The Environmental Impact of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) in Modern Electric Power Systems
By Daniel Akinyele and Yoash Levron
The role of distributed energy resources (DERs) in realizing a smart electricity grid cannot be overemphasised. DERs, such as solar PV, wind, and biomass, are small-scale energy production units that can be operated in either a grid-integrated mode and/or a grid-independent (islanded) mode. These sources help to improve the electricity system efficiency and reliability by supporting peak power demands, and providing active generation and ancillary services, such as stabilizing the frequency and voltage profile.
The increasing integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) in modern power grids poses many challenges, several of these are purely technical, and several are associated with other factors such as social impact, environmental impact, and policy. These factors should be taken into account when designing, planning, and operating power grids and distributed sources. To address these challenges, a STEEP (S- Social, Technical, E-Economic, E- Environmental, P- Policy) framework can provide a comprehensive analysis of DERs in future electrical systems.
In this light, this article focuses on the environmental impact of DERs in electric power systems, with emphasis on renewable energy technologies. A common assumption is that renewable energy-based DERs are eco-friendly, however, it is currently unclear to what extent they are. Finding an answer to this question can serve as a basis for comparing the environmental performance of these systems with the conventional energy option based on fossil fuels. This can be achieved through a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), which guides designers, developers and policy makers in selecting the best energy resource or technology.
The LCA approach helps to assess the environmental impact of various technologies, and provides an opportunity for ascertaining the environmental sustainability of different energy resources by examining both energy and emissions-related aspects. Certain indicators are computed when LCA is being conducted, such as the cumulative energy demand (CED), energy payback time (EPBT), net energy ratio (NER), the life cycle emission rate (LCEr) and/or the global warming potential (GWP). While the first three factors are part of the energy related aspect of the LCA, the last two represent emissions-related aspects.
The CED represents the total primary energy required for manufacturing, transporting, installing, operating and decommissioning an energy technology, and is measured in MJ-eq. The EPBT indicates how long an energy technology is required to operate to recover the primary energy requirement over its life cycle, measured in years. The NER, also referred to the energy return on investment (EROI), shows how many times the energy technology is able to produce the primary energy requirement over its life cycle. The LCEr represents the life cycle emissions per unit energy generated by the technology (gCO2-eq/kWh), while the GWP is defined as the life cycle greenhouse gases (GHGs) measured in (kgCO2-eq). The emissions are evaluated as the equivalent quantity of CO2 that has equal GWP computed over an integrated time of 100 years, considering the most recent GWP factors published by the IPCC for carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), dinitrogen oxide (N2O) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFC). The greatest percentages of primary energy requirements and the life cycle emissions for renewable energy technologies are usually obtained during manufacturing (e.g. ~90% for solar PV technology).
Energy generation technologies are required to fulfill two major requirements: meeting acceptable techno-economic and environmental performance levels, and achieving a net energy yield that is greater than zero. A positive energy yield implies that the energy output is greater than the energy input (i.e. CED) over the system’s life cycle, meaning that its NER > 1. On the other hand, a negative energy yield practically signifies that the technology consumes more energy than it is able to produce over its lifetime. This means that it is not a renewable energy system because its NER< 1. This explains why one energy technology cannot be sustainable for all geographical locations, as a result of disparities in climate, resource and material availability, social and local conditions etc. Therefore, it is crucial to consider the environmental impact of energy technologies from the perspective of LCA, to also ensure that the expected energy yields over their life cycle are carefully evaluated.
The LCA, as defined by ISO 14040, compiles and assesses the environmental burden or consequences of an energy technology at all stages over its life cycle, i.e. cradle-to-end-of-life analysis. Practically, such an analysis should consider all the components of the technology. For instance, in a solar PV technology, the environmental impact analysis should consider both the PV array and the balance of system (BOS). The BOS includes the battery, inverter, cable, circuit breakers etc. This way, a better analysis of the DERs’ environmental impacts is achieved. The comparison of the CED, EPBT, NER, LCEr and GWP measures for renewable energies to those of fossil-fuel options will also be useful with compliance to standards, e.g. IEA methodology guidelines on life cycle assessment of photovoltaic electricity.
Achieving detailed environmental impact analysis of DERs in power systems requires new ways of thinking. For instance, the carbon emissions saved/avoided by a renewable energy technology is assumed in several research works to be equal to the emissions that would have been produced if a diesel or petrol plant were used. While the total life cycle impact of the grid-independent technology needs to be considered as the sum of the impacts of its individual components, the total life cycle environmental impact of the grid-integrated system will be a sum of the impact of the existing grid and the impact of the connected DERs. This point of view can assist researchers, developers and decision-makers around the world, in planning DERs for grid-connected and off-grid applications, and encourages a careful examination of the environmental sustainability of the entire electricity infrastructure.
Daniel Akinyele holds a National Diploma (Distinction) and a B.Sc. (First class) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Osun State Polytechnic and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, respectively. He also holds an M.Sc. (Distinction) in Renewable Energy Systems Technology and a Ph.D. in Renewable Energy from the Loughborough University, United Kingdom and the Victoria University of Wellington (VUW), New Zealand, respectively. Daniel was a senior engineer at the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Abuja, Nigeria – the only Federal government of Nigeria's Agency with the mandate to create science and engineering infrastructure. While at NASENI, his tasks included solar photovoltaic system design and energy efficiency analysis. Subsequently, he joined the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Covenant University, Nigeria, as an assistant lecturer before he proceeded to VUW for his doctorate degree program. He was also a teaching and research assistant while at VUW. His research interests include renewable energy systems application, microgrid design and planning, energy efficiency, energy transitions, life cycle analysis, and sustainability. He is registered with the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).
Yoash Levron received a B.Sc. (summa cum laude) degree in electrical engineering from the Technion in 2001, and the M.Sc. and Ph.d. degrees in electrical engineering from Tel-Aviv University in 2007 and 2013, respectively. In the years 2013-2014, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Colorado Power Electronics Center, at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. Dr. Levron has received several awards, including the group award of ‘Israel Security’ in 2008 and 2010, the Technion Viterbi fellowship for nurturing future faculty members (2013-2014), and the Taub fellowship for leaders in science and technology (2015).
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RMIT researcher Dr Torben Daeneke said converting CO2 into a solid could be a more sustainable approach.
“While we can’t literally turn back time, turning carbon dioxide back into coal and burying it back in the ground is a bit like rewinding the emissions clock,” Daeneke, an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow, said.
“To date, CO2 has only been converted into a solid at extremely high temperatures, making it industrially unviable.
“By using liquid metals as a catalyst, we’ve shown it’s possible to turn the gas back into carbon at room temperature, in a process that’s efficient and scalable.
“While more research needs to be done, it’s a crucial first step to delivering solid storage of carbon.”
How the carbon conversion works
Lead author, Dr Dorna Esrafilzadeh, a Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow in RMIT’s School of Engineering, developed the electrochemical technique to capture and convert atmospheric CO2 to storable solid carbon.
To convert CO2, the researchers designed a liquid metal catalyst with specific surface properties that made it extremely efficient at conducting electricity while chemically activating the surface.
The carbon dioxide is dissolved in a beaker filled with an electrolyte liquid and a small amount of the liquid metal, which is then charged with an electrical current.
The CO2 slowly converts into solid flakes of carbon, which are naturally detached from the liquid metal surface, allowing the continuous production of carbonaceous solid.
Esrafilzadeh said the carbon produced could also be used as an electrode.
“A side benefit of the process is that the carbon can hold electrical charge, becoming a supercapacitor, so it could potentially be used as a component in future vehicles.”
“The process also produces synthetic fuel as a by-product, which could also have industrial applications.”
The research was conducted at RMIT’s MicroNano Research Facility and the RMIT Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility, with lead investigator, Honorary RMIT and ARC Laureate Fellow, Professor Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh (now UNSW).
The research is supported by the Australian Research Council Centre for Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET) and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES).
The collaboration involved researchers from Germany (University of Munster), China (Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics), the US (North Carolina State University) and Australia (UNSW, University of Wollongong, Monash University, QUT).
The paper is published in Nature Communications (“Room temperature CO2 reduction to solid carbon species on liquid metals featuring atomically thin ceria interfaces”, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08824-8).


This graphic organizer is a great way for your students to respond to informational texts to show what they have learned. It could be used for independent reading, reading centers, listening to reading, or whole group reading.
Common Core Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.2 With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.2 Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.5 Know and use various text features to locate key facts or information in a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.7 Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.5 Know and use various text features to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.6 Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.10 By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.


Tag Archives: musical form
In preparation for a musicology lecture this week, I began to think about the importance of students having an awareness of the general conventions in popular music. Factors such as an awareness of the commonality of eight bar sections (verses … Continue reading
Here is a podcast of an introductory lecture on ways we can think about popular music analysis, and the differences between Song, Arrangement and Track.
This podcast is on the relationship on the elements of music and form. It considers the ways in which elements such as musical texture, time signatures, and harmony can interact to create expectations in a listener. In popular music, these … Continue reading
This weeks musicology lecture examined ways in which it is possible to analyse popular music melody – specifically from a horizontal perspective. As will be seen in the PowerPoint and the audio stream of the lecture – I get some … Continue reading
My last musicology session discussed the various ways in which the elements of music impacted our appreciation of music. Factors such as dynamics, texture, timbre, harmony, melody etc are interesting – as they can be discussed with all age groups … Continue reading
This weeks musicology session focused on the relationship of the Elements of Music to Musical Form. I have asked students to consider the following questions – Examples of pieces of music with unusual bar numbers between sections Examples of how … Continue reading


Valle Valerio, Nicaragua
Water Distribution Project
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
Within the Jinotega region of Nicaragua, the community Valle Valerio lacks sufficient drinking water throughout the year. That is about 620 men, women, and children who do not have reliable access to water. The current water system in the community is well beyond its useful lifetime. Some families have to walk 2 miles to a river for water. Additionally, the quality of the water accessible has high levels of nitrates and fecal coliform. High nitrate levels can cause infants to become seriously ill with blue-baby syndrome. The University of Houston chapter aims to fix that.
Valle Valerio currently has an infrastructure that is capable of withstanding the system that the chapter would like to implement. The community has an existing water distribution system that includes a well, an electrical water pump, a storage tank, and basic distribution piping that services a few locations across the community. The final goal is to construct a new tank on community land, expand the distribution network, and replace the electrical pump.
The University of Houston Chapter plans to build an entirely new storage tank that will be located in a more accessible and centralized location, repair the existing electric submersible well pump, enlarge the distribution network to service an additional 300 people with water, and treat the water source to ensure the quality standards. The chapter will collaborate with the community as well as the in-country Engineers Without Borders office to complete this project. This open line of communication serves to maintain trust between the chapter and the community as well as making sure the design is tended to directly fit the community’s needs.
In collaboration with the non government organization (NGO), and the community of valle valerio. Constructing a new, larger storage tank on community-owned land will allow the community to easily maintain the tank while granting constant access to clean water. Expanding the distribution network will bring clean water to 300 people who previously had none at all. Filtering the water will increase water quality ,and replacing the electrical pump will ensure the longevity of the system.
electric submersible water well pump system – $4,000.00
Concrete Masonry Tank – $8000
Gravity-fed water distribution system – $12,000
Every Drop Counts
Currently, EWB-UH is working with Valerio, another small community in Nicaragua, on a project to redesign and improve their wells, water pumps, storage capacity, and distribution system. We have established community contacts, specific community needs, and community demographics. The next phase of the project is to conduct an assessment trip to the community itself to gather survey data, logistics research, design input, and objective clarification, as well as providing the opportunity to build community relationships. Once the data is gathered, we will begin working to design a water distribution system that will meet all of the community’s needs.
All together, this project has the potential to provide approximately 900 people with constant access to clean water using a simple and sustainable system.By completing this project, much needed water will be distributed to a total of 900 community members right To their doorstep. The families of the community will be able to use this water to drink, wash their hands, and bathe just as we all are able to. The need of this water distribution project has been a top concern of the community. However, the community lacks the resources and technical skills to tackle their problem. That is where the University of Houston Chapter comes in. Working alongside the community, the University of Houston Chapter strives to make this dream, a reality.
- A total of about 900 people
with reliable access to water
- Safer water to drink
- Healthier Community
- Better quality of life
- Community equipped with
skills to manage system


Fall is a great time of year to study seeds. Many seeds have a way to travel to a new spot instead of staying right near the plant which made them.
How would this help the plants which will grow from the seeds?
Some seeds are in fruits which are adapted to fly on the wind. Can you find any of the fruits below? Note: the pictures on this page are not all in scale.
Some seeds are in fruits which travel on water:
Some seeds are in fruits which hitch a ride on the fur or clothes of animals:
Some fruits are machines which shoot their seeds away from the plant which they grow on:
Some fruits are eaten by birds or other animals so the seeds travel inside the stomach of a bird or mammal:
See if you can find other fruits and seeds which travel by wind, water, fur or stomach.


'Repair' in the Bible
each priest is to take from his assessor and repair whatever damage to the temple is found.”
So King Joash called Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said, “Why haven’t you repaired the temple’s damage? Since you haven’t, don’t take any money from your assessors; instead, hand it over for the repair of the temple.”
So the priests agreed they would not take money from the people and they would not repair the temple’s damage.
the masons, and the stonecutters—and would use it to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the damage to the Lord’s temple and for all spending for temple repairs.
It is to be put into the hands of those doing the work—those who oversee the Lord’s temple. They in turn are to give it to the workmen in the Lord’s temple to repair the damage.
They are to give it to the carpenters, builders, and masons to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the temple.
They dedicated part of the plunder from their battles for the repair of the Lord’s temple.
So he gathered the priests and Levites and said, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the temple of your God as needed year by year, and do it quickly.”However, the Levites did not hurry.
Then the king and Jehoiada gave it to those in charge of the labor on the Lord’s temple, who were hiring stonecutters and carpenters to renovate the Lord’s temple, also blacksmiths and coppersmiths to repair the Lord’s temple.
In the eighteenth year of his reign, in order to cleanse the land and the temple, Josiah sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, along with Maaseiah the governor of the city and the court historian Joah son of Joahaz, to repair the temple of the Lord his God.
They put it into the hands of those doing the work—those who oversaw the Lord’s temple. They gave it to the workmen who were working in the Lord’s temple, to repair and restore the temple;
Though we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our slavery. He has extended grace to us in the presence of the Persian kings, giving us new life, so that we can rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
When Sanballat, Tobiah, and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the repair to the walls of Jerusalem was progressing and that the gaps were being closed, they became furious.
I searched for a man among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land so that I might not destroy it, but I found no one.
Your wealth, merchandise, and goods,your sailors and captains,those who repair your leaks,those who barter for your goods,and all the warriors within you,with all the other people on board,sink into the heart of the seaon the day of your downfall.
In that dayI will restore the fallen booth of David:I will repair its gaps,restore its ruins,and rebuild it as in the days of old,
- Amend (15 instances)
- Bushel (15 instances)
- Compensate (7 instances)
- Doctor (6 instances)
- Fix (44 instances)
- Fixing (15 instances)
- Haunt (14 instances)
- Mend (6 instances)
- Mending (3 instances)
- Quicken (18 instances)
- Recompense (86 instances)
- Rectify (1 instance)
- Remedy (8 instances)


1 John 5:7
In the middle of the fifteenth century, seeking to protect the lands they were discovering in their relentless progress south, the Portuguese court petitioned the Vatican for a declaration that they alone were charged with the role of converting and subjugating their discoveries. While the effect of such a declaration would be political, assuring Portuguese primacy in Africa and the Indies, its wording placed it squarely within the spiritual dominion exercised by Rome, and accordingly, despite the protests of the Spanish king, the Vatican issued a series of papal bulls: Dum Diversis 1452; Romanus Pontifex 1455; and finally, the notorious Inter Caetera 1456. Taken together these gave the Portuguese a license over all lands south of the Canary Islands from Cape Bojador to the Indies.
Then in 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed west in search of a passage to China. Columbus, Genoese by birth, had lived most of his life in Portugal. Columbus' brother was a mapmaker in Lisbon, his business buoyed by the voyages of Portuguese captains, while his wife was the daughter of a Portuguese captain. But Columbus, his vision of a westward route to Cathay spurned by King João of Portugal as too expensive, turned to the Spanish for support, and it was under their flag that he sailed west.
When Columbus returned, only seven months later, bringing with him stories of a fertile and friendly land to the west, Portugal suddenly found herself with a rival. Unable to match Spain's military might she instead turned to the Inter Caetera, but Spain responded by declaring that since the lands Columbus had discovered lay to the north of the Canaries the Pope's ruling did not apply. Like Portugal forty years earlier, Spain now turned to the Pope for support, arguing that she should be granted exclusive rights to bring spiritual salvation to the inhabitants of these new lands to the west.
The Pope of the time was Alexander VI, a Borgia and a friend of the Spanish court. Not surprisingly the Spanish request was granted, and at Columbus' suggestion a line was drawn approximately one hundred leagues from the westward tip of the Azores, dividing the Atlantic in half. Whether or not Portugal already knew of Brazil (and it is likely that the outward journeys of her captains had already led her to the shores of South America several years before Columbus' journey), she undoubtedly had considerable fishing interests to the northwest of the Azores, and as a result the Portuguese court protested against the terms of the papal decision. And so, in 1494, after much posturing by both sides, a new treaty, the Treaty of Tordesillas, was brokered between Spain and Portugal, which agreed:
--James Bradley, Wrack631
Some sermon material when taken from the NIV, not the Authorized Version, could be compared to teaching political history without considering the spiritual authority of the Pope. That is, by (1 John 5:7-8) "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one," there is a counsel of heavenly witnesses as well as witnesses on earth. The NIV mutilates verses 7-8 by excluding the heavenly witnesses of verse 7, i.e., "For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement." My NIV at home includes a footnote:
7,8 Late manuscripts of the Vulgate testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. 8And there are three that testify on earth: ...The NIV copy of the person nearest me in the pews didn't even include the footnote. The NIV started putting material back in footnotes when people complained they had left too much out, calling it therefore "the NON-Inspired Version," NIV. With or without footnote, having to sort out a skipped verse tripped up my ability to follow the preacher's line of development and I had to get him to clarify it later.
Here is the argument for including the omitted verse, from Ed Hills, King James Bible Defended, Chapter 8:
3. The Johannine Comma (1 John 5:7)
In the Textus Receptus 1 John 5:7-8 reads as follows:
The words printed in capital letters constitute the so-called Johannine comma, the best known of the Latin Vulgate readings of the Textus Receptus, a reading which, on believing principles, must be regarded as possibly genuine. This comma has been the occasion of much controversy and is still an object of interest to textual critics. One of the more recent discussions of it is found in Windisch's Katholischen Briefe (revised by Preisker, 1951); (26) a more accessible treatment of it in English is that provided by A. D. Brooke (1912) in the International Critical Commentary. (27) Metzger (1964) also deals with this passage in his handbook, but briefly. (28)
(a) How the Johannine Comma Entered the Textus Receptus
As has been observed above, the Textus Receptus has both its human aspect and its divine aspect, like the Protestant Reformation itself or any other work of God's providence. And when we consider the manner in which the Johannine comma entered the Textus Receptus, we see this human element at work. Erasmus omitted the Johannine comma from the first edition (1516) of his printed Greek New Testament on the ground that it occurred only in the Latin version and not in any Greek manuscript. To quiet the outcry that arose, he agreed to restore it if but one Greek manuscript could be found which contained it. When one such manuscript was discovered soon afterwards, bound by his promise, he included the disputed reading in his third edition (1522), and thus it gained a permanent place in the Textus Receptus. The manuscript which forced Erasmus to reverse his stand seems to have been 61, a 15th or 16th-century manuscript now kept at Trinity College, Dublin. Many critics believe that this manuscript was written at Oxford about 1520 for the special purpose of refuting Erasmus, and this is what Erasmus himself suggested in his notes.
The Johannine comma is also found in Codex Ravianus, in the margin of 88, and in 629. The evidence of these three manuscripts, however, is not regarded as very weighty, since the first two are thought to have taken this disputed reading from early printed Greek texts and the latter (like 61) from the Vulgate.
But whatever may have been the immediate cause, still, in the last analysis, it was not trickery which was responsible for the inclusion of the Johannine comma in the Textus Receptus but the usage of the Latin-speaking Church. It was this usage which made men feel that this reading ought to be included in the Greek text and eager to keep it there after its inclusion had been accomplished. Back of this usage, we may well believe, was the guiding providence of God, and therefore the Johannine comma ought to be retained as at least possibly genuine.
(b) The Early Existence of the Johannine Comma
Evidence for the early existence of the Johannine comma is found in the Latin versions and in the writings of the Latin Church Fathers. For example, it seems to have been quoted at Carthage by Cyprian (c. 250) who writes as follows: "And again concerning the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit it is written: and the Three are One." (29) It is true that Facundus, a 6th-century African bishop, interpreted Cyprian as referring to the following verse, (30) but, as Scrivener (1833) remarks, it is "surely safer and more candid" to admit that Cyprian read the Johannine comma in his New Testament manuscript "than to resort to the explanation of Facundus." (31)
The first undisputed citations of the Johannine comma occur in the writing of two 4th-century Spanish bishops, Priscillian, (32) who in 385 was beheaded by the Emperor Maximus on the charge of sorcery and heresy, and Idacius Clarus, (33) Priscillian's principal adversary and accuser. In the 5th century the Johannine comma was quoted by several orthodox African writers to defend the doctrine of the Trinity against the gainsaying of the Vandals, who ruled North Africa from 489 to 534 and were fanatically attached to the Arian heresy. (34) And about the same time it was cited by Cassiodorus (480-570), in Italy. (35) The comma is also found in r an Old Latin manuscript of the 5th or 6th century, and in the Speculum, a treatise which contains an Old Latin text. It was not included in Jerome's original edition of the Latin Vulgate but around the year 800 it was taken into the text of the Vulgate from the Old Latin manuscripts. It was found in the great mass of the later Vulgate manuscripts and in the Clementine edition of the Vulgate, the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church.
(c) Is the Johannine Comma an Interpolation?
Thus on the basis of the external evidence it is at least possible that the Johannine comma is a reading that somehow dropped out of the Greek New Testament text but was preserved in the Latin text through the usage of the Latin-speaking Church, and this possibility grows more and more toward probability as we consider the internal evidence.
In the first place, how did the Johannine comma originate if it be not genuine, and how did it come to be interpolated into the Latin New Testament text? To this question modern scholars have a ready answer. It arose, they say, as a trinitarian interpretation of I John 5:8, which originally read as follows: For there are three that bear witness, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. Augustine was one of those who interpreted 1 John 5:8 as referring to the Trinity. "If we wish to inquire about these things, what they signify, not absurdly does the Trinity suggest Itself, who is the one, only, true, and highest God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, concerning whom it could most truly be said, Three are Witnesses, and the Three are One. By the word spirit we consider God the Father to be signified, concerning the worship of whom the Lord spoke, when He said, God is a spirit. By the word blood the Son is signified, because the Word was made flesh. And by the word water we understand the Holy Spirit. For when Jesus spoke concerning the water which He was about to give the thirsty, the evangelist says, This He spake concerning the Spirit whom those that believed in Him would receive. " (36)
Thus, according to the critical theory, there grew up in the Latin speaking regions of ancient Christendom a trinitarian interpretation of the spirit, the water, and the blood mentioned in 1 John 5:8, the spirit signifying the Father, the blood the Son, and the water the Holy Spirit. And out of this trinitarian interpretation of 1 John 5:8 developed the Johannine comma, which contrasts the witness of the Holy Trinity in heaven with the witness of the spirit, the water, and the blood on earth.
But just at this point the critical theory encounters a serious difficulty. If the comma originated in a trinitarian interpretation of 1 John 5:8, why does it not contain the usual trinitarian formula, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Why does it exhibit the singular combination, never met with elsewhere, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit? According to some critics, this unusual phraseology was due to the efforts of the interpolator who first inserted the Johannine comma into the New Testament text. In a mistaken attempt to imitate the style of the Apostle John, he changed the term Son to the term Word. But this is to attribute to the interpolator a craftiness which thwarted his own purpose in making this interpolation, which was surely to uphold the doctrine of the Trinity, including the eternal generation of the Son. With this as his main concern it is very unlikely that he would abandon the time-honored formula, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and devise an altogether new one, Father, Word, and Holy Spirit.
In the second place, the omission of the Johannine comma seems to leave the passage incomplete. For it is a common scriptural usage to present solemn truths or warnings in groups of three or four, for example, the repeated Three things, yea four of Proverbs 30, and the constantly recurring refrain, for three transgressions and for four, of the prophet Amos. In Genesis 40 the butler saw three branches and the baker saw three baskets. And in Matt. 12:40 Jesus says, As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. It is in accord with biblical usage, therefore, to expect that in 1 John 5:7-8 the formula, there are three that bear witness, will be repeated at least twice. When the Johannine comma is included, the formula is repeated twice. When the comma is omitted, the formula is repeated only once, which seems strange.
In the third place, the omission of the Johannine comma involves a grammatical difficulty. The words spirit, water, and blood are neuter in gender, but in 1 John 5:8 they are treated as masculine. If the Johannine comma is rejected, it is hard to explain this irregularity. It is usually said that in 1 John 5:8 the spirit, the water, and the blood are personalized and that this is the reason for the adoption of the masculine gender. But it is hard to see how such personalization would involve the change from the neuter to the masculine. For in verse 6 the word Spirit plainly refers to the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity. Surely in this verse the word Spirit is "personalized," and yet the neuter gender is used. Therefore since personalization did not bring about a change of gender in verse 6, it cannot fairly be pleaded as the reason for such a change in verse 8. If, however, the Johannine comma is retained, a reason for placing the neuter nouns spirit, water, and blood in the masculine gender becomes readily apparent. It was due to the influence of the nouns Father and Word, which are masculine. Thus the hypothesis that the Johannine comma is an interpolation is full of difficulties.
(d) Reasons for the Possible Omission of the Johannine Comma
For the absence of the Johannine comma from all New Testament documents save those of the Latin-speaking West the following explanations are possible.
In the first place, it must be remembered that the comma could easily have been omitted accidentally through a common type of error which is called homoioteleuton (similar ending). A scribe copying 1 John 5:7-8 under distracting conditions might have begun to write down these words of verse 7, there are three that bear witness, but have been forced to look up before his pen had completed this task. When he resumed his work, his eye fell by mistake on the identical expression in verse 8. This error would cause him to omit all of the Johannine comma except the words in earth, and these might easily have been dropped later in the copying of this faulty copy. Such an accidental omission might even have occurred several times, and in this way there might have grown up a considerable number of Greek manuscripts which did not contain this reading.
In the second place, it must be remembered that during the 2nd and 3rd centuries (between 220 and 270, according to Harnack); (37) the heresy which orthodox Christians were called upon to combat was not Arianism (since this error had not yet arisen) but Sabellianism (so named after Sabellius, one of its principal promoters), according to which the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were one in the sense that they were identical. Those that advocated this heretical view were called Patripassians (Father-sufferers), because they believed that God the Father, being identical with Christ, suffered and died upon the cross, and Monarchians, because they claimed to uphold the Monarchy (sole-government) of God.
It is possible, therefore, that the Sabellian heresy brought the Johannine comma into disfavor with orthodox Christians. The statement, these three are one, no doubt seemed to them to teach the Sabellian view that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were identical. And if during the course of the controversy manuscripts were discovered which had lost this reading in the accidental manner described above, it is easy to see how the orthodox party would consider these mutilated manuscripts to represent the true text and regard the Johannine comma as a heretical addition. In the Greek-speaking East especially the comma would be unanimously rejected, for here the struggle against Sabellianism was particularly severe.
Thus it was not impossible that during the 3rd century amid the stress and strain of the Sabellian controversy, the Johannine comma lost its place in the Greek text, but was preserved in the Latin texts of Africa and Spain, where the influence of Sabellianism was probably not so great. In other words, it is not impossible that the Johannine comma was one of those few true readings of the Latin Vulgate not occurring in the Traditional Greek Text but incorporated into the Textus Receptus under the guiding providence of God. In these rare instances God called upon the usage of the Latin-speaking Church to correct the usage of the Greek speaking Church. (38)
Well, looking at it from an earthly perspective, we see three elements in the escape of the Israelites from Pharaoh's Egypt. First there was the blood on the door mantel so the destroying angel would pass over them. Next, Pharaoh, as you recall, was not about to let them just waltz on out of there even after he'd permitted them under duress. No, he came after them. The Israelites' escape was accomplished by two more actions: (Exodus 14:19-30) "And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians. And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore."
Unless all three mechanisms happened here on earth, the Isralites just wouldn't have made it. This helps us Christians today understand the necessary mechanisms of our salvation: First we have to acknowledge the blood sacrifice of Jesus the spotless lamb of God for our sins. We gird ourselves to forsake our old sinful life as the Israelites were girded for immediate departure at their first Passover.
Then there is the work of regeneration of the Spirit which leads us as did the cloud lead the Israelites. It stood between the Israelites and Pharaoh's army until the former could reach the sea, as does the Spirit protect us from our old man until we reach the waters of baptism.
When we come out of the waters of baptism risen a new creature in Christ, we've made an actual break with that past life, as did the Israelites from Egypt.
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Copyright © 2005, Earl S. Gosnell III
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence.
Permission is hereby granted to use the portions original to this paper--with credit given, of course--in intellectually honest non-profit educational material. The material I myself have quoted has its own copyright in most cases, which I cannot speak for but have used here under the fair use doctrine.
I have used material from a couple of sources for teaching, comment and illustration in this nonprofit teaching endeavor. The sources are included in the text or in a notes file. Such uses must be judged on individual merit, of course, so I cannot say how other uses of the same material might fare.
Any particular questions or requests for permissions may be addressed to me, the author.
Scripture quotations marked NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION or NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
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By Zubeida Mustafa
In the UK, Allotments – small plots of lands given to a number of individuals for cultivation — are said to have been around for centuries. But it was only in the nineteenth century when this concept was regularized by law to give industrial workers land to grow their own food. In 1908 the Small Holdings and Allotments Act made it mandatory for the local authorities to provide allotments to the people when a demand exists.
The Berridale Allotments in the heart of Glasgow that I visited were launched in their present form in 1939. Before that the land had been used as a playground until it was sold to Laidlaw’s to build houses in 1937. The construction work was stopped when it was feared that there might be flooding from the river nearby. Hence Laidlaw’s Trust rented out the land to the Allotments committee which was formed in 1937. The committee later on purchased the land from the Trust in1947-48. The development of the infrastructure was incremental.
- 1964 The Royal Naval base at Abbotsinch contributed the hut and members added the kitchen and toilets.
- 1965-66 Water pipes and stands were instated. Previously water was used from the river.
- George Ronald, treasurer and secretary until 1965, was presented a long service plaque which is displayed in the hut and the trophy for which members compete on “Open Day” is named after George Ronald.
The constitution of the Berridale Allotments & Gardens Association defines its aim to be the cultivation of vegetables, fruits and flowers by the allotment holders.
The Association is run by six office bearers plus nine committee members elected for three years by the Annual General Meeting. It lays down comprehensive rules regulating pets, children, delivery of goods, sale of products, sanitation and so on.
Based on material provided by Robert Spiers


Tantalum and its alloys are midway between tungsten and molybdenum in density and melting points. Tantalum can be worked easily at room temperature. Its thermal conductivity is one-fourth that of molybdenum and its coefficient of expansion is one-third greater. Its elevated temperature strength is low compared with tungsten and molybdenum.
Tantalum is attractive for refractory environments because of its high melting point and corrosion resistance. Substances that can affect tantalum are fluorine, hydrofluoric acid, sulfur trioxide (including fuming sulfuric acid), concentrated strong alkalis, and certain molten salts. The corrosion resistance of tantalum is comparable to glass, although tantalum withstands higher temperatures and offers the machinable advantages of a metal. Tantalum is frequently used in conjunction with glass, glass-lined steel, and other nonmetallic materials. Due to its high cost and lack of strength, tantalum is usually used as a lining over a stronger, less expensive base material.


Your sister has been forced to borrow money to pay her tuition this year. If she makes annual interest payments on the loan at year end for the next three years, and the loan is for $2,500 at a simple interest rate of 6 percent, how much will she pay each year?
Answer to relevant QuestionsA new Internet bank pays compound interest of 0.5 percent per month on deposits. How much interest will Khalil’s summer savings of $1,200 earn in one year with this online bank account?Public corporations have no fixed lifespan; as such, they are often viewed as entities that will pay dividends to their shareholders in perpetuity. Suppose a firm pays a dividend of $2 per share every year. If the discount ...Suppose that, several years ago, the Canadian government issued three very similar bonds; each has a $1,000 face value and a 10-percent coupon rate and will mature in five years. The only difference between the bonds is the ...Calculate the cash price of the following bond, sold on September 21: par = $1,000; coupon rate = 4 percent, paid on January 1 and July 1; quoted price = $956. Explain why the cash price is different from the quoted price.Sapna would like to receive a real return of 5 percent per year on a bond investment at a time when the expected inflation rate is 2.5 percent. How much would she be willing to pay for a bond maturing in two years if it pays ...
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An essay is a short piece of writing which allows a student to present his point of views and arguments on a single topic. Essays are written in formal as well as in an informal way. We can write an essay for literary criticism, political manifests and reflections of the author. There are lots of countries in which essays have become a major part of formal education. That’s why before getting admission in a college or university, the students are asked to write an admission essay. Here, experts of cheap essay writing services will discuss the difference between essay writing in college and university.
There is no big difference between the essay writing at the college level and university level. As we know that an essay consists of five paragraphs. At the college as well as at the university level, it is necessary for us to write an essay which consists of five paragraphs. In the first paragraph, it is necessary for the students to add some information about the topic, thesis statement and hook. After that, there comes the body of an essay. In the body of an essay, it is also necessary for the students to add some examples and evidence in favour of the arguments of the thesis statement.
At last, there comes the concluding paragraph of an essay. In the concluding paragraph of an essay, it is also necessary for us to sum up all the main points of an essay. In the concluding paragraph, there is no need to add some additional information that is not written in the body of an essay. To write an essay, it is necessary for us to conduct effective research. At the university level, if we want to write an essay, we will have to conduct more effective research than a college-level essay.
It is necessary for us to write an essay with the help of unique and original content. At the university level, there are some hard and fast rules about the plagiarism of an essay than at the college level. Therefore, we should try to write novel arguments and unique content while writing a university level essay. We can also see a little bit difference between the language of a college level essay and a university level essay. At the college level essay, we can use non-academic language. On the other hand, at the university level, we can use only academic language.
At the university level, usually, the students have to write an essay on a difficult topic. That’s why they face lots of difficulties to complete an essay. On the other hand, at the college level, the students have to write an essay on an easy topic. As a result, they face fewer difficulties to write an essay. We can also observe some differences in the lengths of these two types of essays. At the college level, the length of an essay is usually shorter than a college-level essay. While writing a college level essay, you will have to be more concise and precise than a university level essay.


Aristotle describes “Time” as the amount of motion. For Aristotle, time as the Eternal Image as it is the case for Plato has no signification. The Aristotle’s perspective is also incompatible with that of Plotinus who considers time as dynamism and motion of soul. Aristotle considers time as the amount of motion on a continuum of pre and post (before and after) other than the motion itself. The Medieval and modern philosophers, also examine time from special points of view in line with their own empirical and rational approaches. Not only, does Aristotle examine time from a natural and physical perspective, but he also addresses aspects of time, particularly the moment of “Now”. He considers the moment of “Now” as the live and real time moment. Aristotle maintains that time is a phenomenon depending on the soul. The Aristotle’s perspective, in fact expresses a kind of dependency between time and the identifier subject (subject); i.e. Aristotle is concerned with examination of time from a subjective view.
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In the modern world, you can easily cultivate existing passion as well as explore new interests so that you get to find a major that will direct your career path. Here is a list of degree programs, covering the job prospects and their popularity. It is a closer look that will help you see some of the unique challenges associated with various popular courses, and it will help you develop skill sets applicable in the profession.
1) Computer Science
Computer science is one of the 12 most popular college majors by degree type. You will not just learn about computer programs and hardware, but you will also get to know the application of that knowledge, readying for the competitive job market. Once you complete, you will be fixed to areas like artificial intelligence, image recognition programs, numerical analysis, and gaming technology.
The course is typically a favorite for great storytellers, personalities with quick wits as well as people with fiery personalities. You will earn speech writing skills as well as the art of formulating scripts. You will be focusing on business, advertising, public relations, and media.
3) Government And Political Science
The major usually deals with those current events. You will be focusing on the politics of the government and a significant concentration on the American government; you will possibly end up being a lawyer or a politician.
A business major will involve grounding in theories as well as principles in accounting, finance, economics, and statistics. You will learn to budget, organize, as well as control various kinds of organizations. You will also be thinking about multiple issues in ethics, politics, among others.
You will be able to focus on the human mind and the way they react to certain prospects from time to time to the environment. You will focus on human features for instance emotions, motivations, and personalities among others.
Engineers will harness various kinds of activities to ensure that they come up with something that people want. It is a broad field that covers mechanical, chemical, biochemistry engineering. You will have a high chance of getting a job in big companies that carry out manufacturing.
7) Nutrition And Dietetics
This often revolves around human nutrition, and depending on the particular education, you will be able to find healthy links for dieting, food preparation, as well as client education
Marketing is usually a popular college major for millennials. Modern skills you will earn involve learning how to formulate social media ad campaigns or just regular ad account management. If you are a people’s person or you can create content that quickly grabs the attention of the people, this will be a great choice for you.
9) Arts And General Studies
Many people who are in colleges will often consider arts aside major while they are focusing on other disciplines. Liberal Arts has even been recognized by many college graduates since it is popular and hence appreciated by a high number of people.
If your passion has always been working with kids and would like to make a significant difference in their lives, it would be wise to pursue an education course. We all have one person who taught us, and we appreciate for the time.
11) Nursing And Health
Graduates in nursing have been identified to come close to the list of being the most popular, in the states. If you appreciate human health and would like to make a difference in the lives of people, taking a course in science would be of great benefit.
12) Social Sciences
In case you happen to be graduating with a degree in social science, you will have great prospects in management consultancy media and economic-related job sets.
You need to ensure that you schedule one-on-one meetings with your college admission counselors so that you can apply and get a slot in your dream school.


Development and evaluation of Fingu: a mathematics iPad game using multi-touch interaction
2012 (English)In: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, New York: ACM Press, 2012, 204-207 p.Conference paper (Other academic)
We describe the design background of the mathematics game Fingu for iPad aimed at 4 to 8 year old children. We first describe how Fingu theoretically can support children's development of fundamental arithmetic skills, focusing on conceptual subitizing, the embodiment of numerosity, and finger gnosis. Then we present the results of an exploratory micro-longitudinal study of the game with 11 5- and 6-year old children playing the game for several weeks and being filmed at three occasions. We discuss how their behavior with the game develops over time and can be related to the development of arithmetic skills. Finally we discuss how we will proceed testing the effectiveness of Fingu in a larger controlled study.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
New York: ACM Press, 2012. 204-207 p.
Computer Uses in Education, Design, Human Factors
IdentifiersURN: urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-9494DOI: 10.1145/2307096.2307126ISBN: 978-1-4503-1007-9OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hkr-9494DiVA: diva2:537906
Interaction Design and Children


Planning for calving is a lot like formulating a battle plan. It can fall apart when the first shot is fired, but preparation and planning for contingencies often makes for the most optimum results.
"Successful calving seasons are planned in advance, with consideration for minimizing the risks of the known hazards of this phase of cattle production," says Dave Smith, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Extension veterinarian. These include minimizing the risks of birthing, environment and disease.
Minimize birthing risks. "Successful calving occurs when a live calf is born without complications to the calf or the dam," Smith says.
The calf factors in dystocia are generally related to size, posture and presentation of the birthing calf. The consequences can be metabolic or physical injury, which can result in death during or after birth.
Meanwhile, the dystocia factors related to the dam are her age, pelvic size and metabolic health. Heifers tend to have more problems with dystocia owing to their more immature stage of development.
There are long- and near-term strategies for preventing birthing problems, Smith says. The long-term strategies include selecting for calving ease and pelvic size, and implementing sound heifer breeding and development programs.
Near-term strategies include:
- Providing exercise and balanced nutrition to heifers and cows prior to and after calving,
- frequent monitoring of calving progress;
- early and appropriate calving assistance;
- ready access to the appropriate tools for calving assistance;
- copious use of lubricants; and
- attention to sanitation (e.g., use of soap and water) during birthing.
Evaluate the environment. Among the environmental factors presenting dangers to new calves are weather extremes, crowding, predators and physical sources of injury, Smith says.
At birth, calves have limited ability to regulate their body temperature. Thus, extremes of heat or cold present a risk for hyperthermia, or hypothermia, respectively. That's especially true when accompanied by wet and muddy or dry and dusty conditions.
"In addition, crowded conditions increase chances for injury from trampling or butting by other cattle, as well as increased opportunities for pathogen exposure," he says.
Physical hazards in the calving environment are another source of calf injury. These include protruding nails, broken posts, loose wire, holes, steep embankments, standing water, various sources of electricity, and toxins (such as from lead batteries or chemical containers discarded in or near calving facilities or on pastures), Smith says.
While cows are less susceptible to weather stresses than their calves, dystocia or metabolic disease increase their risk of hypothermia or hyperthermia. At the time surrounding calving, cows also may be more likely to slip and fall, a likelihood exacerbated by floor surfaces with steep slopes or slippery traction due to snow, ice or mud.
"In addition, cows calving near ditches and streams or other low spots are at risk to fall or not be able to rise after lying down," Smith says. "As with calves, cows may be injured by a variety of physical hazards that may be present in the calving environment."
The risk of injury to cow or calf can be minimized, however, by paying attention to environmental conditions. Long-term strategies include breeding so that calving occurs during favorable weather conditions, and planning for calving facilities with minimal physical hazards. Near-term strategies include a pre-calving survey of the facilities for potential sources of injury, as well as routine surveillance of the herd during the calving season.
Minimize disease risks. Diarrhea, commonly called scours, is one of the most likely causes of sickness and death in young calves. It's a complex disease -- an interrelationship between agent, host and environmental factors.
Even calves that are immunologically well-protected can be overcome by a sufficient level of exposure to a pathogen. That's why keeping the environment clean has long been recognized as important for controlling calf diarrhea, Smith says.
While adult cows are likely the source of scours pathogens from year to year, the average dose-load of pathogen exposure to calves tends to increase over a calving season. That's because calves infected earlier serve as pathogen-multipliers and become the primary source of exposure to younger, susceptible calves.
"This multiplier effect can result in high calf infectivity and widespread environmental contamination with pathogens," Smith says. That's why "biocontainment" is important in controlling calf diarrhea.
That's the idea behind the UNL-developed Sandhills Calving System (SCS). Named after the Sandhills area of north-central Nebraska where it was tested, SCS utilizes a series of calving pastures to minimize newborn calves' contact with disease agents. The idea is to minimize both the disease load and newborns' exposure to the disease agents until their immune systems have sufficiently matured to better withstand them.
"We're trying to recreate the conditions of the first week of calving season during each of the remaining weeks of the calving season. We want a clean calving area without the presence of older calves that may be shedding pathogens," Smith says. "I like to say we're creating eight, one-week seasons rather than one, eight-week season."
SCS consists of a series of large contiguous pastures. Learn more about the SCS system at: vetext.unl.edu/publications.shtml?to=Beef. Here's how it works:
- Cows are turned into the first calving pasture as soon as the first calves are born, and calving continues for two weeks.
- After two weeks, the cows that haven't calved are moved to Pasture 2, with cow-calf pairs remaining behind in Pasture 1.
- After a week of calving in Pasture 2, the cows that haven't calved are moved to Pasture 3, and cow-calf pairs born in Pasture 2 remain in Pasture 2.
- With each subsequent week, cows that haven't calved are moved to a new pasture, and pairs remain in their pasture of birth.
This age segregation prevents transfer of pathogens from older to younger calves. Meanwhile, moving pregnant cows to new calving pastures minimizes the pathogen load in the environment, as well as a newborn calf's contact time with those pathogens.
"Ranchers using the system have observed meaningful and sustained reductions in sickness and death due to calf scours, and greatly reduced use of medications," Smith says. He adds that although SCS was tested and initially adopted in ranches typical of the Nebraska Sandhills, the principles on which it's based are widely applicable.
Smith says the SCS principles of limiting calf exposure to pathogens also apply to calving barns. "A good strategy is to be judicious in their use. Try not to use them when the weather is favorable for outside calving," he says.


I recently led a few photo tours to Iceland to photograph the northern lights, and our groups each had the good fortune to experience several nights of clear skies and brilliant displays of aurora.
It's an amazing experience, both to photograph and simply to see. One of the high seasons for aurora is nearly upon us, so I chose to write a primer on how to tackle this exciting genre of night photography.
Where and When to Find Aurora
The aurora borealis, as the northern lights are also known, occurs when electrically charged particles from the sun are carried by solar wind toward Earth and collide with gases in the upper atmosphere. Those gas particles—most commonly oxygen (green aurora) and nitrogen (pink aurora)—are “excited” by the collisions, and release photons of light.
Earth’s magnetic field deflects most of the solar particles, but that field is weakest at the poles. This is why the aurora is mainly seen near the polar regions. (Toward the South Pole, they're called the aurora australis, or southern lights.) In general, the chances of viewing the aurora in the Northern Hemisphere are best at latitudes above 55° N, and between the months of September and March. Historically, March and October are the best months for aurora viewing.
There are a number of apps to help locate the aurora. The one we at NPAN have used the most is Aurora Forecast. Some of the newer apps seem to have more favorable reviews, and may be worth trying. Whichever app you choose, set the preferences to send you an alert for a Kp rating of 5 or higher, for middle latitudes if you live at or below 55° N latitude, and high latitudes above 55° N. Kp is the unit of measurement for geomagnetic conditions responsible for the aurora.
The frequency of clear skies is also a big a factor in seeing the aurora, but broken cloud cover can add a lot of visual interest in aurora photographs. The phenomenon can appear at any time when the sky is dark, but the best viewing times are typically from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Solar activity peaks and falls on an 11-year cycle. The winter of 2012-13 was the peak of the current cycle, which was theoretically the best chance to see auroral activity for the next decade. Luckily for us though, there has been plenty of auroral activity every winter since 2012.
Iceland lies between 64° and 66° N, and is ideally suited for viewing and photographing the aurora. Despite being so far north, its position on the Gulf Stream keeps the winters relatively mild compared to other good aurora-viewing places such as Scandinavia and Alaska. During my two Iceland tours in 2015, we had good viewing conditions and good sightings for nine out of 17 nights, and really spectacular displays on three of those nights.
Photographing the aurora is relatively straight-forward once you understand the basics. The remainder of this article is intended to provide the basic information required for aurora photography.
Prepare for the Cold
It’s obvious that you’ll be photographing in cold weather conditions, and there are a few things you can do to protect yourself and your equipment from the cold.
Dress in layers, making sure that your innermost layer is synthetic rather than cotton. Synthetic fibers wick moisture away from the body, keeping you warm and dry. Dress as if it will be colder than it really will be. Standing around for hours on end will make you feel much colder than if you were active or if you were outside for only a short while.
Your best options are:
- heavyweight merino wool and synthetic-blend socks
- insulated boots with wool or sheepskin liners
- long underwear
- lined pants, wind pants or long underwear with ski pants
Make sure your neck is covered, and find just the right hat. The best bet for your hands is flip-top mittens with chemical hand warmers and potentially thin, form-fitting glove liners. (We particularly like the Trigger Mitt by our friends at Vallerret.) If you’re going to Alaska, or somewhere frigid, extreme cold weather clothing can be expensive, but is essential.
Camera gear for Aurora Photography
Photographing the aurora tests the limits of our gear, so this is a case where using the best equipment really makes a difference in the quality of your images.
Cameras and Lenses
Cameras with full-frame sensors are ideal, as are fast, ultrawide-angle lenses. Cameras such as the or D750, Pentax K1, Sony A7R2 or A7S2, and Canon EOS 6D or EOS 5D Mark IV are particularly well-suited to this work. The next best option is an APS-C camera, such as the Nikon D500. But if you will be using an APS-C camera, I recommend sticking with newer models that perform better at high ISOs.
Fast, wide to ultrawide angle lenses in the 14mm to 24mm range are the most useful for full-frame cameras, and those manufactured by Samyang under the brand names of Samyang, Bower and Rokinon offer a great value for about one-third the price of the comparable Canon and Nikon lenses, and they suffer less from coma at wide apertures. It’s recommended to test these lenses thoroughly after purchase, as quality control is notoriously inconsistent.
The best zoom lenses for this type of photography are the Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 and Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8. A lens hood is helpful not only for preventing flare, but also for protecting the front element from frost and condensation.
A sturdy tripod is essential of course, and those with three leg sections are generally more stable than those with four or five. One exception to the three-section leg rule is the Gitzo Series One Traveler. This is one of our favorite travel tripods, as it packs small and is incredibly sturdy. A more economical alternative is the Manfrotto 190Go! Carbon Fiber Tripod Kit with Ball Head.
Insulated leg sections are easier to handle, especially on aluminum tripods. Ball heads are better suited for this work than traditional pan-tilt heads because they can be adjusted quickly to track quickly changing aurora.
Since exposures are generally 30 seconds or less, a remote release or intervalometer is helpful, though not required. In fact, the cables can freeze and break in extremely cold weather, so if the temperature is below zero F, you’re better off without one. If you are working without a remote release of some sort, be sure to use the 2-second delay on the self-timer to avoid camera movement when depressing the shutter button.
The only other equipment you’ll need is an extra camera battery or two. You’ll want to keep your extra batteries close to your body in an inner pocket, as they will not last as long in the cold. You can also consider connecting to an external power supply with the Tether Tools Case Relay Camera Power System.
Remove any filters from your lenses, and be sure to use your lens hoods, which will help minimize frost or condensation buildup on the front element. A neoprene beer/soda cozy with the end cut off can be used to hold one or two chemical warmers to your lens, which also can prevent the lens from fogging over.
Lastly, you'll want some flashlights. We recommend carrying at least two: a dim or preferably red one (such as Coast's FL75 headlamp) for finding things in your bag or making adjustments to your camera, and a very bright flashlight to use as a focusing aid or for light painting. (As usual, we can't recommend the Coast HP7R enough. Use the coupon code “parksatnight” for 25 percent off of all merchandise at CoastPortland.com.)
Ambient Light and Aurora Photography
Ambient light from towns and cities will obscure all but the brightest aurora displays, so make sure you are well away from urban areas. That said, the distant glow from streetlights or the last glow of a fading sunset on the horizon can add another element of color to your photographs. Sodium-vapor streetlights reflecting off of low clouds is another possibility to add contrasting color to aurora photos.
Lunar phase and lunar elevation in the sky both have a profound impact on night photography in general, and on aurora photography in particular. Photographing without any moonlight will mean primarily silhouetted foregrounds, and longer exposures at higher ISOs. Photographing under a full moon will mean much brighter foregrounds (especially if there is snow on the ground), shorter exposures at lower ISOs and fainter aurora in your photographs.
You can photograph the aurora at all phases of the lunar cycle, and the results will vary fairly dramatically; it’s just a matter of what kind of images you are looking for. My preference is to photograph between the first quarter and waxing gibbous phases, as there is sufficient moonlight to illuminate the landscape without overpowering the aurora. The first-quarter moon rises around noon, sets around midnight, and then rises about 45 minutes later each day until it is full. The full moon rises at about sunset and sets at about sunrise.
If you include interesting foreground elements, you may want to add light painting, especially when there is little or no moonlight present.
Camera Settings and Exposure for Aurora Photography
Aurora photography pushes the limits of even today’s best DSLR cameras. Because of the low light levels, and the need to keep exposures relatively short due to the moving nature of the aurora, you’ll be photographing at the highest usable ISO of your camera and the widest aperture that will yield sufficient sharpness and depth of field.
Determining your highest usable ISO is simply a matter of testing your camera by making a series of low-light exposures at increasing ISOs, and then scrutinizing the shadow areas of each exposure, preferably by making final-size prints of the images. (See Matt Hill’s post, “Keep the Noise Down: How to Take an ISO Test with your Camera.”) For me, 1600 is the highest ISO I use for print-quality images and 6400 for web-quality with my 5D Mark II.
Similarly, you’ll want to test your lenses for coma at wide apertures. A form of optical distortion, coma causes stars to appear as if they have “tails” like a comet, or sometimes like a bird in flight. Test your lenses by shooting starry skies at maximum aperture and then stopping down in half- or third-stop increments until you get to f/5.6, and then looking at the resulting images at full magnification for signs of coma. It’s generally found near the edges of the frame in images shot at or near maximum aperture. The Canon and Nikon 24mm f/1.4 lenses both suffer from fairly severe coma problems. (Coma is another topic we will discuss in more detail in the future.)
Exposures for aurora photography range from approximately 30 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 6400 for faint to average aurora on a moonless night, to 4 seconds, f/4, ISO 800 for bright coronal aurora on a full-moon night. The intensity of the aurora can vary dramatically—sometimes it’s barely visible to the naked eye but shows up nicely in photographs, and sometimes it can be so bright as to illuminate the landscape.
Determining exposure is accomplished by viewing a combination of the RGB histogram and the blinking highlight indicator. At a minimum, you should have a histogram that shows no shadow clipping—it can be a left-biased histogram, but the histogram should not be touching the left edge of the graph. Images with more exposure will have cleaner shadows with less noise. Ideally, you should not have to lighten your image in post-processing. Use the blinking highlight indicator to make sure that you are not overexposing the aurora or any highlights created by light painting. Use the LCD image preview primarily for confirming composition and focus.
Key camera settings
Here’s a rundown of the camera settings most important to photographing aurora, and my recommendations for how to set them.
- Set file quality to RAW.
- Use your camera’s highest usable ISO setting, hopefully between 1600 and 6400.
- Set white balance to between 3700 K and 4100 K when shooting under moonlight, or between 4000 K and 5500 K when there is no moon.
- Set your camera’s Long Exposure Noise Reduction (LENR) to Auto (if available) or on.
- Enable your camera’s RGB histogram to use as the primary exposure determinant in natural light.
- Enable the blinking highlight indicator to ensure that you do not clip the aurora.
- Set the LCD brightness to “auto” or reduce it manually to almost the lowest setting.
- Set exposure mode to Manual.
- Set focus to Manual.
- Turn off IS/VR lens functions
- For focusing, use magnified Live View with the assistance of a flashlight to illuminate your focal subject, or use conservative, well-executed hyperfocal distance.
For more information and a complete list of camera settings, download my PDF “Basic Camera Settings for Milky Way and Aurora Photography.”
Getting Out There
As with any type of photography, you’ll get better results with experience and practice. It’s very helpful to have a basic understanding of night photography, and to be completely familiar with your equipment before departing toward one of the poles. Simply working in the cold and darkness complicates photography exponentially, so do your homework, and be prepared. Don’t expect to get perfect results on your first attempt.
Photographing the northern lights can be like photographing a close friend or family member’s wedding: You’re so focused on the task at hand that before you know it, the event is over and you’ve completely missed out on the experience! Make sure that you take some time to simply step back, look up, and enjoy the magnificence of this special phenomenon.
Note: National Parks at Night's 2017 Westfjords, Iceland, Photo Tour is sold out, but there are at least a half a dozen U.S. national parks with opportunities to photograph aurora borealis, (and a few national parks in Iceland that we won't get to on this year's trip). To get early notifications of our 2018 workshops and tours, be sure that you are signed up for our mailing list.


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This painting was a sketch for the large canvas "Religious procession in the Kursk province", Repin wanted to cover the whole of Russia, and he succeeded.
Here we see two ordinary women. They make a pilgrimage. It can be assumed that there are praying mantis for a long time and are very tired. They are dressed very simply.
Repin depicts an endless Russian road. We do not see where it begins. Striking the breadth of the landscape. Repin portrayed women against the backdrop of the valley. Behind them lies a green and yellow carpet. Here and there you can see rare trees. The sky, as if scorched. Its color is not blue, but greenish. It seems that the earth merges with it, forming a single space.
Repin pays maximum attention to two heroines. He details the features of their coarse faces. Before us are women who have gone through a lot. They are not afraid of adversity. They survived and were able to bear everything. And now they are quietly walking along the road, as necessary. We do not see discontent on their faces. They are fully focused. Mantis seems to be lost in thought. What are they talking about? We can only guess. It is possible that about their fate or about their homeland.
Repin is a true master. The picture is dominated by gray, brown and green tones. But, despite this, it is quite bright. The artist skillfully combines colors. Everything depicted by him is as realistic as possible.
The painter deliberately does not prescribe the background in detail and does not specify it. The action of this canvas could take place anywhere in Central Russia. We feel the monotony of the landscape that the praying mantis see every day. At the same time, Repin admires nature.
His relation to the one depicted is ambivalent. On the one hand, he emphasizes the poverty of these women and their bleak existence. On the other hand, he seeks to convey the beauty of the vast expanses and pride in his country.
Composition By Painting In The Blue Expanse


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Drive Power Connectors
The power supply provides power to internal hard disk, floppy disk, CD/DVD and other drives directly, through four-wire connectors that are designed to attach to the rear of each drive. The four wires provide +5 V and +12 V power, along with two grounds, to the various drives that use them.
The connectors themselves come in two basic styles. The larger size, often called a Molex connector (after the name of one of the big connector companies) is keyed by virtue of the connector itself being "D-shaped", and is used on most internal drives, including hard disk, CD/DVD, Zip and other removable media drives, and the older 5.25" floppy disk drives. The smaller size, typically called a "mini-plug", is used for the newer style of 3.5" floppies. It is also keyed, but in a different way than the larger connector, and actually secures to its mating connector with a retention clip of sorts.
The number of connectors that come with each power supply varies considerably. In general, the bigger the supply, the more devices the manufacturer expects you to run, so the more connectors are included. Totals can range from 3 or 4 connectors to as many as a dozen. Another factor is just general quality; some makers skimp on the connectors to save money, and make you buy adapters to let you run additional drives. These adapters, usually called "Y-splitters" or "Y cables" after their general shape (sort of :^) ) contain one male and two female large-style hard disk connectors, cost around $2-5 in the U.S,. and are available in most electronics or computer stores. They are increasingly needed in modern systems, because not only do newer systems have more drives, they also have more fans and cooling devices, which also often attach using a disk drive power connector. Do remember, however, that adding a Y-splitter doesn't magically increase your power supply's output capacity! It just gives you more connectors.
Warning: It is best to avoid
Y-splitters if possible, for a few reasons. First, there have been reports of incorrectly
wired Y-splitters. Watch out for them, as they have the potential to damage your
equipment. (It's pretty easy to see if the adapter has been wired correctly by inspecting
it carefully. Using an ohmmeter to test for correct connectivity is even better.) Second,
they are an additional potential source of failure in the system, and are often cheaply
made and hard to align and plug in properly. Third, they can further clutter the inside of
a busy case. Fourth, every time you share two devices on a single connector, all the power
drawn by the two devices has to travel down the same set of wires from the power supply.
If you chain three or four drives off the same connector using multiple splitters you may
exceed the current rating for the wires and/or connector. See the discussion of wire size
and resistance in the section on the
motherboard connectors for more details.
Most systems only come with a single mini-plug connector--because most systems come with only a single floppy drive that uses it--but some may come with two. If you need an additional mini-plug connector in a system with only one, or if the first one breaks, you can employ a simple adapter to change a large style into a small style. (They may make them the other way as well, but I am not sure.) You may also on occasion see mini-plugs, or mini-plug adapters, that only use two wires instead of the standard four. They omit pins 1 and 2 because newer floppies may use only the +5 voltage. This won't cause problems in most cases, but beware.
A couple of final thoughts. The power supply fan in your PC runs directly off a connection within the supply itself, but additional fans within the case are growing in popularity, and typically each of these requires a drive connector. They don't draw very much power (but fancier electrothermal coolers can draw quite a bit). Finally, the hot-swappable drives used with RAID in newer server boxes typically do not use standard drive connectors for their drives. They make use of a technology called single connector attachment (SCA). In this scheme, special bays are installed in the system, which take either standard power connectors from the power supply, or a special wiring harness. The drives themselves plug into the bays and draw all their power and signals from a single mated connector, one half on the back of the drive and one half inside the bay. This allows them to be easily removed while the system is still operating.
Next: Power Supply Fan


Structuring the Speech
Organizing speeches serves two important functions. First, organization helps improve clarity of thought in a systematic way. Second, organization increases the likelihood that the speech will be effective
Audiences are unlikely to understand disorganized speeches and even less likely to think that disorganized speakers are reliable or credible. Speeches are organized into three main parts: introduction, body, and conclusion.
The introduction of the speech establishes the first, crucial contact between the speaker and the audience. For most classroom speeches, the introduction should last less than a minute. The introduction needs to accomplish three things:
Focus your audience's attention. Speakers must have an “attention grabber” to interest the audience—a joke, astonishing fact, or anecdote. (Rhetorical questions like “Haven’t you ever wondered how…” are notoriously ineffective.) The introduction is the place where the main claim or idea should be stated very clearly to give the audience a sense of the purpose of the speech. Speakers need to orient the audience and make connections between what they know or are already interested in and the speech topic.
Establish goodwill and credibility. Many people believe the most important part of persuasion was ethos, or the character the speaker exhibited to the audience. The audience needs to see the speaker as someone to listen to attentively and sympathetically. Ethos is generated by both delivery style and content of the speech. Making eye contact with the audience and displaying confidence in voice and body are two important ways to establish ethos. In addition, if you express ideas that are original and intelligent, you will show what “intellectual character.” Audiences pay attention to habits of thought that are interesting and worth listening to.
Give a preview. Mentioning the main points to be covered in the body prepares the audience to listen for them. Repetition is an important aspect of public speaking, for listening is an imperfect art, and audience members nearly always tune out in parts--sometimes to think about previous parts of the speech, sometimes for other reasons. The preview should end with a transition, a brief phrase or a pause to signal to the audience that the speech is moving out of the introduction and into the body.
The body follows and is itself structured by a mode of organization, a logical or culturally specific pattern of thinking about ideas, events, objects, and processes. Having a mode of organization means grouping similar material together and linking the component parts together with transitions. Good transitions show the relation between parts of a speech. They display the logic of the speech. Common transition phrases include: in addition to, furthermore, even more, next, after that, then, as a result, beyond that, in contrast, however, and on the other hand. One special type of transition is called the internal summary, a brief restatement of the main point being completed.
In the body, the fewer the main points the better. For short classroom speeches, under 10 minutes, speeches should not have more than three main points. For longer speeches, more than five main points ensures that audiences will have trouble following and remembering the speech. In the speech, main points should be clearly stated and "signposted," marked off as distinct and important to the audience. Transitions often serve to signpost new points, as do pauses before an important idea. Additionally, speakers might number main points—first, second, third or first, next, finally. Always make it easy for the audience to recognize and follow key ideas.
There are several common modes of organizing the information in the body of your speech:
Temporal organization groups information according to when it happened or will happen. Types of temporal patterns include chronological (in the sequence it occurred) and reverse chronological (from ending back to start). Inquiry order is one special mode of temporal organization useful in presenting some kinds of research: here you organize the body in accord with the unfolding processes of thinking and gathering data, taking the audience from the initial curiosity and questions to final results.
Cause-effect is a related mode of organization, showing how one event brings about another. Cause-effect, like other temporal modes, may be used for past, present, or future events and processes. Cause-effect can also be reversed, from effect back to cause.
Spatial patterns group and organize your speech based on physical arrangement of its parts. If a speech is describing a place, a physical object, or a process of movement--downtown Mercer, a plant cell, or the Battle of Shiloh--spatial patterns can be useful.
Topical designs are appropriate when the subject matter has clear categories of division. Government in the United States, for instance, falls into federal, state, and local categories; or into executive, legislative, and judicial branches; into elected and appointed officials. Categories like these can help divide the subject matter to organize the main points.
Compare/contrast takes two or more entities and draws attention to their differences and/or similarities. Sometimes speakers explain a difficult subject by comparing it with an easier, more accessible one--to explain nuclear fusion with the stages of high school romance, for instance. The use of analogies often assists in audience understanding.
Following a transition from the body of the speech, the conclusion follows. The conclusion should be somewhat shorter than the introduction and accomplishes two purposes: summarize main ideas and give the speech a sense of closure and completion. Good conclusions might refer back to the introduction, offer an analogy or metaphor that captures the main idea, or leave the audience with a question or a challenge of some type. Brief quotations can also make effective conclusions (just as they can make effective openings for introductions).


August 31, 2008
Posted: 11:14 PM ET
As most of us anxiously watch the path of Hurricane Gustav, satellite images show us the movement of this fierce storm. But satellites and radars are not the only tools that help forecasters predict where, when, and how strong storms will be.
U.S. Geological Survey scientists have placed dozens of these storm surge sensors in the path of Hurricane Gustav. Photo courtesy USGS
In the hours leading up to Gustav's landfall, several teams of scientists slogged through southern Louisiana, deploying weather instruments to get data during the storm. It is information that can both document what this storm is doing, and help forecasters better predict future tropical storms and hurricanes.
Two teams from the Texas Tech University hurricane research team spent Sunday placing two dozen sensors in the path of the storm.
"Basically the idea is to saturate the area with observation, trying to cover south central Louisiana with these probes," said Ian Giammanco, field coordinator for the research team.
The instruments are designed to help meteorologists determine what wind speeds caused what type of damage. Their sensors, seven foot instruments known as "stick-nets," function as complete mini weather stations.
"We hope in the future to be able to do this in real time," said Giammanco.
But for now that option is far too expensive.
The field research is funded by the National Science Foundation and Texas Tech University.
Another team of scientists, from the U. S. Geological Survey, (USGS) positioned about 90 storm surge sensors along the Gulf Coast.
"From those instruments we want to learn the time, the duration, and the velocity of the surge," said Brian McCallum, assistant director of the Georgia Water Science Center.
That information can help forecasters model different types of storms, to help predict their impact.
The USGS first placed these sensors in hurricanes Rita and Wilma in 2005.
Both the Texas Tech and USGS researchers are hunkering down a safe distance from the coast until the storm passes. They will recover their instruments a day or two after the danger has passed.
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