot more secure. That way, companies are training their customers not to be duped.
It also makes sense to revisit what customers are allowed to do on your website. They should not be able to open a new account, sign up for a credit card or change their address online with just a password. At a minimum, companies should acknowledge every online transaction through e-mail and one other method of the customer's choosing (such as calling the phone number on record) so that customers are aware of all online activity on their accounts. And to make it more difficult for phishers to copy online data-capture forms, organizations should avoid putting them on the website for all to see. Instead, organizations should require secured log-in to access e-commerce forms.
At the end of the day, though, better authentication is the best way to decrease the likelihood that phishers will target your organization. Banks are beginning to experiment with technologies like RSA tokens, biometrics, one-time-use passwords and smart cards, all of which make their customers' personal information less valuable for phishers.
One midsized bank was able to cut its phishing-related ATM card losses by changing its authentication process. Every ATM card has data encoded on its magnetic strip that the customer can't see but that most ATM machines can read. The bank worked with its network provider to use that hidden information to authenticate ATM transactionsan important step that, according to Gartner, only about half of U.S. banks had taken by mid-2005. "Since the number isn't printed on the back of the card, customers can't accidentally disclose it," the bank's CISO explained. The information was already in the cards, so the bank didn't have to go through an expensive process of reissuing cards. "It was a very economical solution, and it's been very effective," said the CISO. | <urn:uuid:ce094244-2941-44b1-908a-a730a14223d6> | {
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Little Known Episode in John Bidwell’s History: Thwarting the 1851 Federal Indian Treaty
By Michele Shover, professor emerita, Political Science
In mid-August of that year, 200 members from Mountain and Foothill Maidu tribelets as well as 100 or so Valley Maidus gathered on the ranch at Bidwell’s request to consider a federal treaty. They moved back and forth from their tree-sheltered encampments, scattered to avoid old enemies but close enough to meet with friends. At large campfires, the Mechoopda Maidus roasted slabs of government beef, which rewarded each arriving group. The amount of beef would later become an issue.
While some Mountain Maidus were reluctant to enter rival Maidu turf without protection, their curiosity prevailed. They recalled many tribal “Big Times” there for trade with the Mechoopdas. Of course, when the best bow maker or other artisan was one of their own, they had held the get-togethers. But when a Valley Indian was the master builder, the advantage shifted and Mountain Indians became guests. According to Bidwell, such trading events took place at intervals of years, and when they concluded, the mountain and valley tribelets parted as enemies. In Bidwell’s time, the Mountain Maidus likely made surreptitious night visits to take a look at Bidwell’s ranch or for secret meetings with willing Mechoopdas. While Bidwell understood the land as his property, the tribelets at large still considered it, rightfully at least, as the Maidu territory of their Mechoopda tribelet.
The Indians, many of whom had arrived at Bidwell’s place about three weeks earlier than he expected them, set up camps in heavy groves across from his log house and the long shed, his stable and tack room. The visitors took a keen interest in the ranch’s new “saltbox”-style store with its “hotel” of several rooms above and the clapboard-sided bunkhouse where Bidwell housed “the Indian boys” who joined his vaqueros. Their elders had worked for John Potter, the area’s pioneer who had a substantial cattle operation which ran south from Big Chico Creek along both sides of the Oroville-Shasta Road. From Bidwell the young men learned how to work on field and row crops, and they had put in the rancher’s first orchards and some grape vines during the previous spring. Their elders were posted at the borders of grain fields with orders to keep out the cattle. The young men’s bunkhouse not only presented a considerable contrast to the older families’ bark huts, but it pointed to Bidwell’s separation of the male laborers from their families. In other respects, he respected their culture.
From their tree-shaded campsites, the Mountain Maidus could also assess the Mechoopdas’ situation. The Valley tribelet had agreed to work on Bidwell’s terms. They had nowhere they could go and they gained access to his resources, including added protection from their mountain rivals. This situation intrigued the more warlike mountain tribe. How could they drive off this rancher or tap his resources or find a way to restore their access to the valley? Now that they were at Bidwell’s headquarters, they also could communicate with the Mechoopdas to compare ideas.
While the Indians’ activities intrigued onlookers, the drama of Treaty Commissioner Oliver Wozencraft’s arrival conveyed command. Accompanying him were “gentlemanly and efficient” Army officers and 50 mounted infantry with a train of heavily laden packhorses enveloped in a rolling wall of dust. While Wozencraft’s mission was difficult, he had reason for confidence because he had negotiated signed treaties with other tribes. While he was at Bidwell’s rancho, the San Francisco Alta declared “the reservations must be made where the Indians at present reside … and that has been the course of the commissioners.”
As he slowed to dismount, Wozencraft noted the hundreds of Indians who took his measure in turn. By contrast to treaty meetings where a few tribesmen had shown up, Bidwell had organized an impressive turnout. As Wozencraft moved through the crowd with Bidwell “doing the honors,” he was impressed by the mix of valley headmen or “captains” and those of the mountain tribelets. The latter were difficult to assemble, most at risk and most dangerous to settlers. He explained later the Mountain and Foothill Maidus lived in small groups and were “generally at war with one another.” Hence, “they were very distrustful when it is attempted to bring them together.”
The treaty commissioner found Bidwell had anticipated his needs. Because the Native people would find it hard to understand the terms of a legal document, he had his carpenter build a lectern to draw a common focus. This podium’s image entered into the Mechoopdas’ oral history. In addition, Bidwell provided interpreters. One, Rafael, about 12, was the young boy he had “adopted” from a tribelet and trained as his personal assistant. The second interpreter, Napani, was about 9. She was a daughter of Mechoopda Headman Luc-a-yan, whom a settler woman described as “a man of superior ability, dignity and fine disposition.” She thought he resembled “a bronze statue.”
The ranch was organized for the meeting, the Indians were in place, and Wozencraft was ready to lay out the treaty terms. Deliberations would follow a rocky course—as would the relationship between Wozencraft and Bidwell. In 1858 Bidwell would testify that Commissioner Wozencraft had instructed him to offer the Indians all the beef they wanted regardless of cost. His statement contradicted Wozencraft’s explicit instructions, however. In an 1851 letter to Bidwell, Wozencraft referred to their common understanding that Bidwell should distribute beef to “keep the Indians pacified at the least cost to the government” and that his beef allocations “should be governed by necessity.” Bidwell also wanted Wozencraft to award him the lucrative contract to supply the beef, even though Wozencraft had already awarded it to someone else and wouldn’t go back on his word. Needless to say, Bidwell was not happy.
There is much more to the treaty story, but the end result was that Bidwell worked against the ratification of the treaty, and it failed to pass the California Legislature. California is one of the few states that did not establish a treaty with Indians. The consequences of this for the California Indians, especially the Mechoopda Maidu, is that many of them are still fighting to be recognized as a tribe, with the incumbent rights and privileges that accompany that recognition. In Butte County, the Mechoopda Maidu are in court to challenge Butte County’s effort to stop them from building a casino southeast of Chico.
Note: This is an excerpt from a chapter from a manuscript by Michele Shover, “The California Indian Wars on the Butte County Front, 1850-1865.” Shover, professor emerita, delivered the lecture at the Department of Political Science’s Faculty Forum on Oct. 21. The entire lecture can be found on the department’s website. Photo of Emma Cooper courtesy of Meriam Library, Special Collections. | <urn:uuid:d953d140-6089-4f9a-8be0-bf3ba8457577> | {
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|Connecticut Botanical Society|
Photos & Information
Plant ID Guides
Dryopteris clintoniana (Dryopteris cristata var. clintoniana)
Clinton's woodfern originated as a hybrid of Goldie's fern and crested woodfern, and its characteristics are mostly intermediate between the two parents. The fertile fronds of Clinton's woodfern are taller, narrower, and more upright than its sterile fronds, but the difference is less pronounced than it is in crested woodfern. Like crested woodfern, Clinton's woodfern's lowest leaflets are broadly triangular. The fronds are wider than crested woodfern fronds, but narrower than Goldie's fern fronds.
Photo © Don Lubin, courtesy of Ferns et al. of New England. | <urn:uuid:ecd4ada9-c754-4c4f-ab92-fffc8ab58f0e> | {
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In early October, the military government of Guatemala’s president Otto Perez Molina massacred a peaceful protest held by Indigenous K’iche protestors from Totonicapán, resulting in the death of seven men and leaving thirty-four others injured. Totonicapán, a department in the western highlands of Guatemala, holds an Indigenous K’iche majority population. Despite being one of the poorest and most malnourished of the departments in Guatemala, it also has been ranked as one of the most peaceful, ranking third to last for rates of violent crime.
Military and national police arrived to the Cumbre de Alaska, a stretch of the Inter-American highway in the Guatemalan highlands, at 9:30 the morning of October 4th. There, hundreds of K’iches from the department of Totonicapán had gathered to protest three issues: elevations in the costs of electricity, changes to the education system, and constitutional reforms that would eliminate government recognition of Indigenous ancestral authorities.
Recounts of what happened that morning vary, but what is confirmed is that three vehicles of military and police personnel approached the scene and eventually fired at least 108 bullets into the crowd of protesters and launched 89 canisters of teargas.
Initial reactions from the government claimed the police were unarmed. “I want to be emphatic,” began Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez Bonillo. “The army and police forces that were present were not carrying firearms. They were carrying non-lethal weapons, tear gas and pepper spray. They follow protocol.” He concluded: “The community members attacked each other.”
Soldier Manuel Lima Vasquez, carrying assault rifle at the Cumbre de Alaska, October 4th.
A very short time later, after photos emerged of military forces carrying assault rifles, they changed the story. This time, the military were carrying weapons, but only shot them in the air to scare protestors who were throwing rocks and sticks.
Finally, a full investigation of the incident was carried out, concluding that eight soldiers fired weapons directly at protestors, which they did in violation of superior orders. The Attorney General of Guatemala has charged Colonel Juan Chiroy Sal, the commander of the detachment sent to the Cumbre de Alaska that morning, with extrajudicial murder, along with the eight soldiers who fired their weapons.
Commissioner Dinah Shelton, of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights responded: “The IACHR values the actions taken by the Office of the Attorney General. It is now essential that the judicial inquiry continues until all facts are cleared up, and criminal responsibilities are established. It is also of fundamental importance that the authorities of Guatemala adopt mechanisms to avoid excessive use of force by State agents in protests and demonstrations,” according to their press release.
The use of violence and repression by the military has come to a peak in Otto Perez Molina’s administration. Perez Molina, an ex-military general during Guatemala’s violent armed conflict, campaigned on the promise that he would use a militarized state to combat drug trafficking and violent crime that plagues urban areas. Instead, during his first year in office, the country has seen increasing use of military repression against Indigenous activists, as was seen in the State of Siege imposed in May in the town of Barillas, Huehuetenango after protests arose over a controversial hydroelectric dam. “We believe there has been a real return to the use of violence as a response to social demands,” explained Domingo Hernandez, part of the board of directors for the Mayan grassroots group Waqib’ Kej. He continued, “In Guatemala we urgently need to start a process of democratization. In this government it hasn’t been possible. A militarized system is vertical, authoritarian, patriarchal, and doesn’t allow for citizens– Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth– to express their opinions. This state, led by ex-military officials, is treating our country as if it were their headquarters.”
The protest was convened by the group 48 Cantones, (48 villages) one of the longest standing, and well-respected system of traditional Indigenous governance existing in Guatemala. The group is an amalgamation of 48 villages around the department of Totonicapán, and is organized to defend the cultural and territorial heritage of their ancestors. Anthropologists have tied the group to Mayan resistance dating back to the arrival of the Spanish colonizers in the region. Their system of sustainable forest and water management has been an example for communities all over Guatemala. In 2010, Cultural Survival's Community Radio Project worked with 48 Cantones to produce a radio-novella series on these sustainable practices for broadcast across community radio stations of Guatemala. Leaders of the movement have called for a deep and transparent investigation of the massacre, questioning the resolution of the government that the soldiers and the colonoal acted alone, against orders. "Hopefully this will lead to trials of those that acted to shoot but also start a process of investigation into the intellectual leaders,” said Juana del Carmen Tacán, president of the 48 Cantones. "Someone must have given the order to shoot them; we want to know who they were. You have to get to the top."
Cultural Survival deplores this act of violence against the members of 48 Cantones and extends our condolences to the community of Totonicapan. Leaders in Guatemala have called the international community to action: “We ask the international community to be attentive to what is happening in Guatemala. We can’t permit a return to the past, to new massacres. The people of Guatemala want to live in peace and take back our country from the hands of the oligarchy and the military; to recuperate a democracy that has been taken from us over hundreds of years,” said Domingo Hernandez.
Take Action: Visit the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission to urge the governmentt of Guatemala to respect the demands of 48 Cantones.
The massacre at Totonicapán became the forefront issue at the October 12th March of Resistance in Guatemala City, a national call to action for Indigenous People's to express their most pressing concerns on the anniversary of Columbus' arrival to the Americas.
"Now a massacre in Toto... tomorrow it could be you. Join the fight."
Wreaths for each of 7 victims shot and killed by Guatemalan military on October 4th.
"He who shot and killed is as guilty as he who ordered: Punishment for the minds behind the massacre."
"No More Massacres"
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