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Doctors used to call influenza "knock-me-down" fever, and there was a reason for that. Anyone who's suffered through a bout of it knows the miseries: the headaches, the throat that feels scrubbed with sandpaper, the fever so high you're floating on the edge of delirium. And then there is the cough, the muscle pain, the general misery. Worse still: Flu can kill, though not often, and typically only the very young, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. So what do you do? Because fever-reducing medicines make you feel better, the natural thing is to reach for that bottle of ibuprofen or acetaminophen and power through. New research, however, suggests that may be exactly the wrong approach. A recent study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society by researchers at McMaster University found that reducing your fever is likely to extend your illness. Moreover, fever-reducing medicines can increase the rate of transmission by making you feel well enough to go back to work or school and cough and spread your germs. The fact that you feel better doesn't mean that you are better, just that you've become a more likely virus delivery vehicle. Paul Andrews, an evolutionary biologist at McMaster and one of the coauthors of the Royal Society article, puts it this way: "I think it's pretty darn clear that fever is an evolved adaptation. Fever activates, regulates and promotes the immune system." In warm-blooded organisms such as birds and mammals, Andrews explains, "our brain kicks in to regulate our body temperature." Cold-blooded reptiles and fish have their own strategies: "Fish move into warmer water to raise core body temperature when they have an infection." So fever is what evolutionary biologists call evolutionarily conserved: It's there for a purpose, and during acute illnesses, it can be good for the host. High temperatures may kill some germs, but even more important, fever sets in motion an entire immunological process. The idea that reducing fever with medication might make you sicker is not new. Studies of rhinovirus (a cause of the common cold), chickenpox and malaria have suggested that lowering temperatures prolongs and worsens infections. According to evolutionary biologist Paul Ewald of the University of Louisville, it's not only the reduction in fever per se that's dangerous but the reduction in inflammation. That suggests that aspirin and ibuprofen, which curb inflammation as well as fever, might be worse to take when you have the flu than acetaminophen, which doesn't. But acetaminophen is no answer. According to a 1989 study in the Journal of Pediatrics, children with chickenpox who took acetaminophen remained sick and infectious longer than those who didn't. And what about taking that mixed cocktail of over-the-counter medication to stop the sneezing and coughing? Ewald says that although this might cut down on spreading infections, it's unlikely to help you get better faster. Sneezing and coughing help clear irritants from your respiratory system. Stopping sneezing and coughing might reduce transmission, but, as virologist Earl Brown of the University of Ottawa says, it also means you're not clearing out irritants. Sneezing and coughing gets virus out of your nose and lungs, so stopping that sneeze might keep you sicker longer. And there's still another twist: Fever isn't always your friend. As Ewald argues, fevers and inflammation in chronic as opposed to acute infections might actually be harmful. If persistent infections keep causing inflammation and damaging cells, the harm done to the body could be significant. You want to cut down on persistent inflammation, which is why anti-inflammatory drugs are used in arthritis and other inflammatory conditions. Long-term inflammation, Ewald says, can cause cancer and other harmful effects. Untangling these runic complications will take much more research. But what we can say unequivocally is that there's likely to be a real evolutionary benefit to staying at home while you're acutely sick. Andrews points out that taking fever reducers may push circulating influenza toward virulence by allowing nastier strains to spread. Ewald makes the same point in reverse: One way to push influenza strains toward mildness is to keep everyone sick enough to medicate at home instead. If you had a case of flu so mild you barely noticed it, you'd only spread mild germs. So, logically, if the really sick didn't go out, the influenza strains that managed to spread would likely evolve toward mildness. That's good for everyone. The long and short of it: If you're sick enough to need medicine, do yourself and everyone else a favor. Just stay home. Wendy Orent is the author of "Plague: The Mysterious Past and Terrifying Future of the World's Most Dangerous Disease" and the new e-book, "Ticked: The Battle Over Lyme Disease in the South."

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OTTAWA — The federal government has made good on a two-year-old promise to add bisphenol A, a hormone-disrupting chemical linked to some cancers, to the country's list of toxic substances, in spite of industry opposition. In 2008, Canada became the first country in the world to ban the chemical, an estrogen-mimicking substance also known as BPA, in baby bottles after concluding that the industrial chemical could eventually lead to prostate and breast cancer. The next step for the government was to designate the chemical as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which happened Wednesday. The delay in its listing was due to a formal notice of objection from the American Chemistry Council, filed on July 15, 2009, which maintained BPA is safe. Ottawa rejected the request on July 27, 2010, on the grounds that the council did not "bring forth any new scientific data or information with respect to the nature and extent of the danger posed by bisphenol A." Environmental Defence, a non-profit environmental organization, has spent five years leading the lobby campaign for the toxic designation. "This is a really significant public health victory," the organization's executive director, Rick Smith said, shortly after popping open a bottle of Champagne to share with his colleagues. "We're seeing a rapid and dramatic transformation of the children's product industry." But the American Chemistry Council's Steven Hentges said Canada's move is "unwarranted and will unnecessarily confuse and alarm the public. "Just days after the European Food Safety Authority once again confirmed that BPA is safe for use in food-contact items, Environment Canada's announcement is contrary to the weight of worldwide scientific evidence," he said. Smith credits public pressure with helping diminish the number of toxic chemicals present in baby products on the shelves today. "Our federal government's doing the right thing — taking the new science, looking at the human health impact of BPA, and taking that science seriously," he said. A Statistics Canada study released in August reported that nearly all Canadians — 91 per cent of those aged six to 79 — have BPA in their urine, and that children and teenagers have higher levels of the estrogen-mimicking chemical than adults. The federal agency's findings in its first-ever national survey on the exposure of chemicals determined the national overall average concentration to be 1.16 parts per billion, which it said were consistent with other international studies. It is believed that people ingest the chemical when it leaches into food from polycarbonate plastic food containers, bottles and tableware, and from tin cans. "Health Canada considers that sufficient evidence relating to human health has been presented to justify the conclusion that bisphenol A is harmful to human life and should be added to Schedule 1 of (the Canadian Environmental Protection Act)," the federal government reported in the Canada Gazette, making the toxic distinction of BPA effective immediately. "Although Health Canada recognizes that data gaps exist and has identified research needs as listed in the assessment, the department maintains that sufficient evidence is available to support developing appropriate measures to protect the most highly exposed subpopulation, newborns and infants," the publication read. The industrial chemical is used primarily in producing polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins for food containers, water bottles and protective linings for canned food and beverages. Several countries have followed Canada's lead since Ottawa announced the ban on baby bottles containing BPA; bills addressing the chemical having been introduced in U.S. Congress, Belgium and the United Kingdom, Smith said. While he applauds Wednesday's announcement, Smith said the work now must begin to rid the chemical from all food and beverage containers.

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French bulldog, breed of dog of the non-sporting group, which was developed in France in the later 1800s from crosses between small native dogs and small bulldogs of a toy variety. The French bulldog is a small counterpart of the bulldog, but it has large, erect ears, rounded at the tips, that resemble those of a bat. Its skull is flat between the ears and domed above the eyes, and the expression is typically alert, rather than morose as in the bulldog. A valued companion and watchdog, the French bulldog stands 11 to 12 inches (28 to 30 cm) and ideally weighs no more than 28 pounds (13 kg). Its short, fine coat may be any of a number of colours, such as brindle, grayish brown (fawn), or white.

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The Even Start program is intended to break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy through a unified family literacy program that integrates early childhood education, adult literacy or adult basic education, parenting education, and parent-child interactive literacy activities. Even Start, which began as a federally administered program in 1989-90, became a state-administered program in 1992 when the national funding exceeded $50 million. Since that time, the responsibilities of state Even Start offices have evolved substantially. Initially, each state had relatively few local projects to administer, the state grants were much smaller, and the statutory requirements were fewer and less rigorously defined. However, as the number of local projects grew steadily, the programmatic guidance and leadership provided by Even Start state coordinators to local projects have become increasingly critical in promoting effective programs at the local level. This study describes Even Start administration at the state level and factors that facilitate or impede program improvement activities conducted by state coordinators. The report is intended to: 1) help federal staff better target their guidance and technical assistance to states; and 2) provide state coordinators with descriptions of program administration practices in other states as a self-assessment guide. The study involved two components: State Survey. A mail survey sent to Even Start state coordinators in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Completed survey forms were received from 51 state coordinators between November 2001 and February 2002. Case Studies. Interviews were conducted with state coordinators in 12 states between March and May of 2002, through telephone interviews with six states and site visits to another six states. When the state survey and the case study interviews were conducted, states were in the process of adjusting to two major changes: 1) the implementation of states' performance indicator systems, and 2) a substantial increase in the Even Start budget (from $150 million in 2000-01 to $250 million in 2001-02). Information presented in this report describes state Even Start operation in the early stages of adjustment to these changes, and may not reflect the current status of related operations. Key Study Findings State Even Start Administrative Infrastructure Even Start is located under early childhood education or K-12 programs in 24 states and under adult education (or programs related to education of adults such as vocational education and community colleges) in 13 states; 14 states operate Even Start under other programs. Even Start staffing in some states has been very stable, while some states have experienced frequent changes in state coordinators. Over half of the states have had only one or two state coordinators since 1992, and a quarter of the current coordinators are very experienced with nine or more years of experience. However, 17 states have had three or four state coordinators since 1992, and about a quarter of the current state coordinators have had one year experience or less in this position. Staff resources for Even Start at the state level are limited. In 19 states, Even Start is administered with 0.5 professional full-time-equivalent (FTE) staff and no more than 1.5 clerical FTEs. Most state coordinators have multiple responsibilities other than Even Start; they spend, on average, 49 percent of their time on Even Start duties, and the remaining time on other responsibilities. Interagency Coordination and Collaboration at the State Level Nearly three out of four states cited adult education as a major collaborator (37 states). Other common collaborators are Head Start (32 states) and Title I (30 states). Collaborators make multiple types of contributions to Even Start, such as sharing resources, conducting joint staff development activities, holding joint workshops or conferences, and sharing program administrative functions. Subgrantee Recruitment and Selection The Even Start statute directs states to give priority to applications that target the areas of the state with high numbers of most-in-need families or that will be located in empowerment zones or enterprise communities. Three-fourths of the states (38 states) described factors that receive priority points including: indicators of high need for a family literacy program (19 states), high poverty rates or similar economic indicators (11 states), and location in an empowerment zone or enterprise community (11 states). States were less likely to assign priority points for high rates of illiteracy and low English proficiency (4 states) or the unavailability of other family literacy services in the area (3 states). States rarely deny continuation funds to local Even Start projects. In the two years from 2000 to 2002, most continuation applications were funded. Only 20 states reported that they had ever denied continuation funding to at least one project since the beginning of Even Start in 1989. The primary reasons for denying funding were insufficient program management and implementation progress (17 states), low recruitment and enrollment rates (14 states), and low quality and intensity of educational services (11 states). Only a few states had ever denied continuation funding on the basis of participant outcome data. As part of the performance indicator requirement, all states must now use outcome data as the basis of continuation funding decisions, which will be a new challenge for many states and projects. When the federal Even Start budget increased by $100 million (67 percent) in 2001-02, the number of new applications more than doubled (a 120 percent increase). States awarded subgrants to about half (49 percent) of the new applicants. In contrast, nearly all of the continuation projects and re-competition applications were funded in both 2000-01 and 2001-02. Subgrantee Performance Monitoring On-site visits are the most commonly used method of monitoring local projects' program operations (46 states) and are generally conducted by the state coordinator or other state Even Start staff. Most of the states conduct on-site visits to each project once a year or less often, while 10 states schedule several visits per year to each project. During on-site visits, a majority of the states focus on compliance and a project's progress in implementing family literacy services. Thirty states indicated that they monitor the quality and intensity of instructional services during site visits. The next most common issues addressed during site visits are the adequacy of the program facilities, staff morale, and staff qualifications. Only eight state coordinators indicated that they examine anything concerning participants (e.g., eligibility, retention rates, academic achievement, and participation records) during the monitoring site visits, and a few states reported that they monitor how well the local projects deal with data collection, reporting, evaluation activities, and fiscal management. Most states (43) indicated that they have a data collection system in operation for local projects to report program data. Among these states, most indicated that they regularly collected data from local projects on: recruitment and enrollment rates (100 percent of states), hours of service offered (95 percent), participant demographics (88 percent), hours of participation for adults and children (86 percent), retention rates (79 percent), and indicators of developmental progress and goal achievement for adults and children (79 percent). Development and Implementation of Performance Indicators States differed greatly in every aspect of Even Start performance indicators that were submitted in June 2001, including the measures used, performance standards set, and subgroups to which the measurements and standards are to be applied. Four areas where further development is needed to enable successful implementation of the system are: Further development and clarification of the content/specification of performance indicators; Specific guidance for the implementation process such as: how and where to obtain data collection instruments; data collection, data entry/storage, data reporting processes; and data collection and reporting schedules; Strategies for staff training to ensure that staff are properly trained to conduct (1) the data collection, especially the administration of standardized assessment instruments; (2) computation of outcome measures; and (3) reporting of each indicator correctly; and Careful plans and guidelines for the use of indicator data to avoid gaps in data collection and unnecessary demands on local and state staff time, and to coordinate the use of indicator data with local evaluation data. Most states planned to collect the first round of performance indicator data in 2002. Fourteen states had already begun to collect data in 2001 or earlier. About half of the states plan to collect performance indicator data annually; 15 states, twice a year. Program Evaluation and Improvement Half of the states reported that they conduct a state-level Even Start evaluation, although the definition of "state evaluation" may vary among states. Over half of the 24 states that conduct a state evaluation indicated that they used data collected by local projects for the national evaluation as part of the state evaluation. States also assist local projects with their evaluations by providing technical guidance and training. Over half (28 states) require local projects to collect specific types of data in their local evaluation; most of these states require projects to collect data on families' progress towards educational and economic goals, family demographic data, and hours of participation by enrolled adults and children. About one-third of the states provide training for local Even Start evaluators; 15 states directly coordinate the local evaluation activities for all subgrantees. Although 42 states said that they collect and review local evaluation reports, only 31 indicated that they use local evaluation data or reports for continuous program improvement (other states may collect the reports mainly as a way of ensuring that local projects are complying with their evaluation requirement). For the 31 states that use the local evaluations, the results are used for purposes such as: Develop guidelines for the following year's program improvement efforts and determine topics for further technical assistance to local projects (16 states); Provide project-specific feedback to local projects and to examine program outcomes among all projects in a state (12 states); Needs assessment for statewide professional development activities (6 states); Prepare state-required reports (4 states); Input in making continuation funding decisions (3 states); and Tool to train local projects on data-based decision-making (2 states). Need for Continued Federal Input and Assistance Most state coordinators interviewed who had received the SFLI grant felt that the effective period of the SFLI grant was too short to allow strong partnerships to develop. They also reported that interagency collaboration played a critical role in their ability to administer Even Start and, without continued support similar to the SFLI grant, the role played by interagency collaboration might be weakened. Based on statements made by state coordinators and the areas of administrative challenges identified in this study, the following types of federal support for the states, in addition to assistance already being provided, would strengthen the leadership roles played by the federal and state Even Start programs: Comprehensive clearinghouse of information and materials related to topics such as: Even Start legislative and program guidance; family literacy curricula; research-based instructional approaches for early childhood education, adult education, and parenting education; child and adult assessments; family literacy staff development; and local evaluation approaches. More opportunities for state and local Even Start staff, including their evaluators and technical consultants, to attend high-quality, educational and technical assistance workshops led by national experts. More opportunities for state coordinators to work together in which state coordinators would take the lead in setting the agenda, presenting effective practices or lessons learned, and conducting collaborative problem solving sessions. Federal leadership to promote collection of core program and participant data that are comparable across states. Such data would not only serve the federal need for national Even Start data, but also provide the states with a national benchmark to assess their progress.

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Ernesto Teodoro Moneta Milan 1833-Milan 1918. A journalist and patriot, the only Italian to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace (1907). Editor-in-chief (1867-1895) of Il Secolo (founded by Edoardo Sonzogno), worked for peace and international justice (Italian representative at the International Peace Bureau and chairman of the International Congress on Peace at the 1906 Expo in Milan). Involved in the Risorgimento, he joined Garibaldi in the Expedition of the Thousand and was chief of staff under General Sirtori in the ill-fated Battle of Custoza.

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TODAY THERE ARE AS MANY WOMEN AS THERE ARE MEN in dental schools. But 150 years ago it was very different. We admire and honor those women who paved the way. Unofficially, Women In Dentistry Go Back A Long Way Although a dental education wasn’t available to women until fairly recently, women have been practicing dentistry for a long time. This ranged from neighborhood women using traditional remedies, to women like Emeline Roberts Jones and Amalia Assur. Amalia Assur learned dentistry in her family’s business… Her father was a dentist, and so was her brother. In Sweden, the Royal Board of Health granted her special permission to independently practice dentistry in 1852. Around the same time in America, Emeline Roberts Jones was married to a dentist and served as his assistant for years. When her husband died in 1864, Emeline continued serving their patients. Later, she was awarded an honorary membership into the Connecticut Dental Society. Lucy Hobbes Taylor Was The First Woman To Receive A Dentistry Degree Lucy Hobbes Taylor earned her dental degree in 1866, but her road there was long and hard. She was initially denied entrance to medical school based on gender. Looking for a warmer welcome into dentistry, she started studying under the dean at the Ohio College of Dental Surgery. She applied for the college in 1861 and was denied. Lucy persisted in apprenticing under several prestigious dentists, then boldly opened her own practice. After successfully treating patients for years and being admitted to the Iowa State Dental Society, she was finally accepted to the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in November, 1865. Because of her experience, she was only required to take one course before she was awarded her D.D.S. in 1866. A Short Video Tribute From The University of Michigan School of Dentistry Many Others Made A Difference Other women struggled through societal restrictions, bureaucracy, and disadvantage to contribute to the field of dentistry. These include Ida Gray Nelson Rollins, the first African American dentist, and Grace Rogers Spalding, who co-founded the American Academy of Periodontology and helped spearhead the preventative dentistry and gum care movement. Thanks for your trust in our dental practice! We appreciate having you as our valued patient. If you have comments about these great women, we’d love to hear them in the comments section below. And, you can always reach out to us on our Facebook page!

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The Curious Case of the Bowers Museum KKK Tree Outside the Bowers Museum (the original part, not the multimillion-dollar addition) stands a beautiful, still growing crape myrtle tree. It blooms every spring, adding a bit of genteel, colorful charm to the already-purty facility. You've seen this tree if you ever drive or walk past the Bowers on Main Street in SanTana. What you probably haven't seen, however, is the plaque right below it. It commemorates the tree's planting in 1969 to commemorate SanTana's centennial. The sponsors? The Emma Sansom chapter of the United Daughters of Confederacy, which was based in SanTana at the time. There are the ladies to your left, standing except for one gal. Remember that gal, as she's important to this post. But full disclosure at this point: maybe it's because I'm an unassimilated Mexican, but I've never understood the love affair so many Americans have with the Confederacy. I understand respecting Stonewall Jackson, General Lee and others for their military acumen, the type of admiration Patton had for Rommel and the Romans reserved for Hannibal, but to take pride in Dixie? Um, wasn't the Confederacy traitorous? Didn't they kill Americans? Why would anyone want to say with pride their ancestors were Gray unless they're at ease with racism? Again, I'm just a dumb Mexican, but I'm just sayin'. So SanTana residents should find it bothersome enough that a group professing pride in their Confederate roots should have a plaque at the Bowers. But where they should be demanding its removal lies in the original Emma Sansom and her connections to SanTana's Ku Klux Klan past. Emma Sansom plays a small-but-beloved role in Confederate lore. In 1863, the Union Army tore through the then-15-year-old's hometown of Gadsden, Georgia, in what was later called Streight's Raid. The Federals harassed the Sansoms and even stole some horses. They then burnt a bridge that spanned Black Creek to stave off the coming Confederate army led by Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. When Forrest asked the Sansoms if they knew how to ford the swollen creek, Emma offered to show them the way (dramatized in the massively overblown painting to the left). Having successfully crossed Black Creek, Forrest went on to defeat the damn Yankees. What does this tale have to do with SanTana and the Klan? Everything. Forrest, of course, would go on to become the first Grand Wizard of the Invisible Empire. Henry W. Head, one of Orange County's founding fathers and a proud Klucker, served under Forrest. And Forrest's scout was Victor Montgomery, the first president of the Orange County Bar Association and the man who originally drafted OC's secession plan from evil, evil Los Angeles. The elderly lady sitting in the United Daughters of Confederacy shot above is his daughter, Gertrude. There exists almost no information on the Emma Sansom chapter's history--the Santa Ana History Room only has the above picture, while former SanTana mayor Gordon Bricken's partially plagiarized booklet, The Civil War Legacy of Santa Ana features its 1899 founding and a picture of the Bowers Museum plaque but--surprise, surpise!--gives no context to the name. This website states the Emma Sansom chapter still exists in South County, but I couldn't find any further info. But it's telling of SanTana's past and present that no one has ever flinched about the Bowers maintaining a tree planted by ladies who named themselves after the savior of the KKK's first leader, the same man whom two key OC figures swore allegiance to and for whom they killed to suppress the rights of blacks. Others call it heritage; I call it sick. Then again, I'm just an ignorant Mexican. Three final SanTana KKK points: *Everyone remembers Klanaheim, but the Klan set up shop in SanTana first. *Orange County's Klan chapter is in SanTana. * One of my favorite local blogs, The Sunken Road, write a lot about SanTana issues and refers to a famous battle of the Civil War. Revisionist history class is over--discuss below!

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In 1975, Geoff Lawton discovered a remarkable oasis in the Moroccan desert, a remnant of an ancient sustainable agriculture, the 2000 year old food forest farmed by 800 people. He returned to document it 28 years later. Date palms are the main overstorey species with an understorey of carob, bananas, quince, olives, figs, pomegranates, guava, citrus, mulberries, tamarinds, grapes... and many more smaller species. He found the food forest to have a wonderful atmosphere – cool, lush, shaded as if he was inside an organism, safe and secure yet surrounded by desert. Imagine a world where desert food forests stretch from North Africa to Central Asia in various forms. Geoff suggests we should document these food forests before all the young farmers migrate to the cities for work and they are lost forever. Our ancestors had a true knowledge of sustainable, extremely long term sustainable multi-species food systems. We are going to need them. Geoff Lawton made the film Establishing a Food Forest which explains the patterns of a food forest and then he turns the theory into action, planting the seeds and watching the system grow. (Some species not suitable for N Europe.) He also visits other established food forests around the world. Part of the Permaculture Way DVD series. Click the link to watch the DVD preview. Food From Your Forest Garden by Martin Crawford How to Make a Forest Garden by Patrick Whitefield Exclusive content and FREE digital access to over 20 years of back issues

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The Mysteries of Asia three-part video series was originally produced for the Learning Channel. During this segment, historians and others examine temples built in India more than 1,000 years ago. They remain quite intriguing, though today’s tourists rarely visit them. Records reveal that trained elephants had to drag millions of stone blocks to help erect these structures. The program notes that due to the temples’ size, the U.S. Senate, Versailles, the Houses of Parliament, and St. Paul’s Basilica in Rome could all fit within a single one of them. Michael Bell narrates as footage and animated maps are used to help viewers learn more about what these ancient structures look like and why they were built. Asia is a continent steeped in ancient cultures, religions, and buildings. In this intriguing program, we are transported to this exotic land and examine the mysteries behind some of the most fascinating structures found there. Southern India has the largest temple complexes ever built. In “Lost Temples of India”, we examine these 1,000-year-old temples adorned with intricate and beautiful sculptures. We learn how the kings used large herds of trained elephants to drag the millions of stone blocks into place and how these temples are virtually unknown and unvisited by Western tourists. Truth or fiction, the stories of Mysteries of Asia will amaze and delight. When people think of India, they think of the Taj Mahal, Shāh Jahān’s eternal memorial dedicated to his wife Mumtāz Mahal. But there is a more ancient and secret India hidden deep in its tropical jungles, with one of the greatest building efforts in the human [record]. History has produced thousands of strange and mysterious temples that are today lost and forgotten. This is India’s Deep South, a land of emerald green rice fields and immense palm forests, where every few miles temples soar toward the heavens in the countryside. Here, over a thousand year ago, 985 AD to be exact, Rajaraja Cholan became King of the Chola Dynasty. His original name was Arunmozhivarman, and his title was Rajakesari Varman or Mummudi-Sola-Deva. He was the second son of the Parantaka Cholan II. His capital was the city of Thanjavur. Thanjavur was the royal city of the Cholas, Nayaks, and the Mahrattas. Thanjavur derives its name from Tanjan-an asura (giant), who according to local legend devastated the neighbourhood and was killed by Sri Anandavalli Amman and the God Vishnu. Rajaraja Cholan was one of the greatest kings of India, and in the south he embarked on one of the largest building plans in the history of mankind that still continues till this day. He and his successors moved more stone then the great pyramid of Giza. The extent of the Temple Grounds is so large that over 200 Taj Mahal’s can fit into it. You might ask why Rajaraja Cholan built all these temples. Well, it was the same motive that built Europe’s cathedrals and Egypt’s pyramids. He was moved by the power of faith. You have to understand one thing about India: this is a land with almost as many gods as people, and it believes all life to be sacred; even a humble ant has its place. Gods are worshiped differently here than in Europe. During festivals, for example, the gods are taken from their shrines and paraded around in the temple grounds, their costumes are changed at the end of the day, and they are put to bed for a few hours rest at night. Generally, it’s believed that if these and other rituals are performed perfectly, then it’s going to be more beneficial for you, so that’s why rituals are taken very seriously and they are memorized rigorously by priests. These rituals hardly if ever change with the passage of time. For any religion, anywhere in the world, including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and so on – to flourish it helps to have friends in high places, like kings or very wealthy benefactors. For Hinduism, with its vast temples and thousands of priests, friends in high places are absolutely essential. Rajaraja was one of the greatest patrons of arts and religion in India’s long history. And this was his start, the great temple of Bragatheeswarar. It’s one of the most amazing buildings in India. It’s 10 times taller than anything built before it, and not only is it huge, but it’s made of granite, one of the hardest stones in the world. The inner shrine under the large tower contains a large phallus-shaped stone, called a ‘Ling’, which represents the god Shiva, one of the most powerful and popular gods, and also one of the three gods of the Holy Trinity that began, runs, and ultimately ends this universe, only to start all over again. The phallus-shaped ‘Ling’ which is Shiva is 12 feet in height and 5 feet in diameter. Every day the priests dress Shiva, and wash him with milk. This has been going on since the creation of the temple and it still goes on today in an unbroken chain for the past thousand years. To build temples like these required huge amounts of money, and the easiest way to get it was by attacking your weaker neighbors. Rajaraja began his career with the conquest of the Chera country. He defeated Chera King Bhaskara Ravivarman, whose fleet he destroyed in the port of Kandalur. He also seized Pandya Amara Bhujanga, and captured the port of Vilinam. By his campaign against the Singhalees, he annexed northern Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka), and built a number of stone temples in the Ceylonese capital Polonnaruva. Most of his triumphs were achieved by the fourteenth year of his reign (AD 998-999). Rajaraja assumed the title “Mummudi Cholan” and moved his capital from Anuradhapura to Polonnaruva. The Chola culture and Shiva religion permeated the whole of Ceylon. Having thus realized his cherished military glories, in or about 1003 AD Rajarajan sheathed his sword and turned his thoughts toward a life of peace. It was about this time, that the Chidambaram temple authorities bestowed on him the title of “Sri Rajarajan”. India is a huge country and it has a very diverse climate. Eastern India is a desert, while the western part receives the highest rainfall in the world. Central India is a huge plateau covering four modern states. Warfare in India was a very different affair in each climatic region, with one common element throughout: the war elephants. In the jungles of South India, Rajaraja had an ample supply of elephants for his war effort. Now, wild elephants might seem the right candidates to become war elephants, but they are actually very docile, only attacking when provoked. Only the biggest, fiercest, and fittest tusked males could be used as war elephants. Ancient elephant trainers, or “mahouts” (still called by this name today), made a stockade and drove elephant herds into a funnel that led them inside. As recently as the 1960s, the same method was used to capture elephants as in Rajaraja’s day, except they were used then for labor instead of war. The ancient mahouts picked the strongest bulls among the herds to be trained for the battlefields. The rest became working elephants, used for heavy lifting and transporting heavy objects for construction projects. The mahouts controlled the war elephants by getting them drunk on fermented rice liquor, called “makar”, before every battle. The elephants could literally slice their way through a battlefield with razor-sharp blades attached to their trunks. From the top of the elephants, spear throwers, generals, or archers could rain down death on the people below. Despite these advantages, elephants are very hard to control. Instinctively, they don’t favor killing people en masse. Only the legendary skill of the mahouts could make them do so. It is interesting to note, just like the Roman legions we know, the names of over 70 regiments in the ancient Indian army that distinguished themselves in battle are known because the names are inscribed in the temples – like the Ilaiya-Rajaraja-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar, Parivarameykappargal (a regiment of Personal Bodyguards), Mummadi- Chola-terinda-Anaippagar (a regiment of the Elephant Corps). The surnames or titles of the king or of his son are usually prefixed before the regiment’s name, possibly as a sign of attachment after a regiment distinguished itself in a battle or other engagement. It would be considerably honorable and prestigious to be in the king’s own regiment. After Rajaraja secured a good supply of money, he started construction on his Temple of Bragatheeswarar. The quarry that supplied the granite was over 50 miles away from the temple site. Most of the stones were moved with boats, but some much heavier stones, like the 81.3-ton capstone at the summit of the tower, were moved with a combination of ramps and elephants. The remains of the original ramps still exist today after a thousand years, indicating a gentle 6-degree slope pointing toward the top of the temple. The ramp began 1 mile from the temple, and gradually intersected with the top of the tower 216 feet in the air. Stones were moved from the quarry to the ramp, and up the ramp, with elephants pulling the stones over wooden rollers, much the same as the way ancient Egyptians built the pyramids. You’d think Rajaraja was crazy going to so much trouble to make just a temple, but let me explain. Rajaraja was a very religious man, and he was caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, his religion forbade him to kill, and on the other hand, to be a successful king he had to make war on his neighbors for his people’s sake – otherwise his kingdom would be weak and easily overrun. So he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of his enemies. He firmly believed as do all Hindu’s today in rebirth and reincarnation, and that your actions in this life will determine your lot in the next one. Given the blood on Rajaraja’s hands, he might come back as a worm or something even worse. So he spent fabulous amounts of money on his temples. As one example, it’s written in an inscription that it took 4,000 cows, 7,000 goats, and 30 buffalos just to supply the butter required for the lamps that were lit in the temple and temple grounds. And this was just one temple. Rajaraja provided for hundreds of temples that he created just to insure that he kept his karma in good standing. By his generosity, he hoped the gods would overlook his transgressions and be persuaded to reincarnate him as something better than a worm. Indian religion during Rajaraja’s time also spread across other lands. That’s why in the steaming jungles of Cambodia, the temples of Angkor Wat don’t depict Cambodian gods, but the gods of India. Not only did religion spread, but also art. When Europe was languishing in the Dark Ages, the artists in the Chola Empire were making bronze statues like the famous Nathraja shown below. This is Shiva, who appears as Nathraja, the Lord of the Dance, simultaneously crushing the dwarf of ignorance under his foot, beating the drum of creation, unleashing the fires of destruction and finally raising one hand in assurance, telling us to fear not. Near Thanjavur, artists still create bronzes as they did in Rajaraja’s time, placing mud from the Kavari River on a hand carved wax statue to create a mold. After that, they pour molten bronze or gold into the mold and let it cool to take the shape of the statue. Some Examples of Indian Art When Rajaraja died in 1014, he left behind him a shining legacy that made him one of the greatest patrons of art and religion in India. The Chola Dynasty ended with King Rajendra Chola III, the last Chola king. The last recorded date of Rajendra III is 1279 AD. There is no evidence that Rajendra was followed immediately by another Chola prince. The Chola empire was completely overshadowed by the Pandyan empire, though many small chieftains continued to claim the title “Chola” well into 15th century. This is a mural showing Rajaraja, drawn during his reign, showing him in red standing behind his guru. If you have seen a picture of the god Shiva, you might find similarities with the hair style of Rajaraja. It must be noted that some archeologists dispute whether this is actually Rajaraja or not. Source : Watch this Video total 6 videos “”The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another’s, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises”” Please Hit Share Button Below

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In 2007 we visited the Alexander Graham Bell Museum in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. It is a historical site in Canada and one of the finest museums I have seen. The Bell family donated all the items that are artfully displayed in the museum. There is a 15 minute video presentation that depicts the accomplishments of this great man. The painting shown above illustrates Alexander Graham Bell working with his assistant, Mr. Watson on the invention of the telephone. Bell had the idea for a speaking device for a long time, but it was just by accident they found a way to realize that dream. They developed the idea and Bell filed the patent paperwork on February 14, 1876, just hours before Elisha Gray was ready to file his patent for the telephone. Some people say Elisha Gray is really the inventor of the telephone because his patent was for a better working model than the one Bell had filed. The first words heard over the telephone were, "Mr. Watson - Come here- I want to see you." Then they switched places and Mr. Watson said, "Mr. Bell, do you understand what I say?" His fiancee, Mabel insisted he show his new telephone at the Centennial celebration in Philadelphia. When Dom Pedro the emperor of Brazil heard Bell reciting Shakespeare over the transmitter, he was astounded. Such a crowd gathered around the exhibition the police were summoned. Later President Rutherford B. Hayes was quoted as saying, "That's an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?" Later on he had one installed and called it "the greatest invention since the creation". His first call was to Alexander Graham Bell. They approached Western Union about using their telegraph wires, but the officials there thought it was just a toy and turned them down. It was a bad decision they would regret. They later tried to compensate for it by partnering with Elisha Gray and Thomas Edison, and they began installing another telephone design across the country. Bell sued, and over the next twenty years was able to meet all challenges to his patent. Bell and Watson took the show on the road, and people became interested in the telephone. The Bell Telephone Company was formed, and for a wedding gift Alexander would give his bride thirty percent share in the company. It would later become AT&T. Nineteen-year-old Mabel would be a wealthy woman. About forty years later, by 1915 telephone lines would cross the entire North American continent. Thomas Watson, Bell's assistant, was born in Salem, Massachusetts. When he was eighteen he started working at a machine shop. He was an excellent machinist and was just the man Bell needed when he started looking for an assistant. He was twenty years old at the time. After helping Bell invent the harmonic telegraph and the telephone he went on to other ventures. He had the largest shipbuilding business in America and became a wealthy man. He never stopped learning. He studied geology and paleontology, and later in life he even became an actor and wrote plays. He was quite a versatile man. A frequent question: "Who wrote this biography and when was it written?" Look on this Reference Citations Chart. Work a Jigsaw Puzzle Biography of Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site of Canada Garden of Praise has been granted permission to present these images for your benefit. Please do not copy or use them without permission . You can contact the Parks Canada Agency for permissions. The reference book for the facts on these pages was the book below by Mary Kay Carson. Conquests of Invention online book by Mary R. Parkman, 1921 Chapter about Alexander Graham Bell begins on page 379 Beginnings of the Telephone online book chapter by Alexander Graham Bell, 1906

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M-28 / Sand RiverCounty: Alger City/Township: Onota Twp. Location: M-28 / Sand River Year Built: 1939 About this Bridge: This medium-span concrete bridge crosses the Sand River between the village of Sand River and the shore of Lake Superior. Carrying Highway M-28 (originally M-94), the gracefully proportioned structure is comprised of a single 56-foot span supported by - and rigidly tied to - concrete abutments on spread footings. The rigid frame span features a shallowly arched profile that springs from the abutments with a 4-foot thickness and crowns to an exceedingly thin, 1'-8" section at mid-span. Architectural expression for the bridge is provided by the MSHD-standard concrete/steel guardrails and the Moderne horizontal scoring and radiused corners on the abutment sidewalls. The Sand River Bridge is in excellent condition, without major alteration. Designed by MSHD engineers early in 1939, the Sand River Bridge was, from the start, regarded as a noteworthy structure. "Unique design and a tidal wave combined to make this one of the most interesting bridge projects in Michigan during the past year," stated Michigan Roads and Construction. A contract to build the bridge was awarded on April 12 to the Alpine Excavating Company of St. Ignace. The contractors began work on the substructural excavation soon after, but on June 16 a six-foot-high surge of water from Lake Superior flooded the abutment cofferdams. The MSHD project engineer reported: "the contractors' plant and cofferdams are completely inundated and it is a sorry looking site." The Alpine Excavating crew worked for two weeks to repair the damage, resuming construction in early July. The Sand River Bridge was completed later that year. It has carried vehicular traffic since, first as part of M-94 and later, after a route change, M-28. It functions in place now, with the replacement of the original cable guardrails at the approaches with Armco as the only alteration of note. The rigid frame configuration of the Sand River Bridge represented a recent trend in bridge design for MSHD. "The so-called rigid frame design, whose good appearance and economy have recommended it to the Department's engineers, was adopted for two bridge projects during the biennium," MSHD stated in 1940. "One is a concrete bridge carrying M-94 over Sand River northwest of Deerton. The other is a combined steel and concrete structure on US-2 over the Black River near Gilchrist. The highway department began using concrete rigid frame structures for bridges and grade separations in 1935. Developed by Westchester County, New York, in the early 1920s, the concrete rigid frame bridge became especially popular for federal relief projects during the 1930s. Both picturesque and practical, the flat or elliptically arched designs appealed to proponents of highway beautification. In Michigan State Highway Department never made widespread use of concrete rigid frame bridges for its rural highway crossings. "Owing to the general unreliable stability of the soil in this state," MSHD officials reported, "very few locations have previously been found where this type of bridge could be built." Most of these locations were at urban grade separations. This bridge in Alger County is the longest of the rural rigid frame spans in Michigan. Carrying a regionally important route, the Sand River Bridge is a significant and well-preserved example of MSHD design experimentation of the 1930s.

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Making teleportation more energy-efficient January 20, 2013 An international team of researchers has achieved an important theoretical result by finding that quantum teleportation – the process of transporting quantum information at the speed of light, which could in theory be used to teleport macroscopic objects and, one day, even humans – can be achieved in a much more energy-efficient way than was previously thought. How teleportation works For the best part of the twentieth century, teleportation was dismissed as purely as a science fiction pipe dream. The problem lay in the approach: the only possible way to achieve it, scientists thought, would be to measure the position and momentum of every single atom of the object to be teleported, send it to its destination using classical (non-quantum) information, and finally rebuild it based on the set of "instructions" received. But science says that the first step – the perfect measurement of a particle – is simply impossible due to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. In 1993, however, researchers showed that teleportation was indeed possible in principle, as long as the original object is destroyed in the process. The mechanism circumvents Heisenberg's uncertainty principle by exploiting one of the many quirks of quantum mechanics – a phenomenon called "quantum entanglement". Entanglement happens when a pair of particles, such as electrons and protons, are intrinsically bound together. Once entanglement is achieved, the two particles will maintain synchronization, whether they are next to each other or on opposite sides of the Universe. As long as the entangled state is maintained, if one particle changes its state, the other will instantaneously do so as well. As you might expect, the theory is quite hard to get one's head around, but let's give it a shot. Imagine that we have an object "A" that we want to teleport. We also have "B" and "C", which are entangled with each other, but not with A. Now let's transport object B to the sending station right next to A, and object C to the receiving station. Back in 1993, scientists found that they could scan A and B together, extracting partial information from A. Scanning scrambles the quantum states of both A and B, and because B and C are entangled, all the remaining information from A is instantly transmitted to C. Using lasers, fiber optics or any other traditional means of communication, the sending station can then send the partial information it had gathered about A to the receiving station. Now all the information about A is at the receiving station, and object C can be reassembled as a perfect copy of the original. Object A is destroyed in the process – hence we have teleportation, and not replication. One of the prerequisites for teleportation is that B and C must first have interacted closely to create an entangled state, and then must be able to be transported to their final destinations. This means that we can teleport objects to places we've been before but not, say, to a galaxy or planet that we've never visited. As already mentioned, the system works because B and C are entangled. But there's a problem: over time, as objects are teleported, the entangled state is slowly depleted. It can be renewed by having B and C interact closely again, but this means transporting manually (without teleportation) both objects to the same place, and then back again to the sending and receiving stations. The idea is that one difficult journey can allow for many quick transfers in the future. Five years ago, physicists came up with an alternative approach to teleportation that is faster because it doesn't require the correction of C, but which is highly impractical because the entangled state is destroyed every single time that information is teleported. In both cases, entanglement can be effectively thought of as the "fuel" that powers teleportation. Now, a group of physicists at Cambridge, University College London and the University of Gdansk have worked out how entanglement could be "recycled" to increase the efficiency of these connections. They have developed two protocols that generalize the two known methods of quantum teleportation and provide an optimal solution in which the entangled state holds much longer for the teleportation of multiple objects, while eliminating the need for error correction. The first of these protocols can be used to teleport quantum states sequentially, while the second makes it possible to teleport several states at the same time, which speeds up the process and is of particular interest for applications in quantum computing. The result obtained by the researchers is purely theoretical and didn't involve any quantum information actually being teleported from one place to another. But interest in quantum teleportation is quickly surging, and labs around the world are racing to demonstrate the ability to teleport information at longer and longer distances – last year, for instance, scientists reported teleporting photons over a record 143 km (89 miles) – so it might not be long until this theoretical result is actually put into practice. But wait – didn't we say that distance shouldn't matter at all when two particles are entangled? While it is true that two particles remain entangled regardless of their distance, for the time being, we are only able to store the entangled state for a very short period of time. This means that, in practice, scientists must create an entangled state between particles B and C and then rush them to the sending and receiving stations as quickly as possible, before the entangled state is depleted. During the transmission, photon losses and signal decoherence also increase with distance, which makes things considerably worse – although scientists are actively tackling the problem. Beam me up, Scotty So will the teleportation of people ever be feasible? Last November, a group of Chinese scientists have managed to achieve teleportation from one macroscopic object to another – an ensemble of 100 million rubidium atoms – with an accuracy approaching 90 percent. The human body, on the other hand, is comprised of some 1029 matter particles, all of which would have to be teleported with an extreme degree of precision. There are other obstacles as well. As mentioned before, the object (or, in this case, person) being teleported will be destroyed at the sending station and reassembled at the receiving station. This could be painful for the traveler; however, the surviving copy is made before the original was destroyed, and so, from the point of view of our traveler – assuming that the traveler's conscience is transported with him – one could argue that no pain would ever be felt. Moreover, a human traveler is not a static system, and so the process of scanning and reconstructing him or her must be nearly instantaneous – lest we end up with a teleported version of our telenaut that is dramatically different from the original. One last consideration. At first, it would seem that quantum entanglement could hold the potential for travel at superluminal speeds: when two particles are entangled, no matter their distance, when we modify one particle, we also instantaneously modify the other. Unfortunately, all modern interpretations of quantum mechanics agree that this trick can't be used for faster-than-light travel. Nobody expects to achieve human teleportation in the foreseeable future: it is an extraordinarily tough engineering problem, and even though the process wouldn't violate any fundamental law of physics, we lack the technology to achieve it – or anything even remotely close to it. In a sense, this piece of research could be seen as a small step toward human teleportation, but don't hold your breath for Star Trek-style teleporters just yet. The study was published on the journal Physical Review Letters. An open-access version can be found here.Share - Around The Home - Digital Cameras - Good Thinking - Health and Wellbeing - Holiday Destinations - Home Entertainment - Inventors and Remarkable People - Mobile Technology - Urban Transport - Wearable Electronics

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SunShot explores chemistry to cut CSP storage costs in ELEMENTS awards The biggest advantage that Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) has is its thermal ability to store the sun’s energy by day to generate power when needed. And finding the optimum heat storage technologies is key to getting the costs of CSP down. One such promising new kind of storage is thermochemical. There are two ways to potentially cut down the costs of thermal energy storage in CSP. One is to try a new storage material; the other is to try a new process. In a new $10 million round of awards announced in June, the US Department of Energy SunShot Initiative is funding both methods. Researchers are being funded to try a variety of promising new thermal energy storage materials, along with a new process to store them: in actual chemical bonds. Two of the winning teams - Colorado School of Mines and Sandia National Laboratories - will try thermochemical storage using sand-like particles called perovskites; two teams - Southern Research Institute and the University of Florida - will do it with carbonate chemistry; the University of California, Los Angeles is researching ammonia chemistry, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will use metal hydrides. Unlike the current state-of the-art CSP technology that uses latent energy storage (using the sun’s heat to melt a solid like molten salt) thermochemical energy storage works through chemical reactions that are driven by heat (thermo) like the chemical reactions familiar from chemistry class using a Bunsen Burner. This funding round is called Efficiently Leveraging Equilibrium Mechanisms for Engineering New Thermochemical Storage (ELEMENTS). “In a sense you are capturing the sun's energy in the chemical reaction and storing it in the chemical bond,” Dr Ranga Pitchumani, Chief Scientist and Director of the Concentrating Solar Power and Systems Integration programs for the SunShot Initiative tells CSP Today. “The energy that the reaction needs - in order to take place - actually comes from the sun,” Pitchumani explains. “You can conduct a chemical reaction using the sun’s energy to convert the reactants into the products.” “And you store the products for the time that you need. Then when you want to release the heat you conduct a reverse reaction, an exothermic reaction, to release the heat to generate the heated working fluid to the power plant. That is the cycle that it goes through.” Greater energy density “The reason we want to focus on thermochemical energy storage is that the energy density associated with storing the sun’s energy in chemical bonds via chemical reactions is that the energy density is extremely high,” he points out. “That means you can store the same amount of energy in a much smaller volume, which reduces your capital costs.” The SunShot Initiative aims to reduce the capital cost of building energy storage to less than $15 a kilowatt hour, so that CSP will be able to produce power at a levelized cost of energy of 6 cents a kilowatt hour or less by 2020. “In just the last three years, that cost has come down to 13 cents a kilowatt hour. That’s over the half-way mark in the cost reduction towards the eventual goal of 6 cents a kilowatt hour. And these are the unsubsidised numbers,” he notes. “On an unsubsidised “apples to apples” comparison, PV at the utility scale is 11 cents a kilowatt hour today, with the difference that the CSP number of 13 cents today includes storage.” One of the awardees; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) will use their $2,906,415 to pair high and low temperature metal hydride beds to enable low pressure heat storage. Metal hydrides do not freeze at the temperatures they will get down to as their heat is extracted, so they will never need any energy to re-heat like molten salts, and they are known to achieve long cycle life, so PNNL expects that they can meet the 30 years lifetime target. Senior Research Scientist Ewa Rönnebro tells CSP Today what led to PNNL’s choice of metal hydrides for thermochemical storage to achieve the SunShot cost target. “The metal hydride materials we are working on have eight times higher energy density than molten salts, so our system can be eight times smaller,” she explains. “We are using metals of low cost along with designing an engineered system that is very simple and straight forward. Since we are using a thermochemical energy storage based on reversible chemical reactions with a high enthalpy, we can reach close to 100% efficiencies.” Her team is using a technology based on a dual-bed metal hydride system, which has a high-temperature metal hydride operating at 675°C to generate heat as well as a low-temperature hydride at room temperature that is used for hydrogen storage during sun hours until there is a need to produce electricity (such as during night time, a cloudy day, or during peak hours). The two metal hydride powders will be contained in stainless steel tanks with a connection in between to allow for hydrogen transport between the tanks at ambient pressures. “The metal hydrides operate at higher temperatures; 675°C, based on reversible thermochemical reactions unlike the molten salts which store latent heat at lower temperatures of about 500-550°C,” says Rönnebro. “Therefore we can attain 99% exergetic efficiency. Built on earlier success The award builds on the team’s earlier research, in which they were able to successfully demonstrate high temperature metal hydride storage and meet the targets for thermal energy storage, but at a much smaller scale - in a 10-kilogram bench-scale prototype for an ARPA-E award of $712,511 in 2011. “The SunShot ELEMENTS program officially started June 1, 2014 and after one year we will have identified optimised compositions of the metal hydrides to be included in a 3 kWh bench-scale demonstration unit,” says Rönnebro. Assuming they meet with success, then next they will build a larger scale 30-kilowatt unit, teaming with an advanced metallurgical powders manufacturer ADMA Products, as well as Butler Sun Solutions and the former Sandia solar thermochemical researcher Richard Diver of Diver Solar. Together they will attempt to demonstrate low-cost, long-life metal hydride thermal energy storage at a large scale of 1,000 kg bed size that can deliver 240 kWh heat with exergetic efficiencies at 99%.” Rönnebro expects her team to meet the SunShot storage target of $15 per kilowatt hour that will ultimately make possible CSP power production at a levelized cost of energy of 6 cents a kilowatt hour. And hers is just one of the teams working on these new thermochemical storage ideas. “We are very optimistic,” Pitchumani affirms in describing the SunShot Initiative. “We continue to invest heavily in CSP and are very optimistic that we will reach the SunShot goal.” To respond to this article, please write to the author, Susan Kraemer.

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A smart Jewish friend recently raised the question of a connection between the ongoing struggle over black identity in the United States and the story of Jewish assimilation. “Jews,” he said, “have paid in lost identity in order to gain assimilation, and the price has been steep. For many, there’s barely anything left to cling onto,” beyond bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, and “the love of a few Jewish foods.” In short, Jews “lost some self” in order to gain entrée to the American mainstream. My friend wanted to know, could blacks now be facing a similar bargain? His question articulated something that I have often considered myself: to what extent “whiteness”—as opposed to “ethnicity,” or “Jewishness,” or “blackness,” or “Hispanicness,” or whatever terms we use to designate “not-white”—is simply code for a certain state of well-being. If so, one might easily ask why success in a Eurocentric society need be synonymous with white norms. But dismantling the Euro-Anglo foundations of Western society is a difficult project—much more difficult than “minority groups” figuring out how to make their way in the world as it exists. Another question, of course, is whether assimilation is evil in itself. Consider the postcolonial context of Arabs and Muslims in France. In many ways, theirs is much more obviously a bargain of loss. However much blacks are despised, we are also fundamentally American, inseparable from the identity of the country at its founding, even if mainly as a foil to whiteness, and creators of a popular culture that whites hate to love and love to hate. Blacks and Jews have at least this in common: both groups have lost aspects of themselves in the process of assimilation but have likewise powerfully changed white culture. American humor and sensibility is largely Jewish and hasn’t been WASP for a long time. American music and sports are almost entirely black. That tells me that there’s power and subversion in assimilation, because identities aren’t static. Or they shouldn’t be. I understand why we must revere our ancestors, but I’m less clear on why have to resemble them.

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Although it hasn't (and almost certainly won't) reach Voyager-level durability, the joint NASA/ESA Cassini mission has now been in space since 1997, orbiting Saturn for over eight years. The extended mission has allowed the spacecraft to get different perspectives on the planet and its many moons, as well as track features that change over time. As a result, it continues finding new things. The latest was announced by the ESA yesterday: a 400km long river that flows into a hydrocarbon sea. Titan is cold enough that water remains frozen but warm enough that some simple hydrocarbons—ethane and methane—can remain liquid on its surface. We've previously identified lakes, small rivers, and large liquid seas on the surface of the moon, but we've not gotten these sorts of high-quality images of a large river system before. The river shows features that wouldn't look out-of-place on Earth, such as branches and meanders. But ESA scientists suggest that large, relatively straight sections suggest the liquids may be following a fault on Titan's surface. Although there's no confirmed tectonic activity on the moon, the current plan is to continue the Cassini mission through 2017. That will give it plenty of additional chances to search for further evidence of faults on Titan's surface. (Cassini's mission will end when it's sent to burn up in Saturn's atmosphere, in order to prevent contamination of the moons.)

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Step 2 is difficult. Chapter 5 of "The Book of GENESIS" ("the BoG"), which was assigned as reading for this lecture, gives some useful information for answering the two questions. This chapter (Segev, 2005) is also very mathematical, and it is easy to get lost in the equations and forget what they are used for. I wanted you to read it in order to get an overview of the theory of passive propagation in dendrites. Now, I'll list what I think is important for you to remember. There are three things that can be measured experimentally and are related to the parameters that we need for a model: - The attentuation of voltage with distance, and the "space constant" or - The membrane time constant. - The input resistance of the cell, measured at the soma. This slide gives a summary of the electrical properties of a uniform section of passive dendrite having length l and diameter d. The conducting cytoplasm inside the neuron, the insulating neural membrane, and the liquid (similar to salt water) surrounding the neuron form a cable with a capacitance Cm. The inner conductor, the cytoplasm, is a poorer conductor than the copper wire used in an undersea cable, and it has an resistance along the length of the cable Ra, the "axial resistance". The membrane in not a perfect insulator due to the ion-conducting channels that pass through it. It is convenient to make a distinction between the "passive channels" that do not vary in conductance, and the "active channels" that have conductances varying with voltage, calcium concentration, or synaptic input. The passive channels account for the membrane resistance Rm and the associated leakage current Ileak. The active channels are represented by the various variable conductances that are labeled as Gk in the neural compartment diagram and the differential equation for Vm that we described in the previous section on compartments.

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Help with planning a recursive function Hi ,My name is Ron and I'm new here. I would very welcome some help with an exercise. Some hints and ideas would be very helpful. I have 'n' students and 'k' sits ,and I need to build a function (in C) that need to print all the combinations ,while there are some rules: * every two students must be divided by at least one sit; * I must use an array of STUDENTS[I] , each cell contains only '0' or '1' ; * the function must be recursive ,and contain no 'FOR' or 'WHILE' loops. For example, n=5 ,k=2 the output would be : any hints would be welcomed. 10x and good day. |All times are GMT +5.5. The time now is 14:04.|

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Words of GandalfThe Fellowship of the Ring II 2 The Council of Elrond A scroll made by Isildur himself during his short time in Minas Tirith after the War of the Last Alliance, that was stored for millennia in the vaults of that city. The scroll held Isildur's account of the gaining of the Ring from Sauron. His description of the Ring, and his account of the fiery writing that ran around it, was vital in helping Gandalf identify Frodo's Magic Ring as the One Ring of Sauron. For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page. Website services kindly sponsored by Axiom Software Ltd. Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 2002. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ.

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Posted on 29 July 2015 The materials are developed by UYSEG as companions to the practical assessment method. They have been updated to incorporate the key changes made recently to A-Level science, such as the AS becoming a stand-alone qualification, as well as to match the 2015 Edexcel specifications, the body who examine the course. Elizabeth Swinbank, director of the Salters Horners Advanced Physics (SHAP) course, stated that the context behind the course, as well as the involvement of various groups, is what makes the publications successful: “The SHAP course is context-led, meaning that it draws on a whole host of fields, from industrial applications such as the food industry, to frontier research in cosmology. The teams for the initial and subsequent developments have benefited immensely from the contributions made by teachers, technicians, examiners, writers and researchers from throughout the UK, based in schools, colleges, universities, industry, research organisations and learned societies.” Since the launch of the Salters' Advanced Chemistry course in 1991, the name has continued to grow through the development of the Advanced Physics and Advanced Biology programmes, with the Chemistry version being studied by over 17,000 students across the UK. The materials include course text books, teacher guides and online resources. They are written by the only specialist university-based science education curriculum developers in the country. The team of writers includes specialists with vast experience of teaching, publishing and researching.

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The red man of the forest and the prairie has had much to embitter his spirit against his enemies; but I will proceed. "I'll forget my right hand sooner," said the big, red man calmly. In former times the red man's wigwam, stood on these fields, and his council fires were kindled on this spot. To-day the woods had been long cut, and the red man was gone. A moment more and the measured stroke of a paddle betrayed the passage of the stout red man adown the stream. Has not his people stolen the hunting grounds of the red man? That's why the white man is so much richer and more powerful than the red man. Like the French they would keep the red man and his forests unchanged. As elsewhere stated in these pages, the pale face has been the great undoer of the red man. But the red man did not consent—indeed, he did not understand.

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Term paper hooks How to write a hook for a research paper - a list of some great tips a hook is a literary device which is meant to metaphorically hook the reader's attention. Read this essay on teaching to transgress come browse our large digital warehouse of free sample essays get the knowledge you need in order to pass your classes and. Similar asks: i need a good hook for my term paper - i’m writing my senior term paper on jack london i have the entire paper done but i am simply stumped on a. Academic essay writing sit help writing hooks for essays our voices essays in culture ethnicity and communication online dissertation service uk term papers. Paper presented at the time line find locations on the warm springs indian research for good hooks papers reservation the junior and senior years of the vowels, the. A 5 page paper that provides an overview of hooks' book, while also concentrating on her philosophical perspective this paper contends that hooks bases her work on. Essay, term paper research paper on smoking short-term effects of smoking include a significant increase in heart rate and a drop in skin temperature. It's a good idea to find several facts or quotes that might serve well as a hook for your paper grace writing a hook for your essay thoughtco, aug 10. Tag: essay hooks how to get a good writing-expertcom - professional custom writing service which provides custom written essays, research papers, term papers. Thesis generator thesis statement introduction with an interesting hook to reel your reader broadly and gradually bring the reader closer to the main idea. A guide to writing the literary analysis essay words or phrases that connect or “hook” one idea to the next for most literary analysis papers. Read this essay on three ways that cigarette ad's hook kids come browse our large digital warehouse of free sample essays get the knowledge you need in order to. How to write a good hook for your essay the use of hooks in writing goes far beyond just essays and college papers every writer, copywriter. - Essay hooks introduction, girl child infanticide essay, essay hooks introduction, child abuse term paper, proniosomes thesis, argumentitive essays on chemtrails. - If you are looking for ideas and examples of essay hooks you have found the best article abot hooks and the biggest list of buy term papers article critique. - How to write a good hook for a research paper primary goal of your term paper was and he paper hooks to comfort the child. Give your essay a good start – use hook sentences term paper editing back to all posts — essay writing guides how to use hook sentences to write a good. Good hooks for essays mexican slang term paper outcomes and i discuss hooks to write good start an essay topics subaru good essay included for more dense. The united states provides our society with the undeniable right to learn the right to higher education is not limited to the middle and upper classes it allows the.

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We all know sleep is necessary for a healthy body. Although most of us really try to get enough sleep, studies show that too many of us miss the mark way too often. This may be due to family needs, work schedules, a hectic lifestyle, or even simply not feeling tired at bedtime. Although some people have trouble getting high quality sleep, many people complain that they don’t get enough sleep simply because they have trouble falling asleep at night. Reasons for being unable to fall asleep include: feeling stressed, having cold feet, the room being too quiet and surprisingly enough – certain foods eaten in the hours before bedtime. These foods can keep us wide awake long after bedtime. 1. Caffeinated Beverages This includes coffee, sodas or tea. The fact is that caffeine is a stimulant. That’s why it’s such a great beverage to help you wake up in the morning. However, the caffeine can remain in your system working as a stimulant for several hours after drinking. So – if you’re going to want to get to sleep on time, you probably want to cut out the caffeinated beverages at least six hours ahead of bedtime. And unfortunately, even the decaf options still have some caffeine in them, so it’s best to just skip them all together. 2. Ice Cream Ice cream is sometimes known as a great after-dinner dessert. Unfortunately, the sugar and fat that makes ice cream so sweet and tasty can also keep you wide awake when you want to sleep. Sugar is known to cause a reaction in the body, especially for those who may be pre-diabetic. This reaction makes you feel energized as the sugar gets processed by the body. In order to digest fat, the body must exert a lot more energy than it normally would otherwise. In addition, if you eat vanilla ice cream, the vanilla can increase the body’s level of adrenaline, which will leave you wide awake. Pasta, like sugar-filled foods, can also cause an insulin-spike which in turn increases you feeling of being energetic. This is because it has a high glycemic index number. Foods considered high on the glycemic index scale can cause an immediate energy rush shortly after eating. Plus, pastas are slow to digest, which means they remain in your digestive system for a longer period of time. When there are foods in the digestive system, it does take longer for us to relax and fall asleep. Although alcohol is a considered a sedative, for many people, that glass of wine has a paradoxical effect. This means that it acts as a stimulant and will keep you awake for a period of time after consuming it. The problem is that we look at alcohol as a great nightcap, but scientific studies show that an increase in alcohol in the bloodstream leads to a longer period of time that it takes to fall asleep. In addition, when consuming alcohol before bed, sleep tends to be broken and not as high quality as sleep after consuming no alcohol. 5. Spicy Foods The biggest problem with spicy foods, such as chilis or turmeric, is that they easily cause heartburn and indigestion, especially if you’re lying prone. These foods increase the amount of acid within your stomach, which can cause a churning sensation that can disrupt your regular sleep cycles. In addition, spicy foods are known to “waken” the senses for several hours after eating, which also make it harder to fall asleep. Some research even shows that spicy foods increase the metabolism shortly after eating. Although you want to boost your metabolism if you’re trying to lose weight, doing so before bedtime is not a good idea for a peaceful night’s sleep. If you do have spicy food before bed and are worried about falling asleep, sip some pepper mint tea or have a small glass of milk to help settle your stomach properly. 6. Red Meat There are two problems when it comes to eating red meat before bed and trying to fall asleep. The first is that red meat is more difficult for the body to digest. The harder the body has to work to digest the foods you’re eating, the less likely it will be to relax enough to help you fall asleep. The second is that red meat contains high levels of protein and higher levels of fat. Not only does meat take longer to digest, protein and fat also take a lot of energy to digest, making your sleep much less restful. If you do have trouble falling asleep, but tend to get a little hungry at night, here is a good list of foods you can incorporate into your night time ritual: almonds, bananas, oatmeal, dairy, lemon balm tea, pineapple, and pumpkin seeds. Of course, the key to eating shortly before bed is to eat very small amounts. Any food that is eaten in too high a quantity prior to bedtime can disrupt sleep simply because your body must work to digest the foods. Belly Fat! Without doubt, one of the most common and dangerous types of fat. Losing it is not only important from an aesthetic point of view but it also essential for health reasons. Excessive abdominal fat, also referred to as visceral fat, can form within your abdomen between your organs and secrete proteins that can potentially lead to type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. There's good news though - losing this fat is easier that most people think as long as they have the correct advice. Our latest FREE ebook offers 81 tips to lose this stubborn form of fat.Learn More

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View-Master stereoscopes – remarkably, in constant production since 1939 – have two defining characteristics. First, they use flat circular discs containing pairs of photographic images. Second, those images are shuffled through the viewer by means of a sturdy little lever mounted on the right-hand side of the headset. These two elements work in lovely, unfussy synchrony – and that is the key to the product's longevity. It is an elegant and simple design, a reliable and efficient machine for toddlers and grown-ups, whether frail or ham-fisted. Also, of course, some of the headsets look very stylish, in an understated, form-follows-function kind of way. Traditional View-Masters are still in production, although now marketed pretty much exclusively to little kids. This year, however, the device and the brand name have been relaunched as a budget virtual reality experience. And that's a pity, because the result manages to devalue both the defining simplicity of the View-Master legacy, and the fun promise of VR. It's a classic case of the narrative running well ahead of the technical reality. The production of pairs of images taken from very slightly different angles in order to produce a stereoscopic effect predates the invention of photography. The great, now late, neurologist Oliver Sacks was a massive fan of stereoscopy, and provided a delightful history of the form in his 2010 book, The Mind's Eye. In it he states that the stereoscopic effect was first described in the early 1830s by a physicist called Charles Wheatstone. Wheatstone suspected that because a person's eyes are separated by a nose the left one saw everything differently to the right. This, he suggested, was the key to depth perception. To test this idea, he drew two depictions of a solid object, then mounted them, wrote Sacks, on "an instrument that used mirrors to ensure that each eye saw only its own drawing". "He called the device a stereoscope … the two flat drawings would fuse to produce a single three-dimensional drawing poised in space." With the advent of affordable photography, stereoscopes became popular parlour novelties. A century after Wheatstone's experiments, the View-Master was launched at the New York World Fair. And now there's a VR version. The View-Master VR headset is available from department stores for around $50. It looks like a bulbous cousin of the classic model, and still boasts the iconic little lever. Content is extra: you have to buy a set of discs – themed as space, destinations or wildlife – for about $20. The discs look sort of like the original ones, except you can't see images and they don't insert into the headset. Instead, you put your phone in the headset, after first downloading a free app. Then you fire it up, put the disc on a flat surface and stare at it through the headset until a little augmented reality image appears, which you click on, with the lever, to enter the full VR experience. That's the theory, anyway. In reality, the apps are optimised for only new model-phones. They worked on mine – an iPhone 5s – but inconsistently. Starting the app – for the first two times each session – produced a message telling me to remove the phone, switch off and try again. The next two times told me the disc wasn't flat enough or lit enough. A dining table beneath a down-light apparently isn't sufficient. Once accessed, the initial VR environment is pretty good, but clicking on various planets and spaceships allowed only different still images, with written captions added. It was, frankly, dull. My eight-year-old son found it dull, too, after a couple of minutes. Of course, he could always go back to it and try again – except that he doesn't own a smartphone and thus can only do so when I'm (a) around and (b) not busy. And that's the rub, really. The classic View-Master is a content-rich, image-heavy device that children can use any time they want. It delivers on its promise first time, every time. So here's a hint for parents thinking of buying the VR version. Buy Google Cardboard instead. It's much cheaper, and more reliable.

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Testing a car in the United States is a long, expensive and often tedious process. The manufacturers' goal is to make a vehicle that meets established government safety standards, that will stand up to normal consumer use while incurring minimal warranty claims and will hit that sweet spot between customer demand and profitability. One of the more well-known tests is crash testing. You may know the slow-motion films of cars being crash tested with dummies inside "playing" car passengers. Depending on the purpose of the film, the mannequin either goes flying through the windshield, or is protected by a car seatbelt and airbag. Manufacturers like to sound the proverbial trumpet when one of their vehicles, especially a family-oriented vehicle, scores well in government and independent crash-safety tests. In the United States, the two main bodies that conduct crash safety testing are the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Both operate independently of the automobile industry. In addition to crash testing, automakers must track a plethora of quality measurements. These tests are conducted by the manufacturers themselves to refine their vehicles as much as possible. Here are a few questions that manufacturers may tackle: - How noisy is it inside the cabin? How much noise comes from the engine? How much is wind noise? - How much noise is created by tires contacting the pavement? - How much vibration is there at different speeds? - How fast does the air conditioning system or heater kick in? - Does the amount of quality and luxury match other products in this brand? Does it equal or exceed competitive offerings? - Are we meeting our own standards for how neat and precise the fine details on the car are? - What drive train combination will give us optimal fuel efficiency while satisfying emissions requirements? - How do we reduce weight and waste without compromising safety or comfort? - How does the car perform in extreme conditions? If that seems like a lot to keep track of, that's because it is. However, automakers typically assign specialized teams to address each one of these questions so that they can come up with the best solutions in short order. Depending on what's being measured or tested, engineers can make changes on the spot. In other cases, test findings may require an extensive rethinking of how a part or set of parts function. To make sure the entire testing process stays reasonably on schedule, manufacturers make multiple "test mules," or pre-production cars, for testing. This way, multiple systems can be designed and experimented with at once. Not all manufacturers follow the exact same test procedures for all their cars, trucks and SUVs. Find out how these procedures differ on the next page.

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Relationships Among Interest Rates, the National Debt, and Federal Income As I've mentioned before, the Federal Reserve Board uses low interest rates to keep the U. S. from collapsing into a depression, and high interest rates to keep us from overheating to the point of runaway inflation. Two-year lag between stimulating or dampening the economy and the time these moves become readily apparent Unfortunately, there is a two-year lag between steps taken to heat or cool the economy and its heating or cooling. Over the decades Federal Reserve chairmen have gradually learned what indicators to use to decide when to stimulate the economy and when to curb it. At the present time, interest rates are extremely low, as the Fed tries to stimulate the U. S. economy. To whom is the national debt owed? The U. S. national debt takes the form of Treasury bonds owned by individuals and organizations. The U. S. has to pay interest on these bonds, as well as paying off these bonds when they fall due. The bonds range from very short term to 30-year long-term bonds. The U. S. government doesn't "call" its bonds Unlike corporate bonds, the government doesn't "call" its bonds... i. e. force the redemption of high-interest bonds when interest rates drop, so that it can sell new bonds at the newer lower interest rates. If you bought 30-year Treasuries paying 16% interest in September, 1981, you're still getting 16% interest on them today. Once the government has sold a bond at a specific interest rate, it's stuck with that rate for the life of the bond. As U. S. Treasury bonds fall due, the U. S. pays them off, and immediately issues new bonds for the same amount to finance its debt to the public. In other words, it finances its debt by rolling it over, rather than be paying it off. Low interest rates benefit the government... Clearly, it's of great benefit to the government that interest rates remain low so that it can refinance the national debt at minimum interest cost to the government. ...but low interest rates generally signal a recession and reduced tax receipts At the same time, lower-than-average interest rates generally occur when the country is in a recession. This means that tax receipts are down for the federal government (not to mention high unemployment and a disgruntled electorate). Managing the economy is a tight-wire act that requires meticulous timing, and insight into where the economy is headed. It's not a job for an amateur. The Interest on the National Debt The interest the government pays to service the national debt is the long-term average of the interest rates on all the bonds it has sold. (It will be September, 2011 before it pays off the last of the 16-percent bonds that it issued in September, 1981.) This is very important because a sizable fraction of our federal income is spent servicing our national debt, crowding out other federal programs. Since the lion's share of federal budget is "locked in" for such entitlement programs as civil service retirement, federal highway programs, Social Security, etc., the government doesn't have a lot of discretionary money that it can divert for other purposes (just like us, with our personal household budgets). But how much it does have depends critically upon how much it has to pay its creditors in interest on the national debt. Must use national debt (loans from the public) to stimulate the economy out of recessions It's also important to have a low level of national indebtedness because, in a situation like we're facing now, where the Federal Reserve has pretty well emptied its quiver of arrows by lowering interest rates almost to zero, steps must be taken by other arms of the government to stimulate the economy by boosting federal spending. This is what President Bush is attempting to do by lowering tax rates. (Unfortunately, lowering taxes for the rich won't do much to increase spending by the rest of the public.) After decades of deficit spending, the Clinton administration finally succeeded in balancing the budget. During the Clinton administration, the U. S. finally balanced the federal budget, and while it didn't significantly reduce the magnitude of the national debt, at least we didn't add to our burden of debt. During these years, the United States was predicting a budget surplus that could be used either to pay down the national debt or to support new programs. (With medical costs rising 10% to 12% a year, Medicare is in danger of running out of funds, starting in about a decade.) The bottom line is that the economy is a complex interlocking system that must be carefully tuned Moderate deficit spending won't hurt us As I've mentioned elsewhere, the U. S. can continue to maintain a national debt, and can even run ever-rising deficits, as long as the interest on the debt don't rise faster than the government's annual income. In other words, the interest that the government pays out each year to those of us who own government bonds can grow in absolute value as long as it doesn't grow as a fraction of the government's total annual income. But as I've mentioned above, the government's income can drop during times of recession., so the government still has to be careful how much indebtedness it takes on. President Bush is calling for deficits that sound ominous The Bush administration is proposing a deficit spending program that kicks off this year with the highest annual deficit in U. S. history. (One has to realize that this probably isn't corrected for inflation, and that, if it were corrected for inflation, it might not be the highest budget deficit on record. On the other had, this is the "going-in" forecast. The realities are usually significantly higher than initially advertised.) The plan calls for a $1.46 trillion dollar tax cut program over the next few years. This doesn't include the costs of the Iraq war. This week, Alan Greenspan, testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, that he questions the fiscal wisdom of further stimulating the economy at this time (Bush's Tax Cut: Attacked from All Sides), and that "he favors ending the double taxation of corporate dividends, but not at the expense of huge budget shortfalls". As I see it, the bottom line is that politics is impeding the stock market and the economy. The stock market may rebound if there is a war in Iraq, and it's over by the early part of April. However, I have an uneasy feeling that war won't help the stock market and the revival of the economy. But we'll see. This week, President Bush and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan, squared off on opposite sides of the table for the first time. Alan Greenspan (Greenspan Takes Star Turn in Theater of the Absurd) is a Republican, who supported President Bush' first tax cut, but he isn't supporting this tax cut. I have an uneasy feeling that President Bush is overriding the expert, Alan Greenspan. (This reminds me of the doomed Louis, the XVIth, dismissing first Turgot and then Necker.) Will things come politically unglued between now and next year's elections? Or not? Why (I Think) President Bush Wants to Go to War Now There is a trillion dollars worth of oil in Iraq. Even if the Iraqis get some of that money, oil companies will also clean up. (See "The United States of Oil") There is nearly universal voices on Iraq) to invading Iraq without letting the UN continue its Prior survey results "Getting Smart about Oil" Taming the Oil Beast

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Searching Independent Reading Library [Students] The Actively Learn Independent Library consists of thousands of highly curated articles. Look through our massive collection of articles to find texts that meet your interests. STEP 1: Go to the Independent Reading Library STEP 2: Once in the Library you can filter the texts by your teachers additions, grade level, topics, ratings, length of text. STEP 3: You can also search for the text by topic, author, or publisher. STEP 4: Chose the text you want to read You will see a little preview about the text, and what other students are saying about the text. STEP 5: The texts will be added to "My Texts" Either Stay in the Independent Reading Library Or read the text right away This section contains all the texts you have selected from the library. Once you select the articles here, you will be re-directed to go and read the texts. Delete texts from "My Texts" STEP 1: Select the delete icon STEP 2: Select the text you want to remove, then press "next" STEP 3: Select "Delete" the text will be removed from your texts.

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Cloning a virtual machine is useful in a number of scenarios. For example, if you want to do some experiments with a virtual machine configuration or want to test the different guest operating systems or want to take the backup a VM, creating a clone of a virtual machine would be a wise decision. This feature is available in the all major virtualization vendors including Microsoft, VMware, and VirtualBox. In this post, we will explain how to clone virtual machine in VirtualBox. Full Clone vs Linked Clone Before cloning a VirtualBox virtual machine, first, we would like to explain the different types of cloning modes of VirtualBox. There are two types of Clone Modes in VirtualBox: Full Clone and Linked Clone. - Full Clone: If you create a clone using this mode, all the depending disk images will be copied to the new destination folder. The cloned VM can fully operate without the need of the source VM. - Linked Clone: If you create a cloned VM using the linked mode, the new differencing disk images will be created and the parent disk images will remain the source disk images. A linked VM cannot be operated without the source VM. Note: The time of creating a clone virtual machine depends on the size and the number of attached disk images. Creating a cloned virtual machine To clone a VirtualBox virtual machine, you need to perform the following steps: - In the VirtualBox Manager console, select and right-click the virtual machine that you want to clone and then select Clone. - In the Clone Virtual Machine window, specify the name of clone virtual machine. Click Next to proceed. - To view the advanced cloning options, click Expert Mode. Here, you will see some additional options. Select the clone type that you want to use. If you want to generate a new MAC address for the cloning VM, select the Reinitialize the MAC address of all network cards option, else the MAC address will remain same for all the clone virtual machines. - Finally, click the Clone button to create the Clone VM. A new clone VM will be created in the VirtualBox Manager console. The Linked clone VM takes just a few seconds; however, a Full clone VM may take several minutes depending on the size of virtual hard disk images as discussed earlier. - Once you created a clone of a virtual machine, you can use the cloned virtual machine as a separate virtual machine in VirtualBox. That’s all you need to know about how to clone a virtual machine. Do share the article if you think it may help to others.

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Speaking a second language may delay dementia - 7 November 2013 - From the section Edinburgh, Fife & East Scotland People who speak more than one language and who develop dementia tend to do so up to five years later than those who are monolingual, according to a study. Scientists examined almost 650 dementia patients and assessed when each one had been diagnosed with the condition. They found people who spoke two or more languages experienced a later onset of Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia and frontotemporal dementia. The bilingual advantage extended to illiterate people. The scientists said it confirmed the observed effect was not caused by differences in formal education. The study was by Edinburgh University and Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad in India. It is the largest study so far to gauge the impact of bilingualism on the onset of dementia, independent of a person's education, gender, occupation and whether they live in a city or in the country, all of which have been examined as potential factors influencing the onset of dementia. The team of researchers said further studies were needed to determine the mechanism, which causes the delay in the onset of dementia. The researchers suggested bilingual switching between different sounds, words, concepts, grammatical structures and social norms constituted a form of natural brain training, which was likely to be more effective than any artificial brain training programme. However, studies of bilingualism are complicated in that bilingual populations are often ethnically and culturally different from monolingual societies. In places like Hyderabad, bilingualism is part of everyday life, knowledge of several languages is the norm and monolingualism is an exception. Thomas Bak, of Edinburgh University's school of philosophy, psychology and language sciences said: "These findings suggest that bilingualism might have a stronger influence on dementia than any currently available drugs. "This makes the study of the relationship between bilingualism and cognition one of our highest priorities." The study is published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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|Peter of Savoy| Born: c. 1203 Birthplace: Susa, Savoy Location of death: Turin, Italy Cause of death: unspecified Religion: Roman Catholic Race or Ethnicity: White Executive summary: Earl of Richmond Peter of Savoy, Earl of Richmond, younger son of Thomas I (Tommaso), count of Savoy, was born at Susa. After spending some years as an ecclesiastic he resigned his preferments, and in 1234 married his cousin Agnes, daughter and heiress of Aymon II, lord of Faucigny. Accepting an invitation from the English monarch, King Henry III, who had married his niece, Eleanor of Provence, Peter came to England in 1240, and was created Earl of Richmond, receiving also large estates and being appointed to several important offices. During several visits to the continent of Europe Peter had largely increased his possessions in Vaud and the neighborhood, and returning to England in 1252 he became associated with Simon de Montfort, retaining at the same time the king's friendship. Having been employed by Henry to negotiate with the pope and with Louis IX of France, he supported Earl Simon in his efforts to impose restrictions upon the royal power; but, more moderate than many members of the baronial party, went over to Henry's side in 1260, and was consequently removed from the council. In 1263 he left England, and when his nephew Boniface, count of Savoy, died in the same year he assumed the title of count of Savoy. This was also claimed by another nephew, Thomas; but Peter compelled the inhabitants of Turin to submit to him and secured possession of the county. He died on the 16th or 17th of May 1268, leaving an only child, Beatrice (d. 1310). Peter gave to the castle of Chillon its present form, and his name to the Savoy palace in London. He has been called le petit Charlemagne, and was greatly praised for his valor and his wisdom. Father: Thomas I of Savoy Do you know something we don't? Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile Copyright ©2014 Soylent Communications

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|LECTURE DEMONSTRATION MANUAL | Instructional Research Lab : ucla physics| |main page||Sonic Basketball| |table of contents| M.2.4 Sonic Basketball Data Studio is used with Pasco probes to demonstrate the kinematics of one-dimensional motion under gravity. Equipment: Computer with Data Studio software, Sonic motion sensor and basketballIn this experiment the kinematics of a basketball under the influence of gravity is studied quantitatively. The ball is thrown upward above a motion sensor to plot its position, velocity and acceleration as a function of time. The graph below shows that the ball's vertical position changes quadratically as a function of time while its vertical velocity changes linearly. The tangential slope of the position curve is taken at each point to calculate the velocity vs. time plot. The ball's velocity is a maximum as the ball is first thrown upward, zero at the ball's maximum height, and negative its maximum value when the ball returns to its initial starting position. By using Data Studio's fitting algorithm, a fit to the velocity vs. time curve is found and the slope is calculated to be -9.48 m/s/s as shown. The acceleration graph is similarly computed by taking the tangential slope of the velocity vs. time curve at each point and plotted as a function of time. The mean of the acceleration vs. time curve is calculated by Data Studio to be -9.2 m/s/s. The numbers obtained by a linear fit to the velocity vs. time plot from above and the mean of the selected data points of the acceleration vs. time graph are in general agreement and close to the accepted value of gravity of 9.8 m/s/s.

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The Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), Canada’s flagship environmental research center that has been under threat of closure for 2 years, has found a savior. The ELA will leave government hands and will now be managed by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), a Winnipeg-based think tank. The 1 April announcement guarantees that the 46-year-old field site in northwestern Ontario will survive, at least for another 5 years, and will expand its research focus beyond that of the Canadian government’s mandate. The deal will hopefully bring the ELA some “stability,” says Diane Orihel, a freshwater ecologist who since mid-2012 has led a campaign to save the facility. The campaign began after the Canadian government pulled the project’s funding and handed pink slips to its team of 16 scientists and technicians. Last year, the lab, which conducts experiments in a system of 58 lakes, was saved from the bulldozers by a stopgap payment of $2 million from the provincial government of Ontario. Now, IISD has a chance to rebuild the ELA after years of neglect by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Orihel says. The ELA, the world’s only facility where researchers can intentionally poison whole lakes to monitor ecosystem effects, has an impressive research record: Its scientists were the first to find evidence for acid rain, and to fully diagnose the effects of pollutants such as mercury, phosphate, and synthetic hormones on aquatic life. IISD President Scott Vaughan tells ScienceInsider that he intends to build upon this past research, while looking to expand the scope of the facility’s science to investigate the effects of micropollutants and climate change on aquatic systems. The takeover deal relies on agreements between Ontario and IISD, between Canada and IISD, and a third trilateral Canada-Ontario-IISD pact to ensure that all long-term data and physical samples from the facility are available to future researchers. Access to these freshwater data sets—some of the longest and most thorough in the world—will keep scientists coming back to ELA, backers say. But the fresh management brings new challenges. The provincial government of Ontario has pledged $2 million a year for 5 years to cover operating costs and long-term monitoring. These funds will be topped up by Manitoba and Canada, which have promised $900,000 over 6 years and $250,000 per year for 4 years, respectively. But the provincial and federal moneys will not fund scientific experiments, which were previously funded through government grants. ELA scientists will now need to partner with universities to apply for those national grants. And beyond the next 5 years, the IISD will need to embark on a major fundraising campaign to keep the ELA open. “That’s an ambitious amount of money to raise,” Orihel says. The next challenge will be to staff the facility. Vaughan says his goal is to invite back the scientists who previously worked at the ELA and offer them a job with IISD. That will be difficult, Orihel says: “The science team has been withering away for a number of years; as people retire they haven’t been replaced … some scientists got frustrated and took other positions.” She adds that the ELA is not just buildings and lakes, it is people, and the government should have done more to transition that previous team to a new operator. If a new team can be found in time, the takeover comes just in time for experiments at the facility to resume in the spring. And this summer, after consultations with interested university-based scientists, the new research plan will be announced. Brokering the deal has been a long haul, Vaughan says. IISD members are “incredibly grateful” to the scientists, including Orihel, who worked to save the ELA before IISD stepped in. He adds: “They are an impressive group of committed scientists.”

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reproductive systems definition The organs and glands in the body that aid in the production of new individuals (reproduction). (See illustrations below and next page.) In the male, sperm are produced in the testes and conveyed to the female in a fluid called semen, which passes out of the body through the penis. Other parts of the male reproductive system include the prostate gland, the scrotum, and the urethra. In the female, the eggs, or ova are produced in the ovaries and released during ovulation into the fallopian tubes about halfway through the menstrual cycle. If fertilization occurs, the resulting zygote travels down the fallopian tube to the uterus, where it implants and continues development. If the ovum is not fertilized, it continues its journey toward the uterus, where it degenerates and is released in the menstrual flow through the vagina during menstruation. noun 1. a plan of action to accomplish a specified end: a school lunch program. 2. a plan or schedule of activities, procedures, etc., to be followed. 3. a radio or television performance or production. 4. a list of items, pieces, performers, etc., in a musical, theatrical, or other entertainment. 5. an entertainment with reference […] or programable [proh-gram-uh-buh l, proh-gram-] /ˈproʊ græm ə bəl, proʊˈgræm-/ adjective 1. capable of being programmed. noun 2. an electronic device, as a calculator or telephone, that can be programmed to perform specific tasks. programmable /prəʊˈɡræməbəl/ adjective 1. (esp of a device or operation) capable of being programmed for automatic operation or computer processing [ree-pruh-graf-iks] /ˌri prəˈgræf ɪks/ noun, (used with a singular verb) 1. reprography. noun 1. the reproduction and duplication of documents, written materials, drawings, designs, etc., by any process making use of light rays or photographic means, including offset printing, microfilming, photography, office duplicating, and the like. noun 1. the art or process of copying, reprinting, or reproducing printed material

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Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, cosmological, calendrical, and astrological beliefs and practices of prehistory. We look at some of these ancient texts and the greatest astronomers in history. In a world where each city had its own calendar, the Greeks looked to the stars to ensure they did not miss Apollo's birthday, an important festival. The Greek astronomer Hipparchus discovered precession, the slow movement of the heavens, by studying Egyptian astronomical records thousands of years ago. Although Stonehenge appears to have astronomical alignments, historians now shy away from saying what its builders intended. Questions have been raised over the death of Tycho Brahe based on recent forensic evidence including an exhumation of his body in 1901 and investigations in 1991 into the composition of exhumed remains and into medieval alchemy. Was the death of Tycho Brahe a result of his alchemy studies, or was there a plot afoot? Three thousand years ago, two great civilisations existed, both of which made major contributions to the development of astronomy. The Newtonian Reflector was invented by Sir Isaac Newton in 1672 and was the first to feature the revolutionary 45° mirror. Ever since the dawn of humankind, we have looked out upon the cosmos in awe of the glory of the heavens above. Here we list some of the greatest astronomers who have shaped our understanding of the known universe. When astronomy was closely linked to astrology, astronomical symbols were used to represent various celestial objects, theoretical constructs and observational events in astronomy.

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> Raphicerus melanotis Raphicerus melanotis (Cape grysbok) The Cape or southern grysbok (Raphicerus melanotis) is a small antelope that is endemic to the Western Cape region of South Africa between Albany and the Cedarberg mountains. It has a rough, reddish sandy coat flecked in white. The head, neck and legs are less flecked and somewhat yellowish, while the inside of the ears, eye-rings, mouth area, throat and underside are white. There is a black "bridge" to the nose and a dark scent gland in front of the eye. Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) Unique & Vulnerable (100) |Adult Weight ||22.60 lbs (10.25 kg)| |Diet ||Herbivore| |Nocturnal ||Yes| MapsLink to MapAfrica; Institutions (Zoos, etc.) Species recognized by Grubb P., 2004-04-22, in Attributes / relations provided by ♦ 1 de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774 ♦ 2 Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org ♦ 3 Nunn, C. L., and S. Altizer. 2005. The Global Mammal Parasite Database : An Online Resource for Infectious Disease Records in Wild Primates. Evolutionary Anthroplogy 14:1-2. ♦ 4 Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 gis.wwfus.org/wildfinder Range map provided by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), Conservation International & NatureServe.

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Founding editor Andrew Fraknoi presents an index to the full contents of Astronomy Education Review, organized by topics that both astronomy education researchers and practitioners would be likely to look under. Spark is the AAS Education Newsletter. It consists primarily of original articles about or related to the education programs and activities of the American Astronomical Society and its members. SPARK publishes original articles on astronomy education about or related to the education programs and activities of the American Astronomical Society and its members. Reading previous issues will give you an idea of the types of articles that appear in the Newsletter. Opinion pieces, reviews, letters to the editor, newsworthy items are all welcome, subject to the guidelines below. American Astronomical Society Education Office Amy Singel Southon Chicago Botanic Gardens One way to improve your teaching is to become aware of very common things teachers often do which don't help the learning process, and avoid them! This usually takes some practice, and discussion with others who teach. Six of these behaviors you should note and avoid are: What is on this page? >K-12 Resources - Useful references for Classroom Resources, Science Education Standards, and creating effective Public Outreach plans. Undergraduate and Graduate Level Resources - Graduate and Undergraduate related website and programs. Programs and Additional Resources - Programs for teacher education and Professional Development and other program resources.

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On a Saturday morning in July, 2003, CDF archaeologist Linda Sandelin got a call from her Fresno office. A wildfire had struck western Riverside County, just five miles west of the town of San Jacinto. Sandelin's first task was to gather any available information on archaeological remains in the area of the fire. She would take this information with her to the scene, where she would share it with Rob Lewin, the Plans Section Chief. Once the team knew the locations of the archaeological sites in the fire area, they could try to avoid damaging them as the heavy equipment cut fire lines to contain the blaze. In the heat of battle, when the main objective is to put out the fire and protect lives and property, there is precious little time to look ahead for archaeological resources. Instead, Sandelin and her colleagues at CDF, like archaeologists from other state and federal agencies, must rely on information gleaned from earlier archaeological surveys to tell them where such resources are located on the ground. The faster the archaeologists can collect this information and get it to the team, the better their chances are of protecting the sites. As often happens, though, things didn't go quite that smoothly. Sandelin could not get access to the necessary files until Monday, when the Eastern Information Center (EIC) - the state clearinghouse that maintains these files for Riverside and surrounding counties - would be open. By the time she arrived at the fire later that same day, the bulldozer lines had been cut, and the Fire Suppression Repair team was beginning to focus on their repair operations. Sandelin worked with Frank Spandler, the team supervisor, in planning the repair work to avoid 11 cultural properties that had been identified by the EIC. Additional information on cultural sites within the fire area came from several other sources. Archaeologist Rolla Queen of the Bureau of Land Management had access to computer files for sites on property administered by that agency, and had surveyed dozer lines and access roads on BLM lands. A representative from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Yvonne Jones, was there to help with any resources or issues on the Soboba Indian Reservation. And Rob Wood of the Native American Heritage Commission in Sacramento provided CDF with information on three sacred sites located near the fire. All of these agencies maintain files on the cultural sites within their own lands and, unlike the CDF archaeologist, hadn't had to wait through the weekend to access them. The Canyon Fire hit an area of Riverside County that has had very little previous archaeological survey; even so, records indicated that there were at least 12 cultural sites within or near the burned area. During her inventory of the dozer lines, Sandelin discovered two previously unrecorded sites: an historic-period rock dam across a creek (Figure 2), and a milling station where plant foods would have been processed (Figure 3). BLM archaeologist Rolla Queen also found a previously unknown site. With the information provided by the archaeologists, the Fire Suppression Repair team was able to plan their repair work so that none of the known sites would be impacted. In the end, no identified cultural resources were damaged during the Canyon Fire incident. While in this case the system worked, the three-day delay in getting access to the EIC files might well have meant the destruction of irreplaceable cultural sites. This fire provides another example of the need for California to complete a statewide electronic data base of known cultural resource locations so agencies like CDF can gather information quickly enough to protect sites during emergencies. It was only the quick work and dedication of the CDF archaeologist and the repair team that made this a success story.

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RAM is a phrase for random access memory. RAM is an integral part of any computer system. RAM is memory to hold often utilized bits of data for the computer system to access in an efficient way. Accessing RAM in contrast to the hard disk is a great deal less complicated and quicker for a computer system. RAM is essential for numerous different applications, yet more so for some compared to others. For example inscribing video clip would occupy a large quantity of RAM as it is RAM intensive. Database applications likewise use up a lot of RAM due to the quantity of information included. Surfing the internet and also using word or PowerPoint for instance would certainly not utilize much RAM in any way. The inquiry you need to ask is do you require the updated RAM. There are numerous choices to pick from when updating RAM. The initial is the dimension of RAM you want to purchase. They come in 256mb, 512mb, 1gig and 2gig ranges. As a quick reference 1gig of RAM will certainly suffice for the majority of points you want to do, 2gig may be excessive. As soon as you choose the dimension of the RAM you want you have to pick the sort of RAM. There are two major types of RAM. What you have to think about when getting the RAM is which kind your motherboard will certainly sustain. Most new Intel motherboards will take ddr2 as this is the most recent innovation. At present mad boards are not compatible with ddr2 so if you have a mad board then you will have to purchase DDR RAM and click here. When you get the RAM then you have to install it. Mounting RAM is really quite easy. First of all you need to get rid of the instance in order to have the ability to reach the motherboard. As soon as this is done you easy have to place the RAM right into among the free slots on your motherboard. Something to make note of would be the particular slot you placed the RAM in. Some motherboards can be particularly picky so review the customer manual of your motherboard before updating the RAM. There you have it, boosting the speed of your computer by upgrading the RAM is really simple and could be really reliable.

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Geography and Destiny For centuries, scarce resources and difficult terrain have required people in the Hindu Kush region to develop unique solutions to survive. But while geography has brought challenges, it has also offered opportunities. In Afghanistan, geography is a multi-sided destiny. Identity and Perception Local, tribal, and religious identities in the Hindu Kush region have always shifted depending on one’s point of view. As Afghanistan decides what it means to be Afghan, it faces a kaleidoscope of moving perspectives. Tradition and Modernization Afghans have always had to be flexible. At times, this flexibility has brought people together, and at other times it has torn them apart. Reconciling tradition and modernization means making sense of what’s at stake when people change--and when they don’t. Traces and Narratives History is not always written. Much of what we know about Afghanistan comes from scattered artifacts, symbols, and oral traditions. Understanding these traces means piecing together the narratives that history leaves behind. Identity & Perception Traces & Narratives Tradition & Modernization "Black Wolf, Cheyenne." Digital image. First People of America and Canada. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.firstpeople.us/. Producer: Kate Harding Power is visual. And the visual is power. There are many ways to communicate power. And in the 1920s, King Amanullah understood that very well. He knew that if he could create a visual brand, then he could convey his authority more efficiently. Like governments and corporations today, he used symbols to consolidate his ideals and his power. And in the era of photography, these symbols could be mediated at new speed. For Amanullah, the visual signs of technology and clothing communicated so much more than speeches ever could. These symbols were used strategically to convey to his people that he was building a new kind of government for a new Afghanistan. Even in a single meeting, Amanullah effectively communicated his new brand through this strategic use of symbols. This shot is of King Amanullah meeting with tribal delegates. It’s interesting. In comparison with earlier shots that we have of his father and grandfather, also meeting with tribal delegates, one difference is that he is on the same level as the tribal delegates. If we look at some other shots, and again you have to be careful of drawing conclusions from a single photograph. But in other shots we have, we see the king up, elevated above his subjects. And Amanullah wanted to create a more of a citizenry as opposed to a king/subject relation, it was more of the king and his people, but on a more equal level. And I think it’s important in this photograph that we see him talking to people at the same eye level. At the same time, we also see that he has got some of the accoutrements of power around him. And very modern accoutrements. If you look at the telephone that’s at his right hand, this is a relatively new invention in Afghanistan, and probably only connected to very few places within Kabul. It certainly didn’t go outside of Kabul. But it allowed him to communicate with other people in his court. One imagines that it was more a symbol than it was a real instrument of communication. When push came to shove, I’m sure Amanullah communicated through couriers and through the traditional means. There was even one man in his court who was known as the Bubabark, who was the fastest runner that the king had been able to find, and he was the personal messenger of the king. So Bubabark means the father of electricity. But Amanullah, I think in this case, has that telephone by his side as a way of symbolizing his modernity and his association with what must have seen to those tribesmen, if they even knew what it was at all, it would have seemed like a symbol of the power of the king, not through guns, not through force or violence, but rather through the instruments of technology and modernity. There are many ways to communicate power. The king understood this very well. He created a visual brand and conveyed his authority efficiently in the era of photography and global media.

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New York : Holiday House, c1987 p. : ill. ; 29 cm ISBN/ISSN: 0823406369 :, Language: An illustrated retelling of seventeen parables used by Jesus Christ in his teachings. Includes "The Good Samaritan," "The Lost Sheep," The Laborers in the Vineyard," and "The Prodigal Son." Login to write a review of your own. Reviews by AHML cardholders Reviews from other readers to add this item to your list. Lists can be used to compile collections of items that you may be interested in checking out at a later date. You may also create public lists and share your favorites with other AHML customers. No tags, currently.Login to add tags. To create a multiple word tag such as Science Fiction, enclose both words in quotes, like: "Science Fiction"

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Today, people are concerned with their health and the environment they live in. With the innovations presented in this ever changing world, there's an inner part of each human being that suggests to give back something to mother nature – including the living things that dwell in this planet. While a term paper on Green House Effect probably covers man's activities that contribute to the thinning of the ozone layer, suggestive information on how man must live should also be dessiminated. One of the current situations people face today is veganism and vegetarianism. Most people interchange the two terms without fully understanding the main differences. If you read health websites, academic term papers, and lifestyle magazines, you'll remember that vegetarianism refers to the habit of eating fruits, vegetables, and other dairy products but strictly excludes the intake of meat, poultry, or seafood. On the other hand, veganism refers to the total way of life. You probably have read this in an article or term paper you saw in a journal or newspaper. You might have even heard the word “vegan” from celebrities upholding their values for animal rights. That's because veganism is a subset of vegetarianism. Not only do vegans restrict their diet to fruits and vegetables but their lifestyle also involves non-use of products and by-products from animals. Many debate on the beliefs vegans have on their lifestyle. An academic term paper may contain issues as to why vegans go to the extremities of living while general vegetarians survive without having to deal with strict guidelines. Vegans live in such a way that they contribute to the environment by not eating eggs, milk, and yeast and by not using clothes or accessories made from animal skin. While being healthy and doing something for the environment work on a good cause, many scholars still debate the uncommon way of life through term papers and other academic papers. This is a life lesson everyone should take into consideration, but not everybody is expected to be a vegetarian or a vegan for that matter.

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Once again, an innovative water management tool is coming to the aid of the Yampa River, a beautiful headwater tributary in the Colorado River Basin that flows through western Colorado ranch country and the tourist town of Steamboat Springs. Last week, the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District signed an agreement with the Colorado Water Trust to lease 4,000 acre-feet (1.3 billion gallons) of water stored in its Stagecoach Reservoir in order to boost the river’s flow during the summer. The District began releasing water to the Yampa earlier this week. The lease was made possible by a Colorado state law passed in 2003 that allows farmers, ranchers, water districts or other entities to loan water to rivers and streams in times of need. The non-profit Colorado Water Trust, based in Denver, serves as a kind of broker between the water users and the river. The water lease got a trial run on the Yampa last year, when in late June the river was flowing at just 5 percent of normal. With the river at risk of crashing ecologically, the lease boosted its flow in the nick of time, safeguarding the native whitefish population and allowing tubing and other river-dependent businesses to re-open. (Read my post and see a photo gallery of the Yampa and the summer 2012 lease, or watch our video. Disclaimer: National Geographic and its partner the Bonneville Environmental Foundation helped fund the 2012 lease.) On July 23, the day the 2013 lease got underway, the river was flowing at about two-thirds of normal. In contrast to last summer, the flow level appears high enough to sustain fish and recreation. But Billy Atkinson, an aquatic biologist with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, expressed concern about the river’s temperature. It was climbing toward 80 degrees (F) in the afternoons, high enough to stress fish and the river ecosystem. Atkinson suggested that using the leased water to boost flow could bring the water temperature down to safer levels. The success of last year’s lease for the Yampa, the first to support instream flows in Colorado, helped pave the way for this second lease, as well as an additional water loan this summer to boost flows on the Fraser River, a 32-mile long tributary of the Colorado River. The Frasier gets diverted and tunneled through the Rockies to supply water to Denver, dewatering the river during dry summer months. If, as expected, it drops to harmful levels this summer, the lease will kick in and lift the Fraser’s flows. With climate scientists predicting higher temperatures and more drought in the Colorado River Basin and much of the West, innovative management tools like these water leases can help ensure that rivers –and those who depend on them – get some help during tough times. Help restore water to the Colorado River by joining Change the Course. Sign up online or text ‘River’ to 77177. Special thanks to Silk and Coca-Cola, Charter Sponsors for Change the Course. Additional funding generously provided by the Walton Family Foundation. Sandra Postel is director of the Global Water Policy Project, Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society, and author of several books and numerous articles on global water issues. She is co-creator of Change the Course, the national freshwater conservation and restoration campaign being piloted in the Colorado River Basin.

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Václav Hollar , known in England as Wenceslaus and in Germany as Wenzel Hollar, was a Bohemian etcher. He was born in Prague, and died in London, being buried at St Margaret's Church, Westminster. Hollar, was a Bohemian exile, in 1636, while working in Cologne was employed by the Earl of Arundel as artist-in-residence to make drawings of his extensive art collection. Some of these drawings are now the only information on the contents of that impressive collection. In 1642 the Earl of Arundel ( from Wardour Castle , Wilts) left England for the Continent leaving his wife in charge in Wiltshire , never to return. The turmoil of the civil war caused Hollar to move to Antwerp in 1644, where he settled for a few years. The main quantity of his work was done for Dugdale who paid between £3 and £5 per etching .W. Hollar,from Sir W. Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum ... (originally published in 3 vols, London, 1655-1673; enlarged edn, 6 vols in 8 parts, by J. Caley and others,Wenceslas Hollar (13 July 1607 - 25 March 1677) e. He trained in the workshop of Merian in Frankfurt, and became one of the foremost engravers of topographical views in the 17th century. On account of his English connections, Hollar finally settled in London, and during the Civil War he fought on the Royalist side. His views of the city of London form an invaluable record of its appearance before the Great Fire of 1666. He was very prolific and engraved a wide range of subjects aparts from views and landscapes.Hollar produced a variety of works; his plates number approx 2740, and include views, portraits, ships, religious subjects, heraldic subjects, landscapes, and still life in many forms. His architectural drawings, such as those of Antwerp and Strassburg cathedrals, and his views of towns, are to scale, but are intended as pictures as well. ST. KATHERINE'S BY THE TOWER. /Conventualis Ecclesiae Hospitalis S. Catharinae Juxta Tnrrim London : a Meridie prospectus Signed and dated in lower 1.: W. Hollar fecit 1660. Title along the top : Conventualis Ecclesiae Hospitalis S. Catharinae Juxta Tnrrim London : a Meridie prospectus. Dedication of the donor of the plate, William Petit, in cartouche upper r. Page number 4.60 lower r. Occurs folded in Dugdale, Monasticon, Vol. II. (1661), between pp. 460 and 461. The Royal Hospital and collegiate church of St. Katherine's, founded by Eleanor, Queen of Henry II, in 1273, and remaining under the patronage of the Queen Consort, 1 existed on the same site until 1825. It was then pulled down to make room for St. Katherine's Dock. The foundation was transferred to Regent's Park, but there are only a few remains of the old church in the new St. Katherine's (e.g. part of some of the stalls). . . . .St Katharine's by the Tower - full name Royal Hospital and Collegiate Church of St. Katharine by the Tower - was a medieval church and hospital next to the Tower of London. The establishment was founded in 1148 and demolished in 1825 to build St Katharine Docks, which takes its name from it. £65 x 2 Capellae Collegii Regalis de Eton ab Aquilone Prospectus. / Eton Etching with engraving on laid watermarked paper from Monasticon Anglicanum: or, the History of the Ancient Abbies, Monasteries, Hospitals, Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, with their Dependencies, in England and Wales. Hollar had returned to England in 1652 and begun working for the publisher John Ogilby and the antiquary Sir William Dugdale. Over the next twenty-five years he etched no fewer than 566 plates for them. Sir William Dugdale (1605-1686):English antiquary and friend of Hollar's patron Thomas Howard, second earl of Arundel, Dugdale compiled one of the most significant histories of English religious houses, , Monasticon, Vol. II. (1661),The text was written by Roger Dodsworth (1585-1654) He had spent his life in the study of genealogy and ecclesiastical and monastic history. He was also an indefatigable collector of manuscripts which are now in the Bodleian Library. . . (folded) light age toning x 3 £65

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If you are considering a STEM based course at university or would like to go into a profession which involves Physics, this course would be a good choice. This course is for you if... ...you want to learn about the core principles and applications in Physics, the science dealing with the fundamental laws of the universe. ...you want a firm foundation for further study or employment. Where can this course lead to? Typically progression will be to a degree in an Engineering discipline or Physics. In order to enable this progression, students must usually also gain an A Level pass in Mathematics. After their degrees, many Physicists pursue postgraduate research degrees and others are employed in numerate professions such as accountancy. Many are employed by the computing and information and communication technology companies. What will I study on this course? Physics is the science dealing with the fundamental laws of the universe. Topics studied include: - Practical physics - Foundations of physics - Forces and motion - Electrons, waves and photons - The Newtonian world and astrophysics - Medical physics Studying physics will teach you how to analyse problems and synthesise solutions to them. While studying physics, we keep in mind the relevance of the subject to everyday life and people’s needs. Physics is relevant to many personal, social, economic and technical aspects of our modern society and the applications of physics are particularly stressed. We aim through the course to encourage the recognition of the operation of physical concepts and principles in technological applications. You will perform practical work both to support your understanding of the principles of physics and to enable you to acquire and develop manipulative and observational laboratory skills and to apply the understanding of principles and concepts to the design of experiments and the interpretation of results. This is an excellent preparation for practical work in higher education or employment. The course aims to enable students to prepare for higher education, professional courses and to provide the underpinning knowledge and understanding for employment in physics based industries. Extended opportunities and enrichment There will be opportunities to conduct your own research and experiments, as well as trips to universities to have a taster session of what a STEM-based degree would be like.

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Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Freshwater; benthopelagic; pH range: 6.5 - 7.2; non-migratory. Tropical; 22°C - 25°C (Ref. 31267); 1°S - 2°S Africa: Lake Victoria drainage in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda (Ref. 47311). Also in Lake Kioga, Lake George, Lake Edward, Lake Albert and adjacent river systems like Rutshuru River and Semliki River (Ref. 47311). Size / Weight / Age Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm Max length : 5.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 27139) spines: 0. Diagnosis: A short and robust Aplocheilichthys species of relatively small size with rounded fins (Ref. 47311). Colouration: The colour is quite variable in males (Ref. 47311). In general, the sides are an iridescent grass-green to blue-green; on the frontal part of the body and the back this may change to a golden green or bronze-green; the latter colour may cover the body entirely in some populations; the scales on the back and sides have narrow dark gray borders, which may be more distinct on scales along the mid-lateral line; at the upper end of the operculum, forward of the pectoral fins, is a black, vertical oblong marking (Ref. 47311). The colour of the unpaired fins is also variable and ranges from dark gray or almost black to grass-green or bronze; dark gray or red to red-brown margins may be present (Ref. 47311). Some populations may include specimens with orange-red fins, while in others the orange-red colour is limited to the margins of the unpaired fins (Ref. 47311). Females are light gray-brown to gray; very narrow, dark gray margins to the scales produce a faint reticulation on the sides which is best developed along the mid-lateral line, resulting in a faint longitudinal line in some cases; the ventral parts are silver; all fins are colourless (Ref. 47311). Both sexes show a silver reflection in the iris, the upper part being green in the male (Ref. 47311). Found in shallow parts of papyrus swamps of Lake Victoria; also found in river mouths, rice fields and ditches connected to lakes (Ref. 3788, 47311). Sexual maturity is reached at an age of about 6 months (Ref. 47311). Not a seasonal killifish (Ref. 27139). Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae Seegers, L., 1997. Killifishes of the world: Old world killis I: (Aphyosemion, lampeyes, ricefishes). Aqualog, Verlag: A.C.S. Gmbh, Germany. 160 p. (Ref. 31267) IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185) CITES (Ref. 115941) Threat to humans Fisheries: ; aquarium: commercial Common namesSynonymsMetabolismPredatorsEcotoxicologyReproductionMaturitySpawningFecundityEggsEgg development ReferencesAquacultureAquaculture profileStrainsGeneticsAllele frequenciesHeritabilityDiseasesProcessingMass conversion Estimates of some properties based on models Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805 = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high]. Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00437 (0.00162 - 0.01173), b=3.13 (2.90 - 3.36), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245 Trophic Level (Ref. 69278 ): 3.0 ±0.3 se; Based on size and trophs of closest relatives Resilience (Ref. 69278 ): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.). Vulnerability (Ref. 59153 ): Low vulnerability (15 of 100) .

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Here’s what the scaremongers think they know about sequestration and immigration: that hundreds of undocumented criminal aliens will be let loose and hundreds more will swarm through our unsecured borders, steal American jobs, and abuse our welfare system. Setting aside the facts that many being released from detention are guilty of only minor infractions, that net migration from Mexico is practically nonexistent, and that immigrants give more than they take, the vast majority of immigrants in the United States are legal permanent residents or naturalized citizens. These nearly 30 million people will certainly be set back by meat cleaver–like sequestration cuts. And that should be of concern to all of us. One federal program for which immigrants are eligible is Head Start, which offers competitive grants for comprehensive early childhood services for low-income children and families. Under sequestration, Head Start funds will be cut by as much as $622 million, which translates to over 96,000 fewer children served. The automatic cuts to education, however, will have ripple effects throughout the economy. Children of immigrants are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population. According to an Urban Institute study, they account for nearly the entire growth in the country’s child population during the past two decades. As of 2010, one in four children in the United States lives in an immigrant family. This considerable demographic shift will have major social, political, and economic implications for the country. In less than a decade, today’s immigrant children will make up a large proportion of new workers, taxpayers, and voters who will bear the responsibility of supporting aging baby boomers. It is crucial, then, to provide quality education for these children. A functional and successful public education system can help secure economic and social parity for immigrant children and their families by giving students a solid foundation for higher education and subsequent gainful employment. This in turn can promote inter-generational mobility for immigrant groups. Ultimately, better mobility means a more productive economy and much-needed revenue for the government. Poorly funded public schools can widen existing economic and social gaps between racial and ethnic groups and between haves and have-nots by denying disadvantaged students the educational foundation they need to progress. Educating immigrant children, however, is and will be daunting for public schools due to the schools’ diminished capacities and increased accountability burdens coupled with the linguistic and cultural challenges unique to immigrant students. English proficiency is a significant barrier. Two in five immigrant children are English language learners, and three in four live in households where no one older than 13 speaks English proficiently. In addition, many immigrants have limited financial resources. Children in immigrant families make up close to a third of the nation’s poor children and a similar proportion of the nation’s low-income children. Five in ten immigrant children live in low-income families, compared with four in ten native-born children. This tenuous situation will be exacerbated by cuts in discretionary spending for federal education programs. Title I grants to local education agencies—a cornerstone program designed to help all students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, meet high academic standards—are to be slashed by a whopping $1.1 billion. This will leave 1.8 million fewer students served, among whom are hundreds of thousands of immigrant children. English language acquisition state grants, which help English language learners and recent immigrant students learn English and become proficient in academic content standards, are to be cut by over $57 million, resulting in over 350,000 fewer immigrant students assisted. Coupled with state budget shortfalls (which can only worsen when the federal cuts kick in), sequestration will set immigrant children and their families further back. If so much of our future workforce falls behind now, all of us will face the consequences in the not-too-distant future. This article was originally published at the Urban Institute’s Metro Trends Blog. Fi2W is supported by the David and Katherine Moore Family Foundation and the Ralph E. Odgen Foundation.

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International migration is high on the public and political agenda of many countries, as the movement of people raises concerns while often eluding states’ attempts at regulation. In this context, the ‘Migration Without Borders’ scenario challenges conventional views on the need to control and restrict migration flows and brings a fresh perspective to contemporary debates. This book explores the analytical issues raised by ‘open borders’, in terms of ethics, human rights, economic development, politics, social cohesion and welfare, and provides in-depth empirical investigations of how free movement is addressed and governed in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia. By introducing and discussing the possibility of a right to mobility, it calls for an opening, not only of national borders, but also of the eyes and minds of all those interested in the future of international migration in a globalising world. Migration without Borders: Essays on the Free Movement of People received the 2009 Silver Book Award from the Association of Borderland Studies (ABS), an American learned society which promotes border studies. Also available in the Social Sciences Studies series Migration and Climate Change Migrating Alone Unaccompanied and Separated Children’s Migration to Europe Migration and Human Rights The United Nations Convention on Migrant Workers' Rights

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Subsumption Architecture – An AI control architecture built upon behavior modules (state machines) organized into layers moving from the more basic (avoid an obstacle) to the more abstract (find a place to hide, i.e. a dark spot), with “higher order” layers able to subsume lower ones. The Nervous Net (Nv) – BEAM's answer to the Neural Net (Nu). A real-time nonlinear analog control system emulating a low-level peripheral spinal system. Based on arrays of sequential RC (Resistor-Capacitor)-time-based pulse delay circuits in closed loops, an Nv net is any circuitry that can act as a medium for sustaining independent control processes. Nv Neurons (Bicores, Quadcores, & Morecores) A differentiating circuit element. In its simplest form, a Nv neuron is formed from a capacitor, resistor, and an inverter. BEAM Schemes (Con't) Example: Bicore – Most basic type of Nv Net with two “neurons” made of 2 caps, 2 inverters (Not gates), and 1 shared resistor. The Solar Engine – A simple circuit that collects energy through solar cells, stores it in a capacitor or battery, and then dumps it on a given condition (interval of time, voltage value, darkness, etc.) Free-forming Circuitry – A minimalist construction scheme where electronic components are used as structural elements “The street finds its own uses for things” - Design ingenuity, cool hacks, novel apps

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THE scientific invasion of Iraq has begun. The UN inspectors who arrived in Baghdad last week are the latest and most ambitious an embodiment of an idea born of the nuclear era: that conflict can be curbed by limiting certain weapons technologies, and that those limits can be policed by inspection and monitoring. Weapons inspection is not a precise science but it does rely on scientific principles and techniques. In Iraq, the aim is to explore the minutiae of the country's industries, imports, diseases, radioactivity and a dozen other things to try to make sure it has not been covertly making weapons of mass destruction. What is beginning this week in Baghdad is nothing less than an effort to try science instead of war. The outcome of this exercise could have a profound impact on future arms control. Success will reinforce the notion that inspection can make disarmament agreements work. ... To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.

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Do you feel like people don’t listen to you? Do you feel ignored or less important than others? Do you have a hard time expressing emotions? Do you often feel conflict? Anger is one of the most often felt and least appropriately expressed emotions we experience. Some people find themselves in difficulty as a result of poor expression of their frustration. This can result in problems in relationships, making what may have been a resolvable situation into an situation with heightened emotion where people point fingers at each other with increasing anger. Anger is a emotional response to a situation which is outside of what is expected. It may also be a indicator of how we are managing problems in our lives. Anger management is a process of gaining insight into the causes of anger and learning alternative behaviour strategies when anger is felt. It is suitable for people whose anger has created difficulties in their life. Court and lawyer referrals are accepted for anger management.

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Love and Freedom Love and Freedom This month we celebrate two of the most valued aspects of human existence: love and freedom. Valentine’s Day (observed in remembrance of St. Valentine) focuses our collective attention on romantic love. We traditionally celebrate this holiday on February 14, by offering those dearest to us acts of love and devotion usually in the form of something sweet and beautiful: candy, flowers, poetry, sentimental cards, etc. February is also Black History Month. This month is filled with events that recognize the contributions both powerful and inspirational of people of African descent. From its humble beginnings in 1915 (50 years after the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment officially ended slavery in this country), this formal recognition has evolved to include a strong focus on historic people and events; lectures, group celebrations, and an increased awareness of the evolution of the American identity. The following story from the Black Abolitionist Archive is our contribution to this celebration of love and freedom. William and Ellen Craft were both born into slavery in the early-1800s. When they were both in their early 20s, they were married. It wasn’t long after this marriage that they began to plan their escape to freedom from their living situation on a plantation in Macon, Georgia to the freedom available in Philadelphia, a trip of over 1,000 miles. Ellen Craft, being of mixed race, was fair skinned and could pass as someone of Caucasian ancestry. They devised a plan that would use this fact to their benefit. While it seemed likely that Ellen could travel among the white population without too much attention, they determined that dressed as a man, she would have a better chance of eluding all suspicion and the limitations that a woman traveling alone might encounter. William, dressed as a slave valet to his traveling master, accompanied the disguised Ellen on their trip to Philadelphia. At the time, slaves were sometimes allowed to earn extra money while working at jobs outside their owner’s land. William earned overtime pay from a local cabinet maker over a fourteen year period for work arranged by his owner. By December 1848, he had managed to save $220.00. This money would be used to finance their escape. According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia website Ellen, dressed as a southern slaveholder in trousers, top hat, and short hair, and William, playing his role of slave valet, boarded a train bound from Macon to Savannah, Georgia. In Savannah, they boarded a steamship for Charleston, South Carolina, and from there boarded another steamship bound for Wilmington, North Carolina. In Wilmington, they boarded a train and arrived just outside Fredricksburg, Virginia in time to catch another steamship bound for Washington, DC. A train from Washington, DC, took them first to Baltimore, Maryland and finally over the Mason-Dixon line into Pennsylvania. Though the trip was fraught with the constant chance of capture, once they arrived in Boston, they finally felt as if their freedom was secure. The Crafts journey to freedom came very shortly before Congress ratified the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. This romantic story doesn’t end in Boston, however. The Crafts were soon pursued by bounty hunters who discovered them there. Black as well as white Bostonians assisted the couple by hiding them until the danger had passed. No longer feeling safe, however, the Crafts set sail for England where they continued their work for abolition. “Romance” is defined in several ways. Dictionary.com includes “… narrative depicting heroic or marvelous deeds [… ] usually in a historical […] setting.” I think this story qualifies. The story of William and Ellen Craft can arguably be told as one of the great romances of the 19th century in the United States. The excerpt below is page 2 of a 3 page speech delivered in England in 1856, soon after the Crafts arrived there. To read the entire speech, click here. Contribution by Linda Papa, Digital Technician

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CEREAL GROWERS could be needlessly spending money on fungicide dressings for seed, according to the Home-Grown Cereals Authority. Over 90% of wheat seed sown in the UK is routinely treated with fungicide as an insurance measure against a range of seed-borne diseases. “This is not always justified on health grounds,” said HGCA director of research Graham Jellis. New methods of testing seed for a range of diseases can now be used by growers, especially the growing number who use farm-saved seed, and could help save a costly seed treatment. “There are growing environmental concerns about using pesticides routinely without assessing risk and cost-benefit,” pointed out Prof Jellis. The new fast and accurate seed-testing techniques, developed with HGCA funding, have reduced the turn-round time for seed testing to a couple of days. This allows greater freedom for farmers to decide on the need for treatment, which treatments are suitable and whether costs could be saved without yield loss by sowing untreated seed, said the HGCA. The new HGCA ‘Wheat seed health and seed-borne diseases guide‘ has more information on using seed treatments in wheat.

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The number of ticks that carry certain fevers is likely to rise in the future, thanks to a combination of wildlife loss and climate change, new research suggests. “…large mammal conservation may prevent increases in tick abundance and tick-borne disease risk…” While North Americans worry about Lyme disease carried by blacklegged or deer ticks, on the other side of the globe, people contend with a different variety of tick-borne fevers. Ticks are one of the world’s most important vectors of zoonotic diseases—animal diseases communicable to humans—and they’re everywhere. The new study used a large-scale experimental test to demonstrate synergistic effects of those phenomena on ticks and their pathogens. Investigators found that total tick abundance and abundance of infected ticks increased dramatically when large animals were lost—and that this effect was exacerbated in dryer, low-productivity areas. “Our research suggests that large mammal conservation may prevent increases in tick abundance and tick-borne disease risk,” says lead author Georgia Titcomb, a graduate student in University of California, Santa Barbara’s ecology, evolution, and marine biology department (EEMB). “These results are timely and relevant in light of widespread wildlife declines and unpredictable regional climatic shifts in a steadily warming world.” For their investigation, the scientists used a long-term, size-selective herbivore exclosure experiment at the Mpala Research Centre in Kenya to examine impacts to the abundance of ticks and two regionally important tick-borne pathogens, Coxiella burnetii and Rickettsia spp., the causative agents of Q fever and spotted fevers, respectively. The experiment included four plot treatments. The first excluded all but the smallest rodent-sized herbivores, mostly mice; the second permitted intermediate-size animals such as hares and small antelope. In the third treatment, all animals but mega- herbivores such as giraffes and elephants were allowed to penetrate the plot. The control had no animal restrictions. The researchers spent more than a year conducting monthly hour-long tick drags in each plot. The results showed that total wildlife exclusion increased total tick abundance by 130 percent at sites with a moderate amount of moisture and by 225 percent at dry, low-productivity sites. For a subset of months when differing degrees of exclusion were tested, total tick abundance increased from 170 percent in the plot with mega-herbivores to 360 percent when all large wildlife were excluded. “This suggests that exposure risk will respond to wildlife loss and climate change in proportion to total tick abundance,” says coauthor Hillary Young, an associate professor in the EEMB and Titcomb’s adviser. “We’ve shown these interacting effects increase disease risk, but they also highlight the need to incorporate ecological context when making predictions about the effects of wildlife loss on zoonotic disease dynamics.” The analysis appears in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Grants from the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation, the Morris Animal Foundation, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada supported this research. Source: UC Santa Barbara

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Common Good(redirected from Common Good (organization)) Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus. That which is seen as best for a whole community and not simply for any individual or small group within that community. This may be seen in purely utilitarian ways, but it may be founded upon natural law theory. The ideas behind law and democracy assume that the common good is something that can be achieved, or at least should be pursued. Proponents of both regulation and deregulation (or almost any other policy) believe their views best suit the common good.

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It is a common misconception that a solvent is waste once it has been used, but is it really? Solvent recycling is the process of using innovative technology to remove unwanted materials from already used solvents. Approximately eighty percent of the waste currently discarded by your company is recyclable. The process simply takes out what cannot be used to deliver a pure quality solvent for reuse. Solvent recycling makes it possible for companies to limit disposal and better manage liabilities. So can it save your business money? The answer is yes and the process provides an environmentally safer option. Every time a solvent-based cleaner or degreaser is purchased or disposed, money is basically thrown out the window. Solvent recycling provides a significant expense reduction for restocking and waste management. By using this process, your company will be able to decrease waste generation by as much as 80%. How Does It Work? Solvent recycling may be performed in more than one way; however, the most effective approach is distillation technology. Providers are able to handle the process for you or in many cases can deliver onsite solutions. In reality, there are no perfect chemicals and every cleaner has at least one risk factor for the environment, health, or safety. Solvent recycling decreases costs and allows your company to takes steps for lessening environmental impact by reducing the amount of produced waste. The distillation process requires minimal intervention because these systems are automatically aware of the chemicals or combination to be recycled and can adjust time, temperature, or power to meet those needs. One side pumps in the waste through the machine. The machine then removes unwanted materials by performing distillation and pumps clean solvent into another containment location for reuse. This process takes only a few minutes a day to deliver substantial waste disposal and labor cost decreases. These systems typically require minimal power to recover almost all of the solvent. They use procedures such as vapor management to ensure that the product does not enter the atmosphere as well. Simple, Safe, and Cost Effective Solvent recycling helps businesses save an extensive amount of money and is a great way for reducing liabilities. It also eliminates an extensive amount of the floor space currently dedicated to waste storage or disposal. If disposal is too costly or you simply need a way to limit your footprint, solvent recycling is the best bet for improving management of harmful chemicals. Here are a few of the benefits: - Promotes Sustainability - Decreases Disposal Costs - Reduces Emissions - Limits Healthcare Costs - Lowers Purchasing Needs If you have not considered how this process may be used to save money, then take a few minutes to review current disposal, storage, and purchasing costs. How much do you spend to manage waste? What is your current impact on the environment? For most businesses, solvents are necessary to make it all happen. Recycling provides an option for responsible management of the amount of waste your company produces. At Ecolink, we no only offer several solvent choices, but are also able to aid in recycling to keep disposal costs low. Contact us today to learn more!

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Earth Dam Monitoring by Using Infrared Thermography Detection Infrared thermography is applied for artificial earth dam surface monitoring. Using an infrared thermal imager is a nondestructive testing method for determining internal material changes by examining surface changes in radiation temperature. This study was conducted at the artificial earth dam experimental test site located in Landao Creek in Huisun Forest, Nantou County, central Taiwan. Infrared thermography analysis found different zones with larger radiation temperature changes. The seepage caused the earth dam soil to be wet, as can reflected by thermography. The seepage failure zone was found to coincide with dramatic changes in radiation temperature recorded using thermography. This study found that dam surface areas with large radiation temperature changes could be failure areas, and that the potential earth dam failure mode could be identified. O. Korup, “Geomorphic hazard assessment of landslide dams in South Westland, New Zealand: fundamental problems and approaches,” Geomorphology, vol. 66, pp. 167-188, 2005. Forestry Bureau, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan. News Release http://www.forest.gov.tw/mp.asp?mp=204 (retrieve date 2012/11/21). (In Chinese) S. C. Fang, “Alishan Highway Slope Failure Characteristics and Failure Potential Evaluation,” National Cheng Kung Univ., Dept. of Civil Engineering, Doctoral thesis, 2009. (In Chinese) I. Baroň, D. Bečkovský, and I. L. Míča, “Application of infrared thermography for mapping open fractures in deep-seated rockslides and unstable cliffs,” Landslides, vol. 36, pp. 265-275, 2012. R. L. Schuster, “Landslide dams in the western United State,” Proceedings of IVth International Conference and Field Workshop on Landslides, Tokyo, pp. 411-418, 1985. R. L. Schuster and J. E. Costa, “A perspective on landslide dams,” Landslide Dams, Processes, Risk and Mitigation, Geotechnical Special Publication, No. 3, ASCE, pp. 1-2, 1986. I. Miyagi, T. Mizuyama, and K. Inoue, Natural Disasters, Tokyo: Kokon, 2002. (In Japanese) S. C. Chen, S. P. An, T. Y. Hsu, and C. Wang, “High precision and adjusted discharge sediment, the experimental station in Landao Creek, Huisun Forest,” Journal of Chinese Soil and Water Conservation, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 1-6, 2015. (In Chinese) Copyright (c) 2016 Proceedings of Engineering and Technology Innovation This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. Authors can retain copyright in their article with no restrictions. Also, author can post the final, peer-reviewed manuscript version (postprint) to any repository or website. From Oct. 01, 2015, PETI will publish new articles with Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License. The Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC-BY-NC) License permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes

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No Smoking Signs Use "No Smoking Signs" to Restrict the Habit Today, institutions and businesses of all kinds display No Smoking signage to prohibit this habit on their premises. At times in our history, doctors prescribed cigarette smoking to patients, and it also became a daily habit for 60% to 70% of the adults in this country. Recently, this habit has lost its appeal since it is a proven cause of cancer. In fact, it harms a person's overall health in a number of ways besides this. The use of No Smoking signage has increased throughout the United States since the early 1980s, as more people learned about these dangers and those of exposure to secondhand smoke. Restrictions and bans on smoking, such as these were enacted to protect the overall health of not only workers, but also patrons who did not have a choice of smoke exposure without these measures. After all, not everyone did participate in this habit. Signs with “No Smoking” on them at this time were used to divide the smoking and non-smoking areas of businesses, restaurants, retail establishments and other public buildings. The Use of No Smoking Signs Increases Dramatically Health experts began to scrutinize indoor smoking even in designated areas to a higher degree by the middle of the year 2000. They issued warnings that separate areas were not sufficient enough to protect non-smokers from the carcinogens in secondhand smoke. For this reason, smoke free signs popped up in even more indoor areas throughout the country. At present, over 30 states prohibit smoking in all indoor, public places. In addition, other locations restrict where a person can and cannot smoke. Southern states have less stringent smoking restrictions in place on average than New York and California, which have the strictest restrictions of the states to date. The Use of No Smoking Signage Increases in Outdoor Areas Unlike past years, outdoor areas, such as beaches, parks, picnic areas and other public venues now display No Smoking signs. Municipalities, cities and states many times today display signage that prohibits smoking within a specific distance of entryways. No official federal specifications for these signs exist since the smoking restrictions are typically a state, municipality or city issue. Most of these signs, though, use a symbol of a circle around a lit cigarette with a diagonal slash through both to display that it is a non-smoking area. Smoke Free Signs Can Involve E-Cigarette Restrictions Today, with the rising popularity of e-cigarettes or vape pens, No Smoking signs both indoor and outdoor can contain the additional statement of "includes e-cigarettes" to prohibit this activity along with smoking. Experts do not fully understand the health implications of these modern devices that emit a vapor from an electronic compartment in place of smoke. For this reason, many establishments and venues ban the use of these devices along with the smoking of tobacco products. Check out our selection of No Smoking and smoke free signs today, as we know you will find one suitable for your needs. Call us at (888) 931-1793 if you need further information.

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Blood tests: A guide to common anomalies - When the blood is off balance. // Current Health 1;Jan1992, Vol. 15 Issue 5, p24 Discusses four serious blood disorders: aplastic anemia, sickel cell anemia, leukemia, and hemophilia. Causes; Iron deficiency anemia; Incidence of sickel cell anemia among African Americans; Genetic factors in sickel cell anemia and hemophilia;Factor VIII; Drug called `cryoprecipitate' as a... - The puzzling case of L-tryptophan. Hunter, B.T. // Consumers' Research Magazine;Apr90, Vol. 73 Issue 4, p25 Reports on the discovery that taking the amino acid L-tryptophan may cause Eosinophilia-Myalgia Syndrome (EMS). Risks of dietary supplements; Other amino acids. INSET: What about amino acids?. - Minerals in hair, serum, and urine of healthy and anemic black children. Haddy, T.B.; Czajka-Narins, D.M. // Public Health Reports;Sep/Oct91, Vol. 106 Issue 5, p557 Asserts that hair mineral analysis is not an established method for defining nutritional and disease states. Study of mineral concentrations from normal children compared with concentrations obtained from children with iron overload, iron deficiency anemia, and thalassemia trait; Hair analysis... - Septicemia deaths are on the rise in hospitals. // RN;Jun92, Vol. 55 Issue 6, p11 States that the National Center for Health Statistics reports an increase of 140 percent in the number of bloodstream infections during the 1980s. Septicemia deaths were up 80 percent; Improved surveillance and more specific death certificates may explain the increase in part; Weakening immune... - When blood won't clot. Mills, Debra; Cerrato, Paul L. // RN;Nov92, Vol. 55 Issue 11, p28 Discusses hemophilia and various forms of the disease. Symptoms; Laboratory tests for diagnosis; Treatment to replace the missing clotting factors; Genetic aspects; Nursing interventions to prevent recurrence. INSET: How hemophilia is passed on.. - Clotting defects that cause hemophilia. // RN;Nov92, Vol. 55 Issue 11, p29 Discusses the pathophysiology of hemophilia, cited from `Textbook of Medical Physiology,' by A.C. Guyton. Steps required for normal coagulation; Clotting factors needed; Effect of a genetic defect on clotting agents. - Mildly elevated blood sugar hurts unborn. // RN;Feb93, Vol. 56 Issue 2, p19 Presents two papers proving that mild hyperglycemia can endanger a pregnant woman and her unborn child, published in the Obstetrics Gynecology News, volume 27, number 7. Methods of study; Blood glucose reading differences; Effect on infants. - The truth about iron. Shockey, G. // Women's Sports & Fitness;Jan/Feb89, Vol. 11 Issue 1, p20 Describes iron deficiency in all women as well as athletic women. How to reduce the risk of becoming iron deficient or anemic; Iron supplements; Iron-rich sources. INSET: Some iron-rich sources.. - Anemia: Do you have iron-poor blood? Lipman, M.M. // Consumer Reports on Health;Mar1992, Vol. 4 Issue 3, p23 Discusses anemia and its warning signs. What causes anemia; Iron in the diet; Pregnant women and vegetarians need to take special precautions; Get checked by a doctor; Self-diagnosis can mask other problems.

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- About Us - Local Savings - Green Editions - Legal Notices - Weekly Ads Connect with Us Exxon Valdez: Could it happen here? GUEST OPINION BY ANGELA DAY AND STEPHANIE BUFFUM It has been nearly 25 years since workers at the Alyeska Marine Terminal in Alaska loaded 53 million gallons of North Slope crude oil onto the supertanker Exxon Valdez. At the same time, a group of citizens met in the Valdez City Council chambers, expressing their concerns that a spill in Prince William Sound was inevitable. A fisherman, Bobby Day, readied his boat for a herring season that would never open. Their lives collectively changed course just after midnight on March 24, 1989, when the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef. On that fateful night, the lookout aboard the Exxon Valdez burst through the door of the bridge, noting once again that the red light marking the reef was on the starboard side of the ship, when it should have been to port. Her cautionary words were, in retrospect, the last of a litany of warnings sounded by fishermen, tour boat operators, regulators, and industry insiders that circumstances were ripe for disaster. The grounding of the Exxon Valdez caused a sea change in the environmental consciousness of an entire generation and created a new awareness about the risks of resource extraction and transport. Twenty-five years later, these issues are both timely and timeless as the waters surrounding San Juan Islands are slated to become one of North America’s busiest fossil fuel trans-shipment corridors. With proposals for new and expanded terminals and refineries in Canada and Washington, an additional 2,620 deep-draft vessel transits could ply our waters each year. Some of these proposals would result in the transport of a type of crude oil known as “dilbit” short for “diluted bitumen.” This thick, biologically degraded and sticky petroleum product must be infused with lighter fuels, or condensates from natural gas, naphtha, or a mix of other light hydrocarbons, in order to transport it through the pipeline. Current oil spill technology is based on crude oil. The fate and effects of a dilbit spill is an emerging science. If a major spill were to happen, would there be sufficient resources to adequately respond, contain, and clean up a spill of the magnitude of the Exxon Valdez? How would the private and publicly owned shorelines get completely cleaned up? Would dispersants be used? Who would pay for the clean-up and what assurances does the public have that funds are available to cover the full cost of the clean-up and the economic, environmental, and health impacts that would be the result of a major spill? These questions have not yet been answered by public agencies charged with reviewing proposals in our area. In Prince William Sound, promises outlined in legislation and contingency plans weren’t enough to keep a fully loaded tanker from grounding on a charted reef, nor to effectively clean up the spill. As we look to the future of the Salish Sea, it should be with a wary eye to the past. We would do well to consider how one wrong turn by a supertanker could forever change our lives, livelihoods, and the quality of our environment. Stephanie Buffum is the executive director of Friends of the San Juans. Angela Day is the author of “Red Light to Starboard: Recalling the Exxon Valdez Disaster,” and will speak at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 3 at Eagle Harbor Books.

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In mathematics, specifically in measure theory, a Borel measure is defined as follows: let X be a locally compact Hausdorff space, and let be the smallest σ-algebra that contains the open sets of X; this is known as the σ-algebra of Borel sets. Any measure μ defined on the σ-algebra of Borel sets is called a Borel measure. Some authors require in addition that μ(C) < ∞ for every compact set C. If a Borel measure μ is both inner regular and outer regular, it is called a regular Borel measure (some authors also require it to be tight). If μ is both inner regular and locally finite, it is called a Radon measure. Note that a locally finite Borel measure automatically satisfies μ(C) < ∞ for every compact set C. On the real line The real line with its usual topology is a locally compact Hausdorff space, hence we can define a Borel measure on it. In this case, is the smallest σ-algebra that contains the open intervals of . While there are many Borel measures μ, the choice of Borel measure which assigns for every interval is sometimes called "the" Borel measure on . In practice, even "the" Borel measure is not the most useful measure defined on the σ-algebra of Borel sets; indeed, the Lebesgue measure is an extension of "the" Borel measure which possesses the crucial property that it is a complete measure (unlike the Borel measure). To clarify, when one says that the Lebesgue measure is an extension of the Borel measure , it means that every Borel-measurable set E is also a Lebesgue-measurable set, and the Borel measure and the Lebesgue measure coincide on the Borel sets (i.e., for every Borel measurable set). - J. D. Pryce (1973). Basic methods of functional analysis. Hutchinson University Library. Hutchinson. p. 217. ISBN 0-09-113411-0. - Ransford, Thomas (1995). Potential theory in the complex plane. London Mathematical Society Student Texts 28. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 209–218. ISBN 0-521-46654-7. Zbl 0828.31001. - Alan J. Weir (1974). General integration and measure. Cambridge University Press. pp. 158–184. ISBN 0-521-29715-X.

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A. This book is pivotal in our understanding of both apocalyptic literature and eschatology. B. Surprisingly chapters 1-8 are alluded to extensively in the book of the Revelation, while chapters 9-14 are alluded to often in the Gospels. C. Zechariah quotes extensively from the major eighth century prophets (in the North, Amos and Hosea; in the South, Isaiah and Micah) as well as the seventh century prophets, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. He brings their insights to bear on his day and the last days. This shows that the prophets of Israel and Judah had access to each other's books. D. This book is a good example of apocalyptic language. This is a literary genre which tries to document end-time events by means of figurative, imaginative symbols. It was often used in tension-filled times to express the hope of God's people that He was/is in control. See Opening Article. E. This book is also very Messianic. He is God's agent of permanent change in human history. Zechariah, like Isaiah (cf. 52:13-53:12), reveals a suffering Messiah (cf. Gen. 3:15). F. Jerome called Zechariah the most obscure book in the Old Testament. A. Zechariah means "YHWH remembers" or "One remembered by YHWH." This prophet's name gives hope to the exiled Jews who wondered if their Covenant God remembered them. Haggai and Zechariah's call to rebuild the temple is physical evidence that the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenant promises are restored to the post-exilic community. B. Zechariah was a very common Hebrew name. It was spelled two ways in the English Bibles: Zechariah or Zachariah because of the Hebrew name's translation into Greek. There are twenty-seven people in the English OT who spell it with an "e" and two who spell it with an "a." C. Zechariah 1:1 tells us that he was a priest (cf. Ezra 5:1; 6:14; Neh. 12:4,16). Why his ancestor, Berechiah, is omitted from the list is uncertain. This would make him a post-exilic prophet, like Haggai, Malachi, and possibly Obadiah and Joel. D. Many modern scholars deny unity to the book of Zechariah. This is because chapters 1-8 are so different from chapters 9-14. In chapters 1-8 the prophet is named and dates are given. The setting is obviously post-exilic. This section is alluded to extensively by John in his book of the Revelation. However, chapters 9-14 are undated. There is no prophet named. There is no obvious historical setting. This section is alluded to most often in the Gospels. However, this structure is common in several OT prophets (e.g. Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel). In Matt. 27:9 Jesus attributes a quote to Jeremiah which is from Zech. 11:12-13. This was the beginning of the trend toward denying authorship of chapters 9-14 to Zechariah. However, even the Dead Sea Scrolls have Zechariah as a unity. There are several internal grammatical and lexical items which point to a unity. 1. the use of the number "two" (4:3; 5:9; 6:1; 11:7; 13:8) 2. the use of the VOCATIVE (2:7,10; 3:2,8; 4:7; 9:9,13; 11:1-2; 13:7) 3. the use of the phrase, "go to and fro," which is unique to Zechariah (7:14; 9:8) 4. the repeated use of "saith the Lord" (used sixteen times) 5. the Qal form of "to dwell" or "to inhabit" ( BDB 442, 2:8; 7:7; 12:6; 14:10) (These are taken from R. K. Harrison's Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 954). For further discussion of the unity of the book see E. J. Young's Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 280). A. From 1:1 we learn that the prophet began his ministry in the second year of Darius. Most scholars assert that this is Darius I Hystapes (522-486 B.C.), who took over the kingdom after Cambyses II (530-522 B.C.), Cyrus II’s son, committed suicide. See A Brief Historical Survey of the Powers of Mesopotamia, Appendix Two. B. This would make the date 520-519 b.c. He preached about two years (cf. 1:7; 7:1). C. Haggai and Zechariah are dated more precisely than any other OT books. A. The major purpose of the book is to encourage the returning Jews to rebuild the temple (cf. Ezra 5). This was started by Sheshbazzar (cf. Ezra 1:8; 5:16), but had not been continued under Zerubbabel (cf. Ezra 2:1-2). The temple had been neglected for eighteen years. Haggai asserts that this is because of the apathy of the people (cf. Hag. 1:1-11), while Ezra implies that it was the political maneuvers of the surrounding provinces, especially Samaria. B. Both Haggai and Zechariah address the issue of rebuilding the temple (cf. Zech. 1-8), but Zechariah also covers many more issues (cf. Zech. 9-14). V. BRIEF SAMPLE OUTLINE (taken from Introduction to the Old Testament, by R. K. Harrison, p. 950) A. Dated prophecies, chapters 1-8 1. Introduction and call to repentance, 1:1-6 2. Eight visions, 1:7-6:8 a. four horsemen; the promise of divine restoration, 1:7-17 b. four destroying horns and four smiths, 1:18-21 (Heb. 2:1-4) c. the immeasurable greatness of Jerusalem, 2:1-13 (Heb. 2:5-17) d. the cleansing of Joshua; an oracle to him, 3:1-10 e. the seven-branched lampstand, 4:1-14 f. the large, flying scroll, 5:1-4 g. the woman in an ephah removed to Babylon, 5:5-11 h. four horse-drawn chariots traversing the earth, 6:9-15 3. Historical section: Joshua symbolic of the Messiah, 6:9-15 (I think this is a ninth vision) 4. An inquiry of Zechariah concerning fasting, 7:1-8:23 B. Undated prophecies, chapters 9-14 1. Judgment of national enemies; the coming of the peaceful prince, 9:1-17 2. Gathering in of the chosen flock by the divine leader, 10:1-12 3. Good and foolish shepherds; the suffering of the flock, 11:1-17 4. Eschatological oracles, 12:1-13:6 5. The purifying judgment of Israel and the blessings of the divine kingdom, 13:7-14:21 VI. THE MEANING OF THE EIGHT VISIONS A. The angels on colored horses (cf. 1:7-17) — God knows what is happening on earth, especially as it relates to His plan of universal redemption through a Jewish Messiah. The Jews must be reestablished in Jerusalem for God’s plan to manifest in history. B. The four horns and the four craftsmen (cf. 1:18-21) — God allowed pagan nations to judge His idolatrous people (cf. v. 15), but now He will judge them for their excess and pride. World empires are directed by God for His redemptive purposes. C. The measuring of Jerusalem (cf. 2:1-13) — God will restore His people to the Promised Land and renew and expand the covenant. YHWH Himself will be with them and protect them as in the Exodus experience. D. Joshua forgiven and restored (cf. 3:1-10) — Joshua as High Priest stands for the Jewish nation. He is forgiven and restored, which shows in very clear symbols that the sacrificial system and, thereby, the covenant is fully restored and functioning. The Messianic element shows the priestly aspect of the Messiah’s work (cf. Ps.110; Isa. 53). E. The lampstand (cf. 4:1-14) — God’s power, not human power, will reestablish the covenant (i.e. rebuilt temple as a symbol/sign). God will use Spirit-empowered human instrumentality (i.e. Joshua and Zerubbabel). F. The flying scroll (cf. 5:1-4) — Symbol of God’s judgment on covenant breaking among His people, which will result in the destruction of the violators. G. Wickedness in a basket (cf. 5:5-11) — Rebellion (idolatry) against God will be caged in a basket and removed to the place of human arrogance and idolatry (i.e. Shinar = Babylon). H. The four chariots pulled by colored horses (cf. 6:1-8) — This is parallel to the first vision. God is present and sovereign in all the world. VII. Please read the quotes from D. Brent Sandy, Plowshares and Pruning Hooks, found in Contextual Insights to chapter 11, F. These insights into the nature of apocalyptic literature will be very helpful as we study and attempt to interpret the book of Zechariah. Copyright © 2012 Bible Lessons International

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Scanned text contains errors. SEVEN WISE MEN——SHIELD. Seven Wise Men, The. Under this name were included in antiquity seven men of the period from 620-550 b.c., distinguished for practical wisdom, who conducted the affairs of their country as rulers, lawgivers, and councillors. They were reputed to be the authors of certain brief maxims in common use, which were variously assigned among them; the names also of the seven were differently given. Those usually mentioned are : cleobulus, tyrant of Lin-dus in Rhodes (" Moderation is the chief good"); periander, tyrant of Corinth, 668-584 (" Forethought in all things "); pittacus of Mltylene, born about 650, deliverer and cesymnetes of his native city ("Know thine opportunity"); bias of Prlene in Caria, about 570 B.C. (" Too many workers spoil the work"); thalbs of Miletus, 639-536 ("Suretyship brings ruin "); CnlLON of Sparta (" Know thyself"); S6LON of Athens ("Nothing too much," i.e. observe moderation). Sfiverus, Arch of. See triumphal arches. Sextius Niger (Qiiintus). Lived during the last years of the Republic and under Augustus. He was the founder of a philosophical system, which aimed at the improvement of morals on the principles of the Stoics and Pythagoreans. Like his son, who bore the same name, he wrote in Greek. He is the author of a collection of Greek maxims of a monotheistic and ascetic character, a Christianized Latin translation of which, written in the second half of the 4th century by the presbyter Ruflnus, is still extant. Sextus Empirlcns (so called because he belonged to the empirical school of medicine). A Grecian philosopher, a follower of the Sceptical school, who lived at the beginning of the 3rd century a.d. He is the author of three works on philosophy, (1) the Pyrrhonistic Sketches in three books, an abridgment of the Sceptical philosophy of Pyrrho; (2) an attack on the dogmatists (the followers of the other schools of philosophy) in five books; (3) an attack on the mathematicians (the followers of positive sciences—grammar, with all the historical sciences, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, astrology, and music) in six books. These works are remarkable for their learning and acuteness, as well as for simplicity and clearness of style. They form a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the general philosophical literature of Greece, and the Sceptical philosophy in particular. Shield. The most important weapon of defence among the peoples of antiquity. The Greeks had two principal forms of shield in use, with broad flat rims, and the (6) («) CT OBEEK SHIELDS. (Guhl and Koner, 8g». 269, 270.) curved surface of the shield rising above them : (1) the long shield of oval shape that covered the wearer from mouth to ankles, suspended by a belt passing [round the neck and] the left shoulder, with a handle for the left hand. A variation of this form is the Bosotian shield (figs. 3, 4), the two sides of which have in the middle a semicircular or oval indentation. (2) The round shield, covering the wearer from the chin to the knee, also called the Doric shield ; this had one loop, through which the left arm was inserted, and one which was held by the left hand (figs. 5 and 6). The shield of the Macedonian phalanx was round, but small enough to be easily handled, and with only one loop for the arm. Both forms were in use from ancient times; at a later date the Argolic shield seems to have predominated, though the long shield that was planted on the ground in a pitched battle remained a peculiarity of Spartan warfare until the 3rd century b.c. In Homer [II. vii 245, xviii 481, xx 274-281] shields are made of skins placed one over another, with one plate of metal above ; in later times the material appears to have been generally bronze, but also wood, leather, and wickerwork. The pelta is of Thracian origin; it was the defensive weapon of the light-armed peltasts, made of leather without a rim, and with a level surface, of small size and weight, and of various forms (square, round, and crescent-shaped, as in fig. 8).

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Search The Library's Lexicon Obs. A serf was defined by three things: he/she was bound to the land; they could not travel freely; they had no legal rights in the courts, and; they could not testify in courts of law. During the feudal times certain persons who were bound to perform very onerous duties towards others, were so called. There is this essential difference between a serf and a slave; the serf was bound simply to labor on the soil where he was born, without any right to go elsewhere without the consent of his lord; but he was free to act as he pleased in his daily action: the slave on the contrary is the property of his master, who may require him to act as he pleases in every respect, and who may sell him as a chattel.

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Myth: Habitat for Humanity gives houses away to poor people Fact: Habitat for Humanity offers a homeownership opportunity to families unable to obtain conventional house financing – generally, those whose income is 40 to 80 percent of the area’s median income. In most cases, prospective Habitat homeowner families make a down payment and contribute 300 hours of “sweat equity” on the construction of their home or someone else’s home. Because Habitat houses are built using donations of land, material and labor, mortgage payments are kept affordable. Myth: Habitat houses reduce property values in a neighborhood Fact: Low-cost housing studies in the United States and Canada show affordable housing has no adverse effect on other neighborhood property values. In fact, Habitat houses have increased property values and local government tax income. Myth: Habitat builds houses only for minorities Fact: Habitat builds houses in partnership with families in need – regardless of race, religion or any other difference – who meet three criteria: need, willingness to partner; and the ability to repay the no-interest, no-profit mortgage. Myth: You have to be Christian to become a Habitat homeowner Fact: Habitat for Humanity is a Christian organization. However, homeowners are chosen without regard to race, religion or ethnic group. Habitat also welcomes volunteers from all faiths, or no faith, who actively embrace Habitat’s goal of eliminating poverty housing. Myth: Habitat houses allow people to move from poverty to fancy new houses Fact: Any newly build house is going to be a dramatic change for a family that has been living in poverty. But Habitat houses are not extravagant by any standard. Habitat’s philosophy is to build simple, decent, affordable homes. Myth: Habitat for Humanity was founded by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter Fact: Habitat was started in 1976 in Americus, Ga., by Millard Fuller along with his wife Linda. President Carter and his wife Rosalynn (whose home is eight miles from Americus, in Plains, Ga.), have been longtime Habitat supporters and volunteers who help bring national attention to the organization’s house-building work. Each year, they lead the Jimmy Carter Work Project to help build houses and raise awareness of the need for affordable housing.

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Understanding the human brain By applying a novel computer algorithm to mimic how the brain learns, a team of researchers -- with the aid of San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego’s Comet supercomputer and the center's Neuroscience Gateway -- has identified and replicated neural circuitry that resembles how an unimpaired brain controls limb movement. The team used Comet to run through thousands of modeling possibilities to create a neuroprosthetic arm. The research opens the door for "biomimetic neuroprosthetics" -- brain implants that replicate brain circuits and their function -- that one day could replace lost or damaged brain cells or tissue from tumors, stroke and other diseases. San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego

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Written by: Paul Taylor Few things in creation are as beautiful or wonderful as a rainbow. It is a scientific phenomenon that can be expressed in terms of numbers associated with frequencies and wavelengths of light, and it is also an artistic object, enjoyed because of its beauty. The Science of the Rainbow The rainbow is based on some basic principles of physics. Isaac Newton’s famous experiment on white light utilized a clear prism—a Toblerone-shaped piece of glass or Plexiglas. White light is shone into the prism at such an angle that it bends towards the normal (vertical). On emergence from the prism, the light bends away from the new normal, but, because they are set at a triangle shape, this merely increases the bending, such that there is an actual observable difference between this bending (or refraction) for light of differing frequencies. How light is ‘split’ by a prism. Because violet light has the greatest frequency, and hence the shortest wavelength, of visible light, it is bent to a greater angle than red light, at the opposite end of the visible spectrum. The trouble with scientific statements like these is that they sound cold, but the effect of these different refractions for different frequencies is stunningly beautiful. Have you noticed how rainbows are always opposite the sun? If you are facing the rainbow, then the sun is behind you. A similar refraction happens with spherical raindrops, but in this case, because the internal angles of the light rays are greater than the critical angle of water, the rays undergo total internal reflection before they are refracted again as they leave the water drop…. Continue Reading on www.creationtoday.org

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Also found in: Acronyms, Wikipedia. In the propagation of any type of wave motion through a crystal lattice, the frequency is a periodic function of wave vector k . This function may be complicated by being multivalued; that is, it may have more than one branch. Discontinuities may also occur. In order to simplify the treatment of wave motion in a crystal, a zone in k -space is defined which forms the fundamental periodic region, such that the frequency or energy for a k outside this region may be determined from one of those in it. This region is known as the Brillouin zone (sometimes called the first or the central Brillouin zone). It is usually possible to restrict attention to k values inside the zone. Discontinuities occur only on the boundaries. If the zone is repeated indefinitely, all k -space will be filled. Sometimes it is also convenient to define larger figures with similar properties which are combinations of the first zone and portions of those formed by replication. These are referred to as higher Brillouin zones. The central Brillouin zone for a particular solid type is a solid which has the same volume as the primitive unit cell in reciprocal space, that is, the space of the reciprocal lattice vectors, and is of such a shape as to be invariant under as many as possible of the symmetry operations of the crystal. See Crystallography

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We love watching PR2 fold laundry, play pool, bake cookies, and bring us beer, but robots with the capability to do the same kinds of things that humans can do aren't around just to take over for us when we're feeling lazy. Robots also exist to do things that humans can't do, whether that's making fast and precise movements, defusing bombs, or lending a gripper to a person with a disability. Henry Evans, the dude in the above video, has been a quadriplegic for the last ten years, having suffered a stroke when he was just 40 years old. He saw a PR2 on TV last year, and thought that a robot might be a handy thing to have around the house to help him live a bit more independently. Georgia Tech's Healthcare Robotics Lab and Willow Garage have been collaborating with Henry since then, and he's been able to use a PR2 to do things like shave himself and scratch itches when he has them, things for which Henry has been dependent on other people for the last decade. Part of what makes the PR2 ideal for this sort of thing are its high-level autonomous capabilities. Using a head tracker, Henry can give the robot commands to navigate to specific locations or fetch objects, and the PR2's sensors and software handle the rest. Of course, it's not realistic to hope that every disabled person will be able to one day get a PR2 (each costs $400,000). What is realistic (I hope) is that what Willow Garage and Georgia Tech are learning here will help them to design better software and hardware for the next generation of home service and healthcare robots, which will be affordable so more people can have them. This project is an important reminder that while most of us are hoping that robots will at some point step in and make our lives easier and more convenient, most of us actually don't really need robots. Some people do need them, though, and it's great to see companies and research groups with so much expertise in this area working to make robots available where they have the potential to do the most good. [ Willow Garage ] Blog Post: A U.S. senator criticizes the NSF for squandering "millions of dollars on wasteful projects" Blog Post: Push a single button and have your PR2 bot bake you a fresh batch of cookies Blog Post: PR2 may not be the fastest at folding towels, but the fact that it can do it entirely autonomously is nuts Blog Post: After learning how to open doors, plug itself into wall outlets, and fold towels, the robot now can play pool

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Minorities in Broadway Musicals Essay Broadway musicals have become a real brand. Hollywood stars then participate in local productions; and theater lovers eagerly read in the newspapers some reviews of new plays. The famous theatre was started as a minstrel show and the first theatre. The Role of Minorities in Broadway Musicals The minstrel theatre as a genre of the American origin appeared, according to researchers, between the 18th-19th centuries. All roles in the Minstrel Show were performed by men, originally being the white troupe of actors (Stempel 24). A basis of the plot was a comic presentation of the life of blacks and their owners. In the theatre of minstrels several types of characters have developed: a dressed in rags laborer, a simpleton, a dandy African-American and a rogue African-American. The African-American women were portrayed satirically stupid, but very sensual (Lewis 55). Finally, the genre in all its components was formed by the middle of the 19th century. In this regard, a remarkable creative activity of D. Emmett and his Virgin of Minstrels have to be mentioned (Betz, Carnes, and American Council of Learned Societies 207). - The first part of his show was a song and some musical numbers, the performance of which was accompanied by a playful dialogue. - In the second part, Olio, there were the scenes from the life of African dances (Lewis 59). - The third part is a view similar to the ballad opera. And the reception was a brilliant use of intelligence of the city, which was to act as a theatre of minstrels. Before the troupe entered the city, the actor reconnaissance learned in advance all the local gossips and topical issues. - Then, much to the delight of spectators, this information was used in a humorous satirical aspect, in the third part (Hischak 85). The show was a success! Of the particular importance to the American culture, there was the musical legacy that kept the theatre of minstrels. It has turned out that many African songs have come from Scottish and English songs. However, in the final version, they are a synthesis of the European and African musical thinking (Stempel 32). They have become a fount of creative American composers in the 20th century. It should be noted that in the heyday of the genre, to the end of the nineteenth century, many minstrel troupes were accompanied by a speech sound of the orchestra (Betz, Carnes and American Council of Learned Societies 210). African-Americans were not considered by a minstrel theatre with its art. Moreover, presented in grotesque images, it evoked their contempt and resentment, although performers ridiculed not only blacks imitating them and white masters, but also the white masters depicting them boastful, haughty and often short-sighted (Green 76). Nevertheless, the image of a minstrel buffoon was received with resentment especially by the generation of the 1930s-1940s during the struggle of American blacks for their human rights (Betz, Carnes and American Council of Learned Societies 215). At the present stage, these types of characters are present in the concert programs, for example, in the famous musical dance show River dance of 1996 and 1999 years. Several parts were addressed specifically to this heritage of the American culture. The major elements of the initial Broadway shows were revues. Revue is a genre of the French origin, the peculiarity of which is similar to vaudeville. This pop display consists of parodies, comic numbers, songs, and dances. However, the vaudeville revue is used for a typical thematic unity of design and music (Betz, Carnes and American Council of Learned Societies 205). A special role in the promotion of this genre in the American theatre scene was played by a director and producer F. Ziegfeld (Suskin 153). His productions have determined the face of Broadway theatre shows for many years. An undoubted advantage of revue Ziegfeld was a harmonious blend of the French and American elements in the representation, the reliance on high professionalism of all performers, directors and composers. The researchers of F. Ziegfeld’s creativity have noted that this was a highly paid work of all project participants. In the genre of the revue, such composers as I. Berlin, George Gershwin, W. Herbert, J. Kern, and others were working (Suskin 36). A significant impact upon revue was caused by cinema, especially the emergence of the sound cinema. The musical revue absorbed ability to combine the most diverse and seemingly incompatible elements including jazz (Hischak 56). Another significant part of Broadway shows was operetta. This genre originated in Europe in the middle of the 19th century. However, operetta was popular thanks to such European composers like Johann Strauss, Offenbach, and others. In America, this genre enjoyed a great success. In addition, the existence of the feature of European operetta in America gets a name change to operettas. For example, the operetta Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss was titled as The Merry Countess and displayed in 1912. Later, it appeared to be performed in 1929, under the title Amazing Night. As the researchers have noted most Americans of the last century drew creativity of British operetta’s composers. Much popularity was gained by the products of V. Gilbert and Sullivan A. Her Majesty’s Frigate that was formed in 1878 and then The Mikado in 1885 (Suskin 19). Under the influence of European and American operettas, there The First Team Brighton Patrolled by JS Kraus, Desert by D. Buck in 1880, and The Little Tycoon by Spencer W. in 1887 appeared. The heyday of American operetta’s composers is associated with the names of R. Coven, G. Cracker, G. Lauders, Romberg B., Prick-Bertha, and others (Suskin 55). The Americans imitated the European operetta, its romanticism and exoticism. Nevertheless, the theatricality definitely attracted, but did not meet the needs of modern times and the needs of the society. Reality, topical satire and humor, connectedness with the American reality are the elements that were necessary and interesting to the American public. So the answer to the problem, opposed to other genres and the operetta, was a musical, which absorbed all the best from its predecessors. It is important to mention the role of jazz in the musical. Jazz and musicals were the brainchildren of one time basis and the musical language of performances in the 20th century becoming jazz. However, in its pure and original form, jazz could not be used in a musical score. It is well known that the core of jazz is rhythm and improvisation. The latter one was not possible to dynamically pull, which musical is. Improvisation in jazz is a free and creative artist’s statement, which cannot be constrained by time. The most important thing is to express an idea. The musical is a surprisingly dynamic performance where the effectiveness is very significant. So the musical language of the genre comes primarily by jazz rhythm, harmony, the style of performance as instrumental and vocal, characteristic sounds, wind and percussion instruments. The names of the composers of the American musical, which was synthesized in its work elements of jazz, symphonic thinking, pop songs are well known. Their works constitute the wealth of the musical culture. They are Arlene G., Berlin I., Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin and others (Suskin 4). The history of the musical genre spans a century. This original creation has been much associated with the existing culture in the American theatrical genres like revue, vaudeville, and operetta. Thus, the first two decades of the 20th century were marked by a gradual growth of the economic welfare of the country. They have generated the extraordinary demand for entertainment genres contributing to the growing popularity of jazz. But, as the researchers note, subjects were superficial. They were dominated by the operetta to a greater extent. A significant step towards the formation of a new genre, i.e. the musical, was done by Showboat by J. Kern in 1921 and A Connecticut Yankee by R. Rogers in 1927. The latter one was based on the novel written by Mark Twain (Filichia 45). They differed from the earlier performances as they seriously had affected the depth of the problems in conjunction with brightness, dynamic and spectacular views. The third decade of the 20th century was a very difficult period for the American theatre due to the economic crisis of 1929 in the United States. Many theaters were closed due to the fact that the ticket to the cinema was much cheaper than theatrical. Operettas, revues, and musicals have become a fertile basis for the film industry. The musical continued as a genre and changed qualitatively, enriching some social problems to its topical nature. For example, such satirical musicals by Gershwin as Grand Orchestra in 1930 and Of Thee I Sing in 1931 ridiculed the corruption of those ones in power, the electoral system, and some political machinations. In the same vein, there are the musicals Facing the Music by E. Berlin in 1932, Johnny Johnson by K. Weill in 1936 and many others devoted to this topic (Filichia 117). The trend towards some more diverse musicals has continued in the 1940s. It covered the following themes: folklore and legends of the African Americans, i.e. Cabin in the Sky by V. Duke; a psychoanalysis Lady in the Dark by K. Weill; the Civil War in Annie, Take the Gun by E. Berlin, the World War II in In the South Pacific by R. Rogers, and the American image during the pre-industrial era were depicted in Oklahoma by R. Rogers (Stempel 318). In parallel with the expansion of musical themes, there was an improved form. At this time, in the American musical, the significant role of sculpture and dance dominated the performance, for example, in the musical On Pointe by R. Rogers. In the 1950s-1960s, in the fate of the musical genre, there were truly stellar. Its themes expanded the boundaries that had been formed; and the expressive musical emerged. At this time, the genre was characterized by the high professionalism of its creators. The international fame on the stage was later acquired in cinematography performances. Among the most popular ones there are My Fair Lady by Frederick Loewe of 1956, The West Side Story by Bernstein L. of 1957, The Sound of Music by R. Rogers in 1959, Hello, Dolly by J. Herman in 1964, Cabaret by J. Kander in 1966 and many others (Suskin 10). However, the 1960s became the time of the crisis beginning for the musical genre. The coming era of the rock movement brought the new problems, i.e. acute, civil, social and topical. The musical entertainment with its predominantly oriented themes became temporarily irrelevant. The development of the Broadway Theatre does not stop even today. Theatres are looking for some new solutions and approaches to provide viewers for the Broadway show. Nowadays Broadway is a synonym for the commercial theatre, the embodiment of the proverbial American dream. Now, there are only 26 theatres compared to 80 ones in the 1920s. Much has changed, including the cost of performance. Before the war, the play cost has been $10 thousand contrary to the contemporary price of $10 million (Stempel 456). However, for the money, the viewers get the enchanting sight: the amazing scenery, catchy melodies; choreography of the highest level, beautiful voices, dynamics, colors, and etc. The artists’ work flat out completely; they play with passion, being uninhibited and free, demonstrating the high level of professionalism. The last performance should not differ from the premiere: people pay for tickets a lot of money. The flowering of the modern musical is associated with the name of the composer Lloyd Webber, a director Trevor Nunn and a producer Cameron Mackintosh. It all started with the grand success of the play Cats, based on the Book of Practical Cats written by Thomas Elliott. It had been lasting in the Broadway Show Theatre for 18 years and took place in the Winter Garden. Over the years, there were completely 3 of the principal performers replaced. The themes have changed and tended to have more open views and disclose problems that there were earlier. The best way to know how to write good essays is by getting a sample of an essay from competent experts online. We can give you the essay examples you need for future learning. Free Essay Examples are here. There is a great impact on Broadway of the creative efforts of sexual minorities, especially in the performances with homosexually (Benton 59). But among them there is the only noteworthy performance of Minetta Lane Theatre called Jeffrey. The subtle humor and skills of its creators were able to defeat the prejudice of the audience. The rest of the presentation of this kind, including the sensational show Whoop-Dee-Doo, are the lack of professionalism and the poor pictorial means that resemble amateur theatricals. The best remake of the year in this thematic network is called The Normal Heart, staging Larry Kramer. Her first appeared on Broadway a quarter century ago. This play addresses the problem of the emergence of the AIDS in New York City and the problems of sexual minorities (Benton 148). The performance and its recognized problems are still relevant. In the same category, the musical award went to Anything Goes by Cole Porter (Benton 103). One of the beginners of the open demonstration and protection of rights of sexual minorities was Mae West. The first starring role on Broadway was in her own play, which she called Sex. Despite the terrible criticism, the tickets for the show were sold out very quickly. The opponents of her play yet have achieved the result that the show was discontinued. West with her troupe was arrested. She was accused of moral indecency, and, on 19 April 1927, she was sentenced to ten days in jail. However, she was released after 8 days for the good behavior. This episode of her life brought Mae only benefits, as her popularity has grown rapidly. Her next play Hitch was not less controversial, as it covered a homosexual theme and talked about the work of Karl Heinrich Ulrich. The play was a huge hit on the stage, but it was staged only in New Jersey. It was banned on Broadway. Mae was one of the first ones being not afraid to talk openly about sex. She was also was one of initiators of the movement for the rights of sexual minorities. Speaking about the contemporary Broadway shows, they have diverse programs that cover a number of social, political, gender, professional, sexuality and other themes. The composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim said that he decided to turn his protagonist of the popular 1970s’ musical Company into a gay. This was reported by The New York Times. The author of the original version of the musical is currently working on its transformation along with the director John Tiffany. The latter one created the musical Once. The first private screening of the show took place on 18 October 2013. After this, the representatives of the company Roundabout producing the show will determine the further fate of the musical. Roundabout often holds similar displays for the company’s management, after which they cancel a number of productions. All changes in the musical will be based on a sexual orientation change of the protagonist named Bobby. Bobby dating many girls will turn into many young guys in the new version. The main theme is the protagonist’s inability to create a family and his fear of commitment in a relationship will remain unchanged. It is still a musical about family ties. Just the marriage in 2013 looks very different than that in the 70s. They are not dealing with the issue of gay marriage as such, but on the question of relations in the new version, they look from a different point of view. This was the main idea of the interview with Sondheim in The New York Times. The composer has noted that he rewrites the musical, but just a little, correcting some dialogues and monologues. The action in the musical Company, which was released for the first time on Broadway in April 1970, is set in New York and describes the relationship of several couples and their friend Robert (Bobby). He dates to many women, but cannot marry. Critics and audiences have repeatedly speculated that Bobby is not able to start the family because he is a hidden gay. However, Stephen Sondheim and his collaborator George Firth always rejected this version. The original production of Company has withstood more than 700 shows on Broadway. It was awarded 15 nominations for the major American theatre award Tony and won in six categories, including the Best Musical. The musical libretto was translated into several languages. The show actions place in Brazil, Singapore, Germany, Italy and other countries. Their versions of the play were done by many well-known theatre and film directors, including Sam Mendes. Broadway has a long history of its development. It presents an example of the greatest birth of the most amazing theatrical shows in the world. Theatre actors and actresses dream to be able to sing on its stages and perform in its plays. Broadway Shows are of the great interest for the tourists all over the world. At the same time, it is one of the spectators of the social, political and economic changes in the society and the whole country. Social problems and tendencies have been reflected in the plays since its beginning. It started with minstrel shows and the African-American problem and developed to a wider approach to the problems of sexual and other minorities. The spectators of the show can see the show and get to know more about the particular culture and its history. As a matter of fact, Broadway is a live history of the whole nation and the whole country.

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A site funded as part of the federal Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) and maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA), Photo Library Photographs of the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Preservation and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) Report: Coast 2050 Toward a Sustainable Coastal Louisiana. This report was compiled by a coalition of scientists and state and federal officials; it's the best summary of what's causing the wetlands to disappear and how the nation might fix them. (Adobe Acrobat required) National Wetlands Research Center of the U.S. Geological Survey The U.S. Geological Survey report, Status and Trends of the Nation's Biological Resources, Section 2 Regional Trends in Biological Resources - article 2, Coastal Louisiana Louisiana Wetland News Fall 2001 newsletter, in which Louisiana Governor Mike Foster declared "war" on the wetlands problem. (Adobe Acrobat required)

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This activity introduces students to different forms of energy, energy transformations, energy storage, and the flow of energy through systems. Students learn that most energy can be traced back to nuclear fusion on the sun. This activity from NOAA Ocean Service is about using aerial photographs to assess the impact of extreme weather events such as Hurricane Katrina. The activity features aerial views of Biloxi, MS post-Katrina and enables students to see evidence of the power of extreme weather on the environment. Student teams design and build solar water heating devices that mimic those used in residences to capture energy in the form of solar radiation and convert it to thermal energy. In this activity, students gain a better understanding of the three different types of heat transfer, each of which plays a role in the solar water heater design. Once the model devices are constructed, students perform efficiency calculations and compare designs. Hands-on laboratory activity that allows students to investigate the effects of distance and angle on the input of solar radiation at Earth's surface, the role played by albedo, the heat capacity of land and water, and how these cause the seasons. Students predict radiative heating based on simple geometry and experiment to test their hypotheses. In this activity for undergraduates, students explore the CLIMAP (Climate: Long-Range Investigation, Mapping and Prediction) model results for differences between the modern and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and discover the how climate and vegetation may have changed in different regions of the Earth based on scientific data. This hands-on activity is a kinesthetic game illustrating the dynamics of the carbon cycle. Acting as carbon atoms, students travel from one carbon reservoir to another; at each reservoir they determine, by rolling dice, how long they stay in the reservoir or how likely it is that they will move to another carbon reservoir. In this lesson, students complete a Myers-Briggs Type Inventory of their personality type as an introductory step to understanding what green jobs might suit their personal styles. From the information on this online tool, they look at different Green Jobs to explore possible careers. This is a jigsaw activity in which students are assigned to research one step out of five in the geochemical process stages of the organic carbon cycle. Students then teach their step in cross-step groups until everyone understands all five process stages. Students investigate passive solar building design with a focus on heating. Insulation, window placement, thermal mass, surface colors, and site orientation are addressed in the background materials and design preparation. Students test their projects for thermal gains and losses during a simulated day and night then compare designs with other teams for suggestions for improvements.

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In 1453, Richard, Duke of York, claimed the throne of England from his Lancastrian kinsman Henry VI, and set off a series of conflicts between rival branches of the English royal family, better known as the Wars of the Roses. Blood Roses traces the origins of this bitter rivalry all the way back to 1245 with the birth of the first Earl of Lancaster, Henry III's younger son, Edmund. Thomas, the second Earl, was the first cousin and most dangerous enemy of King Edward II, and ended up being executed after a decade and half of rivalry and conflict. Thomas's nephew Henry, the first Duke of Lancaster, was one of the great figures of the 14th century and was the father-in-law of Edward III's third son John of Gaunt, probably the most famous member of the House of Lancaster. Edward III's fourth son Edmund of Langley founded the House of York in 1385; his son Edward was killed at Agincourt in 1415 and was the uncle of Richard, duke of York. Blood Roses takes the reader through 170 years of bloody warfare and political intrigue, and sets the scene for one of the most famous conflicts in English history.

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There are two ways to manage devices under Linux: the DOS way and the UNIX way. Take your pick. Most Linux distributions include the Mtools suite, a set of commands that are perfectly equivalent to their DOS counterpart, but start with an `m': mmd, and so on. They can even preserve long file names, but not file permissions. If you configure Mtools editing a file called /etc/mtools.conf (a sample is provided in the distribution), you can also access the DOS/Win partition, the CD--ROM, and the Zip drive. To format a fresh disk though, mformat command won't do. As root, you'll have to issue this You can't access files on the floppy with a command like, say, a:file.txt! This is the disadvantage of the DOS way of accessing disks. UNIX has a different way to handle devices. There are no separate volumes like A: or C:; a disk, be it a floppy or whatever, becomes part of the local file system through an operation called ``mounting''. When you're done using the disk, before extracting it you must ``unmount'' it. Physically formatting a disk is one thing, making a file system on it is another. The DOS command FORMAT A: does both things, but under Linux there are separate commands. To format a floppy, see above; to create a file system: # mkfs -t ext2 -c /dev/fd0H1440 You can use vfat (recommended) or other formats ext2. Once the disk is prepared, mount it with the # mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 /mnt specifying the right file system if you don't use ext2. Now you can address the files in the floppy using /mnt instead of A: or B:. DOS Linux --------------------------------------------------------------------- C:\GUIDO>DIR A: $ ls /mnt C:\GUIDO>COPY A:*.* $ cp /mnt/* . C:\GUIDO>COPY *.ZIP A: $ cp *.zip /mnt C:\GUIDO>EDIT A:FILE.TXT $ jstar /mnt/file.txt C:\GUIDO>A: $ cd /mnt A:> _ /mnt/$ _ When you've finished, before extracting the disk you must unmount it with the command # umount /mnt Obviously, you have to mkfs only unformatted disks, not previously used ones. If you want to use the drive B:, refer to fd1 instead of fd0 in the examples above. Needless to say, what applies to floppies also applies to other devices; for instance, you may want to mount another hard disk or a CD--ROM drive. Here's how to mount the CD--ROM: # mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt This was the ``official'' way to mount your disks, but there's a trick in store. Since it's a bit of a nuisance having to be root to mount a floppy or a CD--ROM, every user can be allowed to mount them this way: # mkdir /mnt/floppy ; mkdir /mnt/cdrom # chmod 777 /mnt/floppy /mnt/cd* # # make sure that the CD-ROM device is right # chmod 666 /dev/hdb ; chmod 666 /dev/fd* /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0 /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy vfat user,noauto 0 0 Now, to mount a DOS floppy and a CD--ROM: $ mount /mnt/floppy $ mount /mnt/cdrom /mnt/floppy and /mnt/cdrom can now be accessed by every user. Remember that allowing everyone to mount disks this way is a gaping security hole, if you care. Two useful commands are df, which gives information on the mounted file systems, and du dirname which reports the disk space consumed by the directory. There are several packages to help you, but the very least you can do for a multi-volume backup is (as root): # tar -M -cvf /dev/fd0H1440 dir_to_backup/ Make sure to have a formatted floppy in the drive, and several more ready. To restore your stuff, insert the first floppy in the drive and do: # tar -M -xpvf /dev/fd0H1440

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abecedarian - [ay-bee-see-DAIR-ee-uhn] - noun 1. One who is learning the alphabet; hence, a beginner. 2. One engaged in teaching the alphabet. 3. Pertaining to the letters of the alphabet. 4. Arranged alphabetically. 5. Rudimentary; elementary. The boy might think he's good at basketball, but his skills are too abecedarian to make the team.

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Issued by National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and its following Associated Groups: - College and University Faculty Assembly (CUFA) - International Assembly (IA) - National Social Studies Supervisors Association (NSSSA) - Social Science Educational Consortium (SSEC) approved August 17, 2017 As members of the National Council for the Social Studies, we express deep concern for the events taking place in Charlottesville, Virginia, and their aftermath during the past week. Acknowledging the long term and divisive history of racial hatred and religious intolerance in the United States, we deplore acts of reckless violence and declarations of white supremacy, which tear at the foundation of our common civic unity and faith in democratic ideals. As social studies professionals, we strive to prepare students for civic competence and active participation in our society. Such active participation only happens with a sustained commitment to providing rigorous social studies instruction everyday as part of a well-rounded education. Soon, students will return to class, whether in university or K-12 classrooms. These events continue to stress the need for sustained public discourse and instruction about the world around us. We cannot remain silent about such critical themes as culture or global connections and expect our public to have appropriate civic engagement. How should social studies educators address these issues in the classroom? While such a conversation can be very difficult for some students and in some contexts, social studies teachers carry the responsibility for fostering democratic values and engaged citizenship in the classroom. We are tasked with brokering difficult conversations about issues of equity and social justice that engender open-mindedness and thoughtful responses to harmful language and actions. We encourage all social studies teachers and teacher educators to equip our children and students with the tools to eradicate hate, fear, and violence in our democratic society. Teaching the Charlottesville Tragedy NCSS invites its members and the general public to share resources and sustain conversations about civic competence. Here are some resources to prepare to teach about Charlottesville and similar situations should they arise in the future. "The first thing teachers should do when school starts is talk about hatred in America. Here’s help" Washington Post, August 13, 2017 "Teaching about race, racism and police violence: Resources for educators and parents" Washington Post, July 11, 2017 "What should teachers say about the hate speech seen in Charlottesville?" USA Today, August 14, 2017 Talking to Students About Charlottesville Violence and Racism" NEAToday, August 14, 2017 Resources For Educators To Use In The Wake Of Charlottesville" National Public Radio, August, 14, 2017 The Illusion of Progress: Charlottesville's Roots in White Supremacy" Citizen Justice Initiative, Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies, University of Virginia The History Classroom in an Era of Crisis: A Change of Course Is Needed American Historical Association Uncomfortable Conversations: Talking About Race In The Classroom National Public Radio What Is the Alt-Right? Whose Heritage? Public Symbols of the Confederacy Southern Poverty Law Center

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Sun's Weekly Hurricane Tips Farm Recovery Tips for After a Hurricane - After a hurricane or flood, the farm should be returned to production as soon as possible: - Remove zinc sheets, lumber, nails, etc., that can cause damage to animals; - Clean-up debris of damaged plants; - Salvage valuable trees or plants; - Dispose of dead animals immediately by composting, burial or burning; - Clean and repair cages, pens, houses as soon as possible and return animals. Disease in animals may be increased after a flood: - Check for signs of pneumonia; - Check animals for distress/illness and consult a veterinarian where necessary; - Keep vaccinations up to date - Provide clean and uncontaminated water and feed; - Clear pasture land - Where necessary, spray for mosquitoes and other insect pests. - Inspect chemical stores, clean up any chemical spillage to avoid poisoning and restrict contamination of water sources; - Effect repairs to storehouses and other structures, if necessary; - Unclog drains and canals to free up the passage of water; - Repair drain and canal infrastructure, electrical power lines and (using a competent electrician) pumping stations, if necessary; - As soon as practicable, address weed control (farms tend to get overrun by weeds following a hurricane) Fruit tree crops Make a visual assessment of the damage to estimate the cost of resetting the trees or re-establishing the orchard; Be alert and look for fallen or broken high-powered electrical wires which may still be alive and dangerous; * In cutting plants, make sharp, clean cuts at a 45-degree angle to prevent water settling on the cut surface. Use tools such as pruning saw, rolcut/secateurs or chainsaw. Uprooted trees Cut back secondary branches towards the main stem at an acceptable inner node or branch collar; Prop up trees and cover roots with topsoil; where possible, avoid damage to the base of the trunk; Mulch, if possible To be effective, mulch should be at least three inches thick and have a three-foot radius around the plant; Do not pile mulch against trunks, as this may cause attack by fungi and borers. Partially toppled trees * N.B. As trees continue to develop and recover, additional pruning will be essential for proper management of new growth. Trees with split or twisted trunks Cut below the split or twist at a node or branch collar and at a 45-degree angle; Treat remaining trunk and drench roots with systemic fungicide; * Remove all cut material from the site. Trees with broken branches Cut back broken branches to next inner node, fork or branch collar; Paint branches exposed to sunlight for the first time with white lime to prevent sunburn. Dilute white lime with water in a 1:4 ratio. Dissolve material to be sprayed 1:1 with water and strain; * Dilute after with an equal volume of water. Fertiliser application Fertilise tree with a complete fertiliser, 2-3 months after the hurricane. If possible, place the fertiliser in a 1-2m (3-6 ft.) circular area around the trunk of damaged trees, as this is the area where the new fibrous roots will emerge.

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Updated on June 25, 2015, at 10:34 a.m. The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that policies that segregate minorities in poor neighborhoods, even if they do so unintentionally, violate the Fair Housing Act. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that so-called “disparate-impact claims”—claims that challenge practices that adversely affect minorities—can be brought under the Fair Housing Act. However, the court warned against remedies that impose outright racial quotas, a sign that disparate-impact claims must be brought cautiously. In writing the majority opinion, Justice Kennedy acknowledged that the disparate-impact standard has worked to combat systemic discrimination. “Much progress remains to be made in our Nation’s continuing struggle against racial isolation,” Kennedy wrote. “In striving to achieve our ‘historic commitment to creating an integrated society,’ we must remain wary of policies that reduce homeowners to nothing more than their race. But since the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968 and against the backdrop of disparate-impact liability in nearly every jurisdiction, many cities have become more diverse. The FHA must play an important part in avoiding the Kerner Commission’s grim prophecy that ‘our Nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate but equal.’” The following piece, written before the decision was handed down, explains how the case came to be, and what was at stake. A week after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act into law. Its goal was to prevent housing discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and it gave the Department of Housing and Urban Development the legal tools to try and remedy decades of housing segregation. This month the Supreme Court will decide whether to scrap parts of that law. Housing advocates from across the country wait, nervous, every Monday (and sometimes Thursday) when the court releases opinions. The case, Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, colloquially known as Inclusive Communities, has many of these advocates worried that a court that has rolled back many protections of the civil rights era will go even further this time. “This case is a core civil rights issue, and it's the court’s only really race case this term,” said Janai Nelson, the associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, in a conference call with reporters last month. “It comes at a time when race and the consequences of policies and laws that have direct racial implications are unfolding in very disturbing ways on our many screens and with distressing regularity.” The case came about when the Inclusive Communities Project, a Dallas non-profit that tries to promote racial and socioeconomic integration, sued the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs in 2008 over the way the department allocated housing tax credits. HUD’s Low-Income-Housing Tax Credit, which is distributed by states, enables developers to build affordable housing without losing money. In Texas and other states, the state housing agency chooses which projects will receive the credits through a formula called the Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP), which gives some projects more points than others. States publish their QAPs every year, and some give priority to projects that are located in high-opportunity areas, others seek projects that invest in distressed neighborhoods, while others prioritize projects that target extremely low-income individuals. The projects with the most points receive the tax credits, and are thus able to move forward. The Inclusive Communities Project argues that the way Texas distributed the points in Dallas between 1995 and 2009 led minorities to be segregated in poor areas of Dallas. That’s because, Inclusive Communities argues, in 1994 Texas stopped prioritizing the goal of desegregation when it chose which projects received tax credits. Between 1995 and 2009, the state did not award tax credits for any family units in predominantly white census tracts, and instead gave tax credits to locations “marked by the same ghetto conditions that the FHA was passed to remedy,” the lawsuit states. “The impacted racial ghetto, with its segregated overcrowded living conditions, inherently unequal schools, unemployment and underemployment, appalling mortality and health statistics, inevitably gives rise to hopelessness, bitterness, and yes, even open rebelling of those imprisoned within its confines,” Senator Walter Mondale, a sponsor of the FHA, said in 1968. “Forced ghetto housing, which amounts to the confinement of minority group Americans to ‘ghetto jails’ condemns to failure every single program designed to relieve the fantastic pressures on our cities.” Of course, Dallas had its reasons for awarding the tax credits the way it did. While some states award tax credits to developments in so-called “high-opportunity” neighborhoods, others prioritize high-poverty neighborhoods, which are often in need of investment and, some argue, could be improved with updated housing stock. Congress even added an incentive in 1989 that allowed developers to claim 30 percent more tax credits if they located projects in high-poverty areas. But building more low-income developments in high-poverty neighborhoods perpetuates class segregation, and Inclusive Communities argues it also perpetuates racial segregation. Nationally, there are 3,800 census tracts where more than 40 percent of the population is below the poverty line—70 percent of those are also predominantly minority. Though Texas might not have been intentionally discriminating against minorities in the allocation of its tax credits, its policies still had a “disparate impact” on minorities by segregating them in high-poverty areas, Inclusive Communities argues. The Supreme Court case centers on whether Texas had to be discriminating against minorities on purpose to be found unlawful. After all, it’s difficult to prove that anyone had the intention to discriminate. It’s much easier to prove that an action had a discriminatory effect—and the evidence is clear that the policies did segregate families in Texas. If the court rules that disparate-impact claims cannot be brought in Fair Housing Act challenges, it would essentially defang the FHA, housing advocates say. “To suddenly remove what is the core protection of this Fair Housing Act would fundamentally dismantle the very architecture of Civil Rights laws, and would put an end to, and possibly reverse, the gains that were built over the last half century,” said Dennis Parker, the director of the Racial Justice Program at the ACLU. Tellingly, two similar cases that were making their way to the Supreme Court were settled shortly before oral arguments because civil-rights advocates were worried they would lose before a conservative Roberts court. And both a district court and an appellate court ruled in favor of the Inclusive Communities Project, which makes the Supreme Court’s decision to take the case especially concerning to advocates. The oral arguments in January gave little indication as to how the Supreme Court might rule. The court’s liberal justices asked whether reversing disparate-impact claims was really in line with what Congress was trying to do when it passed the FHA and amended it since then. Federal courts had once universally agreed that lawsuits based on disparate-impact claims could proceed: In 1988, Congress amended the act to create three exceptions to disparate-impact liability while leaving the rest of the law unchanged, which the Court may interpret as implying that Congress wanted disparate-impact to stand. Even conservative Justice Antonin Scalia seemed to side with Inclusive Communities on that issue. “Doesn’t that kill your case?” he asked Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller. “I mean, when we look at a provision of a law, we look at the entire provision of a law, including later amendments. We try to make sense of the law as a whole.” But Chief Justice Roberts also wondered how to determine whether a disparate impact is actually a bad impact. Using tax credits to build housing in a low-income area could be considered good because it revitalizes a community, while using them to promote integration could also be considered positive. Which benefits minorities more, he asked, and who decides this? I’ve written before about how children from low-income minority families who had the opportunity to move to majority white suburbs often did better in school and careers than their peers who stayed in the cities. Requiring at least some tax credit properties to be in high-opportunity areas is one way to achieve this, and it creates even more housing opportunities for families who want to have access to amenities they otherwise would not in the cities, said John Henneberger, a fair housing advocate in Texas. Low-income people who have Section 8 vouchers often can’t find housing outside of poor areas—especially in places like Texas, where, last month, the legislature passed a bill that prohibits municipalities from enacting so-called “Source of Income” laws, which force landlords accept Section 8 vouchers (the legislature passed this bill after Austin prohibited Source of Income discrimination). In contrast, tax-credit-supported developers must accept vouchers. “If you want people of color who are low-income to be able to have an opportunity to live in a suburban community, you have to get a tax-credit development out there,” Henneberger told me. More developers have built tax-credit developments in the suburbs in the wake of the 2012 district-court decision in favor of Inclusive Communities. The court ordered Texas to propose modifications to the QAP, and the state did so. The new formula gave more points to developers that built in high-opportunity areas. But the state of Texas changed its QAP again and now requires both a city to put in its own money for tax-credit developments, as well as a formal resolution of support from the city’s governing body. That’s made it much more difficult to get projects built in wealthier areas, Betsy Julian, president of the Inclusive Communities Project, told me. “The requirement to get the resolution of support has really had a chilling effect on cities,” she told me. “We’re hearing that it’s political suicide to formally offer a resolution of support.” If the Supreme Court rules against Inclusive Communities, tax-credit developments could become yet even harder to build in nicer neighborhoods. There’s support in Texas’s conservative legislature for changing the QAP again if the district court’s ruling is reversed. There are certainly housing advocates who argue that this won’t be the end of the world. It’s possible to build very nice tax-credit developments in impoverished areas, and improve those areas by doing so. But calling the Section 8 program “Housing Choice” vouchers seems disingenuous if families really have no choice about where they’re going to live.

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AS a historian, I’ve spent much of my career warning people about the dangers of nostalgia. But as a mother, watching my son graduate from medical school on Thursday, I have been awash in nostalgia all week. In personal life, the warm glow of nostalgia amplifies good memories and minimizes bad ones about experiences and relationships, encouraging us to revisit and renew our ties with friends and family. It always involves a little harmless self-deception, like forgetting the pain of childbirth. In society at large, however, nostalgia can distort our understanding of the world in dangerous ways, making us needlessly negative about our current situation. Nineteenth-century Americans were extremely worried, the historian Susan Matt points out, about the incidence of nostalgia, which was the term used to describe homesickness in those days. According to physicians of the era, acute nostalgia led to “mental dejection,” “cerebral derangement” and sometimes even death. The only known cure was for the afflicted individual to go home, and if that wasn’t possible, the sufferer was seriously out of luck. Such was the quandary facing soldiers during the Civil War, when going home constituted desertion. Doctors diagnosed 5,000 clinical cases of nostalgia in Union soldiers and determined that 74 men had died from the affliction. To contain the epidemic, military officials prohibited Army bands from playing “Home, Sweet Home,” while ministers and officers avoided references in sermons or speeches that might touch off a new outbreak. When present-day nostalgia involves homesickness for a period of time or a way of life that is gone for good, it’s time to follow the example of 19th century military commanders and stop fostering longings for the past that produce “mental dejection” about our prospects for the future. There’s nothing wrong with celebrating the good things in our past. But memories, like witnesses, do not always tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We need to cross-examine them, recognizing and accepting the inconsistencies and gaps in those that make us proud and happy as well as those that cause us pain. In my work as a historian and in my relationships as a friend, teacher, wife and mother, I have come to think that the most useful way to understand the past, and make it work for you, is to look at the trade-offs and contradictions that, however deeply buried, can be uncovered in every memory, good or bad. The psychologist John Snarey has studied men who had very difficult childhoods because of their fathers’ poor parenting. Some of these men replicated the same problems in their relationships with their own children. But others were able to use the memory of what their fathers did wrong to chart a different course in their own parenting. What separated the two groups was that the successful ones neither idealized their own fathers nor focused on their shortcomings. Rather, they placed their fathers’ failures in context, turning their anger “into a sense of sadness for and understanding of the conditions under which their own fathers had functioned.” Their unhappy memories became a guide for avoiding bad behavior rather than an excuse for it. Happy memories also need to be put in context. I have interviewed many white people who have fond memories of their lives in the 1950s and early 1960s. The ones who never cross-examined those memories to get at the complexities were the ones most hostile to the civil rights and the women’s movements, which they saw as destroying the harmonious world they remembered. But others could see that their own good experiences were in some ways dependent on unjust social arrangements, or on bad experiences for others. Some white people recognized that their happy memories of childhood included a black housekeeper who was always available to them because she couldn’t be available to her children. Some sons and daughters realized that their idyllic summers at the beach happened only because their mother had given up something else she had very much wanted to do. Some husbands — and those were among the most touching interviews I did — came to understand that the homes they regarded as personal oases seemed more like prisons to their wives. They were then able to support a wife or daughter who chose a course that took a man out of his comfort zone. These people didn’t repudiate, regret or feel guilty about their good memories. But because they also dug for the exceptions and sacrifices that lurked behind their one-dimensional view of the past, they were able to adapt to change. Both as individuals and as a society, we must learn to view the past in three dimensions before we can move into the fourth dimension of the future.

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A stroke occurs when blood isn’t reaching part of the brain, depriving it of oxygen and causing brain cells to die. It’s an extremely serious event that can cause sudden weakness, numbness, paralysis, sensory disability (trouble seeing, speaking, etc.), brain damage, and even death. Often caused by blood clotting, a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or “mini stroke” is similar to a stroke in that blood doesn’t reach the brain. The difference is that TIAs are brief, so the damage isn’t long-term. Still, a TIA is a serious condition that increases the risk of a stroke and demands emergency care.

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Agriculture, particularly the livestock sector, often gets a bad rap in discussions about climate change, but ranchers and farmers recently told a U.S. Senate committee they have an intimate stake in environmental sustainability and have welcomed advancements that lighten their environmental impact. Agriculture’s role and government support in combating climate change was the focus of a hearing by the Senate Agriculture Committee on May 21. “I believe agriculture, and American farmers and ranchers who live by the concept of continuous improvement and voluntary-based conservation, can be a model for other industries and other countries,…” committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said. Matt Rezac, a fourth-generation farmer in Weston, Neb., said he knew he had to change his farming practices to stay in business. He now relies on technology to practice precision agriculture that focuses on soil health. Farmers might not talk about their practices to maintain soil health and water quality and quantity and control erosion as a climate issue, but those goals help provide climate solutions, he said. “Every day, farmers like me make stewardship decisions that impact more than 1.4 billion acres of rural land … making a positive difference and leading the way on climate solutions,” he said. Farmers are embracing technology, and working together they can continue to lead the way on stewardship. A lot of their conservation efforts are paid for and carried out voluntarily, but it is critical that climate solutions make economic sense for farmers, he said. Providing market and policy incentives that complement farmers’ stewardship goals will be “vitally important,” he said. Debbie Lyons-Blythe, who runs a fifth-generation cattle operation with her husband and their five children in the Flint Hills of Kansas, said producers graze cattle on nearly one-third of the U.S. land mass. Grass, pasture and rangeland for cattle sequester carbon in the soil, aiding the climate. Being good stewards of the land not only makes good environmental sense, it is fundamental for the cattle industry to remain strong, she said. Open spaces are also critical to wildlife and pollinator habitat, and cattle are able to utilize byproducts of other industries that would otherwise end up in landfills, generating additional greenhouse gases, she said. “Climate change policies that unfairly target cattle producers fail to recognize the positive role of cattle and beef in a healthy, sustainable food system, and misguided policies can threaten the viability of our industry,” she said. Cattle producers also use various technologies to increase animal efficiency, mitigating the environmental impact. The industry produces the same amount of beef today as in the 1970s with 33% fewer animals, she said. According to a 2016 EPA report, agriculture contributes 9% to total U.S. greenhouse gases. Food waste — the majority occurring at the consumer level — is the largest contributor to agriculture’s carbon footprint, with 40% of food produced in the U.S. ending up in landfills, Frank Mitloehner, animal science and air quality specialist at the University of California, said.

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Melanoma is a particularly aggressive form of cancer Skin cancer patients have a higher chance of developing other forms of the disease, research suggests. Experts found people treated for melanoma were more than twice as likely to develop other, unrelated cancers than the general population. The risk was also elevated - although not as much - for patients with other forms of skin cancer. The study, led by Queen's University Belfast, features in the British Journal of Cancer. It echoes previous more general research suggesting that one type of cancer raises the risk of developing another. The researchers analysed data from the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry, including 1,837 patients with melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer, and 20,823 patients with less aggressive forms of the disease. Patients with non-melanoma skin cancer were up to 57% more likely to develop another type of cancer than people in the general population. They were almost twice as likely to go on to develop melanoma and had an increased risk of smoking-related cancers. But the risk of subsequent cancers was even higher in the melanoma group - more than double that of the general population. Researcher Professor Liam Murray said there were several possible explanations for the link. He said: "Sun exposure is an important risk factor for all types of skin cancers so patients who have had one type of skin cancer may be more likely to develop other types as well. "Alternatively a new skin cancer may be more likely to be detected in patients who are monitored following their first diagnosis of skin cancer. "The increase in smoking-related cancers may be because smoking predisposes to skin cancer as well as other cancers or because people who smoke may be more likely to have generally unhealthy lifestyles including excessive sun exposure." Sara Hiom, of the charity Cancer Research UK, said: "We know that lifestyle factors such as excessive UV exposure, smoking, being overweight and drinking too much alcohol can increase the risk of cancer. "These important findings could help doctors target health information more accurately to people who have been treated for skin cancer to help them reduce their risk of developing a second cancer."

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By Denis McClean Geneva - Over the last five years economic losses due to disasters reached over $800 billion worldwide and a new report, published this week, found that 81% of surveyed cities experienced an increase in natural hazards over the same period. Overall, 79% of surveyed cities reported changes in temperature, precipitation, sea level or natural hazards that they attribute to climate change. Nearly half of the 468 cities who participated in the survey reported a range of impacts, and damage to local government property was the most frequently cited impact. Cities in Africa (10), Asia (24) and Latin America (20) reported deaths from disasters that they view as being associated with climate change. The lack of financial support and understanding of the urban adaptation challenge outlined in the new survey is a key reason why initiatives such as UNISDR's two year old "Making Cities Resilient" campaign are crucial in raising awareness, promoting peer-to-peer learning and generating political support and understanding for local governments. Only 7% of respondents believe that their national governments fully understand the realities of adaptation planning at local level. The cities surveyed were all members of UNISDR's partner ICLEI -- Local Governments for Sustainability -- and the majority of survey respondents (298) were in the US which has a large ICLEI membership. "Progress and Challenges in Urban Climate Adaptation Planning: Results of a Global Survey" is said to be the first systematic study at this scale of adaptation initiatives and challenges and was carried out by JoAnn Carmin, Associate Professor of Environmental Policy and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with research assistants, Nikhil Nadkarni and Christopher Rhie. It was presented this week at the 2012 Resilient Cities Congress in Bonn by Prof. Carmin. Among the 19% of cities who had assessed climate impacts, increased storm water runoff (65%) and storm water management (61%) are the top two concerns. In addition to a rise in natural hazards, other notable changes remarked on by survey respondents were changes in flora and fauna, rural-to-urban migration, coastal erosion, emergence of new diseases and deaths from disasters. Many cities are taking measures to mainstream adaptation into disaster risk reduction and land use planning but globally they report three top challenges: securing funding for adaptation; communicating the need for adaptation to elected officials and local departments; and gaining commitment and generating appreciation from national government for the realities of local adaptation challenges. The report concludes: "While financial and informational resources will still be needed, when political support and commitment exist to promote adaptation, cities will find it easier to foster engagement among local government departments and to mainstream adaptation into their ongoing initiatives."

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Breast pain, tenderness and soreness is also known as mastalgia. It may come and go in a cyclic manner as during the menstrual periods or it may follow a non-cyclic pattern. There are several causes behind breast pain, tenderness and soreness. Let us examine each one of them in detail. Causes Of Breast Soreness Breast Pain During Periods Breast pain, tenderness and soreness is very common just before the onset of the menstrual cycle. This happens due to a surge in the hormones a week before the period begins. The soreness occurs in the form of breast heaviness, tightness and pain. The breasts appear bigger, rounder and heavier than normal. The pain occurs in both the breasts and often radiates to the armpits. The pain begins typically a week or ten days before the period starts. It gradually goes away once the periods start. It is very common in younger women though older women too experience it. The pain can range from moderate to very severe. It does not need any treatment. Wearing good supportive bras and using warm compresses on the breast often helps the breast to heal and become ok. Breast pain During Pregnancy Breast pain and tenderness is often confused for a menstrual cycle but it can also indicate a pregnancy. It is often one of the first signs of a pregnancy. Women experience intense breast soreness just after the fertilized egg attaches itself to the lining of the uterus. The soreness is profound and sometimes lasts until about the end of the first trimester. The soreness and pain occur due to the surge in the hormone progesterone as well as the HCG hormone, which increases after the pregnancy gets confirmed. The breasts continue to feel heavy, sore and tender for a good 2-3 months until the hormones stabilize. Breast Pain During Breastfeeding This pain can be very excruciating. It is also known as breast engorgement. It occurs when the milk comes into the breasts due to which the breasts become enormous, firm and start to hurt. Since the demand and supply of milk is yet to be established, the milk comes out in abundance. This makes the breasts and nipples extremely sore and painful. Feeding the baby every 2 hours can regularize the milk supply and reduce the breast pain and soreness. In very severe cases, a condition called as mastitis occurs in which the breast ducts producing milk are infected or blocked. This can lead to a massive breast infection in which the fluid or the pus may have to be surgically drained. Breast Soreness due to Exercise This sort of pain is very routine and common especially when you start a new exercise programme. Women who weight train for the first time in which they exercise their pectoral muscles, experience tremendous breast soreness for 2-3 days after the workout. This happens due to typical breast exercises like the bench press and dumbbell chest presses that lead to soreness in the pectoral muscles. This can be relieved by gentle stretching. Lumps in the breast can also cause breast pain and soreness. These of course need to be further investigated. Usually an ultrasound will diagnose the presence of cysts and lumps in the breast. These can further be assessed with the help of a mammogram in order to detect whether the lumps and cysts are cancerous or not. Breast cancer is one of the most fatal diseases of women and should be given its due attention. It has been seen and observed that women who undergo cyclic breast pain during their periods are also very sensitive to caffeine. Caffeine has an effect of dilating the blood vessels and making the breasts more tender, painful and swollen. Animal Foods and fatty Foods Excess consumption of animal and fatty foods especially during intense phases of cyclic breast soreness could aggravate the pain and make matters worse. This has a lot to do with the presence of animal hormones in fatty foods. Wearing an Incorrect Bra Wearing the right bra makes all the difference in the world. Some top-heavy women with large breasts prefer to go braless or wear bras with tight under wires. This can constrict the breast tissue and give rise to breast soreness and pain. Not wearing the right supportive bra can also lead to a lot of pain in the breasts. The use of oral contraceptives has been closely linked with breast pain and soreness. Oral contraceptives have differing doses of estrogen and progesterone that prevent ovulation from occurring. Women taking oral contraceptives could also be suffering from breast soreness and pain. Breast surgery done to the breasts during a mastectomy, breast augmentation or the placement of a breast implant can all lead to tissue scarring, trauma and pain. Surgery done on the breast is likely to leave the breasts feeling tender and sore until the site of the incision heals. Accidents to the chest wall can also lead to significant amounts of breast pain. Fatty acid Imbalances A fatty acid imbalance could also lead to breast pain. Imbalances in the fatty acids of the body can make the body more susceptible to the circulating hormones epically during cyclic changes. This can be easily corrected through fatty acids supplementation. For example, many women benefit after taking supplements of evening primrose oil, which reduces the fatty acid imbalance, which may have occurred in the body. Medications used During Infertility Treatments The standard medications used during infertility treatments could also alter the levels of hormones in the body thus making your breasts very sensitive to the hormonal changes. That is why there are a lot of women who undergo breast pain even after menopause especially if they have been on HRT. Menopause is another cyclical reason for breast pain. Some women have uncomfortably large breasts, which could lead to a lot of pain in their chests, back and the neck region. This can be corrected either through breast augmentation or by wearing the correct supportive bra.

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3 Important, New Electronic Digital Computers (Sep, 1952) 3 Important, New Electronic Digital Computers For Engineering, Science and Business Entirely new circuit designs have enabled CRC to produce a complete line of relatively small, low cost, highly reliable, digital electronic computers. They may be purchased outright, or leased with the option to buy. A complete parts and service warranty, including both preventive and special maintenance will be included with lease if desired. THE CRC 105 Decimal Digital Differential Analyzer In response to demand by users, many features have been built into the CRC 105 for maximum ease in programming and operation. It has 60 integrators, is filled from a simple decimal keyboard, stores initial conditions separately, has constant multiplier channels and automatically types all integrands on single typewriter at points selected by programming. THE CRC “CADAC” 102-A Electronic Digital General Purpose Computer The Cadac 102-A is a small, low cost, extremely reliable, electronic digital general purpose computer designed primarily to solve engineering problems. It has a 1024-word memory, and uses a three-address code. The decimal system is used for filling and printing. Available commands are: addition, subtraction, single or double precision multiplication and division, shift, compare, overflow, extract, scale factor, logical shift, print decimal, print octal, block search, tape read, tape write, card punch and card read. THE CRC 107 Automatic High-Speed Digital Data Reducing System The new CRC 107 is far more than a computing device. Because of its important data-processing features it can be used economically by such organizations as: large accounting firms, insurance companies, department stores, mail order houses, air lines and railroads, government bureaus, or in accounting and tabulating departments of any large firm. It can sort information in a large file from random order to alphabetical or numerical sequence, collate sorted information into proper position in a large file, reproduce copies of filed information for printed records or future use in magnetic tape or punched card storage, automatically print, at very high speeds, results of data sorting, collating and computing, answer inquires put to it in a random order about information stored in a large file, and perform complicated mathematical computations on an almost infinite variety of problems. All of these operations can be performed automatically, one after the other, in any order, without human intervention. Read-in, read-out media includes punched cards, magnetic tape, flexo-writer typewriter with punched paper tape and high speed printer capable of printing 10 lines a second. If you would like complete information on CRC computational equipment, write to the Director of Applications. COMPUTER RESEARCH CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA 3348 W. El Segundo Blvd., Hawthorne, Calif., OSborne 5-1171

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Ted Hughes’ “Six Young Men” is inspired by a photograph of six men shot at Lumb Falls near Hebden Bridge in the earlier part of the last century. All the six men were killed in the First World War. At the first reading, the poem comes across as a take on the futility of war. Particularly as Ted Hughes’ father was amongst the two percent of the regimen that had survived Newsnight Review critic Tom Paulin asserts that Ted Hughes, hailed from ‘that slightly different species’ – a generation ‘who took in the blood of the First World War with their mother’s milk, and who up to their middle age knew Britain only as a country always at war, or inwardly expecting and preparing for war…’ The poet begins by stating that the celluloid holds the six men well. They were permanently held, but in this ephemeral photograph. It holds them together as well. Though it has been four decades now and the photograph has become ochre-tinged,it has nor wrinkled the face or hands. And this is particularly significant, as the face is primarily considered as the identity of the person. Nevertheless time has advanced so much that their cocked hats are not fashionable now. Each one of them held their own, had their own individuality: One imparts an intimate smile, One chews a grass, one lowers his eyes, bashful, One is ridiculous with cocky pride – Six months after this picture they were all dead. And yet six months later they all were dead, their bashfulness and ‘cocky pride’ were of no use anymore. They are all set for a Sunday spree. The background seems really wonderful with the bilberried bank, thick tree, the leafy valley .etc. Yet what foregrounded the pictured were their expressions. They hold an advantage over the natural vegetation in being animate and having rational capabilities. Yet now, only the valley remains unchanged, and they no longer exist. Nor does their unity hold significance as echoed by the mingling of the seven streams. Their ends are recorded as follows. It does not matter whether the records are fact or fiction, for they are no longer alive to rectify the facts: This one was shot in an attack and lay Calling in the wire, then this one, his best friend, Went out to bring him in and was shot too; And this one, the very moment he was warned From potting at tin-cans in no-man’s land, Fell back dead with his rifle-sights shot away. The rest, nobody knows what they came to, A man’s photograph with his smile is as permanent a show-piece as a locket. Yet it is turned into a mangled mass of weight overnight. The flash of the camera has held him immortally; however the flash of the war only captured his rotting smile for an inconspicuous forty years. From the futility of war Ted Hughes swiftly moves to the hollowness of life and inevitability of death as in Philip Larkin’s “Ambulances”. Any person whom you shake hands with are not anymore alive than the figures in the photograph; though they can be apprehended through the five sensory perceptions. They are no more real than prehistoric figures or fairytale beasts, just because they are transient beings. And because, they are instruments in the hands of Destiny and circumstances. To glorify life from a glimpse (of the photograph) may well be dementing. The word ‘dement’ has two meanings -1. To make (a person) insane. 2. To cause (a person) to lose intellectual capacity. It may be equally insane to glorify the photo. Or to deify the photo may entail a person to give up his reasoning capabilities, for they are of no use in the first place….it may leave him on the verge of an existential dilemma. ©Rukhaya MK 2010 The content is the copyright of Rukhaya MK. Any line reproduced from the article has to be appropriately documented by the reader. ©Rukhaya MK. All rights reserved.

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Wistar Researchers Findings on Autoimmunity The body's immune system has sophisticated safeguards in place to prevent it from turning its destructive power against the body's own cells. Immune cells with the capability of attacking the self are readily identified in healthy individuals, and these cells are typically purged from the system. Autoimmune disorders, such as lupus, arthritis, and diabetes, are understood to result from breakdowns in those protections--they are seen as departures from the healthy norm. New findings from researchers at The Wistar Institute, however, suggest that autoimmunity may result from the rare confluence of entirely normal events. A report on the results appears in the December 18 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine. The study tracked a mildly self-reactive subset of the body's so-called memory B cells--long-lived immune cells that stand ready to respond to pathogens the immune system has previously encountered. This B cell subset apparently evades detection by the immune system's screening against cells that attack self. Then, under certain circumstances, a subsequent viral infection can activate this group of cells to begin producing antibodies against self, perhaps triggering full-blown autoimmunity and disease. "One thing this study tells us is that there doesn't appear to be any process that prevents memory B cells from generating responses to self," says Wistar associate professor Dr. Andrew J. Caton, senior author on the study. "It also tells us that a subsequent infection with a virus is quite capable of activating these self-reactive immune cells. It's not difficult to see how these events could lead to autoimmunity. The question then becomes how common this might be--could it explain a substantial proportion of autoimmune disease?" Immunologists have long suspected that viral infections may be able to initiate autoimmune responses, but it has been difficult to design an experiment that would clearly and convincingly differentiate the immune system's responses to a virus from those to self. It has long been known that some of the B cells less vigorously involved in the first-wave infection response congregate in the spleen and in lymph nodes, joining dendritic cells and T cells to form structures known as germinal centers. (One such center is pictured on the cover of the December 18 Journal of Experimental Medicine.) Here, the B cells enter into a process called hypermutation, which creates a population of long-lived memory B cells able to even more aggressively counter future infections similar to the one just vanquished. This process underlies the effectiveness of vaccines, and the result is an improved capacity to fight off infections that come later in life. Because the mutations that produce memory B cells are largely random, immunologists have for some time recognized that this process could potentially produce memory B cells able to react with self and assumed that a screening process of some kind must exist to eliminate the self-reactive cells. The new work from the Wistar scientists, however, shows that this is not the case. This fact would set the stage for later infections by pathogens resembling elements of self to initiate autoimmunity, and this is precisely what was seen in Dr. Caton's laboratory. The study's lead author is Ph.D. student Amy J. Reed, and Dr. Michael P. Riley, is a co-author. Support for the research was provided by the National Institutes of Health. Almanac, Vol. 47, No. 16, December 19, 2000

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Iowa Learning Farms Launches New Cover Crop Calculator Tool AMES, Iowa — Cover crops are planted in the fall and stay on fields over the winter, covering the ground with foliage and holding soil in place with their roots. These assets help to slow soil erosion and reduce nitrate leaching, thereby improving water quality. They also improve soil health and productivity and suppress weeds. Many farmers are seeking management advice about implementing cover crops into their corn-soybean rotations. To help farmers in their decision-making, Iowa Learning Farms has launched a new tool to help calculate and compare the costs of using cover crops, including seed, application and chemical termination. Modeled after the popular Ag Decision Maker tools developed by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, the calculator can be used for a single cover crop species or up to six species to a mixture. The tool calculates the cost of drilling and aerial application for easy comparison. It is available as an Excel file on the ILF website. To use the calculator, download and open the Excel file (Microsoft Excel software must be installed on your computer): http://www.extension.iastate.edu/ilf/content/cover-crops-0. Cover crop acres are increasing as more farmers see their short- and long-term benefits. In Iowa, winter rye is most commonly planted as a single species and some farmers are using mixes such as rye, oats, tillage radish or turnips. Some cover crops also are being used for grazing livestock or as an extra rotation to produce small grain cover crop seed. To learn more about cover crops visit the ILF website for resources and videos on planting and terminating: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/ilf/. Iowa Learning Farms is building a Culture of Conservation, encouraging adoption of residue management and conservation practices. Farmers, researchers and ILF team members are working together to identify and implement the best in-field management practices that increase water and soil quality while remaining profitable. Iowa Learning Farms is a partnership of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa Natural Resources Conservation Service and Iowa Department of Natural Resources (USEPA section 319); in cooperation with Conservation Districts of Iowa, the Iowa Farm Bureau and the Iowa Water Center. Counties Main Menu - County Home - About Us - 4-H & Youth - Agriculture & Environment - Business & Community - Families & Healthy Living

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Jewish Publication Society |This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. (August 2009)| |Country of origin||United States| The Jewish Publication Society (JPS), originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America, is the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English. Founded in Philadelphia in 1888, by reform Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf among others, JPS is especially well known for its English translation of the Hebrew Bible, the JPS Tanakh. The JPS Bible translation is used in rabbinical and Christian seminaries, on hundreds of college campuses, in informal adult study settings, in synagogues, and in Jewish day schools and supplementary programs. It has been licensed in a wide variety of books as well as in electronic media. As a nonprofit publisher, JPS continues to develop projects that for-profit publishers will not invest in, significant scholarly projects that may take years to complete. Other core JPS projects include the ongoing JPS Bible commentary series, books on Jewish lifestyle and customs, new JPS Guides, and its many Bible editions and Bible study resources. The first Jewish Publication Society was founded in 1845 in Philadelphia, but was dissolved years later after a fire destroyed the building and the entire JPS stock. The 1880s saw an “awakening of interest in Judaism and Jewish culture of the part of young Jews… [and a] growing sense of American Jewry’s destiny on the world Jewish stage.” In response to the growing need for English-language Jewish texts, rabbis and lay leaders of the American Jewish community met on June 3, 1888 at a national convention in Philadelphia to discuss the re-founding of a national Jewish publication society. That day, after many squabbles, debates, and political maneuverings, the Jewish Publication Society was “gaveled into being.” As JPS moved into the 20th century, membership grew rapidly. After years of meetings, deliberations and revisions, the entire translation of the Bible was finally completed in 1917. This crowning achievement was put to use at the start of World War I, when young Jewish men were given prayer books and Bible readings as they marched off to war. As Hitler and the Nazi party rose to power during the 1930s, Jews in America resisted anti-Semitism through the power of words. Works such as The Decay of Czarism and Legends of the Jews became staples of Jewish literacy and helped to preserve the legacy of European Jewry. JPS also assisted the war effort by supporting refugee employment and resettlement, and by printing pamphlets that were dropped behind enemy lines, at the request of the American government. During the latter half of the 20th century, JPS published a revised translation of the Bible, books detailing both war atrocities and triumphs, and books with a new-found focus on the State of Israel. Works such as The JPS Commentary Series, The Jewish Catalog and The K’Tonton Series were tremendously successful. In 1985, the newly translated three parts of the Bible (the Torah, Prophets, and Writings) were finally compiled into what is now known as the JPS Tanakh (or NJPS, New JPS translation, to distinguish it from the OJPS, or Old JPS translation of 1917). In September 2011, JPS entered into a new collaborative publishing arrangement with the University of Nebraska Press, under which Nebraska purchased all of JPS's outstanding book inventory, and will become responsible for the production, distribution, and marketing of all JPS publications, effective January 1, 2012. JPS said that it would reduce staff but continue its operations from its Philadelphia headquarters, emphasizing the development of new projects, including an electronic version of the JPS Bible. JPS is governed by a Board of Trustees, headed by Board President David Lerman. Chaim Potok was significantly involved in JPS's publication activities for 35 years, serving as editor for 8 years, secretary of the Bible translation committee for the Writings (Ketuvim) for 16 years, chair of the JPS Editorial Committee for 18 years and literary editor to its Bible program for 18 years. Dr. Ellen Frankel was editor-in-chief since 1991 and CEO since 1998. Frankel retired in October 2009 and is now Editor Emerita of the Society. Author Steve Berman served as Director of Marketing for JPS in 1999-2001. Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz became the CEO in 2010, when he came to JPS from Congregation M'Kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where he served as senior rabbi for 11 years. Rabbi Schwartz served on the board of several nonprofit social justice organizations, and is especially active in Jewish environmental work. Carol Hupping is managing editor. - 20th Century Jewish Religious Thought By Arthur A. Cohen, Paul Mendes-Flohr ISBN 978-0-8276-0892-4 - American Jewish Fiction: A JPS Guide By Josh Lambert ISBN 978-0-8276-0883-2 - Dictionary of Jewish Words: A JPS Guide By Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic ISBN 978-0-8276-0832-0 - Celebrating the Jewish Year By Paul Steinberg, Janet Greenstein Potter ISBN 978-0-8276-0902-0 - The Commentators' Bible (Leviticus) By Michael Carasik ISBN 978-0-8276-0897-9 - Elvina's Mirror By Sylvie Weil ISBN 978-0-8276-0885-6 - A Heart Afire By Netanel Miles-Yepez and Zalman Schachter Shalomi ISBN 978-0-8276-0884-9 - The Jerusalem Crown (Keter) Bible ISBN 978-0-8276-0912-9 - Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices—Power By Elliot N. Dorff and Louis E. Newman ISBN 978-0-8276-0862-7 - JPS Illustrated Children's Bible By Dr. Ellen Frankel ISBN 978-0-8276-0891-7 - Maimonides By David Hartman ISBN 978-0-8276-0911-2 - Naomi's Song By Selma Kritzer Silverberg ISBN 978-0-8276-0886-3 - Subversive Sequels in the Bible By Judy Klitsner ISBN 978-0-8276-0888-7 - Kings of the Jews By Norman Gelb ISBN 978-0-8276-0913-6 - The Life of Gluckel of Hameln By Herself, Translated and Edited By Beth-Zion Abrahams ISBN 978-0-8276-0914-3 The JPS TANAKH: The Jewish Bible, audio version is a recorded version of the JPS TANAKH, the most widely read English translation of the Hebrew (the Jewish) Bible. Produced and recorded for The Jewish Publication Society (JPS) by The Jewish Braille Institute (JBI), this complete, unabridged audio version features over 60 hours of readings by 13 narrators. The audio version of the weekly Bible reading can be found on the JPS website. From its earliest beginning in the late 19th century, JPS was committed to giving away a portion of its books to those in need. In February 2005, JPS discovered that Jews entering American military service were offered only the Christian Bible as their “standard-issue Bible.” JPS responded by partnering with the Jewish Welfare Board and launching the JPS Mitzvah Project Campaign to raise money to send free copies of the JPS Torah and Book of Psalms to Jewish service personnel around the world. Since launching its Mitzvah Project for the military, JPS has received requests for books from communities around the world. And so it expanded its program to meet their needs as well. JPS has sent books for free to nonprofit organizations, prisons, hospitals, Christian seminaries, and Jewish day schools in North America, Israel, and Europe, as well as to underserved Jewish synagogues in Ghana, Nigeria, China, India, and South America. JPS’s goal for 2010 is to reach at least 50 communities with at least 5,000 pounds of free JPS books. Past Mitzvah Project recipients include: Projects in the United States: - Aleph Institute, Northeast Regional Headquarters - Jewish Women International - JWB Jewish Chaplains Council - VA Hospitals and Nursing Homes in Miami, FL, Phoenix, AZ, and Bremerton, WA - American Seminary for Contemporary Judaism - Synagogues, schools, and community centers in need across the country - Jews of Nigeria - Lemba of Northern South Africa and Botswana - Sefwi Jewish Synagogue, Ghana - Abayudaya, Uganda - Shandong University Book Project, China - Bnei Menashe, India - The Jade Bar Shalom Books for Israel Project - Seminario Rabinico, Argentina - Bristol Jewish Society, University of Bristol and University of Western England In the past 20 years, JPS has won many National Jewish Book Awards, an achievement matched only by major presses such as Random House, Doubleday, Yale, Princeton and Oxford University Press. National Jewish Book Awards (since 2000) - Synagogues without Jews, Ben-Zion and Rivka - Forged in Freedom, Norman Finkelstein - The Rebbe’s Daughter, Nehemiah Polen - Etz Hayim, ed. David Lieber - To Do the Right and the Good, Elliot Dorff - Folktales of the Jews: Tales from the Sephardic Dispersion, Dan Ben-Amos - Lilith’s Ark: Teenage Tales of Biblical Women, Deborah Cohen - Inventing Jewish Ritual, Vanessa Ochs - The Power of Song and Other Sephardic Tales, Rita Roth - JPS Illustrated Children’s Bible, Ellen Frankel, Illustrated by Avi Katz - Celebrating the Jewish Year: The Spring and Summer Holidays: Passover, the Omer, Shavuot, Tisha B’Av, Paul Steinberg, Janet Greenstein Potter, Editor - Subversive Sequels in the Bible, Judy Klitsner Children's Book Awards - Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust, Eve Bunting (A Notable Children’s Book in the Field of Social Studies) - The Jewish Kids Catalog, Chaya Burstein (National Jewish Book Award) - The Castle on Hester Street, Linda Heller (Parents’ Choice Award) - In the Mouth of the Wolf, Rose Zar (Association of Jewish Librarians Best Book Award) - The Power of Song and Other Sephardic Tales, Rita Roth (National Jewish Book Award) - Anne Frank: A Life in Hiding, Johanna Hurwitz (Nominated for the Texas Blue Bonnet Award: A Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies) - Haym Salomon: Liberty’s Son, Shirley Milgrim (National Jewish Book Award) - Mrs. Moskowitz and the Sabbath Candlesticks, Amy Schwartz (National Jewish Book Award and Association of Jewish Librarians Best Book Award) - Clara’s Story, Clara Isaacman (Sydney Taylor Honor Book) - Lilith’s Ark, Deborah Bodin Cohen (Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Teens) - Of Heroes, Hooks and Heirlooms, Faye Silton (Winner of Sydney Taylor Manuscript Competition) - A Coat for the Moon and Other Jewish Tales, Howard Schwartz (Anne Izard Storytellers' Choice Award and Storytelling World Magazine Award) - David and Max, Gary Provost and Gail Levine-Provost (Notable Children’s Book in the Field of Social Studies, Skipping Stones Honor Award) - Potato Pancakes All Around, Marilyn Hirsch (Children’s Choice Award) - JPS Illustrated Children’s Bible, Ellen Frankel(National Jewish Book Award and Taylor Book Award Notable Book for Readers of All Ages) - Naomi’s Song, Selma Kritzer Silverberg (Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor for Books for Teen Readers) - Elvina’s Mirror, Sylvie Weil (Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable Book for Older Readers) Other recent awards - Skipping Stones Honor Award--A Shout in the Sunshine, Mara Cohen Ioannides - Sophie Brody Medal--From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books, Arie Kaplan - Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth Winner--From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books, Arie Kaplan

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ANTI-AGING TIP OF THE DAY Tip #133 – Chubby Children Lose Years The worldwide epidemic of childhood obesity is progressing at an alarming rate, and the disease is now projected to take its toll on life expectancy. Researchers from the of Preventive Medicine, Center for Health and Society (Denmark) correlated an increased body mass index (BMI) in childhood with an increased risk of heart disease in adulthood, with this risk escalating with increasing age. By setting a good example for children, adults can promote the notion of maintaining a healthy and appropriate weight. Engage in regular physical activity and exercise prudent measures of dietary management such as portion control, reduce of processed and prepared foods, and increase daily consumption of raw, natural foods.

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About This Lesson This lesson is based on the National Register of Historic Places registration file, "Columbus Park" (with photographs). It was produced in collaboration with the National Park Service Historic Landscape Initiative. Julia Sniderman Bachrach, Preservation Planning Supervisor, Chicago Park District, and Jo Ann Nathan, Director, Jens Jensen Legacy Project, wrote Columbus Park: The Prairie Idealized. Jean West, education consultant, and the Teaching with Historic Places staff edited the lesson plan. TwHP is sponsored, in part, by the Cultural Resources Training Initiative and Parks as Classrooms programs of the National Park Service. This lesson is one in a series that brings the important stories of historic places into the classrooms across the country. Where it fits into the curriculum Topics: The lesson could be used to teach units on landscape design, urbanization, and conservationism in the early 20th century, or in an interdisciplinary unit on indigenous regional plants and leisure time combining biology and sociology. Time period: Early 20th century Relevant United States History Standards for Grades 5-12 Relevant Curriculum Standards for Social Studies Find your state's social studies and history standards for grades Pre-K-12 Objectives for students 1) To examine how the growth of American cities influenced the development and design of public parks such as Columbus Park in Chicago. 2) To explain the landscape philosophy of Jens Jensen. 3) To identify methods used to generate public opinion in support of the preservation of historic landscapes such as Columbus Park and other locales. 4) To conduct research about the plants, landscapes, and spaces of their own community and suggest strategies to promote their conservation. Materials for students The materials listed below either can be used directly on the computer or can be printed out, photocopied, and distributed to students. The maps and images appear twice: in a smaller, low-resolution version with associated questions and alone in a larger version. 1) three maps of the site and surrounding area; 2) three readings on Columbus Park and Jens Jensen; 3) seven photographs of the site. Visiting the site Columbus Park, administered by the Chicago Park District, is located at 500 South Central Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. It is located off I-290, the Eisenhower Expressway, at exit 23. Consult schedules of Chicago Transit Authority buses and the elevated train for public transportation to Columbus Park. The park is open year-round although the field house is closed on Sundays. For information visit the Chicago Park District Web site.

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Here are answers to some of the questions we've received since we announced this Monarchs in Space program. If you have other questions not addressed here please feel free to ask them in the Monarchs in Space Forum. Why are we sending monarchs into space? Sending monarchs into space offers an opportunity to teach children many intricacies of monarch biology. Further, it will be instructive to see how monarchs function in a microgravity environment in which near weightlessness is the prevailing condition. As you will see in the companion guide (which will be posted soon), there are at least five stages during the monarch’s development where the absence of normal gravity could be a factor in how well they function. The observations made during this experiment will provide some insights concerning basic monarch biology and will add more to our knowledge of how organisms, other than humans, might function in space. It is a win-win experiment. If the monarchs cannot perform certain tasks, such as successfully pupating, we will learn something about their limitations but also that gravity is essential for this function. On the other hand, if monarchs perform all life functions normally, in spite of the near weightless conditions, it will tell us that there are aspects of the monarch’s nervous control and physiology that allow for adjustments under such adverse conditions. What if the shuttle flight is delayed? As with all space shuttle missions this one could be delayed. The scrub dates are set for Tuesday 17th and Thursday 19th. If the mission does not take off in this time frame the next window for a flight is in the first week of December. Flight delays or cancellations are beyond our control. From our perspective it is a go whether the shuttle goes or stays. We will be able to ship several thousand caterpillars during the week of November 9th and we certainly will not have that many to ship in December. So, we’d like to suggest that you order your kit now with the intention of recording – with photographs and notes - all the relevant data concerning how the monarchs develop in your classroom. This information can then be used to compare with the development of monarchs on the ISS when they make it there. Are we targeting a particular age or grade range? No. However, the activities are geared toward school-aged children. Will the monarchs raised by students be sent to the International Space Station (ISS)? Can we release our monarchs? Releases are not advised. These are not migratory monarchs and it is already too late in the season. The next challenge might be to see how long you can keep your monarchs alive. They can be maintained at home or in the classroom on Gatorade for months, if relatively inactive. Can we send our monarch butterflies to a warmer state? No, federal permits from the USDA/APHIS are required for you to ship monarch to other states. Will the monarchs emerge as adult butterflies during the Thanksgiving holiday? No. If all goes according to plan, your larvae should pupate just before Thanksgiving and the butterflies will emerge after this holiday. The interval from introduction to emergence is expected to be 17-18 days depending on the temperatures in the classroom. Will photos and videos of the monarchs on the ISS be provided? Yes, videos and photos will be posted from time to time our website. Photos of your rearing containers and results may be submitted to online photo albums we will create for this project. If you keep a photo log of the conditions in your rearing chamber each day, it will be easier to compare the progress of your monarchs with those in the ISS. What kind of record keeping will be involved? We will provide a timeline that will give you an idea of what to expect during each day of the monarchs’ development. Your larvae, chrysalids, and adults may be one or two days faster or slower than this timeline depending on the day/night temperatures in your classroom. It might be helpful to place a cheap (less than $10) maximum/minimum digital thermometer (these are readily available at home improvement centers such as Home Depot and Lowes and other stores) next to your chamber so that the students can calculate the average daily temperature for your habitat. Can I sponsor a school and pay for a kit myself? Will the chambers actually produce butterflies? Yes. It works for us and it should work for you. We already have pupae in the test chamber sent to us by BioServe Space Technologies. Can individuals and/or home-schoolers participate in this program? Yes, this program is not limited to classrooms. Are there online locations where we can access all the instructions? Yes. Everything you need will be provided right here at www.monarchwatch.org/space Why are we excluding Canada and the western states? Federal Law dictates that you must have a permit from USDA/APHIS to ship monarchs. Due to the high shipping costs and the amount of paperwork involved (permits & customs), we do not ship caterpillars to Canada. Permits are not issued to ship monarchs across the continental divide. Can you bend the rules and send us a kit anyway? No, that would be a violation of federal law. Several butterfly breeders have received significant fines for violating these rules. Is there a western source for monarch caterpillars? Yes, but none of the western butterfly shippers are prepared to ship caterpillars on an artificial diet that could be used in this context. Is this for real? Yes! The space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to lift off on November 16th and to redezvous with the International Space Station two days later. We have worked with BioServe Space Technologies since April to develop a system of monarch rearing using the artificial diet that will work in transit and on the ISS. We have reared thousands of monarchs over the last 6 months on this diet. It works. The cost of the kit is low ($17.95) and doesn’t begin to cover all the costs we incur in maintaining the culture and producing the product you will use. Back to Project Main Page

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Officially established on 20 November 1989, Universal Children’s Day marks the day on which the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international treaty that addresses the rights of children and youth under the age of 18. The Convention’ s 54 articles recognizes the basic human rights of children and gives them additional rights to protect them from harm. Universal Children’s Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly as a day of celebration of the state of welfare of children. The aim of Universal Children’s Day is to put public initiatives and campaigns in place to rasie awareness of children’s rights worldwide, awareness of their situation in life, problems, wishes, needs and longings as well as to enable exchanges and meetings between them. Those in positions of political responsibility should, in particular, be reminded that it is very much up to them to act in the interests of children. It is up to them to act in family and social politics with laws that explicitly protect children from violence, exploitation and abuse of all kinds, in educational politics, in measures for ensuring the safety of children in wad and conflict situation, etc. The Brussels based United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe - UNRIC provides information on UN activities to the countries of the region. It also provides liaison with institutions of the European Union in the field of information. Its outreach activities extend to all segments of society and joint campaigns, projects and events are organized with partners including the EU, governments, the media, NGOs, schools and local authorities. United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC Brussels) Residence Palace, Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 155, Block C2,7th and 8th floor, Brussels 1040, Belgium Tel.: +32 2 788 8484 / Fax: 32 2 788 8485

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Environmental History of Georgia: Overview Native American Influences Humans arrived in the Southeast roughly 12,000 years ago. Over the millennia, Native Americans interacted with the landscape in numerous ways. Fire setting, first used to promote hunting, had perhaps the most significant impact. Fire setting was probably common in the Piedmont. Varying fire-setting regimes would have created a patchy landscape, in which frequently burned, open oak forests adjoined less recently burned areas crowded with saplings, briars, and shrubs or unburned areas with more thin-barked trees. In the Coastal Plain, lightning perpetuated longleaf pine stands carpeted with diverse herbs or wiregrass and bounded by firebreaks like cypress swamps; Indian-set fires may have supplemented the natural regime. Scholarly opinion differs as to the fire regime in the mountains. Fires from lightning strikes are rare and low in intensity in most montane sites. Native Americans certainly supplemented the natural fire regime by burning in the river valleys to promote agriculture and probably burned many dry mountain ridges. Moist coves would have burned less often. The settlement of Thus, the landscape prior to European arrival was not entirely pristine. Rather, in a complex mosaic, human riverine settlements punctuated landscapes of large, fire-fostered pines and oaks abutting unburned areas such as cypress swamps in the Coastal Plain and huge cove hardwoods in the mountains. European Settlement and Landscape Transformation Europeans transformed the forested mosaic promoted by the Native Americans to a land forged for the production of goods for foreign markets. Huge harvests of forest resources in early colonial days were the first to demonstrate the size of the export market. Ginseng was collected to scarcity, and animal pelts were taken from southeastern forests in huge quantities. From 1700 to 1715 more than 1 million fox, elk, otter, and other skins were shipped from Charleston, South Carolina; from 1739 to 1761 more than 5 million pounds of deerskins alone were exported from the Southeast. Beavers were nearly extirpated from the state, and buffalo and elk were disappearing by 1760. Of the commodities that followed, rice, cotton, and timber spurred perhaps the greatest changes in Georgia's landscape. Rice and Cotton In 1750 the prohibition on owning slaves was lifted in Georgia, catalyzing large-scale commercial agriculture. Rice was the first commodity to transform a portion of Georgia's landscape. Landowners cleared large swaths of forest to construct plantations and rice fields. However, tidal rivers inundated and drained the impounded rice, limiting the most intense human agricultural impact to the tidal deltas. Upon Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1793, cotton production spurred a landscape transformation across the Piedmont and the western and Upper Coastal Plain. Following a cascade of land cessions from Native Americans, farmers rolled across the land, growing cotton for profit and corn for livestock and human consumption. They cleared and farmed a plot of land for a few years, then abandoned the depleted soil and moved on. Staggering amounts of soil were eroded off the barren fields; on average, 7.5 inches of topsoil were lost. The eroded sediments washed into streams, burying milldams and depositing as much as eight to fifteen feet of silt on some streambeds. The higher streambeds and absence of plants to impede winter storm runoff caused widespread flooding. Intense cotton farming and its deleterious effects continued until the 1920s, when the boll weevil, plummeting prices, and depleted soils contributed to a precipitous decline in production. Hence, by the 1930s commercial agriculture, industrial logging, and nascent urbanization had created a landscape far different from that first encountered by Europeans. The stumps and scraggly trees of cut-over land, silted streams and denuded hillsides of abandoned farms, and growing networks of towns and transportation corridors had replaced much of the forest mosaic. Conservation and Reforestation In the mid-1900s two trends changed the tenor of human impact on the Georgia landscape. First, soil and timber depletion spurred conservation efforts. Second, much of the barren land reverted to trees. An impetus to preserve wild landscapes had gained national momentum in the early twentieth century. Following that course, many state and national wildlife refuges, parks, and forests were established in Georgia in the 1920s and 1930s, in a movement that continued throughout the century. While many farms adopted better farming practices, others were abandoned. In a trend that peaked in the 1960s, abandoned fields underwent secondary succession, a process in which grasses, shrubs, pines, and hardwoods succeed one another over time. In the 1930s Charles Herty, a chemist at the University of Georgia, revolutionized land use in Georgia when he stimulated the pulpwood industry by using young pines to make white paper. Many old fields, particularly in the Coastal Plain, converted to pine plantations. Urbanization and Regulation In the second half of the twentieth century, human-environment interactions became increasingly complex. By the 1960s a dearth of regulation had permitted severe pollution problems. Urbanization accelerated. The population of Georgia doubled from roughly 4 million people in 1960 to more than 8 million in 2000, exacerbating pollution problems, straining water resources, and fragmenting the landscape through urban sprawl. At the same time, the science of ecology came of age and fostered an appreciation of biodiversity and an understanding of the links among species extinction, urban sprawl, and invasive exotic species. Pollution and Water Supply Regulations In 1960 very few air or water pollution controls existed. Industries released more than 400 toxic chemicals into the air, drinking-water quality was not regulated, and 70 percent of the municipal sewage in Georgia entered rivers untreated. Fossil fuel use spawned high levels of ground-level ozone in large urban areas. Construction sediment coated stream bottoms, and water supplies became problematic as demand from the growing population, industry, and agriculture increased. While ozone, water supply, and sediment proved more intractable, state and national regulations successfully addressed many egregious problems, markedly improving the environment. Urban Sprawl and Species Conservation Several forces countered these trends. In 1973 the federal Endangered Species Act was passed, spurring the protection of species in Georgia. Land conservation by many groups accelerated, and the Georgia Community Greenspace Program was created in 2000 through an act of the Georgia legislature. The voluntary program provides funds to encourage counties to preserve 20 percent of their land and water permanently as greenspace for the protection of natural resources and informal recreation. R. Harold Brown, The Greening of Georgia: The Improvement of the Environment in the Twentieth Century (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2002). Linda G. Chafin, A Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Georgia (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2007). Donald Edward Davis, Where There Are Mountains: An Environmental History of the Southern Appalachians (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2000). Timothy Silver, A New Face on the Countryside: Indians, Colonists, and Slaves in South Atlantic Forests, 1500-1800 (Cambridge, England; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990). Mart A. Stewart, & quot;What Nature Suffers to Groe & quot;: Life, Labor, and Landscape on the Georgia Coast, 1680-1920 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1996). Mark V. Wetherington, The New South Comes to Wiregrass Georgia, 1860-1910 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1994). Michael Williams, Americans and Their Forests: A Historical Geography (Cambridge, Eng.: University of Cambridge Press, 1989). Leslie Edwards, Atlanta A project of the Georgia Humanities Council, in partnership with the University of Georgia Press, the University System of Georgia/GALILEO, and the Office of the Governor.

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Postal Union Congress The Congress was one of the four-yearly formal meetings of the Universal Postal Union and was attended by representatives of most of the world’s major postal authorities. Initial plans were to issue ½d, 1d, 1½d and 2½d values, with a £1 value added later on. The £1 stamp may have been to boost the low value of the set of stamps to be presented to delegates, or may simply have been to generate income to offset the cost of staging the Congress. The Post Office assembled a selection committee and invited nine artists and two printing companies to submit designs. The committee chose the following designs which were approved by Queen Mary as the King was unwell. - F W Farleigh’s design showing the King’s portrait in an oval, with a crown above, was chosen for the ½d value in green, and a similar design in blue chosen for the 2½d value. - Ernest Linzell’s design showing the King’s portrait with the Union Jack behind was chosen for the 1d and 1½d values in red and brown respectively. - Harold Nelson’s St George and the Dragon design was selected for the £1 value in black. The low values were letterpress printed by Waterlow and Sons, using printing plates produced by the Royal Mint, in the same size and corresponding colours as the equivalent definitives. The larger format £1 was line-engraved by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. In addition to sheets, the three low values were issued in rolls and booklets.

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Over ten days in June 1954, a decade after the D-Day landings, the CIA sent twelve planes to drop bombs and propaganda on towns in Guatemala in support of a coup against the elected government of Jácobo Arbenz. They did only minor damage at first: one plane bombed the wrong radio station, another ran out of fuel and was forced to crash land in Mexico. A plane was dispatched to make a ‘hostile’ attack on Honduras with the aim of provoking a military response, but the Hondurans could not even agree on which airfield it had hit. In the last raid on 27 June, the SS Springfjord, a British merchant ship that had survived capture by the Nazis in 1940, was attacked in the port of San Jose. It was alleged to be unloading arms. After a warning pass – the ship’s captain gave the pilot a friendly wave – a 500lb bomb was dropped down its chimney. It turned out to be loading coffee and cotton. Guatemala was one of the first countries in the region to emerge from military dictatorship. Arbenz was the second democratic president, elected in 1951 with 65 per cent of the vote. A strongly nationalist military officer, he was convinced that the central problem in a mainly agricultural country was land: 70 per cent of it in the hands of only 2 per cent of the population, of which only a quarter was being cultivated. In 1953 he decreed the takeover of more than 200,000 acres of unused land belonging to the United Fruit Company. The company responded with a propaganda campaign to convince Eisenhower not to be ‘soft on communism’. It worked. Arbenz, realising that a coup was being plotted, bought a secret shipment of arms from Czechoslovakia. Uncovered by the CIA, this enabled Eisenhower to warn of a possible ‘communist dictatorship’ and support Arbenz’s rival, Carlos Castillo Armas. His insurgents invaded on 18 June, but failed to take control of the towns they targeted. The coup could easily have been a flop. But the CIA raids that culminated in the bombing of the Springfjord unnerved the Guatemalan army command, who withdrew their support from Arbenz. By the evening of 27 June he’d resigned. Within a month, military dictatorship had resumed under Castillo Armas, with a new government recognised by Eisenhower. After a visit in 1955, Vice-President Nixon said that Guatemala was the ‘first instance in history where a communist government has been replaced by a free one’. US-backed military regimes ruled until 1996. By then some 200,000 people had died in civil war, most at the hands of government forces. In 2011, Guatemala’s president, Alvaro Colom, formally apologised to Arbenz’s son for ‘an act of aggression to a government starting its democratic spring’. Sixty years on, there’s still no apology from Eisenhower’s successors. Nor did the owners of the Springfjord get any compensation.

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The Center for Financial Services Innovation has identified eight indicators to measure financial health. These measurements can serve as a framework for guiding individuals and financial service providers toward an improved quality of life for consumers. The eight indicators of financial health, presented in four categories, are: - Difference between income and expenses - Percent of bills that are paid on time and in full - Number of months of living expenses in liquid account balances - Amount of one’s long-term savings, assets, and investments - Debt-to-income ratio - Credit score or credit quality tier - Type and extent of insurance coverage - Behaviors that demonstrate future financial orientation For additional information on financial health indicators, click here. - Have students ask people to describe what is meant by “financial health.” - Have students create a list of actions that might be taken to achieve financial health. - What are additional factors that might be considered when measuring a person’s financial health? - What actions are you taking to achieve financial health?

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Affecting up to 40% of type 1 and type 2 people with diabetes, diabetic nephropathy is one of the major causes of kidney disease among those beginning renal replacement therapy (such as dialysis). It is a complication caused by high levels of glucose needing to be constantly filtered out by the kidneys which damages the organs over time. Proper kidney function screenings with your doctor are a must. Know the screening process and what questions to ask your doctor about keeping your kidneys healthy. What do the kidneys do? These two bean-shaped, fist sized organs (situated just below the rib cage on each side of your spine) have the critical job of filtering your blood to remove waste and excess fluid. On a daily basis, your kidneys will filter out waste from 120 to 150 quarts of blood which leaves your body through the bladder as 1 to 2 quarts of urine. The kidneys help give stability to the composition of your blood. In addition to filtering your blood your kidneys help to: - Keep your pH balance - Regulate blood pressure - Keep bones strong by making an active form of vitamin D and - Assist in the creation of red blood cells by releasing a hormone called erythropoietin. The kidneys are composed of about a million tiny sieves called nephrons. The nephrons contain a filter, the glomerulus, which allows fluid and waste to go through, but stops blood cells and large molecules (like proteins) from passing through. The filtered fluid then goes through the tubule, which removes waste through the urinary tract and returns needed minerals to the bloodstream. How are the kidneys affected by diabetes? When your blood glucose levels are consistently high, your kidneys have to work more to filter the blood. This extra work load causes the filters in your kidney to start to leak. The larger molecules, like protein, that should be reabsorbed into the bloodstream are now able to pass through the kidney and are lost in the urine. Low levels of protein in the urine, microalbuminuria, is one of the first signs of diabetic nephropathy and is used as a point of diagnosis. Other symptoms include high blood pressure, swelling of the legs and ankles, more frequent urination at night, high levels of blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine and a decreased need for insulin or other antidiabetic medications. As kidney disease progresses, higher levels of protein are found in the urine (microalbuminuria). The kidneys can lose their filtering capabilities and waste products then build up to dangerous levels in the blood stream. A person in this situation may need to go on dialysis or consider a kidney transplant. What should you be asking your doctor? Speak to your doctor about when you should been screening for diabetic nephropathy. The criteria will depend on what type of diabetes you have and when you were diagnosed with diabetes. If you have type 1 diabetes you should be tested five years after diagnosis. Those with type 2 diabetes should begin monitoring right away. For children, screenings should begin after age 10 and after the child has had had diabetes for 5 years. A simple dipstick test can pick up trace amounts of protein in the urine. Yearly blood work should also check for creatinine levels, which can indicate how well your kidneys are functioning. What are your prevention and treatment options? A key plan for preventing diabetic nephropathy is to maintain your blood glucose levels as best you can. Dario can help you to better manage your diabetes by logging your readings automatically into charts and graphs to review with your doctor. Maintaining your blood pressure is also vital to helping keep your kidneys healthy. Your healthcare team may recommend ACE inhibitors as part of a treatment plan or may suggest limiting the amount of protein in your diet. Not everyone with diabetes develops diabetic nephropathy. But awareness of the symptoms and disease progression are key so that you can make better healthcare decisions with about your long-term diabetes management goals. *The information provided here is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. If you would like more information on these topics, please consult with your healthcare provider.

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Laura A. Millar con A Matter of Facts: The Value of Evidence in an Information Age Reseña del editor The safeguarding of authentic facts is essential, especially in this disruptive Orwellian age, where digital technologies have opened the door to a post-truth world in which ""alternative facts"" can be so easily accepted as valid. And because facts matter, archives matter. In this urgent manifesto, archives luminary Millar makes the case that authentic and accurate evidence is crucial in supporting and fostering a society that is respectful, democratic, and self-aware. An eye-opening treatise for the general public, an invaluable resource for archives students, and a provocative call-to-arms for working professionals, Millar's book explains the concept of evidence and discusses the ways in which records, archives, and data are not just useful tools for our daily existence but also essential sources of evidence both today and in the future; includes plentiful examples that illustrate the critical role evidence plays in upholding rights, enforcing responsibilities, tracing family or community stories, and capturing and sharing memories; and examines the impact of digital technologies on how records and information are created and used. With documentary examples ranging from Mesopotamian clay tablets to World War II photographs to today's Twitter messages and Facebook posts, Millar's stirring book will encourage readers to understand more fully the importance of their own records and archives, for themselves and for future generations. Biografía del autor Dr. Laura A. Millar is an independent consultant in records, archives, and information management and has also worked in publishing and distance education. She has consulted with governments, universities, colleges, professional associations, non-profit organizations, and other agencies in Canada and internationally. Recent projects include advising the Government of Alaska on the integration of the state's library, archives, and museum operations and working with the Government of Alberta's Environment Ministry to develop electronic record-keeping systems. She was named the winner of the Society of American Archivists' 2011 Waldo Gifford Leland Award for Archives: Principles and Practices. She is the author of dozens of publications and conference presentations, and she has taught records and archives management in several universities, including the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria, and the University of Toronto. She lives in Roberts Creek, British Columbia, Canada.

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National Dose Assessment Working Group The National Dose Assessment Working Group (NDAWG) was established to promote the use of best practice and consistent methodologies for assessing radiation doses from planned discharges of radionuclides to the environment. As part of its work, NDAWG published Guidance Notes and Reports on key topics relating to the assessment of discharges. These documents were drafted by members of NDAWG Working Groups which included members from academia, the nuclear industry regulators and other government departments, non-governmental organisations etc. These documents contain public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The Society for Radiological Protection was not involved in the production of these documents and is not responsible for their contents. The Society is making them available as a service to the profession and the wider community. For further information about the NDAWG and its work please contact SRP. - Overview of guidance on the assessment of radiation doses from routine discharges of radionuclides to the environment - Initial / simple assessment tools - Exposure pathways - Considering uncertainty and variability in radiological assessments - The estimation and use of results on exposure to direct radiation - Use of habits data in prospective dose assessments - Use of measurements in assessing doses to the public: a discussion paper (NDAWG/1/2004) - Radiological assessment exposure pathways checklist (common and unusual) (NDAWG/2/2004) - An overview of uncertainty in radiological assessments (NDAWG/1/2005) - Assessment of compliance with the public dose limit principles for the assessment of total retrospective public doses (NDAWG/2/2005) - Methods for assessment of total dose in the radioactivity in food and the environment report (NDAWG/3/2005) - Position paper on the collection and use of habits data for retrospective dose assessments (NDAWG/4/2005) - Reviewing non nuclear licensed site radiation dose assessments taking into account uncertainty (NDAWG/1/2006) - Overview of radiological assessment models - key gaps and uncertainties (NDAWG/2/2006) - Short term releases to rivers (NDAWG/1/2009 and NDAWG/3/2010) - Acquisition and use of habits data for prospective assessments (NDAWG/2/2009) - Intercomparison of sewer models (NDAWG/1/2013)

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Any person interested in publishing any data on the Internet requires Web Hosting. Web hosting has been around for several years now and has evolved from simple HTML pages hosting, small simple sites with a few images into full blown web based hosted applications where end users can visit a site, interact with the web site owner and even purchase goods and services all over the internet. The use of Internet as a medium for integrating business across the globe with the help of Web Based software applications has produced wide range of web based technologies like ASP, ASP.NET, JSP, PHP and others. This choice has forced various options for web hosting now as HTML based sites work equally well on both Linux and Windows platforms. Web hosting platforms vary from different types of operating systems. Microsoft Windows Server and Redhat Linux are just two examples and probably the most well known web hosting platforms. So, what is Windows or Linux web hosting and what are the advantages and disadvantages to hosting your web site on either Server. And why now Linux is gaining more popularity. Well, that's just the answer isn't it ?

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NORTH SUTTON, N.H. — India's failures are legion and impossible to ignore. Poverty and desperation abound. Infant mortality is unacceptably high. Schools and healthcare are substandard -- if available at all. Roads and other infrastructure are primitive or in poor repair. The Indian government seems unable to adequately protect the country's Muslim minority (about 12% of the population) from periodic pogroms, and violence against lower castes erupts regularly. Conflicts with Pakistan over Kashmir continue, made more alarming by the fact that both countries now possess nuclear weapons. But despite these very real problems, most of what we read about India misses what is most remarkable about the country: its sheer survival. And as the United States attempts to shape a new government in Iraq, the lessons of India are perhaps worth considering, not least because the challenge Iraq faces -- keeping a multiethnic country whole without sliding into dictatorship -- is one that India, despite all its difficulties, has faced and overcome against considerable odds. When India gained independence in 1947, it seemed too big and too diverse to hold together. Though a majority of the country's 400 million people were Hindus, there were Muslims, Christians (Protestants and Catholics), Jews, Jains, Buddhists and Zoroastrians. An array of languages (18 now have official status), thousands of dialects and a labyrinthine system of castes and sub-castes added to this bewildering complexity. Few outside India believed that such an unwieldy behemoth could remain a single country. But the system has held together, and it has done so despite some fearsome shocks, starting with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi soon after Indian independence and continuing with the slaying of two prime ministers, three wars and numerous crises with neighboring Pakistan, the emasculation of democracy during the "emergency" proclaimed from 1975 to 1977 by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, widespread and devastating riots sparked by plans to declare Hindi the national language, and separatist movements of Muslims in Kashmir, Sikhs in the Punjab and Nagas and Mizos in India's remote northeast. Not only has Indian polity proved sturdy enough to weather these shocks, it has done so without abandoning democracy. With the exception of Indira Gandhi's "emergency," there has not been an interruption in -- or even a real threat to -- democratic institutions. Political power in the country has been passed from party to party frequently in federal and local elections, and voter turnout is high. The military has remained thoroughly under civilian control. Furthermore, India has consistently allowed a free press -- in English and the many Indian languages. And a staggering array of civic groups promotes the interests of women, castes and language groups, professions and the environment. Labor unions engage in collective bargaining and strike regularly. Political demonstrations are a daily occurrence. If the survival of India as a unified country is remarkable, the survival of its democracy is astonishing. When India became independent, it lacked any tradition of modern democracy. It had an abysmally low per capita income and a minuscule middle class, and most of its people were illiterate. Democracy, so social scientists tell us, cannot survive under such circumstances. The standard explanation for how India has managed to reconcile diversity and unity while also fostering democracy invokes the country's colonial legacy. The British, so the explanation goes, transplanted their hallowed traditions, ideas and institutions of civil liberties and the rule of law. Yet this account doesn't hold up on closer inspection. Let's leave aside for the moment the fact that most expansions of democratic rights in colonial India were not the products of benevolent tutelage but necessary and shrewd responses to the gathering momentum of an Indian nationalist movement. The main problem with crediting the British with India's success at democracy is that there is no shortage of former British colonies that, upon becoming independent, turned thoroughly undemocratic, with the military seizing power and ruling through naked force. Consider, for example, the post-colonial histories of Egypt, Iraq, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Burma. Consider, in particular, India's neighbor and cultural cousin Pakistan, which has been ruled by the military for most of its existence. There is no simple explanation for why India has not only survived but also maintained a fairly robust democracy. But what is clear is that the first could not have been attained without the other. A democratic order has been critical in preventing India's fragmentation.

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