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Every February we celebrate and honor the contributions made by African Americans to United States History. Two individuals in particular have had significant impacts, both nationally and locally, on the work that Origin does. Dorothy Richardson was a Pittsburgh, PA resident, who refused to allow her neighborhood to succumb to the long-term effects of decay and lack of public and private investment in the mid-1960s. Through her hard work and determination, she established the first Neighborhood Housing Services and laid the foundation for what is known today as NeighborWorks America. Dorothy’s vision of how to revitalize and preserve her neighborhood resulted, more than 40 years ago, in a new kind of community/government/private sector partnership, the first “Neighborhood Housing Services.” Dorothy’s success changed the nation's approach to urban redevelopment and spawned the new field of community-based development; the model of partnership she pioneered became the foundation for today’s NeighborWorks America network. Origin SC is proud to be part of its network of more than 240 organizations, and in honor of Black History Month, we want to recognize Dorothy Richardson, also known as the “mother of community development.” Learn more about Dorothy Richardson here. Robert Fludd is the director of the Liberty Hill Improvement Afterschool Literacy Program, located here in North Charleston, SC. In honor of Black History Month, Origin SC wants to recognize Fludd for his leadership within the community. “It doesn’t matter where you’re from – your background doesn’t determine where you’re going,” -Robert FluddAt one point, Fludd decided to leave teaching for a better paying job at a Fortune 500 company, but he felt empty and dissatisfied. His father’s illness brought him back to his roots, and when Fludd’s father passed, he decided to resign from that position and pursue working on a political campaign for the then-Senator Obama. It was through this that Fludd mobilized community after community, with every precinct he worked in voting more than 90% for our current President. After President Obama’s election, Fludd was asked to be the President of the Liberty Hill Improvement Council. Liberty Hill is the oldest community in what is now North Charleston, South Carolina. In 1864, one year prior to the official end of slavery in the United States, Paul and Harriet Trescot, “free persons of color,” owned 112 acres of land – called Liberty Hill. Once a vibrant, founding community, it is now an area of blight. In 2010, Robert Fludd identified a need in the North Charleston community after reading an article in the newspaper about how high school students in our area were reading at 3rd and 4th grade levels. It immediately sparked the idea of a literacy program focused on reading skills for those in elementary school. Within that first year, 100% of the students showed progress on their state MAP testing. The following year, the program added 20 kids. And they added math to the program at the request of the local schools. With the help of volunteers, the program grew to 60 kids in 2013, and the City of North Charleston began to assist with transportation from the schools to the after school program. The Liberty Hill Literacy Program is now a thriving after school program with more than 100 children from the Liberty Hill community and surrounding areas.
Name of Book: Mockingjay Author: Suzanne Collins Book Design: Elizabeth Parisi Publisher: Scholastic Press Audience: Ages 12 and up Summary: The third in a trilogy of science fiction stories, Mockingjay is written for adolescent youth and older due to graphic and violent content. Katniss Everdeen has survived two rounds of competition in the Hunger Games arena and returns to District 12 to see the ruins after it has been bombed and destroyed by the Capitol. Citizen refugees have been relocated to District 13, the first district destroyed by the Capitol which went underground. The residents of District 13 and the refugees have together plotted the details of the revolution and assassination plan for President Snow. Peeta has been captured and tortured by President Snow and special army team from District 13 is sent to the Capitol to rescue Peeta and other games survivors. The Capitol retaliates with bombing the districts, but 13 is spared. The district president works to create an army capable of leading the other districts in the revolution against the Capitol to gain freedom from oppression. With Katniss in the army group leading the way as the mockingjay, she will again experience and participate in violence and death as they work to rid Panem of the evil in power. This particular book moves much more quickly through time than the past two in the series. A war rages on and much death and destruction take place, although it is described over weeks and months rather than days. Note: While the series has no Christian references at all, there are a number of routes one can take in discussing Christian faith with teenage readers. Parents are strongly encouraged to read this book either before their children or alongside their children and engage in regular faith-based discussions. Literary elements at work in the story: This is a science fiction dystopia of revenge imposed by the country leadership onto the individual districts. It is told from the first person point of view of Katniss, a 16 year old tribute to the Games. It is her story of survival in not just the games, but in everyday life as a citizen of the poorest district in Panem. Katniss is portrayed as a survivor, as is her friend Gale, while many of the other child characters, including her sister (and even her mom) are portrayed as weak and needy. The setting of this book takes place in District 13, as well as in the Capital during war time. How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economic/ability make a difference to the story? This book portrays all citizens of Panem, even those of District 13, as under oppressive authority. Many citizens have been tortured either physically or mentally, and even within the safety of the district, there is no freedom for citizens. The culture is that of a benevolent dictatorship, creating citizens who will survive the war and hopefully repopulate the country after it has been recaptured. Scripture: Isaiah 57:19-21 Theology: As humans we fall short of the glory of God, but we are still loved and desired by God. We have turned away from God, and each other, in search of our own personal and societal gains. As sinners, we have gone against “the way it’s supposed to be.” We are unable to turn ourselves back toward God and unable to make our relationship with God and one another right. We have been sent Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, to lead us back into relationship with God and others. Faith Talk Questions: - Have you ever been given a gift by someone that you know you can’t repay? - How can we trust God when we don’t physically see or feel God? - Are there any characters in the book that value human life? - What does God teach us about the value of a human life? - Katniss struggles with the loss of friends close to her and feels responsible. Have you ever lost someone close to you? Has someone close to you been hurt before? How did you feel? - How do you think God would react to the Capitol’s treatment of the citizens of Panem? Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Katie Todd Mockingjay by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Not Just for Kids The Hunt for Falling Leaves... Nature's Color on the Ground by Mary Catherine Ball Being a reporter, I am always looking for an adventure. Last week, I found one. I left work to go on a simple journey, but it turned out to be much more. First, I crossed a mud-ridden stream. Then, I came face to face with flying creatures, fighting to get near me. I even endured webmakers spinning my hair into a shiny maze. Where did I go? Into the woods, of course. Why? I wanted to gather some fallen leaves. My luck was good that day. I was able to spy lots of different kinds of leaves lying on the ground. Some were leaves I had never seen. Some were still green, while others were changing to their autumn colors. Have you ever hunted for leaves? I wonder if you know the names of five of the trees that live in your neighborhood? I bet the answer is no. Well, me neither. So I had five of the leaves analyzed. I had found the leaves from an oak, a beech, a sweet gum tree and more. Now, I invite you to make this journey. Narrow body with pointy edges Narrow body with pointy edges May grow berries Good for sap & color 3 distinct leafs May grow nuts This is your task... Travel to the deep, dark woods (in the daylight) to find these 5 leaves. Cut out the page and take it with you. Make sure you can match your discovery with mine. Happy leaf-hunting! Stone Soup October 9 (11:30am)-Enjoy lunch and a show. After you eat peanut butter & jelly, watch Stone Soup, performed by the Lost Caravan. Lunch is at noon; show starts at 12:30. Chesapeake Music Hall, Off Rt. 50 approaching the Bay Bridge: 410/406-0306. All Aboard October 9 & 10 (2pm)-Chug a chug to Zany Brainy for train fun. Listen to stories and sing railroad songs. Build your own trains. Ages 3+. Zany Brainy, Annap. Harb. Ctr.: 410/266-1447. Tiny Tots Fall for Nature Tues. Oct 12 (10:30am-noon) Three- to five-year-olds (and their adult) hike into the woods to hear autumn stories, gather leaves and make a craft. Bring a bag lunch to enjoy w/apple cider @ King's Landing Park, Huntingtown. $3 rsvp: 800/735-2258. Spooky Stories in the Woods Tues. Oct. 12 (10:30-noon)-Hike with a ranger to a clearing in the woods. Listen to autumn stories and drink warm apple cider. Gather leaves to make a craft. Bring a bag lunch. Kings Landing Park, Huntingtown: 410/535-5327. Musical Minds Wed. Oct. 13 (4-4:45pm)-Music makes the world go round. So sing, listen to stories and play musical instruments. Ages 2-4. Chesapeake Children's Museum, Festival at Riva. $8.50; rsvp: 410/266-0677. Nature Designs Deadline Oct. 15-Create your favorite nature scene out of clay or on paper to win prizes. Age categories are 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12 years. Place winners win nature books or statues. All art forms accepted. Take your masterpiece to Wild Bird Center, Annapolis Harbour Center: 410/573-0345. Tiny Tots get in Touch with Mother Nature Sat. Oct 16 (10-10:30am) Tiny tots (2-3 w/adult) learn nature by touch, feeling the many different textures rough and soft in the world around us. @ Battle Creek Cypress Swamp, Prince Frederick: 800/735-2258. \| Issue 40 \| Volume VII Number 40 October 7-13, 1999 New Bay Times \| Homepage \| \| Back to Archives \|
The question soon arose of how to actually implement the Chinese Exclusion Act. Initially, customs service officers individually and arbitrarily administered Exclusion; in time, procedures became standardized and as they did, Exclusion enforcement eventually fell upon the Bureau of Immigration, forerunner of today’s Bureau of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), formerly Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Fast forward thirty years: by the first decade of the 20th century, a national system had formed for specifically regulating Asian immigration. This system invoked fear and loathing in the community, remainied a baleful memory for generations. As part of this system, Immigration officials planned a new facility on Angel Island, the largest island in the San Francisco Bay, far from the mainland. It would replace the old two-story shed at the Pacific Mail Steamship Company wharf previously used to house and process incoming and outgoing migrants. The new station would prevent Chinese immigrants from communicating with those in San Francisco, isolate immigrants with communicable diseases, and, like the prison on nearby Alcatraz Island, be escape proof. In January 1910, over the late objections of Chinese community leaders, this hastily built immigration station was opened on the northeastern edge of Angel Island, ready to receive its first guests. The first stop on disembarking at the pier was the Administration Building. Men were separated from women and children, then proceeded for medical exams, a humiliating experience for Asians, whose medical practice does not include disrobing before the leering eyes of strangers or being probed and measured by metal calipers. Here, they would also be tested for parasitic infections. Consequences could be severe for failing this test, including hospitalization at their own expense or deportation. After the examinations they were then assigned a detention dormitory and a bunk, where they would await their interrogators, the Board of Special Inquiry. Circumventing the Chinese Exclusion Act became a first order concern for most immigrants from China, as it allowed only merchants, clergy, diplomats, teachers, students as “exempt” classes to come here. Many Chinese immigrants resorted to buying false identities at great cost, which allowed them to immigrate as either children of exempt classes or children of natives. In 1906, the San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed municipal records which created an opportunity for the city’s Chinese residents to claim that they were born here and therefore were American citizens. As citizens Chinese could bring their children to this country, and on return visits to their ancestral villages, claim new children had been born to them. Some of these were “paper sons” or less frequently “paper daughters” — children on paper only without a direct family connection. These paper children were in effect “slots” which people could sell to allow new immigrants to come to this country. For more information about paper sons, view this 2009 CNN news story by Richard Liu. To counter this practice, Immigration inspectors developed grueling interrogations, and by 1910 they had refined this procedure. The immigrant applicant would be called before a Board of Special Inquiry, composed of two immigrant inspectors, a stenographer, and a translator, when needed. Over the course of several hours or even days, the applicant would be asked about minute details only a genuine applicant would know about — their family history, location of the village, their homes. These questions had been anticipated and thus, irrespective of the true nature of the relationship to their sponsor, the applicant had prepared months in advance by committing these details to memory. Their witnesses — other family members living in the United States — would be called forward to corroborate these answers. Any deviation from the testimony would prolong questioning or throw the entire case into doubt and put the applicant at risk of deportation, and possibly everyone else in the family connected to the applicant as well. These details had to be remembered for life. Because of return trips to China, the risk of random immigration raids and identity card checks on the street, a paper son often had to keep these details alive throughout their life. In the meantime, immigrants suffered through long waits on Angel Island for these accounts to be taken or to arrive in a world before instantaneous electronic communication. This period could range from several weeks if the testimony was taken locally to several months to years if the applicant was rejected and appealed the decision. The length of stay varied for travelers from other countries; Japanese immigrants held documents provided by their government that sometimes expedited the process of entering the country, and thus, the majority of the detainees were Chinese. Often, one’s relatives might be on the other side of the country in New York or Chicago. Wherever they were, until their testimony was taken and corroborated and found its way back to San Francisco, the applicant would languish in detention. In the end, the complaints of the community and public officials regarding the safety of the Immigration Station proved true when the Administration Building burned to the ground in August 1940. All applicants were relocated to a mainland facility by November. In 1943, Congress finally repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act in consideration of its ally in the Pacific Theater, thus ending 61 years of official Exclusion. But there was a twist: while the repeal finally allowed Chinese to become naturalized citizens at last, it continued to limit immigration from China to a mere 105 people a year until 1965. Once closed due to fire, the Immigration Station site was used as a World War II prisoner of war processing center by the U.S. military. After the war, the site was abandoned and deteriorated. In 1963, Angel Island was established as a state park and the California Department of Parks and Recreation (State Parks) assumed stewardship of the immigration site. Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation is pleased to present a 5-part series designed for upper elementary, middle and high students and their teachers, and readers everywhere. This series first appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle Spring 2003 and highlights the experience of a few of the immigrant groups that passed through Angel Island Immigration Station (1 page each, downloadable PDFs, aprox 100 KB): Special thanks to our graphic designer Stephen Lowe, our field trip sponsor Blue and Gold Fleet, and Jennifer Gee, Jay Gonzales, Harjit Gosal, Hardeep Gosal, Bill Green, Jeff Ow, Maria Sakovich, Ted Sibia, Jaideep Singh, and Judy Yung for their assistance with this series.
COMMON SENSE DEFINED If we’re going to think about common sense I guess we first need to look for a definition. One dictionary’s definition is: common sense: (kòm¹en sèns) noun: Native good judgment. [Translation of Latin sênsus commúnis, common feelings of humanity.] I get from the reference “native” that a little common sense comes from experience and a little may be given to each of us by God. When I was a child, after getting caught for something I had done, I lost count of the times my grand-mother said, “Sometimes you don’t show the common sense God gave a jackass!” So, from an early age I was informed that God did give us some kind of sense that is supposed to be “native” to our being and that even jackasses have some of this gift. Once a person reaches an age where conscious thought actually occurs, we continue to show signs of a common sense that apparently comes from God. For example, testing has proven that all children have an inborn fear of heights. Without anyone actually receiving lessons, common sense tells a child that if they fall or jump from a high place, they’re only going to fly straight to the bottom and that, most likely, they will only get to do it once. Then there’s common sense learned from experience. As a child growing up in Florida, I once chased down, and caught in my hand, a rather large, brown spider. Notice I said “once”. Fortunately for me the lesson was only painful and not deadly. No one had ever told me that spiders would bite. However, from that point forward, without ANY outside instruction, I was always aware that anything and everything “might” bite. Viola! …. Another seed of common sense had just been planted to hopefully keep at least one fool from early disaster. Unfortunately, this aspect of developing common sense can be somewhat painful, and takes longer with some than others. It does not take much common sense for most of us to know that running into a brick wall full force will be an uncomfortable and unrewarding experience. I have a wonderful daughter, who for some unknown reason, when she was young, insisted on experiencing many of life’s challenges, first-hand, in an equally similar manner with the usual predictable results. ZOOM! SPLAT! OUCH! More than once, she got her nose bloodied, before her common sense finally began to start showing itself. I don’t know just how much common sense God actually decided to give the jackass, or if the jackass tried, could he ever improve his station in life beyond being a politician; but I hope and pray that now, as an older adult, I have developed that which the Lord did choose to give me, plus what I have learned the hard way, to a level of being able to help my children and even grand-children, “fine tune” their own common sense, while experiencing fewer bloody noses.
Marine science instructor Jasmine Santana was snorkeling off the coast of Southern California when she spotted something unusual on the sea floor: a giant fish. So the curious researcher grabbed the limp marine animal by the tail and dragged it to shore. It was only later, when Santana's co-workers at the Catalina Island Marine Institute examined the nearly intact carcass, that they realized she had found an oarfish in Catalina waters. The 18-foot oarfish is a significant find for any marine scientist, but, for CIMI researchers, it's the "discovery of a lifetime," according to local TV station KTLA. (Story continues below) Oarfish are rarely seen since the long, bony fish tend to reside in deep-sea waters, only rising to the surface after their deaths. CIMI scientists believe the oarfish found in Catalina recently died of natural causes. However, experts at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will test tissue samples in order to confirm the initial findings, ABC affiliate KEYT-TV reports. In August, a similar serpent-like fish washed ashore in Spain. Although local Villaricos residents and officials were baffled by the appearance of the creature, ichthyologist Gary Griggs speculated the carcass was that of an oarfish.
Hola a todos! Here is a fun little flipbook that reviews the basic vocab for vegetables in Spanish. Print these in landscape format and on pretty bright paper to make it more fun! Ask the students to first cut along the dotted lines before folding or writing (the first time I did this with my Kindergarteners, they folded the paper and then cut through both sides of the flipbook haha). Then the students fold along the middle of the paper and write their name. Next, the students will write the spanish word inside the flip of each picture (potato=papa, cucumber=pepino, corn=maíz, onion=cebolla, broccoli=brócoli, carrot=zanahoria, lettuce=lechuga, peas=guisantes). They can color the pictures once it is completed and can be kept in their desks until the food unit is completed :) For an extension activity, students can write a sentence(s) (I do not like ____ = No me gusta _____).
TEXAS RANGERS. In 1823, only two years after Anglo-American colonization formally began in Texas, empresario Stephen F. Austin hired ten experienced frontiersmen as "rangers" for a punitive expedition against a band of Indians. But not until November 24, 1835, did Texas lawmakers institute a specific force known as the Texas Rangers. The organization had a complement of fifty-six men in three companies, each officered by a captain and two lieutenants, whose immediate superior and leader had the rank of major and was subject to the commander-in-chief of the regular army. The major was responsible for enlisting recruits, enforcing rules, and applying discipline. Officers received the same pay as United States dragoons and privates-$1.25 a day; however, they supplied their own mounts, equipment, arms, and rations. At all times they had to be ready to ride, equipped "with a good and sufficient horse...[and] with one hundred rounds of powder and ball." Even with such official sanctions, the rangers did not fare especially well at first. During the Texas Revolution they served sparingly as scouts and couriers, then carried out a number of menial tasks. As settlers fled east to escape advancing Mexican armies after the fall of the Alamo on March 6, 1836, the rangers retrieved cattle, convoyed refugees across muddy trails and swollen streams, and destroyed produce or equipment left behind. In fact, during the battle of San Jacinto on April 21, they were on "escort" duty, much to their chagrin. Nor did their situation improve appreciably over the next two years because President Sam Houston favored government economy as well as friendship with the Indians. In December 1838, however, Mirabeau B. Lamar succeeded to the presidency and immediately changed the frontier policies of the republic as well as the role of the rangers. At his behest, Congress allowed him to recruit eight companies of mounted volunteers and maintain a company of fifty-six rangers, then a month later to provide for five similar companies in Central and South Texas. Over the next three years the rangers waged all-out war against the Indians, successfully participating in numerous pitched battles. The most notable were the Cherokee War in East Texas in July 1839, the Council House Fight at San Antonio against the Comanches in March 1840, and the battle of Plum Creek (near the site of present-day Lockhart) against 1,000 Comanche warriors in August 1840. By the end of the Lamar administration, Texans had undermined, if not broken, the strength of the most powerful tribes. Sam Houston, upon being reelected to the presidency in December 1841, realized that ranger companies were the least expensive and the most efficient way to protect the frontier. As a result, 150 rangers under Capt. John Coffee "Jack" Hays figured prominently in helping repel the Mexican invasions of 1842 and in successfully protecting Texans against Indian attacks over the next three years. Hays initiated ranger traditions and esprit de corps by recruiting and training a tough contingent of men skilled in frontier warfare. Out of his command arose such famous ranger captains as Ben and Henry McCulloch, Samuel H. Walker, W. A. A. "Big Foot" Wallace, and Robert Addison "Ad" Gillespieqv. With annexation and the Mexican War in 1846, the rangers achieved worldwide fame as a fighting force. After acquitting themselves admirably during the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palmaqv on May 8–9, 1846, they became Gen. Zachary Taylor's "eyes and ears." Superbly mounted, "armed to the teeth" with a large assortment of weapons, and obviously at home in the desert wastes of northeastern Mexico, they found the "most practical route" for the American army to Monterrey. Late in September the rangers rashly set the tempo and style for Taylor's successful storming of the city. Although furloughed in October after a brief armistice, they returned early in 1847 in time to provide the general enough military information to help win the battle of Buena Vista in February. In March 1847, the theater of war shifted. An American army under Gen. Winfield Scott landed at Veracruz and quickly muscled its way into the Valley of Mexico. For the next five months the rangers under Jack Hays and Samuel Walker figured prominently in American victories. In fact, so ruthless and lethal were they against Mexican guerrillas that a hostile but fearful populace called them "los diablos Tejanos." After the Mexican War ended on February 2, 1848, the rangers became for the next decade, as historian Walter Prescott Webb asserted, "little more than an historical expression." Since the United States had rightly assumed responsibility for protecting the Texas frontier, the rangers had no official function. Nor did the state try to enlist their services. The organization thus lost its famous captains as well as the nucleus of its frontier defenders. But after the appointment of John S. "Rip" Fordqv as senior captain in January 1858 the rangers briefly upheld their fighting traditions. Late in the spring they moved north of the Red River to "chastise" a large band of "hostiles," in the process killing the noted Comanche chief, Iron Jacket. Then in March 1859 Ford and his men were assigned to the Brownsville area, where, together with the United States Army, they gained only limited success against the "Red Robber of the Rio Grande," Juan N. Cortina. For fourteen years after this campaign, however, the rangers ceased to be either significant or effective. With the coming of the Civil War in 1861, they rushed individually to the Confederate colors. Although the Eighth Texas Cavalry was known as Terry's Texas Rangers, its founder, Benjamin F. Terry, was never a member of the state organization, nor did he necessarily recruit experienced fighters. To protect its frontiers the state had to rely on young boys, old men, or rejects from Confederate conscription. Subsequently, during Reconstruction (1865–74), either the United States army or the State Police were responsible for carrying out such duties, though they had little success. But in 1874 the state Democrats returned to power, and so did the rangers. Texas was "overrun with bad men," with Indians ravaging the western frontier, with Mexican bandits pillaging and murdering along the Rio Grande. The legislature authorized two unique military groups to meet this emergency. The first was the Special Force of Rangers under Capt. Leander H. McNelly. In 1874 he and his men helped curb lawlessness engendered by the deadly Sutton-Taylor Feud in Dewitt County. In the spring of 1875 they moved into the Nueces Strip (between Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande) to combat Cortina's "favorite bravos." After eight months of fighting, the rangers had largely restored order, if not peace, in the area. In 1875 the Special Force enhanced its fearful reputation by stacking twelve dead rustlers "like cordwood" in the Brownsville square as a lethal response to the death of one ranger; McNelly also precipitated the "Las Cuevas War," wherein he violated international law by crossing the Rio Grande, attacking Mexican nationals, and retrieving stolen American cattle. The second military unit, designated the Frontier Battalion, was equally effective. Composed of six companies (with seventy-five rangers in each) under Maj. John B. Jones, the battalion participated in fifteen Indian battles in 1874 and, together with the United States Cavalry, destroyed the power of the fierce Comanches and Kiowas by the end of 1875. The battalion also "thinned out" more than 3,000 Texas desperados such as bank robber Sam Bass and notorious gunfighter John Wesley Hardin; therefore, because of its very efficiency, the Frontier Battalion was no longer necessary after 1882. For the next three decades the rangers retreated before the onslaught of civilization, their prominence and prestige waning as the need for frontier law enforcement lessened. They occasionally intercepted Mexican and Indian marauders along the Rio Grande, contended with cattle thieves, especially in the Big Bend country and the Panhandle, and at times protected blacks from white lynch mobs (see LYNCHING). By 1900 such relative inactivity persuaded critics to urge the curtailment, if not complete abandonment, of the rangers. As a result, in 1901, the legislature cut the force to four companies, each headed by a captain who could recruit no more than twenty men. Only because of the leadership and valor of such captains as J. A. Brooks, William Jesse McDonald, John H. Rogers, and John R. Hughes were the rangers able to maintain their existence-and traditions-during the lean years of the 1890s and early 1900s. Violence and brutality soon increased along the Rio Grande, however, where the rangers continued to participate in numerous bloody brush fights with Mexican nationals. In 1910 a revolution against President Porfirio Díaz unsettled the populace on both sides of the border. In 1914, early in World War I, problems in the border country focused on Mexican nationalism, German intrigue and sabotage, and American draft dodgers. Then in 1916 Pancho (Francisco) Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico, intensified already harsh feelings between the two countries. The regular rangers, along with hundreds of special rangers appointed by Texas governors, killed approximately 5,000 Hispanics between 1914 and 1919, a source of scandal and embarrassment. In January 1919, at the insistence of Representative José T. Canales of Brownsville, the legislature overhauled the force in order to restore public confidence. During the next two months sordid stories of ranger brutality and debauchery and injustice emerged. As a result, Texas lawmakers decided to maintain the four companies but reduce the number of recruits from twenty to fifteen per unit. To attract "men of high moral character" they instituted more competitive salaries, but with minimal expense accounts. They also established specific procedures for citizen complaints against any ranger wrongdoing. After these reforms the force performed well during the 1920s, especially under the leadership of captains William L. Wright, Thomas R. Hickman, and Frank (Francis A.) Hamerqv. After the enactment of Prohibition the rangers constantly patrolled the Rio Grande against tequila smugglers and cattle rustlers. They protected federal inspectors from bodily harm in the so-called "tick war" in East Texas, prevented both individual injury and property damage in labor flare-ups or Ku Klux Klan demonstrations, and tamed the lawless oil boomtowns of Miranda City, Desdemona, Mexia, Wink, and Borger. With the Great Depression (1929-), ranger fortunes began to ebb. The legislature had to slash the budget, so that during the depression the force complement never exceeded forty-five. As for transportation, the rangers depended on free railroad passes or their own horses along the border. In the fall of 1932 they made a grave error in judgment: they openly supported Governor Ross Sterling against Miriam A. "Ma" Ferguson in the Democratic primary. In January 1933, upon taking office, Ma fired every ranger for his partisanship-forty-four in all. The legislature then slashed salaries and budgets and further reduced the force to thirty-two men. Texas consequently became a haven for the lawless-the likes of Raymond Hamilton, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, and Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. In 1935, however, James Allred became governor on a platform of better law enforcement. The legislature therefore established the Texas Department of Public Safety. A three-person Public Safety Commission was responsible for selecting a director and an assistant director, who, in turn, oversaw three basic units: the Texas Rangers, the Highway Patrol, and a scientific crime laboratory and detection center known as the Headquarters Division. The rangers therefore became an important part of a much larger law-enforcement team. Their basic five-company structure remained intact, but changes occurred in hiring and promotion procedures. All appointments were now through examinations and recommendations (not by political patronage); each applicant must be between thirty and forty-five, stand at least 5'8", and be "perfectly sound" in mind and body. Upon acceptance, each received instructions in the latest techniques of fingerprinting, communications, ballistics, and records. Each had to be a "crack shot." Although the commission established no educational provisions, each ranger had to take a written examination and submit an "intelligent" weekly report of his activities. As for promotion, seniority and performance were the all-determining factors. For several years the rangers were apprehensive about their future because of leadership changes in the DPS. But late in September 1938, with the appointment of Colonel Homer Garrison, Jr., as the new director, the rangers regained their high status. Over the next thirty years-the Garrison era-the rangers became the plainclothesmen of the DPS: they were the detectives, and the Highway Patrol officers were the uniformed state police. The rangers also expanded to six companies (each with a captain and a sergeant), with an overall complement of forty-five men in 1941, fifty-one in 1947, and sixty-two in 1961. They were actually a rural constabulary, with most of the officers stationed individually in small Texas towns. The governor, however, could assign them to a case anywhere in the state. The rangers were skilled in using the modern scientific laboratory of the Headquarters Division. During the Garrison era the rangers operated at peak performance, thereby enhancing their prestige. In World War II, they rounded up enemy aliens and instructed civilians and local police in the latest defense techniques to protect generating plants, dams, factories, and industries from sabotage, while carrying out their regular duties. In the 1950s they investigated more than 8,000 cases annually. And in the 1960s their caseload increased because of the civil-rights movement and the emergence of a more populous, urban state (see URBANIZATION). When Garrison died in 1968, the DPS commissioners again reorganized and redefined ranger guidelines. Under Garrison's successor, Col. Wilson E. Speir, the force expanded to seventy-three men in 1969, eighty-two in 1971, eighty-eight in 1974, and ninety-four a year later. The rangers also were highly trained and better equipped. Recruits had to be between the ages of thirty and fifty, have at least eight years of on-the-job police experience, and have an intermediate certificate signifying 400 to 600 hours of classroom instruction. The DPS provided the rangers with high-powered cars equipped with the latest radio equipment as well as with a large array of sophisticated weapons and defensive armor. The state also began paying better salaries, together with such benefits as longevity pay, hospitalization insurance, and a paid life-insurance policy. As a result, the rangers evolved into the elite of Texas law enforcement. During the Garrison era such captains as Manuel T. "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas, Alfred Y. Allee, Bob Crowder, Johnny Klevenhagen, Eddie Oliver, and Clint Peoples were instrumental in maintaining ranger tradition and performance. Subsequently, captains Bill Wilson, J. L. "Skippy" Rundell, H. R. "Lefty" Block, and Maurice Cook continued to improve the force. The training was intensified, the weaponry and crime-detection equipment became even more sophisticated, and, despite increasing case loads, the applicant list for ranger service grew. In recognition of the rangers' toughness against the criminal element and their dedication to state law enforcement, the legislature enlarged the overall complement to ninety-nine officers (including two women) in September 1993 and again increased salaries and fringe benefits. By September 1996 the force had expanded to 105. Ben H. Procter, Just One Riot: Episodes of Texas Rangers in the 20th Century (Austin: Eakin Press, 1991). Walter Prescott Webb, The Texas Rangers (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1935; rpt., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982). The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.Ben H. Procter, "TEXAS RANGERS," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/met04), accessed May 25, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
Pineapple is a favorite fruit of many people because it’s tangy, sweet and oh so delicious. But did you know that pineapple is an exceptional healthy food with a number of good health benefits? Many healthy food options, including fruits and vegetables, are functional foods and pineapple is not an exception. Functional foods are consumed as part of a normal diet and are known to have physiological benefits and/or they reduce the risk of chronic disease. Functional foods contain bioactive compounds which make them healthy food options. Eating a variety of healthy food, including lots of fresh fruits and vegetables will provide many health benefits when eaten as part of a regular diet. Let’s take a closer look at pineapple to see what makes it such a healthy food choice… Pineapples contain an enzyme called bromelain. This enzyme provides the digestive benefits of pineapple by helping with protein breakdown. In addition, bromelain is considered to have anti-inflammatory properties and is believed to help relieve pain that is often associated with osteoarthritis. Bromelain is found in the stem of the pineapple, not the fruit part of this healthy food. It is therefore possible that taking a bromelain supplement in addition to eating pineapple with provide you with enhanced health benefits. In addition to bromelain, pineapples contain vitamin C. Vitamin C is an anti-oxidant that helps to prevent free radical damage. Additionally, Vitamin C helps to ensure that the immune system is functioning optimally. Vitamin A and B Complex Vitamins Pineapples are a good source of Vitamin A and beta-carotene which are both known to have anti-oxidant properties. Vitamin A is essential for healthy mucous membranes, skin, and vision. Pineapples contain manganese which is essential for the maintenance of healthy bones. Additionally, manganese helps with energy production and anti-oxidant defenses. In addition to manganese, pineapples contain thiamin (Vitamin B1) which also helps with energy production. Eating functional foods including a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables is not only delicious; it will help you support your overall health.
Socrates continues to be an extremely influential force to this day; his work is featured prominently in the work of contemporary thinkers ranging from Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss, to Michel Foucault and Jacques Rancière. Intervening in this discussion, What Would Socrates Do? reconstructs Socrates’ philosophy in ancient Athens to show its promise of empowering citizens and non-citizens alike. By drawing them into collective practices of dialogue and reflection, philosophy can help people to become thinking, acting beings more capable of fully realizing the promises of political life. At the same time, however, Joel Alden Schlosser shows how these practices’ commitment to interrogation keeps philosophy at a distance from the democratic status quo, creating a dissonance with conventional forms of politics that opens space for new forms of participation and critical contestation of extant ones. Giorgio BertiniResearch on society, culture, art, neuroscience, cognition, critical thinking, intelligence, creativity, autopoiesis, self-organization, rhizomes, complexity, systems, networks, leadership, sustainability, thinkers, futures ++ 520 Posts in this Blog - Follow Learning Philosophy on WordPress.com
People in Trouble Beg for a Saviour We learn from the Qur'an that very often social and moral corruption was prevalent in a nation before a messenger was sent to that society. Once a messenger came to that society, those following him attained a blissful, peaceful and bountiful life even in the midst of their honourable struggle for the good pleasure of Allah. After this blessed period, however, some people drifted away from their spiritual values, revolted and ultimately tended almost to disbelief. In some cases, they worshipped gods other than Allah and thus were unjust to their own selves. In the Qur'an, Allah relates the loyalty, sincerity and fear the messengers felt for Allah and then informs us of how some generations coming after them lost their faith completely. They drifted because of their whims and desires and became deprived of all their values. The Qur'an tells us about these people in the following words: Those are some of the Prophets Allah has blessed, from the descendants of Adam and from those We carried with Noah, and from the descendants of Abraham and Israel and from those We guided and chose. When the signs of the All-Merciful were recited to them, they fell on their faces, weeping in prostration. An evil generation succeeded them who neglected the prayers and followed their appetites. They will plunge into the Valley of Evil. (Surah Maryam, 58-59) Those people who neglected their divine responsibilities suffered Allah's wrath expressed through various disasters. Allah withdrew His favour from these people. In accordance with the verse "But if anyone turns away from My reminder, his life will be a dark and narrow one..." (Surah Ta Ha, 124), they suffered from different afflictions such as scarcity and social and economic problems arising from their moral degeneration and political instability. Under irreligious systems, those people who were insolent towards the divine revelation were exposed to various pressures and injustices. The period of Pharaoh (Fir'awn) is a typical example recounted in the Qur'an. Exulting in his affluence, Pharaoh led an extravagant life and his people suffered under his tyranny. This situation is explained in the Qur'an: Pharaoh exalted himself arrogantly in the land and divided its people into camps, oppressing one group of them by slaughtering their sons and letting their women live. He was one of the corrupters. (Surat al-Qasas, 4) Under such circumstances where people suffer economic and social problems under the tyranny of unjust leaders, the need for a saviour is profoundly felt. This is the person who removes the unfavourable aspects of the system caused by the disbelief (kufr) of the ruler and his people and brings the peace, justice and security which come along with obedience to Allah and His Messenger. After the Prophet Moses (as), the Children of Israel also faced the same difficulties under the rule of tyrants. They were driven from their homes and lands and suffered intensely. Realising that neither the idols they worshipped, nor their possessions, nor ancestors would save them from such undesirable circumstances, they asked for a king from Allah; a saviour who would save them from this cruel system. "You will Not Find Any Changing in the Pattern of Allah" From the stories related in the Qur'an, we understand that almost the same fate befell each of the past civilisations that revolted against their messengers. The circumstances under which people led their lives, the sending of messengers to warn them and destruction of some of them all follow the same pattern. Modern societies also undergo rapid corruption and degeneration. Poverty, misery and disorder throw the lives of people into complete disarray and make them wish for a peaceful life where virtue prevails. Apparently, justice can prevail only if the values of the Qur'an become predominant among people. Only people having real values can bring solutions to all the troubles that people experience today. Indeed, Allah sent prophets and messengers to the earlier generations who experienced similar social depressions, and He sometimes granted amazing blessings to those who followed the messengers. This is related in the following verse: If only the people of the cities had had faith and feared, We would have opened up to them blessings from heaven and earth. But they denied the truth so We seized them for what they earned. (Surat al-A'raf, 96) This verse, as well as many others confirming it, reveals that the one and only way to attain bliss and peace is adherence to Islam. This principle will apply to coming generations as it did to previous ones. In places bereft of Islam, injustice, insecurity and instability prevail. This is the law of Allah. That there exists no change in the law of Allah is stated in the Qur'an: "... But then when a warner did come to them, it only increased their aversion, shown by their arrogance in the land and evil plotting. But evil plotting envelops only those who do it. Do they expect anything but the pattern of previous peoples? You will not find any changing in the pattern of Allah. You will not find any alteration in the pattern of Allah. " (Surah Fatir, 42-43) Living Islam According to the Qur'an As mentioned in the previous section, we are informed in the Qur'an that Allah sends prophets and messengers to communities for their deliverance from disbelief and injustice. This prophet or messenger leads his people to believe (have iman) in Allah without ascribing partners to Him, and to fear Him. If the community persists in denial, he warns them of Allah's wrath. Allah tells us in the Qur'an that He destroys no tribe before this warning is delivered: We have never destroyed a city without giving it prior warning as a reminder. We were never unjust. (Surat ash-Shu'ara, 208-209) In the age in which we live, one observes degeneration, both physical and spiritual, in society at large accompanied by economic and political instability. Huge gaps exist between rich and poor, and social corruption is steadily escalating. All these point to significant developments that will take place in the near future. After such dark periods, with the return of the Prophet Jesus (as) and the emergence of Hazrat Mahdi (as), the religion of Allah will certainly prevail over the entire world and the true religion will supersede all pagan religions. To His true believers (muminun), Allah gives good tidings of this: But Allah refuses to do other than perfect His Light, even though the unbelievers detest it. It is He Who sent His messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to exalt it over every other religion, even though those who associate partners with Allah (mushrikun) detest it. (Surat at-Tawba, 32-33) In Surat an-Nur, Allah informs His true believers who engage in "right actions" without associating partners with Him and who purely seek His good pleasure, that they will attain power, as preceding believers always did: Allah has promised those of you who believe and do right actions that He will make them successors in the land as He made those before them successors, and firmly establish for them their religion with which He is pleased and give them, in place of their fear, security. "They worship Me, not associating anything with Me." Any who disbelieve after that, such people are deviators. (Surat an-Nur, 55) In the above verse, we learn that the criterion for the spread of Islam is the existence of believers who are purely slaves of Allah without ascribing partners to Him and who engage in good deeds in His way. We have seen that in every age, Allah has answered the call of His slaves who desperately needed His help. This also holds true for this age and for the future. As was the case with earlier ages, in our time, too, Allah will save people from the injustice of the system of disbelief and present them with the beauty of Islam. In particular, the deliverance of the Islamic world from the troubles that beset it, as revealed in the hadith, is close at hand. Surely, as in every age, today people hope that a saviour will appear. This saviour, that will take mankind from 'darkness to the light,' is the religion of Islam. The Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as), who will be the means whereby people will live by these superior values, will defeat intellectually all the systems that deny Allah, and they will render corrupted ideologies invalid. Allah promises His help to His slaves who sincerely turn to Him and have deep fear of Him: Those who were expelled from their homes without any right merely for saying, "Our Lord is Allah". If Allah had not driven some people back by means of others, monasteries, churches, synagogues and mosques, where Allah's name is mentioned much, would have been pulled down and destroyed. Allah will certainly help those who help Him – Allah is all-Strong, Almighty, those who, if We establish them firmly on the earth, will establish prayer and pay the poor-due, and command what is right and forbid what is wrong. The end result of all affairs is with Allah. (Surat al-Hajj, 40-41)
Selective deficiency of IgA is the most common immune deficiency disorder. People with this disorder have a low or absent level of a blood protein called immunoglobulin A. IgA deficiency is usually inherited, which means it is passed down through families. However, cases of drug-induced IgA deficiency have been reported. Many people with selective IgA deficiency have no symptoms. If a person does have symptoms, they may include frequent episodes of: - Bronchitis (airway infection) - Chronic diarrhea - Conjunctivitis (eye infection) - Gastrointestinal inflammation, including (ulcerative colitis, Crohn disease, and a sprue-like illness - Mouth infection - Otitis media (middle ear infection) - Pneumonia (lung infection) - Sinusitis (sinus infection) - Skin infections - Upper respiratory tract infections Other symptoms include: No specific treatment is available. Some people gradually develop normal levels of IgA without treatment. Treatment involves taking steps to reduce the number and severity of infections. Antibiotics are often needed to treat bacterial infections. Immunoglobulins are given through a vein or by injection to boost the immune system. Autoimmune disease treatment is based on the specific problem. Note: People with complete IgA deficiency may develop anti-IgA antibodies if given blood products and immunoglobulins. This may lead to allergies or life-threatening anaphylactic shock. However, they can safely be given IgA-depleted immunoglobulins. Selective IgA deficiency is less harmful than many other immunodeficiency diseases. Some people with IgA deficiency will recover on their own and produce IgA in larger quantities over a period of years. When to Contact a Medical Professional If you have an IgA deficiency, be sure to mention it to your health care provider if immunoglobulin or other blood-component transfusions are suggested as a treatment for any condition. Genetic counseling may be of value to prospective parents with a family history of selective IgA deficiency. IgA deficiency; Immunodepressed - IgA deficiency; Immunosuppressed - IgA deficiency; Hypogammaglobulinemia - IgA deficiency; Agammaglobulinemia - IgA deficiency Buckley RH. Primary defects of antibody production. In: Kliegman RM, Stanton BF, St Geme JW, Schor NF, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 20th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2016:chap 124. Cunningham-Rundles C. Primary immunodeficiency diseases. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman's Cecil Medicine. 25th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2016:chap 250. Review Date 3/20/2016 Updated by: Stuart I. Henochowicz, MD, FACP, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, Georgetown University Medical School, Washington, DC. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Isla Ogilvie, PhD, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
Why do Hindus and Muslims live in harmony in one city and fight bitterly in another just a few miles away? Why is the United States the only industrialized nation without a complete national health insurance? What is the legacy of slavery in the United States? Why are there so few women in Congress? How is radicalism in the Middle East changing? Why and how does democracy flourish? Just what is democracy? How do emotions shape our political behavior? What do war movies tell us about the USA? Would less government lead to more social justice? What is social justice? How does smuggling (of drugs, guns, and people) reshape international relations? How do immigrants see the American Dream? What is the American dream? Political science is about questions like these. You can grapple with every one of them –and many more— in the classrooms of the Brown political science department. We study how people –nations, regions, cities, communities— live their common lives. How people solve (or duck) their common problems. How people govern themselves. How they think, talk, argue, fight, and vote. Traditionally, political science includes four subfields: (1) the study of politics in the United States (American politics); (2) the comparative study of different political systems and individual nations around the globe (comparative politics); (3) the study of relations among states and peoples (international relations); and (4) the philosophical study of political ideas (political theory). To provide a wider range of course offerings, the undergrad program combines the comparative politics subfield with the international relations subfield into a single subfield called international and comparative politics (ICP). What particularly moves us at Brown are the big questions about political life – both at home and around the world. We engage these questions in a wide range of different political contexts, often in ways that cross between the traditional subfields. We also pay particular attention to how our analyses touch the real world of people and politics. You’ll find us involved all around the campus: At the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions, the Watson Institute for International Studies, the Political Theory Project, Development Studies, Middle East Studies, the India Initiative, and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Politics, among others. The department graduates approximately 75 undergraduate concentrators annually, making it one of the largest concentrations at Brown, but most of our classes are small. We have a robust Honors Program in which students work closely with faculty advisors to write a senior thesis, a year-long original research project. Political science concentrators follow a wide range of post-graduation paths including law school and graduate school in political science or public policy; active political engagement at the local, state, national, or international level; and a wide range of other professional and business careers. Political science at Brown is a dynamic community of scholars and students investigating things that really matter to political life at home and around the world. We invite you to join us!
1-13 Market Sq (N) A large part of the building on the North side of Market Square was built in the 15th century and was at first St Katherine’s Fraternity, later known as Church House. (Click here for an article which includes an artist’s impression of the building). The first Workhouse was part of this building in the early 1600s for ‘the poor to work in linen’. It was originally thatched and with an open lower floor meeting place before the Market Hall was built. (See the article below about the history of Church House.) Dr Challoner’s Grammar School was founded here in 1624 by the then Rector. However by 1662, a Bishop’s report said “We have a free grammar school founded by Dr Challoner, late Rector the Church of Amersham, and £20 per annum for ever by decree in Chancery and is no way ordered or governed as it ought to be nor the revenues thereof employed according to the intentions of the founder, nor of such grants and ordinances as have been made concerning the same”. The school stayed there nearly 300 years until 1902 when it moved to the present site at Amersham-on-the-Hill. It was bought in 1902 by Mr C M Cheese for £250. A fire during the night of Sunday 15th June 2008 destroyed a large part of this building, which has now been restored. If you look at the bricks on either side of the door outside the site of the original Dr. Challoner’s school, you will see a number of conical dark holes in the brickwork (photo on the right). These are believed to be created by boys sharpening their slate pencils before going into schools. Children often had to bring a dampened cloth or sponge to school so that they could clean their slates and start again and this is the origin of the phrase ‘to wipe the slate clean’. The photo above shows that boys used to carve their names on their desks nearly four hundred years ago! If you look carefully, you can see the name ‘Child’, a well known family name in Amersham’s history, many of them involved in brewing or as publicans. Listen to Jean Archer talking in 1991 about where Dr Challoner’s school started No. 13 on the corner of Church Street was a workhouse in 1739. By 1851 , Francis Rogers, an ironmonger, lived here. In the 1891 and 1901 censuses it is the Conservative Club. From 1907 to 1931 it was a hairdresser and tobacconist run by Ernest Wilson and later by Mrs Hilda Wilson. By 1952 the shop was known as Butler’s and sold toys, and the collection of dinky toys held by Amersham Museum was bought there. Mr. Corns, who was one of the founders of Amersham Museum, then ran the shop with his wife Marie. No. 11 – for many years this was either a café or restaurant. It was run for many years by Mrs. Paget (whose husband ran The Malt House) and was know as The Inn Cafe. It has changed hands a number of times and for a while was known as The Brief Encounter and then Paupers. No. 7 – in the 1930s these premises were a butchers shop by the name of Puseys, brother to Maggie Pusey who owned the Newsagents next door. Mr. Pusey later moved his butcher’s business across the road to a butcher’s business by the name of Bedford. The shop then became a Wool and baby Linen shop owned by Mrs. Howell who had moved from across the road in part of what is now the Crown Hotel. Upon retiring, Mrs. Howell sold out to Mrs. Leigh who carried on in the same kind of business until she retired and sold out to Miss Tomlin, who also carried on in the same kind of trade. When Miss Tomlin moved to a shop in The Broadway, the shop changed trades and was known as Bethan Galleries and was owned by Mrs. Stevens, who had a large display of pictures and artists’ materials. When Mrs. Stevens sold up the premises were divided into 2 shops – one was known as Narcissus and the other a Wine Shop. In 1985 Narcissus sold up and was then known as Arabella. No. 1 – this was the Willow Tree Café and has seen many different owners, all of whom have made changes in layout. Miss Cook owned it for many years also a Mr. & Mrs. Madour, Mr. & Mrs. Gamblin and Mark & Carol Crompton. It is now Gilbeys. Read here Mr Alliott’s notes about Market Square written in 1960. As explained above, these buildings have been through many changes of use in the last 100 years, as can also be seen in the photos below. Click on any of the photographs below to enlarge it and to see the description. Then click on forward or back arrows at the foot of each photograph. To close the pictures, just click on one. Wall paintings and school graffiti The pictures below show the wall paintings, probably from the 17th century, found in the building next to the Grammar School in 1931. It is not known if they still exist, but they were probably destroyed in the 2008 fire. There are also some 16th/17th century graffiti carved into the old school desks as shown above. This article by Dr Michael Brooks was published in the Amersham Society/Amersham Museum newsletter and is reproduced with permission. Any visitor to Amersham today who enquired for the Church House would almost certainly be greeted with a puzzled look and would be unlikely to be given any indication as to its original whereabouts. Yet a large portion of this very important building still survives within the range of shops, restaurants and offices now known as Numbers 1 to 9 Market Square. In medieval times, after St. Mary’s Church itself, this was the most important building in the town. As originally built by the Fraternity of St. Katherine, it consisted of a first floor hall of five bays, making a room 70 ft. by 24 ft., with a thatched roof and probably jetted timbers. The ground floor beneath was initially an open space and probably used for the market, especially in wet weather. Many of the massive oak cross beams and Queen Posts of the roof which survive to this day have been dated by various authorities as late 15th century or early 16th century. Their date might be established by dendrochronology, though this is not an exact science. There is an early reference to The Fraternity of St. Katherine in 1457, but it seems likely that the hall itself was built between 1490 and 1500. The Fraternity would have been set up by the tradesmen and burghers of the town, with the active collaboration of the Church, to support its members in illness, loss of business or employment and it also paid the salary of a Priest appointed to say obits (masses) for the souls of departed members. It also helped to maintain the Chantry Chapel of St. Katherine which had been built by the Brudenell family of Raans in 1457 within St. Mary’s Church. The Fraternity, with the Rector and churchwardens, must have provided a great deal of administration and care in the community in the town when it was a hot bed of religious dissent with the pre-reformation martyrdoms and the instability arising from twelve changes of Rector between 1481 and 1576. The Churchwardens’ Accounts refer to the Church House from 1539 (although they sometimes also refer to it as the Town House); they record it as used for social purposes and fund-raising from that date and indicate that alteration to the building had begun from that time. We find the entries—1539 “Payd for makyng of the pastry house and ye makyng borde and of cosse and charge £3.13s.6d.” and 1541 “Payd to Loedy for wynding and walling the Church House kitchen by ii days,ixd.” Also in 1541, a William Evans is listed as a tenant paying an annual rent ot three shillings due at the Feast of the Annunciation. Part of the building must have been converted to provide dwelling accommodation probably by walling in the most easterly bay down to ground floor level. Another 1541 entry records a quit rent payable to the Lord of the Manor of Church House of 3s.1d. New churchwardens in 1541 also gave a receipt to their predecessors for a stock of pewter vessels and dishes which they then increased from profit made from the sale of candles. In 1547 they were able to lease out some of the pewter, “Recvyd of Wm. Timberlake and Rd. Rapton for the loyne of the vessyl 15s.” Unfortunately, vital church records are missing for the years 1542 to 1597. During this period King Henry VIII began to confiscate the assets of the monasteries and the chantries. Because its endowments helped to maintain the chantry chapel and pay for the Priest, the Fraternity of St. Katherine was regarded as a chantry and its’ assets were seized, though it was not until 1552 in the reign of King Edward VI that Amersham was affected. An inventory of that date made in connection with the suppression valued the Fraternity at £4.7s.6d. Following the suppression, the upkeep of the church house was made the responsibility of the churchwardens. During those years, for which we have no church records, various Acts of Parliament were passed relating to the old, the poor and the sick in the town. The 1572 Act enabled the parish to collect donations and appoint an “Overseer of the Poor”; in Amersham he was often one of the churchwardens. The 1597 Act enabled the parish to levy a poor rate on the wealthy inhabitants. Church records in 1597 show that the annual rent payable to the Lord of the Manor for church house, had risen to 40s. In 1603 part of the church house is recorded as let out to John Sutton, the Overseer of the Poor, who at the time supervised employment of the poor by six parishioners to work in their own homes – presumably doing domestic work. Entries in following years record payments of £50 in cash or kind “to sett the poore to worke”. A 1601 Act enabled parishes to build parish workhouses and in 1617 the Overseer made an assessment of £77.19s.4d. for spinning wheels, tools, furniture and stock “to sett the poore to worke in linnen”. This sum included £6.4s.1d. “paid in repairing the town house (Church house) to sett the poore to work in”. This involved alterations to the easterly bay (now 1 Market Square) and it is likely that the small gabled extension northwards from this bay was built at this time. John Gregory was appointed to supervise this work with the employment of “four godly widows” and thus Amersham’s first workhouse was in Church House. Dr. Robert Challoner, Rector of Amersham, died in 1621 and under the terms of his will, he left money and property to endow a free Latin Grammar School in Amersham. By Deed of 12th September 1624 at Vestry held in the parish church,George Coleshill, Giles Watkins and other inhabitants of the town and parish of Amersham, allotted their said churchhouse as a schoolhouse for the grammar shool. The west bay (now no. 9 Market Square) was built down to ground floor level and a northward wing added. These alterations provided accommodation for the schoolmaster, Edward Rayner, who was curate of the parish from 1624-1640. A bill of 1624 for re-thatching the churchhouse is in County Archives, and probably reflects these alterations. So in 1624 we have John Gregory and the four godly widows in number 1 and Edward Rayner, in number 9 with the grammar school in the central portion of the first floor (numbers 3, 5 and 7) with an open space beneath where the pupils are said to have played in bad weather. The town market had by that date moved to ‘the Market House” which the Mason papers state had been built as a first floor building on stilts in the Broadway opposite the Griffin in 1613. (The only other reference I have so far found to this market house is a report of 1653 that Edward Perrett and Andrew Burrows set up a seditious paper in Amersham Market House. In 1626 the Linen Workhouse moved to a house given by William Tothill in the High Street, endowed from a 47 acre farm in Chesham. This is now known as Frith House. This was the basis of the William Tothill Charity. A Deed of 26th September 1630 in the County Archive records that the messuage (a dwelling house with land) of Winston Elmes, which the description places exactly next to No. 1 Market Square, has become derelict and been demolished. It also states that he has bought the messuage next door “sometime known as the messuage of the Fraternity of Saint Katherine now called the free school”. Perhaps this was the portion of church house vacated by the move of the Linen Workhouse to the High Street. The Latin School was suspended from 1642 to 1650 and again in 1658 because payments under the terms of Dr. Challoner’s will were not being honoured, but planks have been preserved bearing the carved and dated initials of some of the pupils, three of which are dated 1667. It is intriguing that the Records of Buckinghamshire note that during redecoration in 1931, a painting was discovered, representing a man, naked except for a girdle of laurel leaves, and with a club over his right shoulder, grasped in both hands; it was nearly six feet high, but so far no-one has found where it could be uncovered to-day. The church house range was extended westwards around the middle of the 17th century with the building of what are now numbers 11 and 13 Market Square. Chimneys must have been inserted in numbers 1 and 9 around the same time. A churchwardens’ record of 1690 shows “paid for mason for repairyng a chymney top of the free scool 3s. 6d”. I cannot ascertain when the thatch was replaced by tiles, but church records show a thatcher still employed at 1s.8d. per day up to the early 1700s. By 1682 the whole range (numbers 1 to 9) had been built down to ground level and some of the dwellings thus created were tenanted and the names can be seen in the parish records. The entrance to the free school was through a central doorway in number 5, in roughly the same position as the Victorian arch with the inscription “GRAMMAR SCHOOL 1624”. By an indenture of 1st January 1699, Lord Cheyne gifted income from rent charges to set up a school in Amersham to teach writing and arithmetic. The school started in a partitioned-off portion of the upstairs room in the church house which it shared with the free grammar school. The master in charge was given give living rooms on the ground floor. In 1702 the curate, Rev. Benjamin Robertshaw, was appointed Master of the Grammar School and lived in number 9 Market Square. Dr. Cheyne’s Writing School proved more popular than the grammar school and Rev. Robertshaw, who had become the Rector in 1728, moved the grammar school to 111 High Street in 1736. A Drake estate map of 1742 shows a school in church house and a workhouse to the east side of the range on a site now occupied by the Memorial Gardens. This had been built in 1726 as the House of Maintenance, to provide accommodation as well as work for paupers as recommended by the 1722 Workhouse Test Act. A report of 1786 states that 200 children were attending Sunday School in church house. Parish records for 1806 show repair bills for extensive work on church house from Messrs. Child (brickmaker), Keen (bricklayer), Clarke (carpenter) and Miles (blacksmith). At this time the whole southern aspect of the range was re-faced in brick with a parapet extending above the lower part of the roof. New windows were inserted including two large first floor windows which necessitated construction of special iron work to support the southern end of the massive cross beams. These metal supports and strapping are still in situ. A Buckler drawing of 1824 in County Records shows these alterations. In 1828 Dr. Cheyne’s Writing School becomes the Anglican National School and continued to occupy the upstairs school room with an overflow being taught in the Market Hall. The Master still lived in what is now no. 9 with the remaining ground floor room being occupied by paupers rent free. An average of 30 boys attended. The 1851 Census shows church house as no. 30-35 High Street with Cheyne’s cottages (as the ground floor was then known) occupied by two lace-makers, two paupers and an agricultural worker. By 1867, 80 girls attended the Anglican National School in church house with 76 boys in the Market Hall. Compulsory education started in 1870. In 1872 H.M. Inspectors of Schools condemned the accommodation in church house and in 1873 Amersham’s new National School was built in “Back Lane” (now School Lane) on a site given by the Rector, Edward Tyrwhitt-D Between 1902 and 1920, St. Mary’s Church still used the upstairs rooms as Parish rooms and there was some haphazard building of extensions and north wings to church house. The decision was made to make the ground floor available for commercial use and by 1910 three ground floor premises had become retail shops. Since 1910 there have been many different commercial uses of the building. In 1931 St. Mary’s Church acquired new Church Rooms in Church Street and the upstairs rooms then became available for redevelopment. By now re-numbered as 1 to 9 Market Square, a large Tudor mural of Hercules was discovered in the attic. I was unable to find any trace of it on inspection, although it may have been covered up by paint. Renumbering of properties in the High Street and Market Square have made this research difficult. With further research it might be possible to list all the occupants of numbers 1 to 13 Market Square, though this is beyond the scope of this article. With the many changes and refitting of the premises, some timber partitions, beams and other features have been lost, making interpretation of the past history of the building with absolute certainty impossible. However, I do believe that the Fraternity of St. Katherine would be most gratified to know that after some 500 years their building survives, at least in part, and that it still serves the inhabitants of Amersham.
Happy Friday! This week we’ve curated a post about the age of automobile automation (aka “I was promised a flying car”). We hope you enjoy the links below and have a safe weekend—on and off the road! Do you remember watching The Jetsons? I do. As a child of the 80s, I stumbled out of bed almost every Saturday morning to: (1) secure sugary cereal; and (2) tune into a cascade of cartoons that lasted until noon. The Jetsons was one of my favorites. At the time, I didn’t know I was watching a syndicated version of a show originally created and aired in the early 1960s. (I also didn’t know sugar was bad for me.) Twenty years later, The Jetsons still felt wonderfully futuristic—and my eight-year-old self believed the promise of a flying car. Thus far, flying cars have proven to be inspirational, problematic, and potentially very dangerous. And yet the promise of a flying car still captures our imagination. While we may not have the flying cars of the future we were promised, we are beginning to see more and more prototypes for alternative transport. Take, for example, e-Volo’s Volocopter, a flying machine with two seats, 18 rotors, and a battery-powered engine. Autonomous automobiles may not be as exciting as flying cars, but they seem to be more attainable. NASA and Nissan have teamed up to design and test self-driving vehicles for both Mars and Earth. The University of Michigan has paired with Local Motors to test a “SmartCars” program that would allow students and faculty to use their smartphones to reserve autonomous cars—constructed of 3D printed parts—that would then pick them up and drop them off at their desired (on campus) locations. Google (of course) has also entered the ring, deploying self-driving cars on the streets of Mountain View, California. However, as Alexis C. Madrigal notes, these cars don’t work just anywhere. They require the virtual “track” of Mountain View that Google has created by collecting a tremendous amount of data about the environment so that the cars can be pre-loaded with software. The software then produces a very special kind of map: a virtual world that makes the material world legible to computers. Self-driving cars will require not only a different approach to mapping and legislation, but also a different approach to information and technology communications between these cars and the roads themselves. In Finland, the international Celtic Plus Co-operative Mobility Services of the Future (CoMoSeF) project has produced a system that focuses on the development of data exchange between vehicles and infrastructure. A roadside station collects and then shares weather and traffic related data with vehicles so that drivers can be informed of incidents in real-time. French designer Sylvain Viau and French photographer Renaud Marion have both taken and then edited photographs of existing cars to create images that evoke the mystery of vehicles hovering above the ground. No, they aren’t really flying cars, but they beautifully convey the promise. (--via Colossal)
Industrialisation in China and India started almost at the same time. But the rate of industrialisation in China was and is much higher than India because of their former policy ‘grow first, clean later.’ Nevertheless, our neighbours started cleaning up operation in the late twentieth century and have been aggressive in their approach towards environmental cleaning. They strengthened their environmental force, provided legal provisions to punish non-complying industries and devised innovative regulatory instruments. The article briefly summarises some of the best practices adopted by Chinese environmental administration. Figure 1: Regional Institutional Structure for implementing environmental policies Source: Anon 2006, Environmental Compliance and Enforcement in China, OECD, pp17 Institutional framework in China Chinese environmental administration is a multi-layered institutional structure with territorial divisions at the centre, province, city, county, township, and village levels. At the top, is the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), a cabinet-level ministry of the Chinese Government. The primary role of MEP is to guide and coordinate major environmental problems at the regional and local levels, to formulate pollution reduction programmes and supervise the implementation and to manage environmental monitoring, statistics and information. To take forward the vision of MEP on ground level, there is State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) which prepares and implements national policies, legislations and regulations related to water and air quality, solid waste management, etc. In addition they are also in charge of formulating environmental quality criteria and pollutant discharge emissions at national level, organising environmental quality monitoring and initiating enforcement activities with local environmental authorities. SEPA is at the national level. At regional level, there are a large number of organisations for implementing environmental policy at their respective region. According to an OECD report, there are 2000 Environmental Protection Bureaus (EPBs) with approximately 60,000 employees at the provisional, municipal, district and township administration level (see figure 1). The EPBs vary in size: an average provisional EPB employs 59 staff members with the lowest number of 29 in Qinghai and Tibet and highest of 102 in Tianjin. Some of the functions of EPBs are Overseeing environmental impact assessment, Monitoring pollution release from industries, Initiate legal action against firms that fail to meet environmental requirements, Coordinates with different units of local governments in endorsing environmental regulations, Response to environmental complaints, Reviewing environmental protection plan and integrating them into local economic and social development plans. The EPBs have a number of affiliated units through which it delivers its duties. Some of the important units are Environmental Monitoring Centre (responsible for ambient and emission monitoring), an inspection unit (responsible for enforcement and collecting emission charges) and a research institute (responsible for technical analysis and research). The monitoring and inspection of industrial facilities in China follows a precise procedure. Apart from regular inspection activities, complaints made by citizens regarding environmental incidents may raise field inspections. If the polluters are found at fault, various administrative penalties may then be imposed. These may also include pushing the polluter to install treatment facilities. In extreme cases, the plant may be ordered to cease and relocate its operations. On one hand if SEPA prepares policy, National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC) integrates environmental issues into the overall planning system by engaging with different ministries and department. NDRC also prepares five year plan envisaging environmental improvement required in the next five years (see table 1). The five year plan includes major pollutant reduction, improvement of soil, water and air quality, ecological preservation, environmental risk prevention, nuclear safety, environment infrastructure and environmental monitoring. Table 1 details out targets fixed for reduction of COD, ammonia, sulphur and nitrogen oxide in 12th five year plan. In addition a number of ministries such as Ministry of Water Management, Ministry of Land and Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Forestry, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Supervision and others are also engaged in the implementation of environmental policies. The National Bureau of Statistics coordinates the incorporation of environmental information into China's statistical database, which sums up the achievement of different ministries. Table 1: Environmental targets in China's 12th Five year plan Targeted (decrease in total output) Increase rate (2010/2015) Total emission of chemical oxygen demand (10000 tons) Total ammonia emissions (10000 tons) Total sulfur dioxide emissions (10000 tons) Total nitrogen oxide emissions (10000 tons) Proportion of prefecture-level cities above Grade II air quality (%) 8 percentage points Source: http://www.reach24h.com/en/component/k2/item/450-china-12th-5-year-plan-for-environmental-protection.html, as viewed on April 24 2012 Regulatory instruments in China Like India, China also has ambient standards and industry specific discharge/emissions standards. In addition, they also issue permits for discharge and emissions. This was done in late eighties when it was felt that though national effluent standards are met but quality of river, lakes and other surface water bodies were deteriorating because there were no constraint on the total mass of pollutants discharge into the water body. In response, SEPA introduced permit system. The industries are required to register with EPBs and apply for permit. In turn EPBs allocate allowable pollution loads to industry and issue discharge permits. Chinese government has also increased public participation to improve local environmental enforcement and compliance. The most commonly used channel for public participation in environmental enforcement is the citizen complaints system. The complaints are predominantly lodged at local EPBs. Accepting and responding to citizen's complaints has become the priority of local EPBs. EPBs are required to take complaints 24 hours a day and many EPBs instituted a “rotation system” whereby entire staff of an EPB would rotate taking night shifts to answer phone calls. This has encouraged people participation in environmental governance. According to a USEPA study, the annual number of environmental complaints has increased from 111, 359 in 1991 to 687,409 in 2006 throughout the nation, an increase of about 620 per cent. The court plays a very important role in China when administrative enforcement is insufficient or fails. It includes actions ranging from gaining court assistance in collecting pollution levies or fines to criminal sanctions for serious environmental degradation. Such assistance from court has enhanced EPBs regulatory power by generating deterrent effects on the regulated community. To complement the regulatory system, economic instruments have been adopted to curtail environmental pollution from industries in China. Discharge fee is calculated based on the concentrations and types of the pollutants in the effluents. These are applied to industrial emissions covering discharges of wastewater, waste gases, solid waste, noise and low-level radioactive waste. Pollution levies are collected by local EPBs with jurisdiction and earmarked for environmental protection purposes. The total emission fee charged in 2005 reached 12.32 billion CNY, which has increased significantly since 1995. River pollution issue and high level of air pollution in different cities prompted Chinese government to opt for automated pollution monitoring system. Environmental monitoring is becoming an increasingly important sector of environmental protection industry as government is paying more attention to emission control and reduction. The Chinese government issued National Plan on Environmental Monitoring and Supervision in 2008 to establish an overall automatic air quality monitoring system for all cities, an overall automatic monitoring system for the major rivers and basin, and an automatic system on desert storm and acid settlement and offshore sea areas. A four-level environmental monitoring system has already been established in China, with more than 5,000 professional and industrial-use monitoring stations nationwide. Based upon on analysis done by Frost and Sullivan, the total annual investments on environmental monitoring equipment exceed RMB200 million in recent years within all levels of government and corporations in China. Figure 2 shows online air and water pollution monitoring system for Nanjing Municipal Environment Monitoring Center. For air monitoring, a Field Control Node (FCN) controller is installed in an environmental monitoring vehicle and connected to air quality analyzers and climate instruments. For waste water surveillance, a Field Control Junction (FCJ) controller is connected to a water analyzer. The collected data is sent to a server (3rd party) via a GPRS communications link. Environmental data is transmitted in real time via socket communications. Daily and weekly reports for environment management purposes are sent by FTP. The system for environmental monitoring consists of CEMS (Continuous Emission Monitoring System), hardware components that handle the gathered data from environment analyzers. CEMS and the FCN/FCJ controllers are integrated to provide environmental monitoring and management functions. Communication between CEMS and the FCN/FCJ controllers is done via a GPRS link. Lessons for India There are some similarities in institutional framework between India and China but in terms of functions and responsibilities differences are huge. In India, we have Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) at the central level and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) at regional level. Unlike China, environmental policies of MoEF and CPCB are nowhere reflected in the policies of other ministries and departments; say Ministry of Industries or Ministry of Coal. Ministry of Industries is interested in promoting industries or Ministry of Coal will push for coal mining in the country. These departments do not interact or engage with CPCB or MoEF on environmental issues or try to integrate their policy with policies of MoEF and CPCB. The regulatory agencies can take a cue from China and incorporate environmental provisions in Ministries and departments whose directives can have direct impacts on environment. Environmental governance in our country is carried out by SPCBs at ground level. Compliance assurance is based on whether industry is complying with emission or discharge standards. All the SPCBs in the country have serious shortage of manpower. In some of the states, each technical staff has to monitor a minimum of 150 industries in a year which has 280 days, which means approximately 2 days for each industry. It is however, practically impossible to travel, review past reports, collect and submit samples at laboratory, prepare report or file case against non-complying industry in just 2 days time, assuming the concerned staff has no other official obligation. SPCBs in India need to be decentralised at municipal level to enable them to perform their job effectively and with purpose. Some time back the Ministry of Environment and Forests in India declared 43 areas as critically polluted based upon a CEPI Index developed by IIT Delhi. Soon MoEF put a moratorium on new industries coming up in these critically polluted areas. But it was followed by huge protest by industries complaining why they should suffer for poor performance of other polluting industries. The ministry relented and asked state government to prepare action plan as a precondition for moratorium to be lifted. It said that the action plan should detail what action will be taken by industries to reduce pollution level. Many states submitted their action plan and in response MoEF lifted the moratorium from some of those states. However, an analysis of these action plans discloses the fact that either they are prepared poorly or are talking about technologies to reduce some kind of pollutants from some specific industries. Some of the states have complained that they do not have adequate competency to prepare such plans. Seeing, how effectively China has used load based standards to reduce overall load, such innovative steps can be included in action plans of the critically polluted areas. The purpose of asking boards to prepare action plan is to reduce the environmental load. But all the action plans have suggested new technologies to reduce environmental load. How much load will be reduced by implementing these technologies is not quantified and discussed in these action plans. Ministry of Environment and Forests can take a leaf out of environmental governnace in China and go for load based standards at least for critically polluted areas to achieve quantitative results once action plans are implemented. We are delighted to inform you that the training and capacity building programmes for State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) and Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) done by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in collaboration with Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) have successfully completed two years.
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh): Country's first dedicated satellite for astronomical research, Astrosat, will be launched today from here at 10 a.m. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C30 will carry it into a low earth equatorial orbit after its take-off from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, along with six small satellites of international customers. PSLV will fly in its extended configuration this time, keeping in view the total payload weight of 1631 kg. The Astrosat has the ability to observe celestial bodies like distant stars and cosmic X-Ray sources in different wavelengths simultaneously. The scientists of the Indian Space Research Organization ISRO are giving the launch vehicle PSLV-C30 final touches for its 31st flight tomorrow. Along with Astrosat, four identical nano-satellites of Spire Global Inc., the US, a micro-satellite from Indonesia and a nano-satellite of the University of Toronto, Canada are also set to take off. Within 22 minutes 33 seconds of ignition of the PSLV, it would lob Astrosat in its 650 km orbit, followed by the smaller payloads. The science research mission Astrosat with five years of intended operational life would serve as a space observatory.
A Review of Play AttentionBy Ashton, Tamarah; Journal of Special Education Technology, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 47-48 Publication Date: Spring 2002 Article reviews Play Attention, which is a educational software program that features games designed to teach a number of skills, including focus, visual tracking, time on task, short-term memory sequencing, and discriminatory processing. The Play Attention system utilizes a technique the author refers to as “Edufeedback,” which is the integration of feedback technology with educational and behavioral modification techniques. The software package comes with a 20-minute training video and an instruction booklet that contains resources materials such as parental permission forms, progress charts, and rating scales for both parents and teachers. The author found that Play Attention is a unique, well-researched system for students with attention difficulties that provides much-needed support for educators and parents. Assistive Products Discussed: PLAY ATTENTION Published by: Exceptional Innovations (Website:http://www.exinn.net) Technology and Media Division (TAM) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) (Web Site: http://www.tamcec.org )
Theory of Change We are often asked how social innovation occurs. We’ve learned there is no single or simple answer. Social change is the result of a tremendously complex mix of ingredients. Environmental conditions, social conditions and individual actors collide to spark world-changing ideas. There is an underlying magic to social innovation that precludes any simple recipe for success. What We've Learned What we can do, however, is create the spaces that best foster social innovation. Our observations tell us that these are the spaces that provide people with exposure to new ideas, connections with incredible people, and systems and structures to help turn the seeds of an idea into an achievable plan. The Centre for Social Innovation has been working hard to create these conditions in its home base in Toronto and our experiences have led us to a few important conclusions. First, social innovation occurs best in environments that are diverse. Innovation rarely occurs within homogenous or staid structures. It happens at the peripheries, where differing approaches bump up against each other and stimulate new ways of thinking. The diversity of our system leads to new opportunities and robust and flexible responses to common challenges. For us, this means doing away with the silos that keep sectors and structures apart. We often refer to the ‘social mission sector’ – an umbrella term that includes all the individuals and organizations whose primary mission is to produce some benefit for people or planet. The CSI community reflects this diversity. Our social mission members include nonprofits, charities, for-profits, entrepreneurs and activists working in areas from health and education to arts and environment. We don’t create change by doing the same things we’ve always done. By introducing diversity we provoke discovery. The Right Environment Second, social innovation needs a conducive physical environment. Social innovators need actual spaces to spark, develop and apply their ideas. Without access to resources and support structures, even the best ideas have trouble taking flight. As a space-based organization, we are finding ways to create and curate spaces that foster social innovation. We’ve learned that the best spaces are a mix of utility and whimsy. When ‘bearing down’ and on the task at hand, social innovators need a functional work environment with reliable office infrastructure. But all work and no play makes Jill a dull girl! We recognize the critical importance of unstructured social space. There is far more serendipity around the kitchen table than the boardroom table. By balancing these characteristics, we create a dynamic that stimulates new ideas to germinate and blossom. Animate and Watch it Grow Finally, we have learned that some gentle animation can do wonders. In addition to the physical space and a diverse mix of people, it is the interventions and learning opportunities that help make connections and stimulate new thoughts and ways of doing. We bring innovators together with capacity-building workshops, informal social mixers, our Intranet network, and more. We foster individual and collective growth and create an environment that produces original action. Our key is to adopt a light touch. We do not program with an expectation of uniform engagement. We offer opportunities for individuals to ‘find their own level’; to dip in and dip out of the community in a way they find comfortable and natural. And when a new idea begins to surface, that same gentle touch helps it to grow. This is our role within the centre: to animate the ideas that have developed in the spaces we have created, and to nurture a participatory culture where all members feel welcome to bring their ideas and to leave their fingerprints. Making it Simple - The CSI Pyramid More recently, CSI has begun to understand its work through a new lens. Our emerging Theory of Change is most succinctly communicated through the following image: We begin at the bottom of the pyramid, focussing on the creation of the physical space. We do this carefully, designing a space that''s functional, whimsical, inviting and energizing. The next layer is community. What begins as a group of people looking for a place to work becomes a community through conscious and careful curating and programming. These layers form the basis for innovation -- the serendipity that happens when you mix the right people, the right values and the right environment; when you set the conditions for social innovation emergence. The results are unpredictable. And often astonishing. For more on our Theory of Change and to learn about the impact of our work, download Proof: How Shared Spaces are Changing the World.
FAKE Christmas Tree Facts - Most FAKE Christmas Trees (85%) in the U.S. are imported from China. Almost 10 Million FAKE Christmas Trees were sold worldwide in 2003. The U.S. Commerce Dept. tracks the Import of FAKE Christmas Trees. - Have you ever wondered what the factories are like where FAKE Christmas Trees are made? As noted in the Washington Post, "On the concrete floors of Zhang's Shuitou Company factory, migrant workers, most earning about $100 a month, squat in front of hissing machinery as they melt chips into moldable plastic..." - Most FAKE Christmas Trees are made of metals and plastics. The plastic material, typically PVC, can be a potential source of hazardous lead. Read a warning about them from the Children's Health Environmental Coalition. - The potential for lead poisoning is great enough that FAKE Christmas Trees made in China are required by California Prop 65 to have a warning label. - Some FAKE Christmas Trees have a wooden center pole. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture placed a quarantine on FAKE Christmas Trees from China, which had a potentially harmful beetle in the center pole. - Overloaded electrical outlets and faulty wires are the most common causes of holiday fires in residences - these are just as likely to affect FAKE Christmas Trees as REAL Christmas Trees. - As mentioned before, most FAKE Christmas Trees are manufactured in China and contain PVC (polyvinyl chloride). In fact, FAKE Christmas Trees were recently added to the Center for Health, Environment & Justice's list of household products containing PVC. - According to the Children's Health Environmental Coalition, the manufacture of PVC creates and disperses dioxins, which include the most toxic man-made chemical known. Released into air or water, dioxins enter the food chain, where they accumulate in fatty tissues of animals and humans, a potential risk for causing cancer, damaging immune functions and impairing children's development. This issue is especially concerning due to China's weak enforcement of environmental regulations. - FAKE Christmas Trees are a petroleum-based product manufactured primarily in Chinese factories. The average family uses a FAKE Christmas Tree for only six to nine years before throwing it away, where it will remain in a landfill for centuries after disposal. It's time to stop supporting China's economy and start helping ours! Buy a REAL Christmas Tree from Brown's Tree Farm and know that the money you spend will go back into OUR economy! Note: The information above was provided by the National Christmas Tree Association. We would like to thank the NCTA for all of their research and support.
Distinguishing between Defining and Non-Defining Relative Clauses in This Question ?? Hi! I have an English exam very soon, so I need the answer of this fast. THE QUESTION SAYS: Decide whether these sentences contain defining or non-defining relative clauses: 1- The person who is talking to Carrie is her uncle. 2- He comes from Seoul which is the capital of South Korea. 3- Carrie who has never been to Seoul would like to go there one day. 4- She would like to meet her cousins who have never been to America. 5- She goes to a school which is very popular in Santa Monica. Re: Distinguishing between Defining and Non-Defining Relative Clauses in This Questio I hope this helps you decide whether these sentences are defining or non-defining relative clauses. Defining clauses give important information which tells us exactly what is being referred to. That book which you lent me is really good. Everyone who got to the sales early found excellent bargains. The person who finishes first will be the winner, of course. Non-defining clauses add extra information, separated by commas in writing, and intonation in speaking. The book, which I hadnít read, was still on the shelf. Davidís sister, who likes cats, offered to take one of the kittens. Helen picked up the book, which had a green cover. Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO
Combating AIDS Around the Globe Lead story from the February Centerpoint In November 2004, just prior to World AIDS Day, the Woodrow Wilson Center and UNAIDS, the joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, held two high-level briefings as part of a three-part series to expand awareness of the global AIDS agenda outside of the health community, particularly within foreign policy and development circles. World AIDS Day became an annual event in 1988 when some 5 million people were living with the disease. Since then, AIDS has killed more than 20 million people around the world and, this year, 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, more than 25 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. In the Caribbean, the region second-hardest hit by the disease, at least 1 in 50 adults across five nations already are infected. A November 10 seminar featuring Dr. Kathleen Cravero, deputy executive director of UNAIDS, and Ambassador George Moose, former assistant secretary of state for African affairs, shed light on the disproportionate impact HIV/AIDS has had on women in developed and developing countries. The second briefing on November 30— featuring UNAIDS Executive Director Dr. Peter Piot and U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Randall Tobias—explored the aggressive U.S. emergency plan to combat AIDS and the dangerously fast spread of HIV/AIDS in East Europe and East Asia. A third upcoming seminar will delve into the effects of AIDS on security. Every day around the world, 8,000 people die from AIDS, many of them young people in their productive years, many of them mothers and caretakers. It is a humanitarian crisis that poses serious social, economic, and security threats—one that requires a sustained, collective effort to overcome. The Emerging Pandemic: East Europe, Asia UNAIDS reported at the end of 2004 that nearly a half-million people died from AIDS in South and Southeast Asia and more than 7 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, while in East Asia more than 1 million people are HIV-positive. In addition, nearly 1 million Russians are living with HIV/AIDS, about triple the official statistics, according to Wilson Center Senior Scholar Murray Feshbach and Research Associate Cristina Galvin in a recently released report underwritten by the U.S. Agency for International Development. "The situation we face in China, India, and Russia bears alarming similarities to the situation we faced 20 years ago in Africa," said Dr. Piot in his November 30 address. Piot said these countries are nearing "a tipping point," much like Africa had experienced. In South Africa, he explained, prevalence rates rose from .5 to 1 percent in five years but then in seven years, the rate leapt from 1 to 20 percent. Piot said, "I am calling for intensified attention on these next wave countries-not at the expense of Africa, but also on behalf of Africa." If the epidemic spreads, he said, global resources for Africa could decrease or disappear. "If we don't prevent this breakout, and full-blown epidemics take hold in these large, populous states, there will be dire consequences not only for these countries, but for each of our own." Well over half the world's population resides in Asian-Pacific countries, where HIV/AIDS-related income losses totaled more than $7 billion in 2001 alone. India and China, two of the world's most populous countries, have rapidly growing economies which would be devastated by the stunted growth that AIDS has caused elsewhere as would their global trading partners. AIDS threatens a nation's security and stability, and national defense can be compromised by the growing rates of AIDS in military ranks. In Russia, incidents of HIV among potential military conscripts are estimated to be 25 times the level of five years earlier, according to the Feshbach/Galvin report. The report also noted that while HIV is on the rise, testing has dropped dramatically, in a society that stigmatizes those with the virus. In Asia, increasing populations help offset the AIDS mortality levels, but Russia has a declining population. Furthermore, the report noted, AIDS disproportionately impacts Russia's young people; more than 80 percent of HIV-positive Russians are under 30 years old. "We can pay now for prevention," said Piot, "we can wait a bit longer and pay for treatment; or we can wait even longer and pay the price of losing tens of hundreds of millions of productive citizens. Early investment is everything...the price rises every minute we wait." Women and AIDS World AIDS Day, commemorated on December 1, focused special attention this year on the growing AIDS epidemic among women and girls. In sub-Saharan Africa, 60 percent of all HIV-positive people and 75 percent of infected young people, 15 to 24 years old, are female. Some of the steepest increases are occurring in East Asia, East Europe, and Central Asia. In Russia, the Russian Federal AIDS Center reported in 2003 that 38 percent of people living with HIV were women, compared with 24 percent in 2001. In Brazil, new AIDS cases among women increased by 75 percent in the late 1990s, compared to just 10 percent among men. And, in the United States, AIDS is the leading cause of death among African American women, ages 35-44. "The disproportionate infection of millions of poor women isn't merely an injustice; it's a socioeconomic disaster," said Dr. Cravero, at the November 10 seminar, "Confronting the Crisis: Women and AIDS." Cravero said AIDS among women is on the rise in these countries because "women lack control over their bodies and their daily lives, and the tools, resources and support needed to change their situation." Ambassador Moose discussed the debate within the U.S. government. He said while the U.S. government has recognized the magnitude of the HIV/AIDS threat and has made advances developing affordable antiretroviral treatments for developing nations, it has yet to address the challenge of women and AIDS. "It's one thing to bring policymakers and politicians to an acceptance that HIV/AIDS represents a threat to national and international security interests," he said, "but it's quite another, I would argue, to convince them that the place where that battle will have to be fought and won is in the bedrooms and bordellos of every society around the world." Piot also discussed the rise of AIDS among women and said that solely insisting on abstinence is unrealistic. "The scientists, the doctors, the activists, the churches, and all of us should come together and agree on a broad philosophy of prevention that takes cultural and religious differences into account, but embraces a common principle-that the highest moral ideal is to save lives." Piot said developing countries must encourage educational and economic opportunities for women, pass and enforce laws that deter domestic violence, and promote access to the female condom and microbicides that women can use to protect themselves. Said Cravero, "For women who can't choose when and with whom to have sex, for women whose partners will not use condoms or be faithful, and for women who are too beaten up or beaten down to ask, methods that they control...will make all the difference." The U.S. Relief Plan On November 30, Ambassador Randall Tobias presented the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which commits $15 billion over a five-year period toward combating the disease in more than 100 countries. The plan, which promotes integrated prevention, treatment, and care, is the largest commitment ever by a single nation toward an international health initiative. With special emphasis on 15 focus nations in Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia, where half the world's infections occur, this plan aims to treat 2 million HIV-infected people, prevent 7 million new infections, and care for 10 million people, including orphans and vulnerable children. The emergency plan "strives to bring donors, stakeholders on the ground, and national leadership onto the same page," said Tobias, adding that emphasis will be placed on monitoring and evaluating results. "If this HIV/AIDS challenge is to be met, we in the developed world will have to meet it. If we fail to rise to the occasion, there's really no Plan B." He underscored the importance of such organizations as UNAIDS remaining engaged in the fight. Such groups, he said, "offer other donors a vehicle to sharply increase their commitment, as America has done."
A history of the Beating of the Boundaries in Helston The ancient ritual of Beating the Bounds is one that has been in existence since the second charter of Queen Elizabeth in 1585. The ancient borough of Helston, granted by a charter of King John in 1201, is believed to have been staked out using a stone at three corners and a toft – a tuft of grass – at the fourth. The actual boundary followed an irregular perimeter enclosing lands and houses owned by the burgesses. The boundaries of the parishes were established in a similar way and in the days before maps it was essential to regularly walk the exact boundary to guard against encroachments. This was done by taking local young boys on the route, and bumping them against trees, walls or posts, so that when they grew up they would be able to pass on their knowledge of the boundary. Before 1934, the borough enclosed a relatively small area and only three stones now remain in position on the inner boundary. They can be found in Redruth Road, Church Hill and Prospect Place. In 1934 the boundaries were extended to include Porthleven and parts of the parishes of Sithney and Wendron to form a modern borough of Helston. In 1985 the boundaries were changed again, when Helston and Porthleven separated to become independent parishes. The boundaries of the new Helston town parish were then extended towards Trenethick, Lowertown, Sithney and Porthleven. In days gone by the schoolchildren were armed with sticks. A sod of turf was cut, which was then beaten with the sticks, a sprig of May was stuck into the turf and three cheers were given. Then some of the children were turned upside down to have their heads bumped on the turfed stone. Beating of the Bounds continues in a number of places in the country. It seems to have been connected with, or to have been developed from the ancient Rogationtide processions, when it was customary for the parish priest along with choir and servers to go through the fields near the parish church singing litanies and asking God’s blessing on the crops. This accounts for the fact that beating the bounds at Helston normally takes place on the eve of Ascension Day. The modern Beating of the Bounds ceremony still calls for local children (and sometimes the not-so-young) to be turned upside-down and have their heads gently tapped on the boundary stones. The length of the town boundary means that roughly one third of the boundary is walked each year. The sections are: Carminowe Creek - Boundary Stone No. 1 at the Fairground, Porthleven Road and Boundary Stone No. 18 at R.N.A.S. Culdrose. Lowertown, Newham Old Hill, Squire’s Lane to Porthleven Hill and Penventon Farm. Pemboa – Boundary No. 11 at Lower Junction on the Redruth Road and Boundary Stone No. 18 at Culdrose.
You are here The flaws in this chapter go deeper than merely deepening confusion over basic concepts and omitting references to work which address questions they raise. At critical points, EE quotes biologists in ways which misrepresent their views and distort the state of scientific and philosophical discourse about homology and related concepts. To present the discredited 19th century quibbles of Louis Agassiz as if they had never been addressed is ahistorical and absurd. Claiming that Brian Goodwin rejects evolution as a force which explains homology is plainly wrong. David Wake's concerns over the philosophical definition of homology does not reflect any objection to the use of biological similarity and difference to develop and test hypotheses about evolution. This merely reflects EE's needless focus on a single word, rather than the way that evolutionary biology is actually practiced in the 21st century.
The following message was posted on my homeschool group page and credited to Dr. Vinay Goyal. It is a lot of common sense that is not so common. Thought it might help you all stay well this fall and winter. The only portals of entry of the HiNi virus are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible not coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is. While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu): 1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications) . This is not a joke. Make it a ritual habit... make it part of your daily routine... DO NOT BE LAZY...!!! 2. "Hands-off-the- face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap). 3. Gargle twice a day with (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method. 4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. If this method is not possible, blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population. 5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (citrus fruits). If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption. 6. Drink as much of warm liquids as you can. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.
To cut a budget means to eliminate (cut) spending from a budget. The items being eliminated are "cut out" of the budget. Example: Mary was spending more on food than she should have, so she cut an expensive brand of ice cream out of her budget. By reducing a luxury, she was able to bring her food expenses budget into line. The noun forms represent the act of cutting a budget. Singular: a budget cut. Plural: budget cuts.
The commonest problems we see affecting horse eyelids are listed at right. Entropion is commonly seen in foals and is a leading cause of corneal ulceration. Eyelid lacerations seem to result from horse's propensity to get tangled up in anything which could be a hazard in a stall or on a fence. Abnormal eyelid cilia (hairs/eyelashes) which may grow from the eyelid margin (distichiasis) or the back of the eyelid (ectopic cilia) and abrade the cornea occasionally are seen in horses. They may be seen in young horses or older animals associated with eyelid scarring (from injuries). These problems are easily corrected surgically. Simply plucking or cutting the hairs is not effective - they can grow back and cause even more corneal irritation. Apart form these conditions most of the other eyelid problems seen are tumors affecting the lids (and often other adjacent parts of the eye). These tumors often can quite challenging to treat effectively - but there are various new treatment approaches which we are using at Equine Eye Vets.
History of Western Theatre: 17th Century to Now/Spanish Romantic Leandro Fernández de Moratín (1760-1828) continued excellent probing of social and psychological insight from the previous century with "La mojigata" (The prude, 1804) and "El sí de las niñas" (The maidens' consent, 1806). Another important figure of the Romantic Movement is Ángel de Saavedra, duke of Rivas (1791-1865), who wrote "Álvaro, o La fuerza del sino" (Don Álvaro, or the force of fate, 1835). Following interpretations by Tirso de Molina and Molière on the Don Juan legend, Josée Zorilla (1817-1893) wrote his own "Don Juan Tenorio in two parts (1844). "The prude". Time: 1800s. Place: Toledo, Spain. "The prude" text at ? Clara has so often been punished by her father, Martino, that instead of religion she has learned dissimulation. She intends to enter a convent. Her uncle, Luis, and Perico, servant to Claudio, whom he intends should marry his daughter, Ines, but is rejected by her, learn that Martino will inherit a large fortune from a dying cousin should Clara enter religious orders. From Perico Clara learns that Claudio loves her, not Ines. Though the news is pleasing, yet she intends to continue to dissimulate. "In this world, whoever does not cheat does not succeed," she avers. Perico intercepts a letter meant for Martino, asking for money so that Clara can enter the convent. Pretending to be the brother of Lorenzo, commissioner of the convent, Perico pockets up the full amount and, after speaking to Clara, reveals to his master that "the charming novice burns and dies for Claudio". Claudio and Clara are surprised during a secret meeting by Martino and Ines. Clara pretends she was "occupied in reading Kempis". Ines accuses her of illicitly meeting Claudio, which Clara denies, though admitting she is "a vessel of iniquity". Martino calls Ines a "vile liar, an odious viper". But Luis believes his daughter, not his brother. Claudio's father, Pedro, is set to arrive. Luis insists that Claudio in filial duty meet him in advance. Clara knows that this is done to separate the loving couple. She meets Perico and plans to marry Claudio in secret and be "freed of the execrable crew around me," she says. One day, she sees her father lurking behind her, but while speaking to Perico pretends not to, saying for his benefit: "My heart's desire is to become a shoeless nun, for when austerity is greater, the palm is more magnificent." Martino advises her how to conduct herself inside the convent. At the mere mention of the tempter, Clara, always the false prude, holds his hands and trembles. Luis, wishing to help his niece to a favorable marriage, asks her to be more honest with him, "to throw out the mask of devotion", so that he may defend her against the "strange obstinacy" of her father, but she persists in pretending, so that he wishes not to have anything more to do with her. Meanwhile, fearing Luis has discovered their plot, Claudio contemplates leaving immediately, but Lucia, the servant, assures him that Luis is willing to help him in this marriage despite Clara's distrust of him. Luis receives a letter from the cousin in Seville, saying that since learning of Clara's vocation, he has revoked his intentions and will give all his money to Ines instead. On learning this, Martino is in despair. Moreover, he discovers that his money was never received by the abbess. Perico's treachery is discovered and Claudio summoned, who reveals that he signed a marriage contract between himself and his daughter. Considering herself certain to receive the inheritance, Clara wishes to leave with Claudio, but Luis shows her the letter from Seville, revealing that Ines, not her, is heir to a fortune. But Ines reconciles father and daughter by sharing her inheritance with Clara. "The maidens' consent" "The maidens' consent". Time: 1800s. Place: Alcala de Henarès, Spain. "The maidens' consent" text at ? Diego and Irene rejoice at his upcoming marriage with her daughter, Francisca, fresh out of a convent. Irene is proud of her, she being "raised without artifice and far from the world's pitfalls". But Irene's servant, Rita, reveals to Calamocha, servant to a man named Felix, that Francisca, despite Diego's wealth, is in tears at the thought of marrying a man of fifty. To Francisca she reveals that Carlos, her lover, has arrived. "Forever gratitude and love!" exclaims Francisca. Irene's opinion is that Francisca should be thankful for her happiness, attributed to her aunts' prayers rather than her "your feeble advantages and my poor efforts," as she says. When Carlos arrives, he intends to prevent the marriage, mentioning a rich uncle from whom he is likely to inherit. "To love and to be loved, that's my ambition, my supreme felicity," Francisca responds. When Diego enters, Carlos discovers that his rival is the same rich uncle. Diego scolds his nephew for leaving his garrison and orders him to leave at once. Unwilling to defy his uncle openly, Carlos pretends to obey. Francisca discovers her lieutenant is gone. "My Lord God," she moans, "what is my crime? What is it?" Rita must hold up her distressed mistress as she walks back to her room. At three o'clock in the morning, Diego spies Francisca out of her room, apparently reacting to the sound of a guitar. Carlos is playing and he tosses a letter up to her, but in the darkness she is unable to find it. She hears a suspicious sound in the room and escapes back to hers. Diego finds the letter and orders the innkeeper to bring back Carlos. Francisca thinks the letter contains merely excuses for his abrupt departure. Discouraged, she hears Diego asking her to open her heart and promising to help her. She thanks him and leaves. Diego shows Carlos his own letter, explaining how he first met Francisca and promising to return to the garrison. He announces to Irene that her daughter loves someone, but not him. "Is it possible you are prepared for such a sacrifice?" asks Irena in wonder, to which he answers: "That is the faith we must yield to the maidens' consent." "The force of fate" "The force of fate". Time: 18th century. Place: Spain and Naples. "The force of fate" text at ? Rejected as a son-in-law by the marquis of Calatrava, Don Alvaro seeks to elope with Leonora, but is prevented by him. As he drops his pistol in submission, it goes off by accident and kills the marquis. Alvaro and Leonora flee but are separated after a battle ensues between his men and the marquis'. Leonora reaches the convent of the Holy Angels, where she requests the father superior's permission to live inside a hermitage in penance of her father's death. He accepts. The new marquis of Calatrava, Carlos, seeks to avenge his father's death and his sister's dishonor but is unable to find Alvaro. By chance, without knowing who he is, Alvaro saves his life in a tavern brawl. Both use assumed names while fighting in Naples against the Germans, when Carlos returns the favor by saving Alvaro's life. As Alvaro lies in surgery from a bullet wound in the chest, Carlos discovers who he is and, once recuperated, challenges him to a duel, although against the law as recently promulgated by Charles III of Spain. Alvaro hesitates before accepting this challenge, until Carlos mentions he knows his sister to be alive but intends to kill her, too. Alvaro kills him and is imprisoned for it. When the Germans attack the Spaniards, Alvaro is set free, vowing to enter a life of religion should he survive. He does so, entering the convent of the Holy Angels, where he is discovered by Carlos' younger brother, Alfonso, who also challenges him to a duel. Alvaro succeeds in stabbing him. Fearing his end near, Alfonso asks for spiritual comfort. To accede to his desire, Alvaro knocks at the hermitage door for the saintly hermit reported to be living there. Recognizing Leonora, Alfonso stabs her to death and dies by turning the weapon on himself. In despair at losing her, Alvaro plunges to his death down a deep ravine. "Don Juan Tenorio, part 1" "Don Juan Tenorio, part 1". Time: 1540s. Place: Seville, Spain. "Don Juan Tenorio, part 1" text at http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Spanish/Zorilla.htm Don Juan Tenorio and Don Luis Mejia have wagered on who should prove the most accomplished man within a year. Each boast of women cheated and men dead in duels, Juan being the winner in total numbers of both. Juan is ready to do more: steal away Donna Anna, Luis' betrothed. Their talk is interrupted by Don Gonzalo, commander of Calatrava, who was asked by Don Diego, Juan's father, to yield the hand of his daughter, Ines, in marriage to him, but overhearing this scandalous conversation, declares he will never have her. Affronted, Juan replies that either he gives her to him or he will take her away by force. Overhearing this, a masked man comes forth to say he will never know him more, at which Juan tears off the mask, revealing his father. These interruptions do not prevent Juan and Luis on betting who will obtain each other's intended. Both are arrested, as each denounced the other to the law, and both easily released. A worried Luis heads straight for the house where Anna stays the night before the promised wedding day, but so does Juan, whose servant, Cuitti, sneaks up behind Luis and ties him up while his master steals her away, as well as Ines from the convent. He removes Ines to his country house, where the liberated Luis arrives to challenge him, but they are interrupted by the arrival of Gonzalo, incensed at having lost his daughter. Juan tries to convince him of his conversion: "Commander, I adore Donna Ines, persuaded that heaven sends her to guide my steps in the path of goodness," he pleads. But the commander does not believe him. Angry at this refusal, Juan shoots Gonzalo to death and then stabs Luis to death before jumping in the river and entering a tug-boat as officers of the law contemplate the murder scene. "Don Juan Tenorio, part 2" "Don Juan Tenorio, part 2". Time: 1540s. Place: Seville, Spain. "Don Juan Tenorio, part 2" text at http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Spanish/Zorilla.htm Don Juan contemplates the pantheon paid for by his father before his death: statues of his son's victims: himself, Gonzalo, Luis, and Ines, dead after Juan abandoned her. A repenting Juan is astonished at seeing Ines' statue disappear over the pedestal and her shade appear before him, who reveals she will either save or lose her soul with his. Juan believes he is delirious. To shake it off, he invites two friends over to his house, where he says they will be alone unless the statues care to join them. As Juan sups with his friends, a knock is heard at the door, yet his servant, Ciutti, looking out from a window, can find no one. A second knock is heard with the same result, then five more times nearer and nearer inside the house until Juan asks the presence to enter through the chamber door, which the commander's statue does. The two friends faint at the sight of this vision, who reveals that Juan will die the next day, having one last chance to be converted, daring him to meet him, then disappearing through the wall. Juan next receives the visit of Ines' statue, who before disappearing the same way, discloses that tomorrow they will sleep in the same tomb. Seeing his friends awake, he accuses them of infusing a drug in the wine, as do they, so that a duel becomes as inevitable as the two friends' deaths. Juan goes back to the pantheon and finds a supper-table laid with snakes, garter-snakes, bones, fire, and ashes, followed by the commander's statue, who declares: "All that you see before you is where valor, youth, and power end" after which the death-knell sounds. The commander's statue takes hold of one hand to bring him down to hell, but the other hand is raised towards heaven and taken by Ines' statue. Don Juan is saved. "Let it be known to all," says he, "that the God of clemency is also that of Don Juan Tenorio."
Yes, let's start with the basics: What are the typical mistakes people make with percentages? What is the margin of error in a poll? It would be virtually impossible to conduct a poll on the entire voting population in the United States. Pollsters therefore question a sample of a population. What is the difference between causation and correlation? One of the most common errors we find in the press is the confusion between correlation and causation in scientific and health-related studies. What does it mean for a result to be “statistically significant”? How can we tell whether two events happen at the same time by chance, or for a reason? What is the difference between absolute and relative risk? Which one tells you about the actual risk ? What is the difference between controlled, observational and case controlled studies? There are advantages and disadvantages to each type, and an awareness of these differences makes for a savvier consumer of public health information. What are confounding factors and how do they affect studies?
It is taken that n is integral, because otherwise the cube would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to divide in the aforesaid way. a) No matter how long the side, only the corner unit cubes will have three sides of paint on them, because this is the most number of corners revealed for any unit cube in a cube with side larger than 1. There are always eight corner unit cubes (in cubes with sides larger than 1), and so the formula is f(n) = 8, where f(n) --> 3 painted sides, unless n = 1, where f(n) = 0. (There is only one cube for a unit cube itself, with 6 painted sides). b) The edges of the cube, not including the corners, will have two of their sides painted, those cubes having only two sides revealed. There are twelve edges for each cube. However, each edge of n includes the two corner cubes, which must be subtracted because of their painting of three sides. Thus, g(n) = 12(n-2), where n is larger than 1 (for reasons explained already in a)). c) The center unit cubes, of each face, will only have one surface painted, because this is the only one revealed. These center cubes do not include those of the edge, or the corners. Thus, there are n-2 by n-2 of these, for each face, and six faces of the large cube. h(n) = 6 * (n-2)^2, where n is larger than 1 (for reasons explained already in a)). d) The remaining cubes are not painted, as the most exposed unit cube in a cubical structure would only be the corner, revealed on three sides. These three, two, and one sides have already been covered, and so the remainder are unpainted unit cubes. There are n^3 total unit cubes present, and so the number of these unpainted unit cubes is j(n) = n^3 - 6 * (n-2)^2 - 12(n-2) - 8, where n is necessarily larger than 1 (for the above explained reasons, in a)). Return to Main Page
The smtplib module This module provides a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) client implementation. This protocol is used to send mail through Unix mailservers. # File: smtplib-example-1.py import smtplib import string, sys HOST = "localhost" FROM = "[email protected]" TO = "[email protected]" SUBJECT = "for your information!" BODY = "next week: how to fling an otter" body = string.join(( "From: %s" % FROM, "To: %s" % TO, "Subject: %s" % SUBJECT, "", BODY), "\r\n") print body server = smtplib.SMTP(HOST) server.sendmail(FROM, [TO], body) server.quit() From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: for your information! next week: how to fling an otter Note that the From and To headers in the message body are ignored by the SMTP layer; they’re (usually) displayed by the receiver’s mail client, but the SMTP layer uses the arguments passed to sendmail to control message routing. Also note that the second argument must be a list or other sequence; you can pass in multiple addresses to send the same message to more than one receiver.
Known as “nature’s engineers”, the beavers, large nocturnal semi-aquatic rodents, are famous for their ability to build impressive dams known as beaver dams. These dams are built for serving a variety of purposes like keeping the beavers safe from predators like coyotes, bears and wolves and also for accessing food sources quickly and safely during winter time. Beavers also build lodges where they reside and water canals which they use to float their food and building materials. This ability of the beavers to adapt the environment based on their own needs is not seen anywhere else in the Animal Kingdom except, of course, in the case of man. 4. Dam Building Processes The Beaver Way Beavers building dams have often been photographed by researchers studying this interesting behavioral trait in these creatures. The beavers do not build dams in areas with fast, deep flowing rivers and streams but build dams in areas with shallow, slow flowing water to prevent the blockage of the underwater entrance to their lodges by ice in winter and also to create a water body with sufficient depth to hide themselves from their predators. The beavers first gnaw away at the barks of trees and branches near the river or stream to allow them to fall on the flowing water-body, blocking its flow and creating a diversion. This basic structure is then further strengthened by placing twigs, stones, leaves, branches, grasses, uprooted plants and anything else the beaver manages to find, on top of the base to build a superstructure. The beaver dams are usually 5 feet in height, a few feet to over 330 feet in length, and the water reservoir resulting from the dam is usually 1.2 to 1.8 meters in depth. 3. Ecological Significance Beaver dams have high ecological significance as they trigger the creation and development of stable, wetland ecosystems, one of the most productive ecosystems of the world, which serve as the home of rare and endangered flora and fauna species. The dams also divert water to the newly created ponds or reservoirs, thus, preventing flooding in areas downstream of the rivers where these dams are built. Beaver dams also protect land from soil erosion and act as natural filters for toxins like pesticides and silt, trapping these contaminants, blocking their flow downstream into major water bodies. 2. Negative Effects of Beaver Dams Though beaver dams are ecologically significant, they might act as a nuisance in some cases when crop fields and pastures are destroyed by the flooding of water from these dams. The moisture retained in the soil near beaver dams might also weaken the underground foundations of roads, bridges, and railway tracks. Thus, often a need has been felt to control the construction of the beaver dams, especially in human inhabited areas, near agricultural fields and pasture lands. The beavers might be relocated from these areas to new areas where dam building would not pose a threat to humans. Special low voltage electric fences or other barriers might also be installed in human inhabited lands and waterways to restrict beavers from entering such territories. 1. What Can We Learn From Beaver Architects? The small-scale dams of beavers can help us learn a lot about dam building, its advantages, and disadvantages. Beaver dams also allow us to study the gradual development of a rich wetland ecosystem in an area that was previously sparsely populated with wildlife. Unlike dams built by humans, most of which lead to widespread displacement of human populations and large-scale ecological damage, dams built by beavers have the exact opposite result of attracting species to inhabit the newly created wetlands. This fact definitely proves that nature’s own ways are always better than those of human beings.
Some smokers can ease cravings not only by lighting up and giving the brain a hit of nicotine — but also by just thinking they're getting the drug, even when they're not, new research has discovered. The Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas took 24 established smokers into the lab for a double-blind study. They were asked to smoke under four conditions. For two visits, they were given a nicotine-containing cigarette each time. On two other visits, they were given a non-nicotine placebo. Here is the breakdown: - They believed the cigarette contained nicotine but received a placebo. - They believed the cigarette did not contain nicotine but received a nicotine cigarette. - They believed the cigarette contained nicotine and received nicotine. - They believed the cigarette did not contain nicotine and received a placebo. After smoking, the participants completed a "reward learning task" while undergoing a brain scan. They rated their levels of craving before smoking the cigarette and after the task, which involved a game of investing in the stock market. Scientists used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to capture neural activity in the insula cortex, a region of the brain that plays a role in diverse functions and is also associated with drug cravings and addiction. The purpose of using the task was to help activate the brain's brain's dopamine system, a little like gambling, said Dr. Xiaosi Gu, assistant professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and the study's lead author. The scans showed significant neural activity that correlated to both craving and learning signals when participants smoked a nicotine cigarette and believed its nicotine content was genuine. However, smoking nicotine but believing it was a placebo did not produce the same brain signals. The smokers who got the nicotine, or simply believed they did, reported reduced cravings and the scan recorded increased neural activity. 'When they believed there is nicotine and they had nicotine, the craving correlated with these anterior insula activations — but when they did not believe so, that correlation was gone." Gu said. "Even when they had nicotine, but did not believe there was nicotine, their brain did not respond [with higher neural activity] and they still reported as much craving as before," she said. "Basically, you have nicotine and your brain is kind of on, but the twist here is you have to have nicotine, but also believe you have nicotine for the brain to be on," she said. "So in other words, if you have nicotine, but did not think so — you thought you had some kind of placebo — then your brain is still off," Gu said. While the biological pull of nicotine plays a key role in the addiction, a person's belief system can also exert a pharmacological effect, she said. Not just about substance itself Researchers hope the study, recently published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, will tell them more about the mechanism of addiction. "It looks like addiction is not just about the substance itself, but also the belief you need the substance to have a normal daily life," Gu said. She said the study shows why cognitive therapy is so important in changing a smoker's beliefs.
Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books. A Framework for Understanding Poverty (edition 2005) A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne No current Talk conversations about this book. References to this work on external resources. Wikipedia in English Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0964743728, Paperback)A Framework for Understanding Poverty was Dr. Ruby Payne's first book, written for teachers with adaptations for work and community members. Its purpose is to educate people about the differences that separate economic classes and then teaching them strategies to bridge those gulfs. Ruby discusses at length the social cues or "hidden rules" that govern how we think and interact in society – and the significance of those rules in a classroom. Other topics include why students from generational poverty often fear being educated, discipline interventions that improve behavior, and the eight resources that make a difference to success. More than 180,000 copies sold! (retrieved from Amazon Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:21:37 -0400) A Framework for Understanding Poverty was Dr. Ruby Payne's first book and the first book RFT Publishing Co. (now aha! Process, Inc.) published. It is fitting that the book and the company's history are intertwined. The central goal of the company is educating people about the differences that separate economic classes and then teaching them skills to bridge those gulfs. Framework is the method that delivers that message. Ruby's thesis for Framework is simple. Individuals accustomed to personal poverty think and act differently from people in the middle and upper economic classes. Most teachers today come from middle-class backgrounds. Economic class differences, in an educational setting, often make both teaching and learning challenging. Too often, teachers don't understand why a student from poverty is chronically acting out or is not grasping a concept even after repeated explanations. At the same time, the student doesn't understand what he/she is expected to produce and why. Ruby discusses at length the social cues or "hidden rules" that govern how we think and interact in society - and the significance of those rules in a classroom. Framework also illuminates differences between generational poverty and situational poverty. Ruby explains the "voices" that all of us use to project ourselves to the outside world and how poverty can affect those voices. Through the use of realistic teaching scenarios, Ruby focuses attention on sources of support, or resources, which might or might not be present in a student's life. Resources are important assets - things like mental stability, emotional support, and physical health - and the more resources students have in their lives, the better able they'll be to achieve their goals. Framework is a teacher's book. It draws on years of experience in multiple school systems, along with a wide range of academic positions. In this groundbreaking work Ruby Payne matter-of-factly presents the issues central to teaching students from poverty, then takes a pivotal next step by offering proven tools educators can use immediately to improve the quality of instruction in their classrooms. (summary from another edition) Is this you? Become a LibraryThing Author.
Individual differences \| Methods \| Statistics \| Clinical \| Educational \| Industrial \| Professional items \| World psychology \| Best interests or best interests of the child is the doctrine used by most courts to determine a wide range of issues relating to the well-being of children. The most important of these issues concern questions that arise upon the divorce or separation of the children's parents. Here are some examples: - With whom will the children live? - How much contact (previously termed "access" or, in some jurisdictions, "visitation") will the parents, legal guardian, or other parties be allowed (or required) to have? - To whom and by whom will child support be paid and in what amount? The use of the best interests doctrine represented a 20th-century shift in public policy. The best interests doctrine is an aspect of parens patriae, and in the United States it has replaced the Tender Years Doctrine, which rested on the basis that children are not resilient, and almost any change in a child's living situation would be detrimental to their well-being. Until the early 1900s, fathers were given custody of the children in case of divorce. Many U.S. states then shifted from this standard to one that completely favored the mother as the primary caregiver. In the 1970s, the Tender Years Doctrine was replaced by the best interests of the child as determined by family courts. Because many family courts continued to give great weight to the traditional role of the mother as the primary caregiver, application of this standard in custody historically tended to favor the mother of the children. The "best interests of the child" doctrine is sometimes used in cases where non-parents, such as grandparents, ask a court to order non-parent visitation with a child. Some parents, usually those who are not awarded custody, say that using the "best interests of the child" doctrine in non-parent visitation cases fails to protect a fit parent's fundamental right to raise their child in the manner they see fit. Troxel v Granville, 530 US 57; 120 S Ct 2054; 147 LEd2d 49 (2000). Assessing the best interests of the childEdit The determination is also used in proceedings which determine legal obligations and entitlements, such as when a child is born outside of marriage, when grandparents assert rights with respect to their grandchildren, and when biological parents assert rights with respect to a child who was given up for adoption. It is the doctrine usually employed in cases regarding the potential emancipation of minors. Courts will use this doctrine when called upon to determine who should make medical decisions for a child where the parents disagree with healthcare providers or other authorities. In determining the best interests of the child or children in the context of a separation of the parents, the court may order various investigations to be undertaken by social workers, Family Court Advisors from CAFCASS, psychologists and other forensic experts, to determine the living conditions of the child and his custodial and non-custodial parents. Such issues as the stability of the child's life, links with the community, and stability of the home environment provided by each parent may be considered by a court in deciding the child's residency in custody and visitation proceedings. In English law, section 1(1) Children Act 1989 makes the interests of any child the paramount concern of the court in all proceedings and, having indicated in s1(2) that delay is likely to prejudice the interests of any child, it requires the court to consider the "welfare checklist", i.e. the court must consider: - The ascertainable wishes and feelings of each child concerned (considered in light of their age and understanding) - Physical, emotional and/or educational needs now and in the future - The likely effect on any change in the circumstances now and in the future - Age, sex, background and any other characteristics the court considers relevant - Any harm suffered or at risk of suffering now and in the future - How capable each parent, and other person in relation to whom the court considers the question to be relevant, is of meeting the child's needs - The range of powers available to the court under the Children Act 1989 in the proceedings in question The welfare checklist considers the needs, wishes and feelings of the child and young person and this analysis is vital to ensure that the human rights of children are always in the forefront of all consideration. The welfare checklist provides a comprehensive list of issues that need to be considered to ensure that young people who come into court proceedings are safeguarded fully and their rights as citizens are promoted. Criticism of the best interests standard Edit - Main article: Fathers' rights movement The Best Interests standard has received considerable criticism by certain groups within the privacy rights and family law reform movement, particularly with regard to how it unlawfully marginalizes children from one of their parents absent a compelling government interest, and often cultivates protracted litigation. Critics argue that a higher evidentiary standard should be applied to fit parents, and that the Best Interests standard should only be applied in cases where a termination of parental rights has already occurred. The Best Interests standard has also come under criticism by parents of young children who are not yet able to voice or have difficulty expressing that they have been abused. If a child has been physically or sexually abused and the abuser is a parent, the child will be unprotected from the abuser when that abuser cannot be prosecuted. This can and has happened recently, even when the child has said previously that abuse had taken place. This situation has the potential to happen quite frequently because of the young age of the child and possible inconsistent testimony. Instead, the rights of the parent to raise the child take priority over the well-being of the child who is forced to live with the abuser, even in cases of joint custody where an abuse-free environment is possible. Until recently, children would be taken out of the home of the abuser and placed with the non-abusive parent, but the courts have begun to focus on the rights of the parent to raise the child when the abuse cannot be legally recognized by the court (i.e., the abuser is not convicted). In many cases, the voice of the child is ignored because they have not become old enough for their opinion as to their living situation to matter. When the children are too young to have a voice, it is felt by some parents of young children that the courts are acting with regard to parental rights which, until the child is old enough, seem to replace the right of the child to live in an appropriate environment. - Dr. Stephen Baskerville, Taken into Custody: The War on Fathers, Marriage and the Family Cumberland House Publishing (September 25, 2007) - Jill Elaine Hasday, The Canon of Family Law, Stanford Law Review, Vol. 57 (December, 2004), p. 825-900. - Mary Ann Mason, From Father’s Property To Children’s Rights, A History of Child Custody - Dr. Gordon Finley, Best interests of the child and the eye of the beholder - Prof. Donald Hubin, Parental Rights and Due Process Journal of Law & Family Studies - Representing Children Worldwide How Children Are Heard in Children Protective Proceedings in 250 Jurisdictions \|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).\|
Zidovudine can cause serious, life-threatening side effects. These include lactic acidosis (buildup of acid in the blood), liver problems, and blood disorders, including severe anemia. Use of zidovudine for a long time can cause muscle weakness (myopathy). Contact your health care provider right away if you have any of the following symptoms: - Unusual breathing. - Shortness of breath. - Unusual bleeding or bruising. - Unusual tiredness or weakness. - Pale skin. - Sore throat. - Loss of appetite. - Upset stomach. - Dark-colored urine. - Yellowing of your skin or the whites of your eyes (jaundice). - Light-colored bowel movements. - Muscle weakness. - Lack of strength. - Muscle pain. - Pain in the upper right part of your stomach. While taking zidovudine, it is important to keep all of your appointments with your health care provider. What is zidovudine? Zidovudine is a prescription medicine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the following uses: - Treatment of HIV infection in adults and children 4 weeks of age and older. When zidovudine is used to treat HIV infection, the medicine is always used in combination with other anti-HIV medicines. - Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in pregnant HIV-infected women and their infants. Zidovudine is a type of anti-HIV medicine called a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI). NRTIs work by blocking HIV reverse transcriptase, an HIV enzyme. This prevents HIV from replicating and lowers the amount of HIV in the blood. Zidovudine does not cure HIV/AIDS. Despite use of zidovudine to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, some cases of HIV infection can still occur. What should I tell my health care provider before taking zidovudine? Before taking zidovudine, tell your health care provider: - If you are allergic to zidovudine or any other medicines. - If you have or have ever had liver or kidney disease. - If you have or have ever had bleeding, anemia, or other blood problems. - If you have or have ever had any disease or swelling of the muscle. - If you have or have had any other medical conditions. - If you drink alcohol or have a history of alcohol abuse. - If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. Despite use of zidovudine to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, some cases of HIV infection can still occur. Whether exposure to zidovudine in the womb or after birth can harm a baby in the long term is unknown. - If you are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed if you are infected with HIV or are taking zidovudine. - About other prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbal products you are taking or plan to take. Zidovudine may affect the way other medicines or products work, and other medicines or products may affect how zidovudine works. Taking zidovudine together with certain medicines or products may cause serious and/or life-threatening side effects. How should I take zidovudine? Zidovudine comes in the following forms and strengths: - 300-mg tablets (brand name: Retrovir). - 100-mg capsules (brand name: Retrovir). - 10-mg/mL syrup (brand name: Retrovir). - 10-mg/mL concentrate for intravenous infusion (brand name: Retrovir). Take zidovudine according to your health care provider’s instructions. Take zidovudine tablets, capsules, and syrup with or without food. Before use, zidovudine concentrate for intravenous infusion is diluted with dextrose (sugar dissolved in water). The diluted concentrate is given through a needle into a vein. If you take too much zidovudine, contact your local poison control center (1-800-222-1222) or go to the nearest hospital emergency room right away. For more information on how to take zidovudine tablets, capsules, and syrup, see the FDA drug label from DailyMed. (DailyMed is a federal website that includes the most recent drug labels submitted to FDA.) For more information on how to take zidovudine intravenous infusion, see the drug summary from MedlinePlus. What should I do if I forget a dose? If you are taking zidovudine by mouth (tablets, capsules, or syrup) and forget a dose, take the missed dose as soon as you remember it. But if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and just take your next dose at the regular time. Do not take two doses at the same time to make up for a missed dose. If you or your child is taking zidovudine by infusion, your health care provider may tell you to stop the infusion if you or your child has a mechanical problem (such as blockage in the tubing, needle, or catheter). If you have to stop an infusion, call your health care provider immediately so your therapy can continue after the problem is resolved. What side effects can zidovudine cause? Zidovudine can cause serious, life-threatening side effects. These include lactic acidosis (buildup of acid in the blood), liver problems, and blood disorders, including severe anemia. Use of zidovudine for a long time can cause muscle weakness. (See the WARNING above). Other possible side effects of zidovudine include: - Changes in the immune system (immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome). - Changes in body fat (lipodystrophy). Tell your health care provider if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away. These are not all the possible side effects of zidovudine. Ask your health care provider or pharmacist for more information on possible side effects of zidovudine. How should zidovudine be stored? - Store zidovudine tablets, capsules, and oral solution at 59°F to 77°F (15°C to 25°C). Protect zidovudine capsules from moisture. - Once zidovudine concentrate for intravenous infusion is diluted, use the solution within 8 hours if stored at 59°F to 77°F (15°C to 25°C) or 24 hours if refrigerated at 36°F to 46°F (2°C to 8°C). - Safely throw away zidovudine that is no longer needed or expired (out of date). - Keep zidovudine and all medicines out of reach of children. Where can I find more information about zidovudine? More information about zidovudine is available: Last Reviewed: September 13, 2012 Last Updated: September 13, 2012
Sequence of Tenses The rules governing verb tenses are dictated by logic; an action in the future obviously cannot happen before an action in the past. In writing, it’s a matter of looking at your clauses and sentences, and determining when each action is happening. The past must come before the present, and the present before the future, etc. Pay particular attention to the verb sequence when you have a dependent clause before the independent clause, or a result clause before the if clause. When the independent clause is in the past tense, the dependent clause may be written in the past or possibly the present (see Exceptions), but not the future. The cat was bathing because his feet are dirty. Because the tense of the independent clause is in the past (was bathing), the verb in the second clause (are) is in the wrong tense. The cat was bathing because his feet were dirty. The cat is bathing because his feet are dirty. Exceptions: There are two exceptions to this rule: for cases involving universal knowledge Even the early doctors knew that the washing of hands prevents infection. when using a modal which has no past tense form Could you please help me move this bookshelf? Of course, this doesn’t mean that the actual verbs have to be in chronological order, just the actions. We can put the dependent clause at the beginning of the sentence. Athena will continue to learn English when she gets to the States. It’s alright to have the future tense (will continue) before the present tense (gets) because the temporal conjunction when shows that the second action actually happens first. Watch out for conditional clauses, too. We’ll go for a walk if the weather held. The future tense of the result clause is too distant from the past tense of the if clause. We’ll go for a walk if the weather holds.
Life in Block 8 The following was prepared by the students participating in the excavations at the Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison site this summer as part of the Heidelberg University Archaeological Field School. Since they are excavating within the former location of Block 8, they have decided to present some historical information on life in the block during its time as a prison. However, the pictures reflect the student’s experience recovering the archaeological evidence. The basic day in Block 8 on Johnson’s Island went as follows. Prisoners woke up around six for breakfast consisting of coffee, bread, and beef (fried or boiled). There was no leaving the quarters until the garrison raised the flag (which was a little after sunrise). This was followed by roll call and count was taken. No Confederate ranks were recognized in roll call. After breakfast, the ice man and milk man came into the prison and the sutler would sell (at fixed prices) vegetables, clothes, and newspapers like the Sandusky Register, days-old copies of the New York Herald, and the Cincinnati Enquirer (which was later banned because of secessionist attitudes). Other items sold were fruits, butter, writing paper, tobacco, smoking pipes, shaving equipment, and other personal items. Clothes, however, were very limited; the official limits on clothing were one suit of clothes, no boots and only shoes of poor quality, and in winter coats were available. The sutler operations were halted several times in retaliation for how federal troops were treated in Southern prison camps. Mail would arrive at ten A.M., with morning rations distributed at the same time. In April of 1864, rations included: - 3/4lb Pork for each man twice a week - 1 1/4lb Fresh beef 5 times a week - 18oz Bread daily - 15lbs Bean to every 100 men - 10lbs Hominy or rice to every 100 men - 4lbs Roasted coffee to every 100 men - 1gal Vinegar to every 100 men - 1lb Candles to every 100 men - 2lbs Soap to every 100 men - 2lbs Salt to every 100 men - 30lbs Potatoes to every 100 men 2 times a week Water could be gathered from either of the two pumps located in the camp. Otherwise, when the pumps were either broken or frozen in winter, it was gathered from the lake. Early in the war, other services located in the camp were a bakery, lemonade, pastry shop, and even a brewery. Also available were tailors, cobblers (shoemakers), laundry services (5cents a garment), artists, a circulating library begun in 1864, barbers, a minstrel show, and jewelers. Firewood for cooking and heating was brought by wagon. Dinner was served at noon, after which the men had the afternoon to themselves. Afternoon activities consisted of walking the grounds, talking (the “grape vine” was the rumor mill), playing ball or cards, reading, and manufacturing furniture or trinkets. Supper was then served right before sundown. At sunset the flag was lowered, the drums beat evening retreat and all prisoners were required to remain in their quarters. At 9-9:30pm it was “lights out.” Lt. William Peel was one of the Confederate officers imprisoned at Johnson’s Island. He kept a diary during his stay, and it was later published. In his entries he wrote about his time in Block 8, where he stayed and slept. Block 8 held many religious services and payer services for prisoners. He also mentioned supplementing his meals with rats to help ease his suffering from hunger. Along with meals and religion, Peel also described the addition of stoves and other changes among the various blocks. Block 8 was also “home” to the infamous Lt. Charles Pierce of the 7th Louisiana, who made many escape attempts in his time on Johnson’s Island. An attempt was made to tunnel from Block 8 to the wall, but escape endeavors were shifted to the more ideal location of Block 1. This summer, our excavations are focused on Block 8 and a latrine used by prisoners there in 1862-1863. Stay tuned for more updates!
GM crop giant Monsanto has said its likely future developments in genetic agriculture engineering will take in a much wider variety of plants, including those grown in the world's poorest regions. Bananas are a key crop for farmers in the developing world Currently there are four main GM-engineered crops, three of which - maize, soya and oilseed rape, known in the north America as canola - are grown primarily for animal feed. Cotton is the fourth. Only 1% of research goes into crops key to farmers in the developing world, such as bananas and cassavas. But Kerry Preete, Monsanto's head of US operations, said it was likely this would change in the future. "Over time that is probably going to change as the technology gets developed and both private and public sector industry looks at it," he told BBC World Service's The Interview programme. "I think it's well-known that there're tens, dozens, of different crops being worked on today all round the world, in all types of research agencies." The role of GM crops in the developing world is particularly politically sensitive. In 2002, US President George Bush accused the European Union of blocking efforts to fight famine in Africa because of "unfounded" fears over genetically modified foods. Zambia, which was undergoing drought and severe hunger at the time, banned GM food aid which was sent. The country said it would rather go hungry than risk losing its export markets in Europe because its crops had been contaminated by GM seed. Mr Preete said that particular storm was "not for Monsanto to comment on", but added that he felt GM technology was one of the "tools" which could help developing world farmers. "One of the solutions and one of the tools is to help African farmers become more self-sufficient in agriculture," he added. He also praised the UK government, which earlier this month agreed in principle to the growing of a single variety of GM maize in England. "The introduction of this technology should be based on sound science, and I think the recent move by the UK government to look at and approve the cultivation of crops, we view as a tremendous step," he said. "[It] clearly demonstrated that the UK is taking a very responsible, science-based and case-by-case approach to looking at these technologies. "We think that's going to benefit farmers and consumers alike." Anti-GM campaign groups vehemently opposed the decision. Critics of Monsanto in particular have suggested two charges against the company. One is that the use of their Round-Up Ready corn - genetically engineered to resist a Monsanto pesticide called Round-Up - has encouraged not a decrease, but an increase in the use of pesticides, specifically Round-Up. Mr Preete conceded this was in fact true. "The fact is there is more Round-Up used," he said. "But if you look at the amount of pesticide or herbicide applied per acre of soil, versus conventional, there have actually been several studies that show the actual pounds of pesticide have been reduced." Monsanto hopes it can engineer crops to have a lower saturated fat content The other suggestion is that new, super-resistant weeds, more tolerant of the pesticide glyphosate - which is the active ingredient in Round-Up - are now proliferating. Mr Preete said this had happened, but argued it was not as a result of a Monsanto product. "There's only been four known cases around the world of weeds becoming resistant to glyphosate," he stressed. "None of those cases have been related to the use of Round-Up Ready crops... we don't accept that the use of Round-Up Ready crops enhances or proliferates the issue of resistant weeds." He also stressed there was potential for GM crops to address some of the health concerns in the Western world, including rapidly increasing obesity rates. "The ability of biotechnology is now being worked on to improve soy and canola oil, to reduce the level of saturated fats or to enhance the level of Omega-3 fatty acids, which has been proven to reduce heart disease," he said. "Those are some of the benefits which are just around the corner with this technology."
How to find the slope of f(x) times g(x) ? Use the Product Rule. The slope of f(x)g(x) has two terms: f(x) times (slope of g(x)) PLUS g(x) times (slope of f(x)) The Quotient Rule gives the slope of f(x) / g(x) . That slope is [[ g(x) times (slope of f(x)) MINUS f(x) times (slope of g(x)) ]] / g squared These rules plus the CHAIN RULE will take you a long way. Professor Strang's Calculus textbook (1st edition, 1991) is freely available here. Subtitles are provided through the generous assistance of Jimmy Ren. Lecture summary and Practice problems (PDF) PROFESSOR: OK. This video is about derivatives. Two rules for finding new derivatives. If we know the derivative of a function f-- say we've found that-- and we know the derivative of g-- we've found that-- then there are functions that we can build out of those. And two important and straightforward ones are the product, f of x times g of x, and the quotient, the ratio f of x over g of x. So those are the two rules we need. If we know df dx and we know dg dx, what's the derivative of the product? Well, it is not df dx times dg dx. And let me reduce the suspense by writing down what it is. It's the first one times the derivative of the second, we know that, plus another term, the second one times the derivative of the first. OK. So that's the rule to learn. Two terms, you see the pattern. And maybe I ought to use it, give you some examples, see what it's good for, and also some idea of where it comes from. And then go on to the quotient rule, which is a little messier. OK. So let me just start by using this in some examples. Right underneath, here. OK. So let me take, as a first example, f of x equals x squared and g of x equals x. So then what is p of x? It's x squared times x. I'm multiplying the functions. So I've got x cubed, and I want to know its derivative. And I know the derivatives of these guys. OK, so what does the rule tell me? It tells me that the derivative of p, dp dx-- so p is x cubed. So I'm looking for the derivative of x cubed. And if you know that, it's OK. Let's just see it come out here. So the derivative of x cubed, by my formula there, is the first one, x squared, times the derivative of the second, which is 1, plus the second one, x, times the derivative of the first, which is 2x. So what do we get? x squared, two more x squared, 3x squared. The derivative of x cubed is 3x squared. x cubed goes up faster than x squared, and this is a steeper slope. Oh, let's do x to the fourth. So x to the fourth-- now I'll take f to be x cubed, times x. Because x cubed, I just found. x, its derivative is 1, so I can do the derivative of x fourth the same way. It'll be f. So practicing that formula again with x cubed and x, it's x cubed times 1 plus this guy times the derivative of f. Right? I'm always going back to that formula. So the derivative of f, x cubed, we just found-- 3x squared-- so I'll put it in. And what do we have? x cubed here, three more x cubeds here. That's a total of 4x cubed. OK. We got another one. Big deal. What is important is-- and it's really what math is about-- is the pattern, which we can probably guess from those two examples and the one we already knew, that the derivative of x squared was 2x. So everybody sees a 2 here and a 3 here and a 4 here, coming from 2, 3, and 4 there. And everybody also sees that the power dropped by one. The derivative of x squared was an x. The derivative of x cubed involved an x squared. Well, let's express this pattern in algebra. It's looking like the derivative of x to the n-- we hope for any n. We've got it for n equals 2, 3, 4, probably 0 and 1. And if the pattern continues, what do we think? This 4, this n shows up there, and the power drops by 1. So that'll be x to the n minus 1, the same power minus 1, one power below. So that's a highly important formula. And actually it's important to know it, not-- right now, well, we've done two or three examples. I guess the right way for me to get this for n equals-- so we really could check 1, 2, 3, and so on. All the positive integers. We could complete the proof. We could establish the pattern. Actually, induction would be one way to do it. If we know it for, as we did here, for n equals 3, then we've got it for 4. If we know it for 4, the same product formula would get it for 5 and onwards, and would give us that answer. Good. Even better is the fact that this formula is also true if n is a fraction. If we're doing the square root of x, you recognize the square root of x is x to the-- what's the exponent there for square root? 1/2. So I would like to know for 1/2. OK, let me take a couple of steps to get to that one. All right. The steps I'm going to take are going to look just like this, but this was powers of x, and it'll be very handy if I can do powers of f of x. I'd like to know-- I want to find-- So here's what I'm headed for. I'd like to know the derivative of f of x to the n-th power equals what? That's what I'd like to know. So let me do f of x. Let me do it just as I did before. Take n equals 2, f of x squared. So what's the derivative of f of x squared, like sine squared or whatever we're squaring. Cosine squared. Well, for f of x squared, all I'm doing is I'm taking f to be the same as g. I'll use the product rule. If g and f are the same, then I've got something squared. And my product rule says that the derivative-- and I just copy this rule. Now I'm taking p is going to be f squared, right? Can I just write f squared equals-- so it's f times-- f is the same as g. Are you with me? I'm just using the rule in a very special case when the two functions are the same. The derivative of f squared is f. What do I have? f times the derivative of f, df dx. That's the first term. And then what's the second term? Notice I wrote f instead of g, because they're the same. And the second term is, again, a copy of that. So I have 2 of these. Times 2, just the way I had a 2 up there. This was the case of x squared. This is the case of f of x squared. Let me go one more step to f cubed. What am I going to do for f cubed? The derivative of-- hold on. I have to show you what to pay attention to here. To pay attention to is-- the 2 we're familiar with. This would have been the x, that's not a big deal. But there's something new. A df dx factor is coming in. It's going to stay with us. Let me see it here. The derivative of f of x cubed. Now let's practice with this one. OK. So now what am I going to take? How do I get f of x cubed? Well, I've got f, so I'd better take g to be f squared. Then when I multiply, I've got cubed. So g is now going to be f squared for this case. Can I take my product rule with f times f squared? My product rule of f times f squared is-- I'm doing this now with g equals f squared, just the way I did it over there at some point with one of them as a square. OK. I'm near the end of this calculation. OK. So what do I have. If this thing is cubed, I have f times f squared. That's f cubed. And I take its derivative by the rule. So I take f times the derivative of f squared, which I just figured out as 2f df dx. That's the f dg dx. And now I have g, which is f squared, times df dx. What are you seeing there? You're seeing-- well, again, these combine. That's what's nice about this example. Here I have one f squared df dx, and here I have two more. That's, all together, three. So the total was 3 times f squared times df dx. And let me write down what that pattern is saying. Here it will be n. Because here it was a 2. Here it's going to be 2 plus 1-- that's 3. And now if I have the n-th power, I'm expecting an n times the next lower power of f, f to the n minus 1, times what? Times this guy that's hanging around, df dx. That's my-- you could call that the power rule. The derivative of a power. This would be the power rule for just x to the n-th, and this is the derivative of a function of x to the n-th. There's something special here that we're going to see more of. This will be, also, an example of what's coming as maybe the most important rule, the chain rule. And typical of it is that when I take this derivative, I follow that same pattern-- n, this thing, to one lower power, but then the derivative of what's inside. Can I use those words? Because I'll use it again for the chain rule. n times one lower power, times the derivative of what's inside. And why do I want to do such a thing? Because I'd like to find out the derivative of the square root of x. OK. Can we do that? I want to use this, now. So I want to use this to find the derivative of the square root of x. OK. So that will be my function. f of x will be the square root of x. So this is a good example. That's x to the 1/2 power. What would I love to have happen? I would like this formula to continue with n equals 1/2, but no change in the formula. And that does happen. How can I do that? OK, well, square root of x is what I'm tackling. The easy thing would be, if I square that, I'll get x, right? The square of the square root. Well, square root of x squared-- so there's f of x. I'm just going to use the fact that the square root of x squared is x. Such is mathematics. You can write down really straightforward ideas, but it had to come from somewhere. And now what am I going to do? I'm going to take the derivative. Well, the derivative on the right side is a 1. The derivative of x is 1. What is the derivative of that left-hand side? Well, that fits my pattern. You see, here is my f of x, squared. And I had a little formula for the derivative of f of x squared. So the derivative of this is 2 times the thing to one lower power-- square root of x just to the first power-- times the derivative of what's inside, if you allow me to use those words. It's this, df dx. And that's of course what I actually wanted, the square root of x, dx. This lecture is not going to have too many more calculations, but this is a good one to see. That's clear. I take the derivative of both sides. That's clear. This is the 2 square root of x. And now I've got what I want, as soon as I move these over to the other side. So I divide by that. Can I now just do that with an eraser, or maybe just X it out, and put it here. 1 over 2 square root of x. Am I seeing what I want for the derivative of square root of x? I hope so. I'm certainly seeing the 1/2. So the 1/2-- that's the n. It's supposed to show up here. And then what do I look for here? One lower power than 1/2, which will be x to the minus 1/2. And is that what I have? Yes. You see the 1/2. And that square root of x, that's x to the 1/2, but it's down in the denominator. And things in the denominator-- the exponent for those, there's a minus sign. We'll come back to that. That's a crucial fact, going back to algebra. But, you know, calculus is now using all that-- I won't say stuff. All those good things that we learned in algebra, like exponents. So that was a good example. OK. So my pattern held for n equals 1/2. And maybe I'll just say that it also would hold for cube roots, and any root, and other powers. In other words, I get this formula. This is the handy formula that we're trying to get. We got it very directly for positive whole numbers. Now I'm getting it for n equals 1 over any-- now I'm getting it for capital Nth roots, like 1/2. Then I could go on to get it for-- I could take then the n-th power of the n-th root. I could even stretch this to get up to m over n. Any fraction, I can get to. But I can't get to negative exponents yet, because those are divisions. Negative exponent is a division, and I'm going to need the quotient rule, which is right now still a big blank. OK. Pause for a moment. We've used the product rule. I haven't explained it, though. Let me, so, explain the product rule. Where did it come from? I'm going back before the examples, and before that board full of chalk, back to that formula and just think, where did it come from? How did we find the derivative of f times g, of the product p? So we needed delta p, right? And then I'm going to divide by delta x. OK. So let me try to make-- what's the delta p when p is-- remember, p is f times g. Thinking about f times g, maybe let's make it visual. Let's make it like a rectangle, where this side is f of x and this side is g of x. Then this area is f times g, right? The area of a rectangle. And that's our p. OK, that's sitting there at x. Now move it a little. Move x a little bit. Move x a little and figure out, how much does p change? That's our goal. We need the change in p. If I move x by a little bit, then f changes a little, by a little amount, delta f, right? And g changes a little, by a little amount, delta g. You remember those deltas? So it's the change in f. There's a delta x in here. x is the starting point. It's the thing we move a little. When we move x a little, by delta x, f will move a little, g will move a little, and their product will move a little. And now, can you see, in the picture, where is the product? Well, this is where f moved to. This is where g moved to. The product is this, that bigger area. So where is delta p? Where is the change between the bigger area and the smaller area? It's this. I have to figure out, what's that new area? The delta p is in here. OK, can you see what that area-- well, look, here's the way to do it. Cut it up into little three pieces. Because now they're little rectangles, and we know the area of rectangles. Right? So help me out here. What is the area of that rectangle? Well, its base is f, and its height is delta g. So that is f times delta g. What about this one? That has height g and base delta f. So here I'm seeing a g times delta f, for that area. And what about this little corner piece? Well, its height is just delta g, its width is delta f. This is delta g times delta f. And it's going to disappear. This is like a perfect place to recognize that an expression-- that's sort of like second order. Let me use words without trying to pin them down perfectly. Here is a zero-order, an f, a real number, times a small delta g. So that's first order. That's going to show up-- you'll see it disappear. These three pieces, remember, were the delta p. So what have I got here? I've got this piece, f delta g, and I'm always dividing by delta x. And then I have this piece, which is the g times the delta f, and I divide by the delta x. And then this piece that I'm claiming I don't have to worry much about, because I divide that by delta x. So that was the third piece. This is it, now. The picture has led to the algebra, the formula for delta p, the change in the product divided by delta x. That's what calculus says-- OK, look at that, and then take the tricky step, the calculus step, which is let delta x get smaller and smaller and smaller, approaching 0. So what do those three terms do as delta x gets smaller? Well, all the deltas get smaller. So what happens to this term as delta x goes to 0? As the change in x is just tiny, tiny, tiny? That term is the one that gives the delta g over delta x, in the limit when delta x goes to 0, is that one, right? And this guy is giving my g. That ratio is familiar, df dx. You see, the cool thing about splitting it into these pieces was that we got this piece by itself, which was just the f delta g. And we know what that does. It goes here. And this piece-- we know what that does. And now, what about this dumb piece? Well, as delta x goes to 0, this would go to df dx, all right. But what would delta g do? It'll go to 0. You see, we have two little things divided by only one little thing. This ratio is sensible, it gives df dx, but this ratio is going to 0. So forget it. And now the two pieces that we have are the two pieces of the product rule. OK. Product rule sort of visually makes sense. OK. I'm ready to go to the quotient rule. OK, so how am I going to deal, now, with a ratio of f divided by g? OK. Let's put that on a fourth board. How to deal then with the ratio of f over g. Well, what I know is the product rule, right? So let me multiply both sides by g of x and get a product. There, that looks better. Of course the part that I don't know is in here, but just fire away. Take the derivative of both sides. OK. The derivative of the left side is df dx, of course. Now I can use the product rule. It's g of x, dq dx. That's the very, very thing I'm wanting. dq dx-- that's my big empty space. That's going to be the quotient rule. And then the second one is q of x times dg dx. That's the product rule applied to this. Now I have it. I've got dq dx. Well, I've got to get it by itself. I want to get dq dx by itself. So I'm going to move this part over there. Let me, even, multiply both sides-- this q, of course, I recognize as f times g. This is f of x times g of x. That's what q was. Now I'm going to-- oh, was not. It was f of x over g of x. Good Lord. You would never have allowed me to go on. OK. Good. This is came from the product rule, and now my final job is just to isolate dq dx and see what I've got. What I'll have will be the quotient rule. One good way is if I multiply both sides by g. So I multiply everything by g, so here's a g, df dx. And now this guy I'm going to bring over to the other side. When I multiply that by g, that just knocks that out. When I bring it over, it comes over with a minus sign, f dg dx. And this one got multiplied by g, so right now I'm looking at g squared, dq dx. The guy I want. Again, just algebra. Moving stuff from one side to the other produced the minus sign. Multiplying by g, you see what happened. So what do I now finally do? I'm ready to write this formula in. I've got it there. I've got dq dx, just as soon as I divide both sides by g squared. So let me write that left-hand side. g df dx minus f dg dx, and I have to divide everything-- this g squared has got to come down here. It's a little bit messier formula but you get used to it. g squared. That's the quotient rule. Can I say it in words? Because I actually say those words to myself every time I use it. So here are the words I say, because that's a kind of messy-looking expression. But if you just think about words-- so for me, remember we're dealing with f over g. f is the top, g at the bottom. So I say to myself, the bottom times the derivative of the top minus the top times the derivative of the bottom, divided by the bottom squared. That wasn't brilliant, but anyway, I remember it that way. OK. so now, finally, I'm ready to go further with this pattern. I still like that pattern. We've got the quotient rule, so the two rules are now set, and I want to do one last example before stopping. And that example is going to be a quotient, of course. And it might as well be a negative power of x. So now my example-- last example for today-- my quotient is going to be 1. The f of x will be 1 and the g of x-- so this is my f. This is my g. I have a ratio of two things. And as I've said, this is x to the minus n. Right? That's what we mean. We can think again about exponents. A negative exponent becomes positive when it's in the denominator. And we want it in the denominator so we can use this crazy quotient rule. All right. So let me think through the quotient rule. So the derivative of this ratio, which is x to the minus n That's the q, is 1 over x to the n. The derivative is-- OK, ready for the quotient rule? Bottom times the derivative of the top-- ah, but the top's just a constant, so its derivative is 0-- minus-- remembering that minus-- the top times the derivative of the bottom. Ha. Now we have a chance to use our pattern with a plus exponent. The derivative of the bottom is nx to the n minus 1. So it's two terms, again, but with a minus sign. And then the other thing I must remember is, divide by g squared, x to the n twice squared. OK. That's it. Of course, I'm going to simplify it, and then I'm done. So this is 0. Gone. This is minus n, which I like. I like to see minus n come down. That's my pattern, that this exponent should come down. Minus n, and then I want to see-- oh, what else do I have here? What's the power of x? Well, here I have an x to the n-th. And here I have, twice, so can I cancel this one and just keep this one? So I still have an x to the minus 1. I don't let him go. Actually the pattern's here. The answer is minus n minus capital N, which was the exponent, times x to one smaller power. This is x to the minus n, and then there's another x to the minus 1. The final result was that the derivative is minus nx to the minus n, minus 1. And that's the good pattern that matches here. When little n matches minus big N, that pattern is the same as that. So we now have the derivatives of powers of x as an example from the quotient rule and the product rule. Well, I just have to say one thing. We haven't got-- We've fractions, we've got negative numbers, but we don't have a whole lot of other numbers, like pi. We don't know what is, for example, the derivative of x to the pi. Because pi isn't-- pi is positive, so we're OK in the product rule, but it's not a fraction and we haven't got it yet. What do you think it is? You're right-- it is pi x to the pi minus 1. Well, actually I never met x to the pi in my life, until just there, but I've certainly met all kinds of powers of x and this is just one more example. OK. So that's quotient rule-- first came product rule, power rule, and then quotient rule, leading to this calculation. Now, the quotient rule I can use for other things, like sine x over cosine x. We're far along, and one more big rule will be the chain rule. OK, that's for another time. Thank you. [NARRATOR:] This has been a production of MIT OpenCourseWare and Gilbert Strang. Funding for this video was provided by the Lord Foundation. To help OCW continue to provide free and open access to MIT courses, please make a donation at ocw.mit.edu/donate.
Search Results for "H" One born in lawful matrimony, who succeeds by descent, and blood, to lands, tenements or hereditaments, being an estate of inheritance. It is an established... more One who has an indefeasible right to the inheritance, provided he outlive the ancestor. 2 Bl. Com. 208. A term used in the civil law. Beneficiary heirs are those who have accepted the succession under the benefit of an inventory regularly made. Civ. Code... more A collateral heir is one who is not of the of the deceased, but comes from a collateral line; as, a brother, sister, an uncle... more civil law. A conventional heir is one who takes a succession by virtue of a contract; for example, a marriage contract, which entitles the heir to the... more Forced heirs are those who cannot be disinherited. This term is used among the civilians. Vide Forced heirs Heir at common in the English law. The heir at is he who, after his father or ancestors death has a right to, and... more In Louisiana, irregular heirs are those who are testamentary nor legal, and who have been established by law to take the succession. See Civ. Code of... more HEIR AT LAW r legitime. There are three classes of legal heirs, to wit; the children and other lawful descendants; the fathers and mothers and other lawful ascendants; and the... more estates. This word seems to be compounded of heir and loom, that is, a frame, viz. to weave in. Some derive the word loom from the A presumptive heir is one who, in the present circumstances, would be entitled to the inheritance, but whose rights may be defeated by the contingency of... more civil law. A testamentary heir is one who is constituted heir by testament executed in the form prescribed by law. He is so called to distinguish him... more A term used in the civil law, adopted by the Civil Code of Louisiana. Unconditional heirs are those who inherit without any reservation, or without making... more A female heir to a person having an estate of there is more than one, they are called co-heiresses, or co-heirs. Eng. law. The name of the kingdom or government established by the Saxons, on their establishment in Britain so called because it was composed of seven kingdoms,... more civil and canon law. The art or office of a herald. It is the art, practice, or science of recording genealogies, and blazoning arms or ensigns armorial.... more English Law, A species of easement, which consists in the to feed ones cattle on another mans ground. estates. Anything capable of being inherited, be it corporeal or incorporeal, real, personal, or mixed and including not only lands and everything thereon, but also heir looms,... more That which is inherited. Eng. law. The adoption of any erroneous religious tenet, not warranted by the established church. 2. This is punished by the deprivation... more Popular Forms: Accounting, Affidavits, Assignments, Attorney Forms & Guides, Bankruptcy, Bill of Sale, Business, Canadian Forms, Collections, Confidentiality, Contracts, Copyright, Corporations, Credit, Declarations, Deeds, Divorce, Employment, Entertainment Law, Family Law, Government, Health Care, Homestead, Indemnity Agreements, Intellectual Property, Internet, Landlord & Tenant, Leases & Rentals, Letters, Limited Liability Co., Living Trusts, Name Change, Non-Compete, Non-Disclosure, Notices, Parental Permissions, Partnership, Power of Attorney, Promissory Notes, Real Estate, Receipts, Releases, Sale of Goods, Spanish Forms, Technology, Trusts, UCC Forms, Wills, more...
What to do before an earthquake strikes: Learn about earthquakes. Earthquakes strike suddenly, violently, and without warning at any time of the day or night. If an earthquake occurs in a populated area, it may cause many deaths and injuries and extensive property damage. Although there are no guarantees of safety during an earthquake, identifying potential hazards ahead of time. Advance planning can save lives and significantly reduce injuries and property damage. Familiarize yourself with these terms: Have Earthquake Safety Kits ready: - At home - In your car - Out of your home (i.e. school / office) What to do during an earthquake: Stay as safe as possible during an earthquake. Be aware that a larger earthquake might occur after the initial quake. Minimize your movements to a few steps to a nearby safe place and stay indoors until the shaking has stopped. When you feel an earthquake, duck under a desk or sturdy table. Stay away from windows, bookcases, file cabinets, heavy mirrors, hanging plants, and other heavy objects that could fall. Watch out for falling plaster and ceiling tiles. Stay covered or well protected environment until the shaking stops and hold onto your cover. If it moves, move with it. DROP to the ground; take COVER by getting under a sturdy table or other piece of furniture; and HOLD ON until the shaking stops. If there isn't a table or desk near you, cover your face and head with your arms and crouch in an inside corner of the building. Stay there. If you're OUTDOORS, move to a clear area away from trees, signs, buildings, electrical wires and poles. Move away from buildings, streetlights, and utility wires. Once in the open, stay there until the shaking stops. The greatest danger exists directly outside buildings, at exits, and alongside exterior walls. Many of the outdoor fatalities have occurred when people ran outside of buildings only to be killed by falling debris from collapsing walls. Ground movement during an earthquake is seldom the direct cause of death or injury. Most earthquake-related casualties result from collapsing walls, flying glass, and falling objects. If you're DRIVING , pull over to the side of the road and stop. Avoid overpasses, power lines, and other hazards. Stay inside the vehicle until the shaking is over. Stop as quickly as safety permits and stay in the vehicle. Avoid stopping near or under buildings, trees, overpasses, and utility wires. Proceed cautiously once the earthquake has stopped. Avoid roads, bridges, or ramps that might have been damaged by the earthquake. - Remain calm and reassure others. - Make communications with your family and other loved onces. - Inspect utilities in your home. - Help others cope, especially children.
The Romans established a form of government — a republic — that was copied by countries for centuries In fact, the government of the United States is based partly on Rome's model. It all began when the Romans overthrew their Etruscan conquerors in 509 B.C.E. Centered north of Rome, the Etruscans had ruled over the Romans for hundreds of years. Once free, the Romans established a republic, a government in which citizens elected representatives to rule on their behalf. A republic is quite different from a democracy, in which every citizen is expected to play an active role in governing the state. The Roman concept of the citizen evolved during the Roman Republic and changed significantly during the later Roman Empire. After the Romans freed themselves from the Etruscans, they established a republic, and all males over 15 who were descended from the original tribes of Rome became citizens. Citizens of Rome distinguished themselves from slaves and other noncitizens by wearing a toga; most wore a white toga. During the Empire, each emperor wore a purple toga to distinguish himself as the princeps, or "first citizen." Citizenship varied greatly. The full citizen could vote, marry freeborn persons, and practice commerce. Some citizens were not allowed to vote or hold public office, but maintained the other rights. A third type of citizen could vote and practive commerce, but could not hold office or marry freeborn women.In the late Republic, male slaves who were granted their freedom could become full citizens. Around 90 B.C.E., non-Roman allies of the Republic gained the rights of citizenship, and by 212 C.E, under the Edict of Caracalla, all free people of the Roman Empire could become citizens. The aristocracy (wealthy class) dominated the early Roman Republic. In Roman society, the aristocrats were known as patricians. The highest positions in the government were held by two consuls, or leaders, who ruled the Roman Republic. A senate composed of patricians elected these consuls. At this time, lower-class citizens, or plebeians, had virtually no say in the government. Both men and women were citizens in the Roman Republic, but only men could vote. Tradition dictated that patricians and plebeians should be strictly separated; marriage between the two classes was even prohibited. Over time, the plebeians elected their own representatives, called tribunes, who gained the power to veto measures passed by the senate. Gradually, the plebeians obtained even more power and eventually could hold the position of consul. Despite these changes, though, the patricians were still able to use their wealth to buy control and influence over elected leaders. The history of the Roman Senate goes as far back as the history of Rome itself. It was first created as a 100-member advisory group for the Roman kings. Later kings expanded the group to 300 members. When the kings were expelled from Rome and the Republic was formed, the Senate became the most powerful governing body. Instead of advising the head of state, it elected the chief executives, called consuls. Senators were, for centuries, strictly from the patrician class. They practiced the skills of rhetoric and oratory to persuade other members of the ruling body. The Senate convened and passed laws in the curia, a large building on the grounds of the Roman Forum. Much later, Julius Caesar built a larger curia for an expanded Senate. By the 3rd century B.C.E., Rome had conquered vast territories, and the powerful senators sent armies, negotiated terms of treaties, and had total control over the financial matters of the Republic.Senatorial control was eventually challenged by Dictator Sulla around 82 B.C.E. Sulla had hundreds of senators murdered, increased the Senate's membership to 600, and installed many nonpatricians as senators. Julius Caesar raised the number to 900 (it was reduced after his assassination). After the creation of the Roman Empire in 27 B.C.E., the Senate became weakened under strong emperors who often forcefully coerced this ruling body. Although it survived until the fall of Rome, the Roman Senate had become merely a ceremonial body of wealthy, intelligent men with no power to rule. Occasionally, an emergency situation (such as a war) arose that required the decisive leadership of one individual. Under these circumstances, the Senate and the consuls could appoint a temporary dictator to rule for a limited time until the crisis was resolved. The position of dictator was very undemocratic in nature. Indeed, a dictator had all the power, made decisions without any approval, and had full control over the military. The best example of an ideal dictator was a Roman citizen named Cincinnatus. During a severe military emergency, the Roman Senate called Cincinnatus from his farm to serve as dictator and to lead the Roman army. When Cincinnatus stepped down from the dictatorship and returned to his farm only 15 days after he successfully defeated Rome's enemies, the republican leaders resumed control over Rome. One of the innovations of the Roman Republic was the notion of equality under the law. In 449 B.C.E., government leaders carved some of Rome's most important laws into 12 great tablets. The Twelve Tables, as they came to be known, were the first Roman laws put in writing. Although the laws were rather harsh by today's standards, they did guarantee every citizen equal treatment under the law. With respect to the law and citizenship, the Romans took a unique approach to the lands that they conquered. Rather than rule those people as conquered subjects, the Romans invited them to become citizens. These people then became a part of Rome, rather than enemies fighting against it. Naturally, these new citizens received the same legal rights as everyone else. The early Roman Republic often found itself in a state of constant warfare with its surrounding neighbors. In one instance, when the Romans were fighting the Carthaginians, Rome was nearly conquered. The people of Carthage (a city in what is today Tunisia in north Africa) were a successful trading civilization whose interests began to conflict with those of the Romans. The two sides fought three bloody wars, known as the Punic Wars (264-146 B.C.E.), over the control of trade in the western Mediterranean Sea. In the second war, Hannibal, a Carthaginian general, successfully invaded Italy by leading an army — complete with elephants — across the Alps. He handed the Roman army a crushing defeat but was unable to sack the city of Rome itself. After occupying and ravaging Italy for more than a decade, Hannibal was finally defeated by the Roman general Scipio at the Battle of Zama in 202 B.C.E. By the Third Punic War, Rome was ready to end the Carthaginian threat for good. After a successful several-year siege of Carthage, the Romans burned the city to the ground. Legend has it that the Romans then poured salt into the soil so that nothing would ever grow there again. Carthage was finally defeated, and the Roman Republic was safe.
NASA’s resilient Opportunity Mars rover is rolling again after waiting out the harsh Red Planet winter for more than four months. On Tuesday (May 8), the Opportunity rover moved its wheels for the first time since late December, NASA officials said. The rover drove about 12 feet (3.7 meters) downhill from its overwintering site, a spot on the rim of the huge Endeavour Crater that scientists dubbed Greeley Haven. "Opportunity has finally moved for the first time since settling into our winter haven," said James Rice, a rover mission co-investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Opportunity parked at Greeley in late 2011 to take advantage of the outcrop's sun-facing slope, boosting output from the rover's dusty solar panels during the winter. But Opportunity remained awake and alert the whole time, checking out more than a dozen rocks within reach of its robotic arm. The rover team also used radio signals from the stationary Opportunity to study Mars' rotation, work that could lead to a better understanding of the Red Planet's interior, researchers said. [7 Biggest Mysteries of Mars] While Opportunity's long rest appears to be over, scientists will be keeping a close eye on the rover before sending it on any long journeys across flat ground. "We will still need to monitor our power levels, however, and keep a northern tilt till around the middle of July," Rice told SPACE.com via email. Once power levels are sufficiently high, Rice said, the team wants to send Opportunity south to a spot along Endeavour's rim called Cape Tribulation. The goal is to look for elusive phyllosilicates — clay minerals that indicate a long-term interaction between water and rock. Clays form at higher — close to neutral — pH, in contrast to the acidic environments that produce sulfates, Rice said. As a result, clays suggest a "better habitability potential" on ancient Mars than sulfates do, he added. "We are still in search of evidence for phyllosilicate minerals on Cape York," said Bill Farrand, a rover team member at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. Cape York is the name of the broad section of Endeavour Crater that Opportunity has been studying since August 2011. Farrand said that measurements taken from Mars orbit indicate that phyllosilicates are present on Cape York, but in low abundance and in limited exposures. Mars scientists are also interested in further characterizing the veins which occur on the lower flanks of Cape York, he added. "Last year, we discovered that the vein 'Homestake' — analyzed with Opportunity's Microscopic Imager and Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer instruments — was likely composed of the mineral gypsum. It would be good to examine other occurrences of those veins," Farrand told SPACE.com. "We know there are clay deposits around as we can see them from Mars orbit. We haven’t seen the surface expression of them…so we haven’t confirmed from the ground that we could see these things," said Jim Bell of Arizona State University, lead scientist for the panoramic cameras on Opportunity and Spirit, its mute (and presumed dead) twin. [Mars Photos by Spirit and Opportunity] Bell added that ground-truthing the clay deposits would be a big help for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. MSL's huge, nuclear-powered Curiosity rover is to touch down the night of Aug. 5 at Mars' Gale Crater. "MSL is going to be running into this kind of thing too," Bell said. "So whatever we can learn about how to spot them from a roving platform, and how to characterize them, that’s going to feed forward into what MSL is going to do in Gale Crater as well." Bell said he also wonders whether Mars researchers might be surprised about what they find — as they were when Opportunity discovered strange hematite "blueberries" on the Red Planet. "We could see hematite from orbit, but we were surprised how it was expressed on the surface. We had lots of ideas, but nobody predicted little blueberries," Bell said. "So maybe we’ll get surprised with the clays, too." Rice said the rover team is excited about Opportunity's eventual journey to Cape Tribulation. "Based on our orbital remote sensing data, the motherlode of phyllosilicates is located up on the spine of Cape Tribulation," Rice said. "So once we arrive there, Opportunity will get a shot at climbing some hills for the very first time in her lifetime." Rice expected that such a climb by Opportunity might be similar to the ascent Spirit made when it tackled Husband Hill way back in 2005. Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004. The two robots were expected to spend 90 days searching for signs of past water activity. They found plenty of such evidence at their separate landing sites, reshaping scientists' understanding of the Red Planet's history. And the two rovers kept chugging along, far exceeding their warranties; NASA declared Spirit dead just last year, and Opportunity is still going strong. Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is a winner of last year's National Space Club Press Award and a past editor-in-chief of the National Space Society's Ad Astra and Space World magazines. He has written for SPACE.com since 1999.
Indigenous Websites:Information Networks Indigenous Websites: Opinion Aborigines Milton- Ulladulla region Produced in consultation with the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta, the Senior Aboriginal Women from Coober Pedy, South Australia. Documents their knowledge of atomic tests in the 1950's and 60's and their continued struggle against the proposed waste dump in their traditional lands. for Native Title and Reconciliation; their site has some great information, and things you can join in on, - the Sea of Hands etc. Events, newsletters, competitions and more, organised by ANTaR and Lets Talk, all for the purpose of reconciliation. Australia National reconciliation body with partners in each State - includes archives of the old Council sign in if you still want to say sorry... Native Title Another group doing things, including the Sorry Books, Sea of Hands, and Fax Direct. National Public Discussion - Native Title and Reconciliation . Media Coverage of Indigenous Issues: ABC Indigenous Online NATIONS) RECENT PRESS RELEASES Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination - in particular covering UN comments on Australia's racism. The Koori Mail Excellent coverage of current Indigenous issues. It is a newspaper, so students needing published articles: this is for YOU! Australian Native Title Documents World Indigenous Links: back to AAR Homepage text marked up by Sarah last updated 12th Feb 2006 Begun February 1996.
The last major effect of the Enlightenment were the Latin American Revolutions. Dominated by the Creoles, these movements saw Spain lose all of her major colonies in the new world. Simon Bolivar gained independence for 5 nations on his own. The effect of these new Caudillos has affected Latin American history until today. So, here is how New World gained its independence.
One month after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the New-York Historical Society committed its resources to a new initiative called, History Responds, with exhibitions, public events and educational initiatives. Since then, the Society has presented 17 special exhibitions relating to the attacks, 20 public programs, five community meetings, numerous school and teacher programs and, when the Society’s newly-renovated headquarters reopens on November 11, 2011, a permanent installation of photographs and other materials donated by survivors, witnesses, and rescuers. To commemorate the tenth anniversary of September 11, the New-York Historical Society will present a special exhibition, Remembering 9/11, which will be free to the public. The exhibition opens on September 8, 2011 and will remain on view through April 1, 2012. The exhibition presents a selection of several hundred photographs taken by professional and amateur photographers in the immediate aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center (originally collected in the independent exhibition “here is new york: a democracy of photographs”), as well as letters written to policemen and firemen; objects that were placed in makeshift shrines around New York; images and texts from the New York Times “Portraits of Grief” series; photographs of the Tribute in Light; and drawings of the National September 11 Memorial, designed by architect Michael Arad with the assistance of landscape architect Peter Walker. As a special presentation for families, the Historical Society will also host a free reading by Vin Panaro, Bugler for the Fire Department of New York, and Katie Fuller, Museum Educator, of Maira Kalman’s book Fireboat, to be held in the Rotunda from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 11, 2011. “In the months immediately following September 11, 2001, the New-York Historical Society began a vigorous collecting initiative and exhibition program regarding the terrorist attacks,” Kenneth T. Jackson stated. “This was our responsibility, as the institution founded to gather, preserve and interpret materials related to the history of New York City and State and the nation. “On the tenth anniversary of the attacks, it is important that the Historical Society is continuing this effort with Remembering 9/11.” Louise Mirrer, President and CEO of the New-York Historical Society, stated, “It takes a great historian to recognize the importance of his or her own historical moment, and to collect and preserve its effects. My predecessor, Kenneth T. Jackson is that great historian. On September 11th Ken recognized the tragedy of the day keenly, but saw also the need to collect and preserve so that future generations would understand what September 11th meant, for our city, our nation, our history. It is because of Ken’s work that our tenth anniversary exhibition Remembering 9/11 is able to document New York’s, and the nation’s, resilience along with the selfless acts of heroism, not only at the World Trade Center but also at the Pentagon and Shanksville.” Remembering 9/11 is organized for the New-York Historical Society by Marilyn Satin Kushner, Curator and Head, Department of Prints, Photographs and Architectural Collections. “I wanted to create a space where people could come to quietly remember those days in 2001 and honor the memories of the people who were lost in the attacks. The solemnity of this occasion calls for a mood of respect and introspection,” stated Dr. Kushner. When the renovated and transformed New-York Historical Society opens fully to the public on November 11, 2011, Remembering 9/11 will be joined by a permanent installation of photographs from “here is new york” in the Robert H. and Clarice Smith New York Gallery of American History. Approximately 1,500 photographs by 790 contributors will be on display, along with a large fragment of a fire truck destroyed during the 9/11 attack. Since the inception of the Historical Society’s History Responds, more than 150,000 visitors have taken part in its interpretive programs. Today, the History Responds collection includes numerous artifacts associated with September 11, ranging from architectural relics of the Twin Towers to artworks inspired by the catastrophe. Remembering 9/11 is generously supported by Bernard and Irene Schwartz. Founded in 1804, the Historical Society has a mission to explore the richly layered political, cultural, and social history of New York City and State and the nation and to serve as a national forum for the discussion of issues surrounding the making and meaning of history. The New-York Historical Society is located at 2 West 77th Street (across the street from the American Museum of Natural History), 212-873-3400, www.nyhistory.org. See more travel features at:
Year A: October 19, 2014 First Reading: Exodus 33:12-23 Images of God for Young Children by Marie-Helene Delval (Written for ages 5-8) Comment: The Exodus passage for this Sunday describes God in terms of human anatomy. Moses is able to see the back of God, but is covered with God’s hand, as God’s front passes by. Moses is not allowed to see the face of God. Imagining what God looks like is a fun and difficult task for children and adults alike. The scriptures and the culture in which we live shape the image of God we develop over our lifetime. I think it is safe to say that most Americans have at one point pictured God as an old man with a long beard. But the scriptures are filled with images and descriptions of God. In Images of God for Young Children, Marie-Helene Delval draws the different images of God from the scriptures and describes them in terms children will understand. Delval describes over 30 different images of God ranging from the familiar ones of shepherd, light, word and strength to the less drawn upon images of night, tears, secret and justice. Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Corduroy Writes a Letter By Alison Inches (Written for ages 5-8) Comment: Letter writing is a lost art and for most of the young children today it might be an unknown concept. Communication today is done in an instant and in short bursts. The reading today is the beginning of a letter Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica. Paul’s purpose in writing this letter is to encourage and lift up the Christians, and Paul begins by reminding them of their importance to him and successes so far. In Corduroy Writes a Letter, Corduroy and Lisa write letters to businesses around their community to let them know what each business can do to be better. They learn the difference that can be made when we write a letter with the purpose of encouraging and uplifting the recipient of the letter. Note: This book is out of print and you will be astounded at how much a paperback used copy costs from the link above! A check of WorlcCat shows that nearly 1000 libraries hold a copy of this book. If you think you may want to use this book, we strongly recommend using interlibrary loan to borrow the book from another library if your public library doesn’t have it. Gospel Reading: Matthew 22:15-22 Church Harvest Mess-tival by Mike Thaler (Written for ages 6 and up) Comment: Halloween is just around the corner. If Jesus and the Pharisees were here today, I can imagine the Pharisees asking Jesus about celebrating Halloween as a Christian. I expect Jesus’ answer would be similar to what the little boy in Church Harvest Mess-tival learns. His mom has told him he can’t celebrate in the traditional way of trick or treating or dressing in scary costumes. Instead he has to go to church and be dressed as a biblical character. This little boy is expecting to sit in the pew, but his mom continues to describe what is planned for the festival, and he begins to get excited about it. Jesus says to the Pharisees “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.“ The good and difficult news for us is that everything belongs to God. God wants to be involved in every aspect of our life. We don’t have the luxury of boxing God into an hour on Sunday mornings. Giving to God what is God means we get to include God in all our celebrations, including Halloween. The Lectionary Links this week are written by Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Elizabeth Boulware Landes.
ARTICLE IN BRIEF An international consortium of researchers conducted a meta-analysis of gene screenings — in two stages — confirming known genes implicated in Alzheimer's disease and identifying 11 new gene loci associated with the disease. The new variants point to new pathways, and possible therapeutic targets. The recent discovery of 11 new gene locations involved with the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD) made international news. But researchers said knowing the exact cause — and what to target for a cure — is not close at hand. There is no denying that the study is cause for celebration, they said. The study confirmed the role of genes discovered earlier and emphasized the role of particular regions associated with the immune system and inflammation. The study also identified new pathways underlying Alzheimer's disease, including those that involve hippocampal synaptic function, cytoskeletal function and axonal transport, regulation of gene expression and post-translational modification of proteins, and microglial and myeloid cell function. Scientists from more than a dozen countries and more than 40 institutions collaborated on the analysis, the largest international study on AD ever. The paper, which was published in the Oct. 27 edition of Nature Genetics, focused on late-onset AD. In stage one, the investigators used genotyped and imputed data from 7,055,881 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to perform a meta-analysis on four previously published datasets consisting of 17,008 AD cases and 37,154 controls. In stage 2, 11,632 SNPs were genotyped and tested for associations in an independent set of 8,572 AD cases and 11,312 controls. Nineteen loci reached genome-wide significance and 11 were newly associated with Alzheimer's disease. [See “Eleven New Genes: Alzheimer's Disease” for more information on their function.] One of the investigators, Oscar L. Lopez, MD, professor of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh, said the study will help researchers to focus on specific metabolic pathways involved with the possible etiology of AD. “Genetic studies are showing us three big areas to focus on — the immune system, the lipid and cholesterol metabolism, and the amyloid protein production that helps the neurons move protein from one cell to another.” According to the study, beyond the already known genome-wide association study-defined genes, the most significant new association was in the HLA-DRB5–DRB1 region. This region is also related to risk of both multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. “There are several major successes in this study,” said Thomas D. Bird, MD, a research neurologist at the Seattle VA Medical Center and chief of the Division of Neurogenetics at the University of Washington, who was not involved with the study. “The first is that this is a real tour de force because of the numbers of subjects and controls — you have thousands of people gathered here and that's really impressive. “The second is that there is always this yin and yang for a practicing clinical neurologist. While there isn't anything that you can use in the clinic for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease, it's an important piece in confirming and identifying previously recognized pathways and pointing out new pathways in which pathogens might assist with the disease. “Finally, by developing ideas of how the disease is initiated, down the line we can focus on those places to interrupt the disease therapeutically,” said Dr. Bird, who serves on the editorial advisory board of Neurology Today. Now that new loci have been identified, researchers still need to determine the amount of risk the genes contribute. It could be that they only contribute to 3 or 4 percent of the population, said David Gill, MD, a behavioral neurologist at Unity Rehabilitation and Neurology and clinical assistant professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Dr. Gill said the study added evidence, both in supporting previous work and targeting potential causal pathways. But it's unclear how the 11 genes are involved and if they increase or decrease the risk. “The genes that were found may be involved in cholesterol movement of particles in the cell within the immune system, which we know are involved in Alzheimer's, but we don't know how,” said Dr. Gill. “For us to say that the immune system is more involved, I don't know if that's fair to say, but the study provides added evidence.” Part of the blessing and the curse of studying Alzheimer's disease is that there are so many proteins that are involved. “It's almost an embarrassment of riches,” said Dr. Bird. “But with so many targets, it's difficult to know where to start and how to interact with the system. Do you start with inflammation? Lipid transport? Amyloid production?” “It is clear that the clinical Alzheimer's phenotype is way more complex than we have been assuming,” said Sam Gandy, MD, PhD, director of the Mount Sinai Center for Cognitive Health and the Mount Sinai chair in Alzheimer's disease research. “While hoping that single agent/single target prevention will have a meaningful benefit, I am more and more worried that this will turn out to have been quite naive when we look back 10 years from now.” Dr. Gandy noted that the prevention trials are all focused on amyloid although there are recent revelations that up to one third of the clinical AD cases have negative amyloid scans. He pointed out that Clifford Jack Jr., a professor of radiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and colleagues have proposed two types of AD based on imaging: amyloid first or neurodegeneration first; the paper was published in an Oct. 16 online edition of Neurology. “The idea that neurodegeneration can ever be first represents a seismic shift in formulation of pathogenesis for researchers in the amyloidosis area,” said Dr. Gandy. IMPLICATIONS FOR TREATMENT? The neurologists said that the meta-analysis has no impact on genetic screening at the moment or any treatment implications. “These studies are giving us some clues that can be used to target in future primary or secondary prevention treatments,” said Dr. Lopez. “That's where the whole thing is going. At the end of the day, we want these studies to allow us to design treatments that help people not develop the disease.” There is some concern that the public might interpret news about these types of meta-analyses as possible causes and cures for AD. “I get questions from people and they get frustrated that there is no answer, because they heard some story about genetic tests for Alzheimer's,” said Dr. Gill. “There is no testing that should be done for late-onset Alzheimer's and this study doesn't change that. Even if I did make a diagnosis, it wouldn't change the treatment.” “Sometimes there's an overenthusiastic response to research, and the public thinks — there are new genes, so soon we'll have a new treatment,” he continued. “And then nothing happens. The general population is getting frustrated.” But others are a bit more sanguine about the prospects. “Look how long it took to treat hypertension,” said Dr. Lopez. “In the 1960s, there was one drug. Now, 60 years later, there are so many treatments. The field for the study and treatment of Alzheimer's disease started in the late 80s and early 90s.” LINK UP FOR MORE INFORMATION: •. Lambert JC, Ibrahim-Verbaas CA, Harold D, et al. Meta-analysis of 74,046 individuals identifies 11 new susceptibility loci for Alzheimer's disease. Nat Genet 2013; E-pub 2013 Oct. 27. •. Jack CR Jr, Wiste HJ, Weigand SD, et al. Amyloid-first and neurodegeneration-first profiles characterize incident amyloid PET positivity. Neurology 2013; E-pub 2013 Oct. 16. •. Neurology archive on Alzheimer's genetic studies: bit.ly/17UttAv.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey The three queen bumble bees (Bombus melanopygus) we found buzzing around our porch light the night of Jan. 9 are still very much alive. Who would have "thunk?" Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, is caring for them at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road. Thorp, who officially retired in 1994, maintains an active research and bee monitoring/identification program based as the Laidlaw facility. He recently co-authored a book on Bumble Bees of North America: An identification Guide (Princeton University Press), to be released in March. So yesterday photographer/artist Allan Jones of Davis and I checked out "The Lovely Ladies at the Laidlaw." Yes, they're very much alive. But it sure was strange on Jan. 9 to see them as as night fliers, or porch-light bumble bees. I figured they were parasitized. I figured that a florid fly, Apocephalus borealis, which lays its eggs in such insects as bumble bees, wasps and honey bees, had nailed them. I figured they'd be goners within a few days. I hope I'm wrong. It's long been known that Apocephalus borealis infests bumble bees. However, Professor John Hafernik of San Francisco State University and his colleagues caused quite a media stir when they discovered that this fly infests honey bees as well. They published their work, "A New Threat to Honey Bees, the Parasitic Phorid Fly, Apocephalus borealis," in PLOS ONE back in January 2012. They revealed that the parasitized, disoriented honey bees (which they nicknamed "Zombies" or "ZomBees") leave their hives at night and head for the lights. "After being parasitized by the fly, the bees abandon their hives in what is literally a flight of the living dead to congregate near lights," said Andrew Core of the Hafernik lab. 'When we observed the bees for some time—the ones that were alive—we found that they walked around in circles, often with no sense of direction." Fingers crossed that the three queen bumble bees aren't parasitized. Fingers crossed that they will survive. Fingers crossed that they will continue to be "The Lovely Ladies at the Laidlaw."/span>
Deadly contagious diseases nearly forgotten today in the United States were a constant threat a century ago. In the fall of 1909, Bangor was particularly bothered by scarlet fever and typhoid fever. The city’s reaction, as reported in its two daily newspapers, helps us understand how far we’ve come in the fight against dread diseases. The Prospect School, which was located on a section of Prospect Street between Harlow and Center that no longer exists, was closed for 10 days after three children came down with mild cases of scarlet fever, reported the Bangor Daily Commercial on Sept. 27. 1909. The children, who attended sub-primary through fifth grades in two rooms, were sent home. The school was fumigated. “No cases have been reported from any other school in the city and there is no danger of an epidemic,” said the newspaper. The Center Street School was closed and fumigated next after three more cases were found, announced the Commercial on Oct. 18. There were a few other cases of scarlet fever scattered around the city, but there was no epidemic, said the newspaper. The actions of the school board and doctors were taking care of things. In early November, city authorities announced they also were battling a far more dangerous disease — typhoid fever. Not since the spring of 1904, when hundreds of people were sickened from drinking Penobscot River water and nearly 50 died, had the city seen such an outbreak. The city’s board of health issued an advisory on both the typhoid and scarlet fever outbreaks reported in the Bangor Daily News on Nov. 4. Except for two instances, all the typhoid cases were confined to one neighborhood, it said. The board was investigating the source, which remained “obscure.” In the meantime, the board recommended boiling drinking water and rinsing vegetables to be eaten raw under boiling water. Households in which the disease already existed should isolate patients’ dishes, boil their bedding and disinfect their “excreta” with a carbolic acid solution. Since flies spread the disease, they should be kept out of the house. This was back in the days when whole families were quarantined if a member became ill with certain contagious diseases. Moving on to scarlet fever, the board said all children with sore throats “or … any kind of an eruption on any part of the body” should be taken to a doctor. Measles and chicken pox had similar symptoms to scarlet fever in the early stages. That afternoon, the Commercial added more details to the rather sketchy health department advisory. About 20 people had been diagnosed with typhoid, said the newspaper. Nearly all of them lived in the area around the school. The board was planning to canvass the neighborhood in an effort to find out what the cases had in common. Suspicion already surrounded the artesian well at the Longfellow School on Center Street. The school was located where the St. Joseph Hospital emergency department is today. Ironically, the digging of wells was supposed to protect people from typhoid and other dread diseases found in the Penobscot River, which was the city’s official water supply. Some families took their drinking water from the well at the Longfellow School and other wells around the city. The next day, on Nov. 5, the two newspapers reported that the board had ordered the well closed for testing. Without exception, all of the typhoid victims had drunk water from the well. The infected area included Center Street between Montgomery and Poplar streets, upper Norfolk, Congress and Leighton streets, and upper Broadway. The number of cases might be as high as 30. The sewage drain leading from the residence of Lawrence Rooney, where the disease first had been diagnosed, was going to be dug up and checked as well as the drain from the school. The Rooney home was located “opposite the Longfellow School.” The first death, that of Mrs. F. O. Sawyer of Grant Street, was reported five days later. Her husband and little son also were ill. Anxiety was mounting. Several of the cases were critical. Meanwhile, it had been determined that the schoolhouse drain and a nearby drain, presumably the Rooneys’, were in good condition, although officials still believed the well water was the cause of the outbreak. A rumor that a sewer pipe had been broken when the well was first drilled was unfounded, said the newspapers. On Nov. 18, it was reported by the Commercial that the epidemic was getting worse. There were now 35 cases of typhoid in the city, mostly in the same area, according to John Goldthwait of the board of health. Many Bangoreans doubtlessly were boiling their water and scalding their raw vegetables. The scarlet fever scare continued as well. One of the city’s largest elementary schools, the Palm Street School, was closed, said the Commercial on Nov. 18. (Some reports said it was being closed for the second time that fall because of the disease.) The teachers were “discouraged” at this 900-pupil school (soon to be renamed the Abraham Lincoln School) because of all the schoolwork that would have to be made up. The source of the illness it turned out was a child from the same family from which a younger child had been diagnosed with scarlet fever at the Prospect Street School in September. After being quarantined for 37 days, the family had moved to the Palm Street School’s enrollment area, apparently bringing the disease with them. Between March 1, 1909, and March 1, 1910, Bangor experienced 36 “mild cases” of scarlet fever and 56 cases of typhoid with three deaths, according to the report of the city’s board of health. There also were 14 “mild cases” of diphtheria. No mention was made of the many people who died of tuberculosis and other contagious diseases or of cancer or heart disease. The city passed an ordinance to employ doctors to conduct regular medical check-ups of children in the schools to find illnesses before they got out of hand. By adopting such a procedure, Bangor “falls into line with the more important cities in the country,” said the Commercial on Nov. 10. The exact cause of the typhoid outbreak remained uncertain. State officials failed to find any evidence of typhoid in the well water at the Longfellow School after three tests, it was announced in the Bangor Daily News on Nov. 24. The well would remain closed for the time being, however, to see if there were any more cases in the area. Officials still were convinced the well had been the source of the disease. An illustrated collection of Wayne E. Reilly’s columns titled “Remembering Bangor: The Queen City Before the Great Fire” is available at bookstores. Comments about this column can be sent to him at [email protected]
Melanoma starts in the color-producing cells of the skin and may develop in an existing mole or may occur as a new mole. Early diagnosis and treatment can lead to a complete cure, while advanced forms are likely to have a poor outcome. Advanced melanoma can spread to lymph nodes as well as other areas in the body, typically the lungs, liver, and brain. - A family history of melanoma – Having someone in your family with melanoma increases your risk tenfold. - Fair skin, light eyes, and a tendency to freckle – The risk of getting melanoma is 1 in 50 for whites, 1 in 200 for Hispanics, and 1 in 1,000 for blacks. - A large number of moles, especially unusual appearing moles. - History of frequent sun exposure, especially in childhood. - History of sunburns. - Decreased immune system, such as transplant patients and patients with HIV/AIDS. Sunlamps and tanning beds may increase your risk of melanoma, especially if they cause sunburn. - Men are most likely to develop melanoma on the head, neck, and trunk. - Women are most likely to develop melanoma on the legs and arms. - A – Asymmetry: One half of the mole does not look like the other half. - B – Border: The outline of the mole is irregular. - C – Color: More than one color can be seen, such as brown, black, red, blue, and white. - D – Diameter: A mole larger than 6 mm (1/4 inch), which is roughly the size of a pencil eraser. - E – Evolving: Changes in the mole over time. Once a month, you should perform a self-exam to look for signs of skin cancer. It is best to perform the exam in a well-lit area after a shower or bath. Use a full-length mirror with the added assistance of a hand mirror when necessary. Using a hair dryer can help you examine any areas of skin covered by hair, such as your scalp. - In front of a full-length mirror, inspect the front of your body, making sure to look at the front of your neck, chest (including under breasts), legs, and genitals. - With your arms raised, inspect both sides of your body, making sure to examine your underarms. - With your elbows bent, examine the front and back of your arms as well as your elbows, hands, fingers, area between your fingers, and fingernails. - Inspect the tops and bottoms of your feet, the area between your toes, and toenails. - With your back to the mirror and holding a hand mirror, inspect the back of your body, including the back of your neck, shoulders, legs, and buttocks. - Using a hand mirror, examine your scalp and face. Prognosis and treatment depend on how deep the tumor has grown into the skin. If you have a melanoma that is very thin (less than 1 mm) and has been completely removed with the excision, this may be all the treatment you need. For thicker melanomas, your doctor will probably recommend a biopsy of your lymph nodes to determine if they contain melanoma cells. This is called a sentinel node biopsy. If these lymph nodes do have melanoma cells, you may need to have other lymph nodes surgically removed. If you have lymph nodes that contain melanoma, your doctor will also need to determine if the melanoma has spread to other parts of your body. You may have to have a chest X-ray, a CT scan, an MRI, and/or other tests to determine this. Treatment for melanoma that has spread to the lymph nodes or other parts of the body may include chemotherapy. For patients with melanoma that has metastasized, immunotherapy is another treatment that can help the body's own immune system to destroy cancer cells. Types of immunotherapy include vaccines, cytokines (proteins that boost the immune system), and interferon-alpha. If you have previously been diagnosed and treated for melanoma, you are at increased risk of developing another melanoma, especially in the first 3 years after diagnosis. Therefore, it is essential that you regularly follow up with your doctor to have a thorough skin examination. American Cancer Society. Detailed Guide: Skin Cancer - Melanoma. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/CRI_2_3x.asp?rnav=cridg&dt=39. Accessed on January 31, 2009. Bolognia, Jean L., ed. Dermatology, pp.1789-1815. New York: Mosby, 2003. Freedberg, Irwin M., ed. Fitzpatrick's Dermatology in General Medicine. 6th ed, pp.917. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. Ragel EL, Bridgeford EP, Ollila DW. Cutaneous melanoma: update on prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment. Am Fam Physician. 2005;72(2):269-276. PMID: 16050450.
Ray Frank, 1861 - 1948 Ray Frank Litman died on October 10, 1948. Her lifelong enthusiasm for Judaism and tireless work to bring people into the circle of Jewish life left their mark both on those immediately surrounding her and on American Jewry at large. Her words had moved several congregations to overcome differences and "join hands in one glorious cause"; her leadership and encouragement had inspired many students to pursue studies in Jewish history and involvement with the Jewish community. Frank's death occurred almost a quarter of a century before the Reform movement finally admitted women to the rabbinate. Many observers during Frank's heyday in the 1890s would have been surprised to learn that the ordination of women was so long in coming. When asked in 1896 if she expected at some point to see a Jewish woman in the pulpit, Louise Mannheimer, one of the speakers at the 1893 Jewish Women's Congress, responded simply, "We have a woman in the pulpit, though she has not been ordained. Her enthusiasm impels her to speak. She is Miss Ray Frank." Although Frank's experiences were but one step along the long road to the ordination of women, "the Girl Rabbi of the Golden West" played a pivotal role by reinvigorating and redirecting an ongoing conversation about Jewish women's roles. Jewish women had already demonstrated their importance to communal life over the course of the nineteenth century; Frank's unprecedented presence in the pulpit demonstrated the contribution they could make to religious leadership as well. While subsequent pioneers in the field would face their own challenges and opposition, never again would they be called "the first woman since Deborah to preach in a synagogue," for Frank had trod that path before them. - Quote from "In Woman's Wake," The American Jewess, December 1896, 142.
New York Passes Sewage Pollution Right-to-Know Act On August 9th, New York State passed the "Sewage Pollution Right-to-Know Act", which requires the operators of publicly owned sewer systems or sewage treatment plants to notify regulators and the public of discharges of untreated sewage or partially treated sewage. This bill adds to existing federal and state spill reporting requirements for sewage treatment plants. Under the current system, sewage discharges need only be reported to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the local department of health if they will affect recreational areas, shellfish harvesting, or public water supply intakes. Even this type of discharge was not required to be reported if it resulted from a combined sewer overflow ("CSO"). Under the new law, which takes effect May 1, 2013, all sewage discharges, including CSO discharges, must be reported to DEC and the local department of health (or the state department of health if there is no local health department) within two hours of their discovery. To the extent possible, this report must include: - the volume of the discharge and the extent, if any, of its treatment; - the expected duration of the discharge; - the steps being taken to contain the discharge (unless it results from a CSO); - the location of the discharge; - and the reason for the discharge. The new law also provides for notice to the general public and the chief elected officials (or their designated representative) of the municipality where the discharge occurred and any other municipalities that may be affected. This notice must take place within four hours of discovery of the discharge. The law requires DEC to promulgate new regulations specifying the form of this notice "through appropriate electronic media", possibly including email or voicemail. DEC's new regulations, however, are only to require public notice of sewage discharges that may affect public health — presumably, these discharges will include those that affect recreational areas, shellfish harvesting, or public water supply intakes, but it remains to be seen if DEC will require public notice of sewage discharges beyond those categories. Article continues at ENN affiliate, SPR Environmental Law Blog Sewage Plant image via Shutterstock
It’s so easy with our step-by-step guide - Click here to buy your FREE 'Guide to Plant Breeding' leaflet. YES - you might just have something special, move straight to STEP C. NO - go to STEPS A and B and try your hand at plant breeding to create your own new plant. Plant breeding is not merely for boffins working in sterile laboratories or elaborate glasshouse breeding stations. Breeding can be fun and very rewarding and every plant you raise has the potential to be unique. The basic skills for plant breeding are patience and good observation. You do not need much room or space. Some gardeners have vied with each other to produce the ideal new plant in only the tiniest of back gardens. Plants like geraniums, dianthus, nasturtium, fuchsias, petunia and many others can be grown in pots and will take up little space. Many new varieties have arisen in the past from the observation of an improved or different type growing in a larger batch of plants. The more plants of one type you grow, the more chance there is of finding something different or unusual. Be observant as you go around the garden, looking out for anything unusual, e.g. more petals than normal, some variation in flower size or colour, or differences in plant height or habit. When you see it, label the plant, describing its important characteristics (e.g. double flowers, dwarf etc.) and try to isolate it from other similar plants so that no cross-pollination occurs (see step 2). Isolation prevents your special plant from being pollinated by its neighbour. This can be done by enclosing a number of flowers (still attached to the plant) within a large insectproof bag, either netting of some sort, grease-proof paper, or a plastic bag with small slits for ventilation (fig.1). Ensure there is no gap at the base of the bag for insects to get in. Use a soft wire twist or string to secure the bag but be sure not to bruise or damage the stem of the flower. Another way of isolating a plant is to carefully dig it up with minimum root disturbance, pot it on, and move it a good distance away. Be sure the plant is sufficiently watered during this process. High obstacles like a tall thick hedge form a good isolation barrier, preventing bees or other insects from cross pollinating the plants. Isolated plants or flowers will often still need to be pollinated to ensure that the seed will set. To do this, the flowers should be ‘self-pollinated’. This is when you use the same flower or a flower of the same plant to pollinate with. For instructions on pollinating, see the “how to pollinate” section. Although self-pollination naturally occurs in some plants, other types like Poppy (Papaver) or members of the Daisy (Compositae) family will not self-pollinate. This is due to self-incompatibility, an in-built mechanism in the plant that prevents self-pollination from occurring. If the plant is self-incompatible, you can select a second similar looking plant and cross the two together. When the seedpod is ripe (fig.2), it is best placed with a label into a seed packet and stored in a cool, dry place. Later, the seed should be extracted, cleaned and placed in a packet labelled with the name, special characteristics of the plant and date of harvesting. The following season you should sow the seed that you have harvested. Once they germinate, prick out as many seedlings as you can, thereby increasing your chance of good results. Try to plant the seedlings away from other plants of the same type. As the plants grow and develop, pull out any that do not resemble your original selection (referred to as ‘rogues’), do this immediately before they cross-pollinate. You may be left with only a few plants which fit your aim. You could then leave the bees to cross your selections. Harvest the seed of your plants separately, for best results. The selection process may take two or more seasons. It should continue until all or most of the seed sown produces plants resembling your new type very closely. Find out as much as possible about the genus or species you are working on before you start. This is also a good way to check that there are no similar plants already in cultivation before you submit your entry. Did you know? Poppy ‘Angels Choir’ is a good example of the ‘eyes open’ method; the first variety of this type was actually seen growing in a field of red poppies. Wild flowers in the hedgerow or the plants in your garden may unexpectedly produce something different every so often, this is referred to as a ‘sport’. When you deliberately set out to create a new plant variety, cross-pollination is an invaluable method in breeding. As an example, you could potentially create a dwarf yellow flowered plant by crossing two plants of the same genus, maybe a tall yellow flowered plant (x) with a dwarf red flowered one (y). Or you could try crossing an annual with a perennial. In year one, you will need to cross plant x with y or vice versa, following the pollination method shown within this guide. At the end of the season, harvest the seed. In year two, sow the results of the cross (referred to as the F1 generation) and grow in an isolated area and then harvest seed from these plants. During the third year, you should sow out the harvested seed. This next generation (referred to as the F2) is where you should see the results of your original cross. Select plants that have the desired trait (using our above example, these would be plants that are dwarf and have yellow flowers). Once selected, the plants can be self-pollinated (pollinating the same flower with itself, or using a flower from the same plant). If they are self-incompatible, then they can be crossed with a plant with very similar characteristics. In the subsequent years following your hybridisation, you should use the selection method to get your seed true to type. Remember to sow the seeds of individual selections separately to increase your chances of attaining seed true to type quicker. Sometimes you may have a problem with your desired plant trait not coming through into the offspring. You may need to ‘back-cross’ some of the crossed plant selections with the original parent (either x or y, whichever has the characteristic that you are having problems with). The term back-cross simply refers to the method by which seedlings or offspring are cross pollinated back onto one of the parents involved in the original cross. It is very important to label your plants accurately, and to also keep a small sample of seed from every stage of the breeding, in case you encounter a failure and need to retrace your breeding steps. This 'fast-track' method can be used on occasions when you've already found a unique plant. It means you can replicate your plant without the need for any additional breeding work. 1. If you spot an unusual plant out of a bunch of seedlings, either as a selection or from the result of the 'cross-pollination' method, you can often reproduce the plant vegetatively (by cuttings). 2. Simply take cuttings from the plant, preferably using material from near to the base. 3. You should also try to avoid using the tips of any shoots that have buds or flowers, as they will produce poorer plants. 4. Package your cuttings as instructed on the entry form. 5. Send them in to Thompson & Morgan for assessment Mid-morning is usually a good time to pollinate flowers. There is no dew on them and temperatures are adequate for the pollen to be effective. Avoid pollinating on a wet day, as any water on the pollen will kill it. 1. Grow a bed of each of the two plant types to be crossed. On the plant you intend to pollinate, use any buds or flowers that have colour in them, but have not yet opened. 2. Open the buds and remove the anthers containing pollen (fig.1 & 2). Dust pollen from the plant to be used as the pollinator (fig.3) onto the stigma of the one to be pollinated (fig.4). Members of the Compositae (Daisy) family, e.g. Rudbeckia, Chrysanthemum, Tagetes and Dahlia have flowers made up of many tiny florets that open from the outer edge in towards the centre. These small florets should be pollinated on consecutive days as they open inwards. 3. Plants can be pollinated either using a paintbrush or in some cases by rubbing the two flowers together. You can sometimes tell when the stigma is at its most receptive by the presence of a sticky or shiny solution appearing on the tip. In some plant types the stigma can also swell or change shape when receptive. 4. As you pollinate each flower, cover it with a bag or place an insect proof cage over the whole plant (see ‘Isolating your plant’ under The ‘Selection Method’ section). 5. Once successful fertilisation has occurred, plants have various trigger mechanisms which indicate success. Some will drop petals, on others the stigma will blacken and shrivel. After a period of time the ovule where the seed forms will begin to swell and ripen. Continue with more pollinations on other flowers as they open and label each cross with a lightweight label marked with pencil. When using cross-pollination, avoid the use of F1 hybrid varieties as they often have very involved parentage, which can slow down breeding in the early stages. F1 hybrids can, however, be a good source of variation when using selection to find new material. When you have problems ‘fixing’ a particular trait within a plant, you can cross it back with your original parent plant that had the desired trait. Simply the process of transferring pollen from one plant to another, in order to create a hybrid. F1 Generation The result of the first cross-pollination between two plants. The result of the seeds saved from the first cross. This is the process of discarding any unwanted plants that do not show the characteristics you are looking for in your breeding work. A breeding method that relies on close observation, you simply harvest seed from unusual or different plants that arise in the garden. You then select the best plants from the harvested seed, and so on. When a plant is unable to set seed after it has been self-pollinated. To ‘fix’ certain traits in a plant, you can pollinate it with itself. Self-pollination is the action of transferring pollen from a flower onto the stigma of a flower on the same plant. After a trialling process with Thompson & Morgan (which can take anything from 6 months to 6 years), we will contact you to discuss your plant. We currently pay £500 for each successful entrant, rewarded as a lump sum when the product goes on sale. At Thompson & Morgan’s discretion, outstanding or rare new products could receive more. We ask that the originator agrees to be involved in any subsequent publicity about the new plant. 1. Once you are happy that your plant is suitably different to any others available or that a high percentage of the seed comes true, you are ready to send in a sample. 2. If you wish to send cuttings (if you have chosen the vegetative route), send them in a zipped plastic bag with holes punched in the top for air movement. The area around the roots should also be wrapped in damp tissue, so that the plants do not dry out. 3. Then simply label your seeds/plants and package in either a small box or envelope and send by first class mail. 4. Always keep some seeds or plants in your possession, in case anything is lost in transit. 5. Your submission should be sent with the entry form below. Please try to post you entry early in the week, so that weekend postal delays are avoided. Terms and conditions apply. Please click here for details. A T&M customer sent us the first star-shaped petunia, a white-flowered petunia that was very different from the normal round-flowered ones. The new flower shape is now available in an array of colours, but it all started from the one plant discovery! Another customer spotted a nasturtium that was different from any other, and T&M introduced this new flower shape into other nasturtiums by using the cross pollination method. In order to fast-track market release of this very new nasturtium, we then used vegetative breeding and took cuttings from the very best plants. One of our customers in Scotland sent in some seed of a tall, border marigold with unusual, striped blooms that they had found growing in their garden. We then crossed the plant with a modern, dwarf variety in order to reduce the height, and achieve a more compact habit. A keen customer tried his hand at vegetable breeding when he crossed small-fruited, extra-sweet tomato variety, Sungold, with a larger type. The result is lovely, large-fruited fruits without the bitter tang of some tomatoes. A customer in Suffolk spotted an unusually short and compact foxglove, with primrose yellow blooms appearing in whorls all around the stem. Thinking this was very unusual for a foxglove, the customer sent the seeds to us and our breeders further selected the original plant for 2-3 years in order to stabilise the habit, form and colour An amateur breeder raised this divine blue sweet pea and entered the variety into RHS trials in 2002 and 2003, winning awards each time. They came to Thompson & Morgan for help in launching the variety. From a handful of seeds to a major catalogue introduction took 7 years. It is now Thompson & Morgan's Flower of the Year in our seed catalogue range.
You are here: - Home » - Primer for First Timers Primer for First Timers The information provided below is intended for educational purposes. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional eye examination. Presbyopia makes it difficult for people over age 40 to see clearly to read or do close work. It occurs as the lens in the eye begins to lose some of the elasticity needed to focus on near objects. Presbyopia is not a disease and is simply a normal part of the aging process. - The need to hold reading materials further away to focus - Headaches or tired eyes after close-up work - Blurred vision at normal reading distance - Require more light to see clearly - Cornea: a clear covering over the front of the eye - Iris: the colored part of the eye surrounding the pupil - Pupil: the black hole in the middle of the iris; it gets smaller in bright light and larger in dim light - Lens: the part of the eye that allows you to focus - Retina: a thin layer of nerves on the back of the eye that detects light; it is similar to the film in a camera - Optic Nerve: a bundle of nerves going from the eye to the brain - Single Vision Full Readers - Full frames provide uniform magnification over the entire lens. - See all Single Vision Full Frames - Single Vision Half Readers - Half Frames allow you to glance over the top of the frame for clear distance vision. - See all Single Vision Half Frames - The upper portion of the lenses are clear. Lowering your eyes to the bifocal segment provides magnification for reading. - See all Bifocals - Progressive No-Line Bifocals - The upper portions of the lenses are clear. As you lower your eyes the magnification increases gradually allowing you to see better at different close up distances. - See all Progressive No-Line Bifocals - Sun Readers - The tinted upper portion of the lenses are clear. Lowering your eyes to the bifocal segment provides magnification for reading. UV protection. - See all Sun Readers - Computer Style Progressive Computer Lenses, sometimes referred to as Office or Occupational Lenses, make it easy for your eyes to move back and forth between near vision tasks like computer work and reading printed material. Computer lenses are a specialty type of progressive lens designed for today's world. Like any progressive lenses, they eliminate the need for multiple pairs of glasses. But more important, they give your eyes the focal length they need as they need it, greatly reducing eye strain. 1. Select your normal reading magnification power and the lens will do the rest. The upper portion of these lenses allow for intermediate range viewing, perfect for computer, not to mention tasks like, cooking, sewing, following sheet music, drafting or reading blueprints, and many more uses. 2. As you lower your focus to the bottom portion of the lens, the lens acts like any reading lens, making it easy to read cellphone screens, pill bottles, newspapers, or the latest best sellers. The included high quality Anti-Reflective Coating reduces eye strain even more, allowing you to enjoy your work and hobbies. - See all Computer - See all Computer - 1003 Dragon Street - Dallas, Texas 75207
Located in New York City, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral hosts over 5.5 million people each year to visit and pray. Opened in 1879, the cathedral is the largest Gothic-style Catholic Cathedral in the United Sates and holds up to 2,200 people. It’s location on Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets is directly across from Rockefeller Center makes it one of the iconic New York landmarks to visit while in Manhattan. While exterior photos that capture the contrast between the Gothic-style cathedral and the modern skyscrapers that surround it are fantastic, I found the ceiling inside illuminated by the soft lighting of the chandeliers to be even more intriguing. Located in New York City, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is on Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets. Across from Rockefeller Center, Saint Patrick’s Gothic-style sits in stark contrast to the towering modern skyscrapers that surround it. The cornerstone for the cathedral was laid in 1858, but construction was stopped during the years of the Civil War. After construction resumed in 1865, the cathedral was completed in 1879. Officially opened on May 25, 1879, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is the largest Gothic-style Catholic Cathedral in the United States and was named as a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
ANIMAL RESEARCH T A K E S LIVES - Humans and Animals BOTH Suffer << previous page \| next page >> contents \| index It is the vivisectionists' current assertion, which crops up loud and strong evermore frequently now that they are openly coming out in defence of their trade, and therefore in defence of the future of their dubious existence, that without vivisection most of us would be dead. But medical evidence is becoming increasingly abundant proving beyond doubt that exactly the reverse is applicable. That far from saving mankind, vivisection, which cannot even produce a cure for the common cold, is destroying it. Medical evidence supporting this statement is so prolific it will be dealt with in a separate section and even as this article is being written some readers will be viewing 60 Minutes on T.V. 3, September 22 1991 which at this moment is screening the dangers of Valium, Lithium, Halcion and other profitable benzodiazapines which are said to be "destroying the lives of thousands of New Zealanders". Pages 5, 10 and 17 of ARSL respectively make unreferenced claims that: The first thing that strikes the novice when investigating the "discovery" of insulin is that in all the photographs of the tens of thousands of agonised dogs which had their pancreases extirpated towards this end, the animals are crudely propped, tied, or even hanging or slung, upright. This is because every animal on Earth, with the exception of man, is horizontal, making pressure-points, structure and other variables so overwhelming that any attempt to extrapolate conditions is a game of chance. Criticism of this total lack of similarity between the horizontal animal and the vertical human-being crops up repeatedly from many medical doctors and it is essential that the importance of this fundamental is understood. During the 1920s, the dog experiments performed by scientists Banting and Best were strongly criticised as: "... a wrongly conceived, wrongly conducted, and wrongly interpreted series of experiments." (Dr F. Roberts, "Insulin", British Medical Journal, 1922.) Readers are also directed to the clinical work of an American pathologist Dr Moses Barron, who published an article based on the autopsy of a patient who had died of pancreatic lithiasis, in which he says: "The scientists Banting and Best were incorrectly credited with the discovery of insulin." (Dr M. Barron, "The Relation of the Islets of Langerhans Diabetes with Special Reference to Cases of Pancreatic Lithiasis", Surgery, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, November 5 1920.) Further, in Clinical Medical Discoveries, Medical Historian M. Beddow Bayly, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., says that the association of diabetes with degenerative changes in the Beta cells in the pancreas was a well-recognised clinical discovery long before animal experiments in this connection were contemplated. "The means of separating from the pancreas the active principle, which Professor Schafer, a renowned physiologist had already in 1915 designated insulin", was, says Dr Beddow Bayly, "repeated by Banting who demonstrated it on a medical colleague who suffered from the disease. However the numerous experiments made by Banting on thousands of dogs proved nothing of value to human medicine, since, as is scientifically recognised, the dogs were not suffering from diabetes... The discovery, isolation and application of insulin was a clinical one." The reader is directed to Chapter 10 Heart Surgery, and the evidence given by veterinarian Brandon Reines, Surgeon Dr Moneim Fadali and Hans Ruesch, all of whom emphasise the inability to extrapolate conditions or circumstances between dog and man. Further many doctors say that Banting's dogs suffered, not from diabetes, but from stress, a statement that no-one who has viewed the photographs of his unanaesthetised, depancreatised victims would argue, a condition which is said to be similar to diabetes, which from the vivisectors' point of view was a convenient one since it ensured, with the duplicity of the pro-vivisection alliance, his legitimised and relentless work on their crucifixion. This uncompromising statement coincides with that of Doctors N. Robinson and J. Fuller in New Scientist, November 15 1984, page 23, who said that families developing diabetes had been exposed to higher levels of stress than those who have not. "It is known", they say, "that obesity, drugs, chemicals, heredity, great grief, anger, fright and extreme emotional states can cause diabetes". Though the highly criticised animal-based insulin is now replaced by new oral preparations of pure chemicals it is no less criticised by many medics, to name a few: In New Scientist, March 18 1982, doctors say they believe insulin could be responsible for the high levels of blindness in diabetics. Massive available data shows that diabetes is preventable through appropriate diet. That the highest incidence of the disease is in the United States, which consumes an average of 35 percent animal fats and meat, the lowest in Japan which diet contains an average of five percent, and that when the Japanese take to American eating habits they developed diabetic problems. One of the well-worn favourites of the exponents of vivisection when tub-thumping supposed examples of the benefits of their grotesque and obvious fraud, is the discovery of insulin to administer to diabetic patients. Yet more people per capita are dying of diabetes today than in 1900 - twentytwo years before the discovery of insulin. (For more comprehensive statistics refer Hans Ruesch, Slaughter of the Innocent.) Even a cursory investigation reveals easily obtainable facts exposing that treatment with insulin merely effaces the symptoms and masks the true cause of the patient's ailment. That insulin has brought more damage than benefits, has killed more people, especially among the old, through insulinic shock, than it has saved, and that it has shortened more lives than it has lengthened. All that is needed is a little patience, a little time, a little determination... to prove ARSL wrong on every count. Pursuing the important role of diet in the prevention of diabetes in The Health Revolution Ross Horne writes: "Referring to the Pritikin Longevity Centre's diet and exercise programme, Dr James Anderson of the University of Kentucky Medical Centre, said: 'With this kind of approach, diet only, 80 percent of the diabetics in this Country could be normal in thirty to ninety days.' In a report made public before the American Chemical Society, Dr Michael Somogyi of the Jewish Hospital of St. Lexies, pointed out that a study of 4,000 diabetic cases conducted by him and his associates over a period of fourteen years, revealed that virtually all adult victims of diabetes can be restored to normal health without insulin injections." As diabetes can be prevented and controlled by diet there is also much evidence that the escalation of the disease can be related to the amount of sugar we consume. In 1972 Dr Banting himself pointed out: "The incidence of diabetes has increased proportionately with the per capita consumption of sugar." (F.G. Banting, Strength and Health magazine, 1972.) This is certainly borne out in the following table showing Danish consumption of sugar in relation to that country's incidence of diabetes: \|DATE\|\|AMOUNT OF SUGAR P.A.\|\|DIABETES DEATHS\| \|1880\|\|29 lbs\|\|1.8 per 100,000\| \|1911\|\|82 lbs\|\|8.0 per 100,000\| \|1934\|\|113 lbs\|\|18.9 per 100,000\| (W. Dufty, Sugar Blues, Warner Books, 1975.) And in an article "You are all Sanpaku" by Nyoiti Sakurazawa: "Sugar is the greatest evil that modern industrial civilisation has visited upon the countries of the Far East and Africa." In the 1960s an eight year study to compare the progress of patients suffering from diabetes was carried out in the U.S.A. by the university group diabetic programme. "The trials used insulin, oral drugs, placebo and diet. The group found that after five years none of the drugs, including insulin, had any effect at all as the body had got used to them... but that the diet treatment worked well." During the survey the following drugs were withdrawn because they were causing heart disease - even killing the patients: This survey is the most comprehensive and meticulously controlled study of the use of insulin ever published. It is reported in the following: \|"Since the introduction of diabetes drugs in the 1950s the international death rate for diabetics in the past twenty years have risen in England, Wales, Germany, Japan, and Israel, probably because of the use of insulin."\| (R. Warner, Public Citizens Health Research Group, Washington D.C., U.S.A.) Significantly Dr Banting, according to a book entitled Deadly Allies by John Bryden (McClelland Stewart) progressed from his merciless extirpations of the pancreases of thousands of man's best friend to even higher things, when in 1940 he graduated to vivisection in the noble field of biological warfare. Among his other legacies to mankind are his infected bullets; the rearing of disease-carrying insects; and the aerial spraying of deadly bacteria. << previous page \| next page >> contents \| index
This news is from the Bird Conservation Alliance listserv: "Federal Court Orders Cell Tower Safeguards for Migrating Birds Decision could save millions of birds killed each year in tower collisions Washington, DC (February 19, 2008) – A federal court of appeals today issued a ruling ordering the Federal Communications Commission to carefully evaluate the potential adverse effects of communications towers on migratory bird populations of the Gulf Coast region. A panel of federal judges ruled that national environmental laws like the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act require the FCC to more carefully consider these possible adverse effects in its tower permitting process. “We are very pleased by today’s ruling which will require the FCC to assess the environmental impacts of towers,” said Darin Schroeder, American Bird Conservancy’s Executive Director of Conservation Advocacy. “Given the large number of bird deaths caused by towers, an environmental review is long overdue. This is a huge victory for migratory birds and the millions of Americans who love to see them each year.” The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates between five million and fifty million birds are killed each year in collisions and other accidents caused by communications towers. In its decision, the court criticized the FCC for refusing to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service when approving such towers. The court also said the FCC failed to sufficiently involve the public in its tower approval process. “The Catch-22 … is that the Commission provides public notice of individual tower applications only after approving them,” the court wrote in its decision. Tens of thousands of communication towers dot landscapes across the country. In Texas alone, there are over 10,000 of these towers. Each month, the FCC receives more than 20 new applications for tower construction. The situation is critical along the Gulf Coast where thousands of communications towers dot the 1,000-mile stretch of coastline between Pt. Isabel, Texas and Tampa Bay, Florida. Towers along this major migratory bird route threaten many different bird species. Exhausted from their journey across the Gulf of Mexico, these migrating songbirds collide with towers or the accompanying guy wires. In some cases, the birds confuse the blinking lights atop the cell towers with the night stars they use to navigate their journey. The birds become disoriented and begin circling the tower until they collapse from exhaustion and plummet to the ground. The public interest law firm Earthjustice brought the case to federal court on behalf of the American Bird Conservancy. Earthjustice attorneys argued that FCC violated federal law by approving dozens of new towers each year with little or no environmental review. “The court has clearly directed the FCC to respect national environmental laws when handing out permits for these tower.” said Earthjustice attorney Steve Roady. “FCC now must go back and carefully evaluate the environmental impacts of these towers.” A copy of the decision can be found at
PSE Success Story: Scientists Develop Green Method to Produce Propylene Oxide Propylene oxide is commonly used in the manufacturing of plastics and propylene glycols for paints, household detergents and automotive brake fluids. The current production of propylene oxide creates a significant amount of by-products that are harmful to the environment, including chlorinated or peroxycarboxylic waste, or use expensive reagents, such as hydrogen peroxide. Manufacturers have tried using large silver particles to produce propylene oxide from propylene, but this method suffers from a low selectivity or low conversion to propylene oxide—creating a large amount of carbon dioxide. Argonne researchers discovered that nanoscale clusters of silver, consisting of both three-atom clusters as well as larger nanostructures of 3.5 nanometers in size made of three-atom clusters, are highly active and selective catalysts for the production of propylene oxide. They then modeled the underlying mechanism behind why these ultrasmall nanoparticles of silver were so effective in creating propylene oxide. The researchers discovered that the open shell electronic structure of the silver catalysts was the impetus behind the nanoclusters’ selectivity. Calculated relaxed structure and spin densities of a Ag33 cluster. The optimized “nanohill” geometries are very disordered and suggest that the 2x4nm agglomerated nanoparticles might have core-shell structures. The high-spin states show significant spin density on some surface atoms, which are expected to be more active for propylene epoxidation as on the silver trimers. Argonne scientists identified a new means of producing propylene oxide that is both more environmentally friendly and less expensive than current production methods. The new class of silver-based catalysts can produce the chemical with few by-products at low temperatures. The findings resulted from a highly collaborative team that involved five Argonne divisions and collaborators from the Fritz-Haber-Institut in Berlin and the University of Illinois at Chicago. “Propylene oxide is a building block in the creation of several other industrially relevant chemicals, but the current methods of creating it are not efficient,” said Larry Curtiss, Argonne materials chemist. “The work opens a new chapter in the field of silver as a catalyst for propene epoxidation.” - Scientists Develop Green Method to Produce Propylene Oxide (742 kB pdf)
Prior research and the experience of residents have clearly revealed the negative impact that the cruise industry has had on the city of Charleston. So detrimental has the damage been to Charleston that last year the National Trust for Historic Preservation put that city on its watch list due to the harm that the cruise ships have caused to the historic city. Now a new study adds emphasis to this assessment. While the city confronts the trash and congestion of thousands of additional people and traffic in a confined area, it receives little financial benefit in return. The report commissioned by the Historic Charleston Foundation states that “the city gets only a fraction of the surrounding region’s economic benefit from South Carolina’s year-round cruise industry.” Further, damage done by the cruise ships has been such that the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League together with the Preservation Society of Charleston have brought suit before the South Carolina Supreme Court alleging that the ships are a public nuisance. In essence, then, cruise ships destroy the very attraction that they tout to their passengers, while saddling the residents of the community with noise, congestion, traffic and other troubles that they will have to live with on a daily basis, while the cruise ship sails off and leaves those problems behind. It is imperative that elected officials are fully aware of the damage that cruise ships will do to the unique and fragile heritage that is Savannah so that they are not seduced by the purported benefits touted by industry lobbyists. EUGENE J. FRIEDMAN Tall trees, dead animals Regarding the March 3 commentary by Mike Matz, “Talking with trees without tongues,” while it sounds very sympathetic for the animals in the wild, it does more harm than good for reasons that are not obvious to many people. The National Wilderness Preservation system is key to the total blocking of old growth forest cutting or thinning. This creates a thick “over story” that blocks out the sun, thereby denying the understory plants at ground level the needed sun to grow. With no understory for the deer, rabbits and ground birds such as quail, partridge and pheasants, the food they need to survive in this environment will be gone and the animals no longer exist in numbers large enough for the person who wishes to observe this wildlife to enjoy. This type of protection is very typical and means well, but in the end it destroys the populations of every animal in the forest. As the kindhearted Lorax expounded in this article, the trees will be protected from the axes. But when the Lorax and his friends return, they had better be satisfied with looking at the tallest trees, because that is all that will be left to look at in the forest. The animals will be dead from starvation. Although the final Environmental Impact Statement for deepening the Savannah harbor isn’t even available yet, and there were plenty of justifiable challenges to the draft EIS issued in November 2010. Sen. Johnny Isakson has introduced an official request for more than $375 million in federal funds toward this massive project. His action was part of a transportation bill recently introduced in the Senate. We believe this request is both premature and fiscally irresponsible. Until more is known about the comparative merits of deepening other harbors, there is no assurance that deepening the Savannah channel and harbor will provide the maximum benefit for this large expenditure. According to the latest estimate, the project will cost a minimum of $629 million, including more than $250 million in state funds to be added to the federal funds if they are awarded. Actual costs are likely to be higher. To be most judicious in using contested federal funds, all such projects must be held to a high standard. At the very least, they shouldn’t be funded until the environmental analysis is completed and the public knows which projects will produce the maximum benefit. Unless we demand more accountable methods for deciding how federal funds are spent, the U.S. cannot hope to be competitive in the global economy of the 21st century. Use of our tax dollars must no longer be dictated by states competing with one another in successive rounds of wasteful pork-barrel spending. Center for a Sustainable Coast St. Simons Island S.C.’s loss. our gain South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has possibly done Savannah a favor by vetoing the casino in Hardeeville, S.C. There is plenty of land near I-95 and I-16 which would accommodate a casino and hotel close to the city and airport. It could increase the tourist business immeasurably. Chatham County could reap tax advantages without any investment. Although my wife and I are not gamblers, we have visited numerous casinos while traveling. We each allocate $10 for the sport and quit when it is gone, whether it be an hour or a day. We have had good, reasonably priced meals and entertainment. We have never seen negative happenings. Give us more hoops With all the state high basketball playoffs going on Saturday, Mar. 3, especially at Savannah State University, there was no coverage in your paper except for the Savannah team that travelled all the way to Albany to play. You want to sell your papers in our community, but you don’t want to give us any coverage. Focus on the present I write in response to Peter Ove’s March 6 letter, ”Creationists vote, and that’s frightening.” To him and others who are frightened of those who do not share their every view, I would say this: We all agree that the world is here now, no matter how it was made or by whom. Let’s concentrate instead on electing a leader who can solve the problems of the present and future. Whether the world was created in six days or 600 million years does nothing to address unemployment, poverty or high crime rates. Instead of worry over which neighbors should be eligible to vote, find areas of agreement so that we may all go forward together to sustain and improve the world in which we live.
Pre- and Post-Visit: Winter (Grades 1-2) Students that have spent time preparing for their visit to Glacier National Park get more out of a field trip to the park. Activities post-visit also help to reinforce information learned during the trip. The following are some of our suggested pre-visit activities, as well as supplementary materials that may aid in preparing for your trip. Suggested classroom activities from Teacher's Guide Winter Ecology Teacher's Guide (pdf) - this is a large file and may take time to download Did You Know? Did you know that over 35 Hollywood films were set in Glacier National Park? In honor of film being an American tradition, the Glacier Centennial Program hosted a film festival throughout 2010.
Live maths - tangled DNA, the Big Bang and musical superstrings Twisting, Coiling, Knotting: Maths and DNA Replication The proportions of a DNA molecule in a human cell are equivalent to a 2000-mile-long rope packed inside the Millennium Dome. When DNA replicates, it spins at an astonishing 10 turns per second. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that DNA can become highly twisted, super-coiled and even knotted! To understand this phenomenon, the molecular biologist must grapple with the mathematical concepts of twisting, writhing and knotting. In this highly-illustrated talk Professor Michael Thompson FRS will experiment with strings and rubber bands (bring your own!) to explore the geometrical rules which underlie the transmission our genetic code. When: Thursday 24th of May 2007, 5pm - 6pm Where: Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Clarkson Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA Tickets are free but must be booked by emailing [email protected] More information: http://mmp.maths.org/events/eventlist.php Dinner@Dana: Back to the Big Bang In honour of the Large Hadron Collider, the Dana Centre is holding an evening dinner and discussion attended by the expert James Gillies from CERN. There'll be slide shows and photographs and a two-course meal inspired by particle physics. When: 15th of May 2007, 6.30pm - 8.30pm Where: Dana Centre, 165 Queen's Gate, London SW7 5HE Tickets: £15 per person, including a two-course meal and a drink. Tickets have to be booked by calling 0207942 4040 or e-mailing [email protected]. Age range: this event is open only to those over 18 years of age. More information: Visit the Dana Centre site. Also the Science Museum in London has put on an exhibition in honour of the Large Hadron Collider. The exhibition is free and will run until the 7th of October 2007. Superstrings - a Musical Journey through Time and Space You probably knew that Einstein was a great scientist, but did you also know that he played the violin? In this unique double act a virtuoso violinist and the head of the department of particle physics at Oxford University combine the electricity of a live musical performance with an insight into the deepest corners of the Universe. The lecture explores Einstein's life, both in science and in music, from his theories that shaped space and time, to modern ideas in particle physics. When: 18th of May 2007 5pm-7pm Where: Science Oxford, 1-5 London Place, Oxford, OX4 1BD Tickets: £6.50, £4.50 concession, available from The Oxford Playhouse on 01865 305305. More information: The Oxford Trust posted by Plus @ 10:03 AM
By Emily Alpert 9:47 PM EST, December 11, 2012 Impoverished and isolated North Korea has long invested heavily in its defense programs, even as its people suffer hunger and deprivation. North Korea's rocket launch Wednesday cost about $480 million, South Korean officials estimated before the launch. Although North Korea said it was sending up a satellite for peaceful purposes, the United States and South Korea suspect that it was actually testing its ballistic missile technology. In either case, the money is a staggering sum in light of some of the nation's other needs. “That sort of money could go a very long way to feed children, to upgrade health facilities,” said Patrick McCormick, spokesman for UNICEF. "Our position is that this money should be spent elsewhere." If North Korea used the money to buy rice, it could cover its shortfalls in grain more than four times over, according to the most recent World Food Program estimates and price calculations by economist Marcus Noland. That would cover basic food needs in the undernourished country, if the relatively optimistic estimates by the World Food Program are correct. If North Korea chose to devote the money to existing hunger-relief programs, $480 million would quadruple spending by the World Food Program on emergency food aid and nutritional support for women and children, according to figures recently released by the U.N. agency. It would more than cover shortfalls in funding for its hunger programs in North Korea, which were about $260 million short as of several weeks ago. "Certainly North Korea could do away with a good deal of its acute hunger and malnutrition if it turned those resources to feeding its own people," said David Straub, associate director of Korean Studies at Stanford University.ALSO:
Estimation Fascination (division version) is a great math center activity that will help students with the tricky skill of estimating. This is a very important skill before students start using the standard division algorithm because it will allow them to check their answers for reasonableness. Additionally, estimating with division can be difficult because students cannot just round, they must find compatible numbers. In this center activity, students will build a number using the included number cards. Students will then change their numbers to nearby numbers that are compatible so that they can use mental math to make an estimation of the quotient of the two numbers they originally drew. This activity is quick and easy to put together for a fun and helpful math center. This center is nice because it helps practice multiple skills beyond estimating like changing expanded form to standard form (when drawing the number cards), finding compatible numbers, and practicing mental math. Please see the preview file for complete product details. This activity is aligned to the following TEKS: 5.3.A This activity is aligned to the following Common Core State Standards: 4.OA.A.3 **Looking for more multiplication and division estimation activities?** Save money by getting this product in a bundle! Estimation: Multiplication and Division Activity Bundle
One of the key conclusions in my book is that scientist/filmmaker collaborations work best when the scientists and entertainment professionals clearly respect each other’s expertise. This means that the scientists, in particular, need to keep in mind that they know very little about making movies. This same advice applies to scientifically literate audiences. We need to remember that just as scientists are scientific experts, filmmakers are entertainment experts who make decisions about science based on their specialist knowledge of the way film operates and what makes a film enjoyable. What would your favorite science-fiction movie be without the costumes? Most likely it would not be your favorite movie. Fashion and costume choices set the stage for some of cinema’s most memorable moments. But what are movie sets made out of? Where was the cotton used to make the leading lady’s pants harvested? These questions can be explained by delving into the science of biodiversity. Chase Mendenhall is a doctoral candidate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Stanford University. He explores the trade-offs between the conservation of biodiversity and farming by closely monitoring bird and bat populations that inhabit farmland in Costa Rica. He is also one of two speakers who will be attending the Science Café at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 17, 2012, at the Koshland Science Museum in Washington, DC.
How to maintain a Christmas tree It is important to maintain a Christmas tree after cutting it down, because the Christmas tree is still alive and therefore in need of water and not too much heat. When the Christmas tree is cut down, a tempering process is nessesary to avoid shocking the Christmas tree, which could result in loss of needle. Once the tree is cut we manage the pemper-ing process. We do this by slowly exposing the tree to higher temperatures, until it reaches 5-10˚, so the tree is not shocked when it is brought into the warmth of a livingroom. We recommend that you place the Christmas tree as far from heatsources – like burning stoves and radiators – as possible, since the radiant heat will dry out your tree. Your Christmas tree needs water A cut down tree is like a flower in need of water. Therefore we recommend that you use a Christmas tree foot where you can add water to your tree. Your Christmas tree is bleeding When a Christmas has been cut down, it is still alive, and like when we cut ourselves on a knife, it bleeds. After a while the blood will coagulate and close the wound. The same goes for the Christmas tree. Here resin flows from the fine pores, and closes the cut like a band-aid. After a while you may need to cut of a slice, so the fine pores are opened again and the Christmas tree can drink water. Which is the best species? The most popular tree is the Normann fir. It has good durability, which other species don’t have. Here can be mentioned the Norway spruce, which was very popular 20 years ago, but only has a durability of a few days.
The Teachers.Net Gazette is a collaborative project published by the Teachers.Net community Kathleen Alape Carpenter Editor in Chief Cover Story by LaVerne Hamlin Effective Teaching by Harry & Rosemary Wong Contributors this month: Dr. Marvin Marshall; Cheryl Sigmon; Barbara & Sue Gruber; Marjan Glavac; Dr. Rob Reilly; Barb S. HS/MI; Ron Victoria; Brian Hill; Leah Davies; Hal Portner; Tim Newlin; Barb Gilman; James Wayne; P.R. Guruprasad; Todd Nelson; Addies Gaines; Pat Hensley; Alan Haskvitz; Joy Jones; and YENDOR. Want your students to develop high-level communication skills? The ability to arrive at informed judgments? The ability to function in a global community? Flexibility, persistence, and resourcefulness? Try Problem-Based Learning. by Hal Portner Regular contributor to the Gazette March 1, 2008 We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems. Problem-Based Learning (PBL) has the potential to help your students acquire these and other skills needed in the 21st century. PBL is a set of instructional strategies and techniques characterized by the use of ‘real world’ problems as a context for students to learn critical thinking and problem solving skills while acquiring essential concepts of the curriculum. Here is the PBL process. You present your students with a predicament, dilemma, or similar problem-case. The students, in groups, organize their ideas and previous knowledge related to the problem, and attempt to define its nature. Throughout their discussion, students pose questions to each other and you, their teacher, on aspects of the problem they do not understand. These issues are recorded by the group. You encouraged students to define what they know, and more importantly, what they don’t know. Students rank, in order of importance, the issues generated. They decide which questions or issues will be followed up by their whole group. They also determine which can be assigned to individuals who will later share with the entire group. You and your students discuss what resources will be needed in order to research the issues and where they could be found. When students reconvene, they summarize and integrate their findings into the context of the problem. They continue to define new issues as they progress through the problem and in the process, learn that learning is an ongoing process, with new issues to be explored. What is your role as the Teacher in PBL? In PBL, you act as facilitator and mentor. Ideally, you guide, probe and support students’ initiatives, not lecture, direct or provide easy solutions. However, the degree to which you make the process student-directed versus teacher-directed is your decision based on the size of the class and the maturity of the students. The goal is, of course, to have your students take responsible roles in their own learning. A critical factor in the success of PBL is the problem itself. In next month’s Gazette, I will discuss the characteristics of good PBL problems and provide some examples. Meanwhile, here are a couple of related web sites you may want to check out. Hal Portner is a former K-12 teacher and administrator. He was assistant director of the Summer Math Program for High School Women and Their Teachers at Mount Holyoke College, and for 24 years he was a teacher and then administrator in two Connecticut public school districts. From 1985 to 1995, he was a member of the Connecticut State Department of Education’s Bureau of Certification and Professional Development, where, among other responsibilities, he served as coordinator of the Connecticut Institute for Teaching and Learning and worked closely with school districts to develop and carry out professional development and teacher evaluation plans and programs. Portner writes, develops materials, trains mentors, facilitates the development of new teacher and peer-mentoring programs, and consults for school districts and other educational organizations and institutions. In addition to Mentoring New Teachers, he is the author of Training Mentors Is Not Enough: Everything Else Schools and Districts Need to Do (2001), Being Mentored: A Guide for Protégés (2002), Workshops that Really Work: The ABCs of Designing and Delivering Sensational Presentations (2005), and editor of Teacher Mentoring and Induction: The State of the Art and Beyond (2005) – all published by Corwin Press. He holds an MEd from the University of Michigan and a 6th-year Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS) in education admin¬istration from the University of Connecticut. For three years, he was with the University of Massachusetts EdD Educational Leadership Program.
Realms of Heroism: Indian Paintings in the Brooklyn Museum - Dates: October 14, 1994 through January 8, 1995 - Collections: Asian Art June 1994: An exhibition of approximately 80 jewel-like Indian miniature paintings from the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Museum will open on October 14, 1994, and remain on view through January 8, 1995. Entitled Realms of Heroism: Indian Paintings from The Brooklyn Museum, it celebrates the publication of a fully illustrated catalogue raisonné that documents The Brooklyn Museum’s significant holdings of Indian miniature paintings. The exhibition will be organized around the theme of heroism as it is understood in a South Asian context, exploring the hero as a warrior and adventurer, as a Hindu deity, and as a secular ruler. A wide variety of historical portraits reveals the sometimes subtle means by which Indian rulers asserted their power and achievement. The exhibition will also explore the theme of the romantic hero and heroine in the South Asian tradition, from the pastoral exploits of the god Krishna to the depiction of lovers and emotional states found in Ragamalas and Nayika-nayaka literature. An orientation section will introduce the technique and historical context of these delicate, striking works. Indian miniature paintings were commissioned by royal patrons as illustrations to religious and secular texts. The Mughal emperors, who conquered much of India in the 16th century, established an imperial atelier where manuscripts were created depicting historical and legendary subjects. Among the Mughal paintings on view in the exhibition are four folios from the famous Hamza-nama series, made for the emperor Akbar in the mid-sixteenth century. The oversized illustrations to the Hamza-nama, a traditional Moslem historical epic, are celebrated for their vivid depiction of heroic deeds interspersed with carefully recorded observations of Indian life. The Mughal emperors were not the only patrons of Indian painting. Indigenous Hindu rulers called the Rajputs continued to govern small principalities in northern and central India after the establishment of the Mughal empire. The Rajputs were responsible for the creation of large numbers of manuscripts illustrating Hindu mythological subjects in a wide variety of styles. They also emulated the Mughals through commissions of large groups of dynastic portraits. Like paintings made for the Mughals, these works on paper were bound or collected into volumes and were viewed in intimate gatherings, often accompanied by performances of music or poetry for a highly refined aesthetic experience. Painted with watercolors on cotton or paper and highlighted with gold and silver, the images are extremely colorful and delicate. Their vibrancy is achieved by applying color in layers and then burnishing the sheets from behind until the colors are opaque. Beetle wings are sometimes applied to indicate areas of jewelry. The paintings are fragile and flake easily, presenting many problems for conservators; 42 weeks of treatment were required to prepare the 80 exhibition objects for viewing. Since its inception in 1914—unusually early for an American museum—The Brooklyn Museum’s Indian painting collection has amassed more than 275 paintings and 85 drawings from the early 15th through the 19th centuries. The exhibition and catalogue raisonné have been the outcome of years of documentation and scholarly research. Surveys of the collection began in 1973, aided by a 1982 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Research for the catalogue raisonné began as early as 1980 and reflects the expertise of many South Asian art historians. The catalogue represents numerous regional styles of Indian painting, incorporating new readings of inscriptions and other documentary and technical evidence. Approximately 75 color plates in the catalogue reproduce the intricate detail and vision of these paintings. A wide range of educational and public programs is planned in conjunction with the exhibition, including an Indian film festival, storytelling, and docent and teacher training. Programs will be designed to introduce aspects of South Asian tradition while focusing on the definition and significance of heroic behavior in Indian and other cultures. Amy G. Poster, Curator of Asian Art and Head of the Asian Art Department, is the author of the catalogue and curator of the exhibition. October 1994: The Brooklyn Museum will celebrate the arts of India with a wide variety of public programs for the entire family that have been organized in conjunction with the major exhibition Realms of Heroism: Indian Paintings at The Brooklyn Museum. Among them are lectures, special gallery talks, drop-in programs for children[,] and a film series: Special Gallery Talks (free with Museum admission) Saturday, October 15, 1 p.m. Joachim Bautze, South Asian Institute, University of Heidelberg “Issues of Connoisseurship in Indian Painting” Sunday, October 23, 1 p.m. Joan Cummins, Exhibition Coordinator, Realms of Heroism “Delicacy and Vigor: Indian Painting and the Model Prince” Saturday. November 5, 1 p.m. Amy G. Poster, Curator of Asian Art and curator of Realms of Heroism “The Concept of the Hero in Indian Painting” Additional gallery talks for Realms of Heroism led by trained docents will be offered throughout the run of the exhibition. For information about dates and times, call (718) 638-5000, ext. 226. (free with Museum admission) Saturday, November 19, noon. Vidya Dehejia, Curator of Indian Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. “Once upon a Time: Storytelling in Indian Painting” Saturday, December 3, noon Dr. Milo C. Beach, Director, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. “The Mughal Prince as Hero: Painting and the Sons of Shah Jahan” Saturday, December 10, noon John Seyller, Associate Professor, Department of Art, University of Vermont “The Adventures of Amir Hamza” Thursday, September 29, 7 p.m., and thereafter every Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. through October 23. This series of films will highlight the theme of the hero in Indian cinema by exploring the role of the religions in Indian society, representations of morality and social mores, colonial influences, representations of Indian women, and narrative traditions as adapted for the screen. Guest speakers will introduce the series, which has been coordinated by L. Somi Roy of Roy/Emmons Associates. Realms of Heroism: Indian Paintings at The Brooklyn Museum will also serve as the inspiration for several of the Museum’s regularly scheduled drop-in programs for children, Arty Facts (4-7), Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m., and What’s Up? (8-12), Saturdays and Sundays, 2 p.m. (Free with Museum admission). Additional special programs for families in conjunction with the exhibition will include storytelling and dance performances. Call (718) 638-5000 for further information. Realms of Heroism: Indian Paintings at The Brooklyn Museum will include approximately 80 masterpieces, several of them never before on public view, from The Brooklyn Museum’s collection of Indian miniature paintings. Among them are four folio pages from the rare Hamza-nama series created for the 16th-century Mughal Emperor Akbar, of which there are only about 120 left in the world. The exhibition celebrates the publication of a fully illustrated catalogue raisonné of the Museum’s important collection of 250 Indian minature paintings. - THE ANNOTATED CALENDAR; ARTSeptember 11, 1994 By ROBERTA SMITH"Here is a selective guide to cultural events in New York and beyond in the months ahead. As usual, programs change, and some events are sold out. Unless indicated, all dates listed are for openings, all addresses are in Manhattan, and all telephone numbers have a 212 area code. Addresses for locations in New York City cited more than once appear at..." - For ChildrenNovember 4, 1994 By Dulcie Leimbach"Rollerbasketball Tompkins Square Park 10th Street at Avenue B Lower East Side Recommended for all ages Saturdays and Sundays Tom La Garde is tall, even taller with Rollerblades on. At 6 feet 10 inches, he is a former professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets, Seattle Supersonics and Dallas Mavericks. And he played in the 1976 Olympics...."
Prophet Solomons (pbuh) Death Then when We decreed that he [Solomon] should die, nothing divulged his death to them except the earthworm that ate his staff; so that when he fell down, it was made clear to the jinns that if they had truly had knowledge of the Unseen, they need not have stayed there, suffering humiliating punishment. (Qur'an, 34:14) The Qur'an does not contain much information about the prophets' deaths. However, it does relate some important details about Prophet Solomon's (pbuh) death. For example, at the moment of his death he was surrounded by jinns who probably were trying to complete their assigned tasks. Not realizing that he was dead, they continued to work. This verse suggests that the jinns do not have any true knowledge of the Unseen, for if they did, they would have stopped working. As this verse emphasizes the words humiliating punishment, they were working very hard on a task and were afraid of Prophet Solomon (pbuh). Thus, they did not stop when he died as they did not realize he was dead until the staff broke. The words in Arabic translated here as earthworm are dabbat al-ard. Dabba means animal or beast. Coming from debbe, which means a light walking or to struggle, it is used for animals and insects. Ard means ground or floor. Therefore, the expression dabbat al-ard can be thought of as referring to any animal, not just the earthworm.
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2007 May 14 Explanation: When passing Earth on your way to Jupiter, what should you look for? That question arose for the robotic Galileo spacecraft that soundlessly coasted past the Solar System's most photographed orb almost two decades ago. The Galileo spacecraft, although originally launched from Earth, coasted past its home world twice in an effort to gain speed and shorten the duration of its trip to Jupiter. During Galileo's first Earth flyby in late 1990, it made a majestically silent home movie of our big blue marble rotating by taking images almost every minute during a 25-hour period. The above picture is one frame from this movie -- clicking on this frame will put it in motion (in many browsers). Visible on Earth are vast blue oceans, swirling white clouds, large golden continents, and even one continent frozen into a white sheet of water-ice. As Galileo passed, it saw a globe that not only rotated but began to recede into the distance. Galileo went on to a historic mission uncovering many secrets and mysteries of Jupiter over the next 14 years, before performing a final spectacular dive into the Jovian atmosphere. Authors & editors: Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply. A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC & Michigan Tech. U.
This speciesis classified as Vulnerable because remote-sensing data indicate that there has been a dramatic loss of lowland forest across its range and that it is therefore likely to be undergoing a rapid population decline. Distribution and population Ninox odiosa is endemic to the island of New Britain Papua New Guinea where although it is rather poorly known, it appears to be not uncommon in suitable habitat. It is suspected to have declined rapidly in recent years owing to ongoing clearance of lowland forest (Buchananet al. 2008). The population is estimated to be in the band 10,000-19,999 mature individuals, equating to 15,000-29,999 individuals in total, rounded here to 15,000-30,000 individuals. Buchanan et al. (2008) calculated the rate of forest loss within the species's range on New Britain as 33.8% over three generations. Hence, this decline is expected to continue. It inhabits lowland rainforest up to 1,200 m. It is thought to tolerate some degree of habitat degradation. Lowland forest clearance on New Britain for conversion to oil palm plantations has been intense in recent decades and the island accounts for approximately half of Papua New Guinea's timber exports (Buchanan et al. 2008). Over 30% of suitable habitat has been cleared in the last 10 years and this trend is ongoing (Buchanan et al. 2008). Conservation actions underway None is known. Conservation actions proposed Identify and effectively protect a network of reserves, including some containing large areas of unlogged lowland forest, on New Britain. Continue to monitor trends in forest loss. Research its tolerance of degraded forest. Monitor populations in a number of primary forest and degraded forest sites across the island. Related state of the world's birds case studies thank you for your interest to save the Russet Hawk-owl (Ninox odiosa) If everything looks correct, click sign now. Your signature will not be added until you click the button below.
SIMPLY, A DIFFERENT WAY OF THINKING Ideas are older than human race. Useful ideas are the key for development and that is how we evolved from monkeys to humans. We try hard to think smart, more or less. But do we, really? Dr. de Bono started his speech in Piran with criticizing quite a controversial idea man, Leonardo de Vinci. It was said that it has been obvious that Leonardo s switch from art to engineering was more a useless attempt to make valuable ideas. It was said that Leonardo s ideas could not been transferred into value. Answer why that is so, is as simple as anything that Dr. de Bono is talking about. Trying to make value, one should be using the mind potential. For example: the tank that was designed by Leonardo was a fine box on two wheels that were rotating one against each other. So, as the tank would be moving, it would be heading into the ground. Idea is not useful just because of it self, it should be useful and give final value. Next process mentioned by Dr. Future, as Edward de Bono called himself, was recognition. Mr. Alan Greenspan and his immortal problems with inflation were mentioned. When Mr. Greenspan recognizes standard situation of inflation, he raises interest rates. In case of recession he lowers interest rates. Alan gives us the standard solution. But in many times standard solutions are not sufficient for solving problems. In case of recession and resulting lower interest bank rates for saving, instead of daily products, property is being bought, and the recession grows steadily deeper and deeper Instead of traditional thinking: What is ? we should ask ourselves the question: What can be ? Because creativity and design give us the value and this value as said before is key for winning the mind games and business. Dr. De Bono pointed on a kind of business illness called S.K.I.D.S. That stands for Sufficient Knowledge Ideas Deficit Syndrome. Today most of people have information but the key to forward success is ideas. Ideas give us value. We need value concepts because we can not compete on price. In China wages are 100 $ per month and in Japan they are 3000 $ per month, so there is no way to compete on price, we can compete on values given by new ideas. But there is another problem with new ideas. For representative policies like United Nations and other world democracies, new ideas by definition are not representative Humans should make the best use of given information at any time. Sequences of information and the inherent potential at various times make well working brains better than any computer in the world! Think of chess legend Gary Gasparov and the monster chess player Deep Blue. Both have problems; despite hordes of engineers that have been constructing that computer. Or another example... Man has 11 pieces of clothing. He doesn t know which to wear. So he let the computer calculates how many solutions he has. Computer works for 40 hours non-stop and gives out 39.916.800 options. If only one minute is needed to dress up, a man would need 76 years to try which is the most suitable combination for dinner. But a human being is a unique animal with highly developed brains; so s/he uses routine and creative processes in the brains. Upcoming information is compared to the routine patterns in the man s head and when a similar pattern is found, the problem is solved much quicker that by trying clothes for 76 years. The biggest barrier in the progress of human race is language. Different meanings are frozen into language so they force us to think of the world in a very old fashioned way. Aristotle s inclusion/exclusion logic is 2400 years old. His thesis that male species have more teeth than female is build upon recognition. He had more teeth than his two wives, and his horse had more teeth than his mare had. Of course he was wrong. The same logic is used today, and this tells us that human race have never learned how to think. The next example is based on prosecution and defense lawyer interaction. Confrontation of two people, one stating argument A and another stating argument B, does not give a chance that they would even think of compromise C or D, because they are absolutely deeply rooted in their arguments. One day a man painted his car half black and half whit. A painter asked him why he is doing something like that. The man answered: If I will have an accident, the witnesses will contradict each other. They will be right about the side of the car they saw, but wrong about the opposite side of the car. This black & white story is the showcase for why people should use the concept of lateral thinking that Dr. de Bono developed. Vertical vs Lateral Thinking Lateral thinking is in contradiction in many ways to what vertical thinking is. Despite contradictions both of them are necessary for using human mind potential. For better understanding of what lateral thinking is and how to use it, here are listed some differences between both ways of thinking, the more common, selective way of thinking, the vertical one and the generative concept of lateral thinking. The differences between both ways of thinking are fundamental. Selecting the right way forward to solution by excluding other pathways. Sequential: one moves forward one step at a time. Each step arises from the preceding step to which it is firmly connected. Once one has reached a conclusion the soundness of that conclusion is proved by the soundness of the steps by which it has been reached. One uses the negative in order to block off certain pathways. Vertical thinking follows the most likely paths. Vertical thinking is a finite process. Vertical thinking should give us an answer. Vertical thinking promises at least minimum solution. Not selective at all; seeks to open up other pathways. The steps do not have to be sequential. Lateral thinking can make jumps. One may jump ahead to a new point and then fill the gap afterwards. There is no negative. Lateral thinking explores the least likely path. Lateral thinking is a probabilistic one. Lateral should increase the chances for restructuring the patterns, for an insight solution. Lateral thinking increases the chances of maximum solution but makes no promises. Where vertical thinking has come up against black wall one would have to use lateral thinking even if the chances of success were very low. Lateral Thinking or Parallel Thinking Person A is thinking about problem A. At the same time person B is thinking about problem B. They both have the same mind process about different problems, A about A, B about B. Why wouldn t they both think of A at the same time and then both about B? So first both are thinking in one same direction, later both change their direction together. In practice this has already given enormous results, meeting time was shortened up to 1/5 or even 1/10 of usual time! Brain patterns system is asymmetrical . We should think more asymmetrical and there should be involved as little patterns as possible. The solutions will be as creative as possible. Dr. de Bono developed has 4 fundamental tools. Try then if you want to be more creative. Fundamental Tools of Lateral Thinking 1. Blocked by openness. This is technique that helps us avoid inadequate patterns and find much more effective patterns. For easier understanding here is one very successful example of using this method. In 1971 the petrol giant Shell has had significant problems with his oil platforms. While trying to pump oil they have been stopped by enormous granite rock layers in the sea ground. They were searching for a solution for weeks but haven t found one how to skip the problem, so they were thinking of moving platforms. Dr. de Bono asked them, why they wanted to move the oil platform to reach the right position above the gap in the granite layer defending access to oil. He suggested: why not just orientate the drilling head of the pumping pipe? They said that the problem was not in the pipes but in granite layers. He answered that all you had to do is to develop the kind of pipe head that can make bends. That was the ultimate solution, which prevented Shell and many others to move the sea platforms and avoid huge costs. Instead they have just modified the drilling heads and saved a lot of money. 2. Defining the basic concept. In 1971, again, NASA allocated 2.000.000 $ to solve a space problem! Their cosmonauts needed a pen that would leave ink tracks despite the fact there is no gravity. So for ink to be pressured out of the pen, they developed a space pen in which ink was pushed out by gas. This cost NASA those 2 millions dollars. When the same problem was tackled by the Russian space program, their solution was simpler: they extracted the concept. The point of this technique is to ask yourself, what the basic concept is, isolate it and take a look where can you go from there. With concept extraction they needed: something that writes in zero gravity. They used a pencil and by-passed the costs of 2.000.000$. 3. The new word PO. Provocative Operation is a very useful tool for reaching creative solutions. Usually people are ashamed to say something stupid. But if there would be a special tool that would prevent from sounding stupid, people would have said many more different and creative things. 1. The PO word helps us to say anything we want, not to sound funny. PO the factory is downstream of its output. It doesn t seem logical; to place a factory down the stream her polluted output is, but why not! Using this kind of solution in California they have reduced pollution. 2. PO word is being somewhere between yes and no, so you can use it wherever and whenever. 3. PO is helping us to create new patterns and as well it helps us to challenge old arrangements of information. 4. PO is a random word used by a chance. It helps us to move out of the usual way of thinking. 4. Using side track. Instead of taking the same (mind) ways everyday, you should experiment using different approaches. Let say driving from home, you always take the main road thought the town. But one day you car breaks down in the periphery of your town. You walk in the town and take the side road and find out that this way is much shorter than the way you have usually been taking with car. These were just few fundamental tools of lateral thinking. It is not enough that you understand them; you should use them in practice. Some people are unhappy about lateral thinking because they feel that it threatens the validity of vertical thinking. This is not so at all. The two processes are complementary not antagonistic. Lateral thinking is useful for generating new ideas and approaches; vertical thinking is useful for developing them. Lateral thinking enhances the effectiveness of vertical thinking by offering it more to select from. Vertical thinking multiplies the effectiveness of lateral thinking by making good use of ideas generated. Most of the time you might be using vertical thinking but when you need to use lateral thinking then no amount of excellence in vertical thinking will do instead. To persist with vertical thinking when one should be using lateral thinking is dangerous. You need some skills in both types of thinking. Lateral thinking is like the reverse gear in a car. You would never try to drive along in reverse gear the whole time. On the other hand you need to have it and to know how to use it for maneuverability and to get out of a blind alley. For more information, please contact: About Dr. Edward de Bono Dr. Edward de Bono is listed as one of the 250 persons who made the most significant contribution to humanity. His special contribution has been to take the mystical subject of creativity and for the first time in history, to put the subject on a solid basis. While his methods are based on a fundamental understanding of how the brain handles information, de Bono's "powerfully simple" thinking techniques can help you make good decisions, solve problems, challenge assumptions and produce practical improvement in your occupation and in life. NEW MOMENT, Creativity in all its aspects New Moment is a network of agencies for New Ideas in the territory of the New Europe. It is divided into Advertising Agency (Total Communications), PR Agency (PR & Events) and Ideas Gallery (New Moment Magazine, Ideas Campus creative workshops, BeogrAD review of creativity, and other theatre performances and art exhibitions). New Moment, Magazine for Art & Advertising was established in 1993. It got many awards for its design and production. The most famous intellectuals and artists contributed for it. 26 issues were produced so far. The subject is always connected with creativity in some form: art, photography, theatre design, design, psychology
By Daniel Hubbard \| October 16, 2011 By all accounts, Kurt was a strange man, insane eventually. He was paranoid and his life came to an end when he starved himself, fearing that he would be poisoned. Kurt was also brilliant. Not many people took their evening stroll from work at The Institute of Advanced Study with Albert Einstein. Kurt was a mathematician and produced what may be the most intriguing piece of mathematics in the last hundred years. Self-reference, a very odd thing There is a fascinating process of self-reference in complex research. Last week I mentioned using evidence against itself. Based on what we know, we find new information. That new information “sheds new light” on the old information, perhaps even proving some of that old information to be wrong. But wait, didn’t we use the old information that we apparently didn’t understand to find the new information that disproved the old? Yes, and that is where things can get a little strange if you stop to think about it. They become strange because of self-reference. When doing research we need to go back over it—make sure that the old stands up to the new. Some of the old may need to be adjusted, reinterpreted or discarded. I like to ask if, with my new understanding of the old information, would I perform the search differently? If I would, then is it possible that something more might be found with that somewhat different search? Should I look at the new evidence from a different angle? People are usually fascinated by self-reference. Children love the parallel mirrors at a barbershop. Each reflection containing a reflection of itself. I remember the first time I sang “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” with my children as a round. There was an almost stunned look on their faces. They probably only realized that it sounded good when it really shouldn’t. They couldn’t have known that what they were hearing was a melody that contains its own harmony within itself. Perhaps the most famous example of self-reference is the liar’s paradox. There are many ways to formulate it. Here is one “This sentence is a lie.” Clearly, if the statement is true then it says it is a lie, which means it is, by definition, false making it a lie and therefore true… and down the rabbit hole we go. Research often needs to loop back upon itself many times, narrowing in on correct answers or reaching a contradiction that says, “time to rethink this.” The data allows us to form a hypothesis. A hypothesis helps us to understand the data and gather new data. The new data may change the hypothesis and alter our understanding of the old data. Often getting to the truth in research is a process of using new results to analyze their own origins. Genealogist don’t normally run the risk of falling down some rabbit hole of paradoxes but we do need to know how research works. It can be a simple linear process if the records are almost perfect and the digging doesn’t go too deep. If the records are poor or the digging very deep and detailed, then there is a need to go back over what we think we know. Does an old conclusion need changing? Would an old search done with new knowledge have yielded different results? Where do those results lead and what do they have to say about our old information and conclusions? I think one of the joys of complicated research is to constantly discover, reevaluate, discover more and go on, aware that there will be limits to what one can know yet having the privileged of pushing those limits. Back to Kurt The liar’s paradox actually brings us back to Kurt Gödel. In the early twentieth century some mathematicians thought that they were on the verge of being able to derive the theory of numbers from a few basic statements (axioms) and formal logic. The feeling had been that mathematics could do many amazing things but that its foundations were weak and contradictions and inadequacies were being found. Think of the Taj Mahal balanced on toothpicks. That is how they saw things at the time. Slowly but surely, some mathematicians began the work of establishing the formal foundations of mathematics. Kurt Gödel proved that any mathematical system that was rich enough to be used for carrying out arithmetic could be turned back against itself using something like the liar’s paradox. He found a way to show that you could always form the mathematical equivalent of the statement “This statement is not provable.” If it is false then it is provable, and a provable statement that is false is a contradiction, a very bad thing in mathematics. So, it must be true, except that then it is, according to itself, not provable, so we have a true statement that cannot be proven—exactly the problem that people had hoped to avoid. Self-reference, at least in number theory, won the day. Mathematics didn’t fall down the rabbit hole but the hope had been that there was no rabbit hole at all. A Migratory Aside There is a much more concrete reason that Kurt Gödel is genealogically interesting. He was born in what was then Austria. He lived out much of his life in Princeton. He and his wife arrived in the U.S. via California, an odd place to arrive for a couple leaving Austria for New Jersey. In this case history is the key to a very odd migration route. By 1940, Nazi Germany had annexed Austria, conquered Poland and was at war with England and France. The North Atlantic was a very dangerous place. However, Germany and the Soviet Union had cooperated on the partition of Poland and there was still peace and safety in the east. As an academic living in Vienna, Kurt naturally had many Jewish associates and that was enough for life to become very uncomfortable. He and his wife, Adele, reached Moscow, took the Transsiberian Railroad across Russia and eventually boarded a boat in Yokohama, Japan. There was still peace in the Pacific and the couple arrived safely in California. By the time they reached New Jersey, they had traveled three-fourths of the way around the world. Knowing the history makes the bizarre quite reasonable.Twitter It!
(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images UNDATED (CNN) -- "F as in Fat", that's the name of a new report on the future of America's waistline. The study conducted by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation uses government data on obesity to make predictions about our weight in coming years. This year Mississippi topped the Centers for Disease Control list of chunkiest states, with a nearly 35-percent adult obesity rate. But according to the new report, by 2030, 13 states could have obesity rates over 60-percent. Some experts question the accuracy of this weighty research saying it is difficult to predict future weight trends accurately. The report proposes to put America on a weight-loss challenge saying if all adults reduced their body mass index by 5-percent, states could save billions of dollars on health care.
Sleep not resting on eight-hour pattern 'The body seems to have a way of adjusting to the amount of sleep we require.' Photo: Jessica Hromas SLAVISH adherents to the eight-hours-a-night sleep rule can relax; new research suggests we all have our own sleep patterns that change according to how much shut-eye we get. For the first time, a team from the University of Sydney has been able to track people's nightly sleep patterns, finding sleep naturally increases and decreases throughout the week. ''The body seems to have a way of adjusting the amount of sleep we require,'' study leader Chin Moi Chow said. ''If you incur a sleep debt, your body will signal a need to catch up on extra sleep.'' Her study found each person had a different sleep cycle, with some taking only a couple of days to catch up, and some taking up to 18 days. Unlike some previous research, Dr Chow did not find the participants made up for lost sleep at the weekend. Rather, her study's 13 young men, who had their sleep measured over two weeks using a measurement device worn on their arms, made up the sleep at different times, getting up to two hours more sleep on some nights than others. This suggested the timing of individual cycles was intrinsic rather than something each person chose, she wrote in the journal Nature and Science of Sleep. The president of the Australasian Sleep Association, Shantha Rajaratnam, said the study suggested the body has an ongoing mechanism for dealing with the amount of sleep we get. ''Over time, it is like you are withdrawing money from the bank, you build up a debt, but eventually, you have to pay back that debt, and after that you can start withdrawing again,'' he said. But he warned it would be dangerous for people to assume they no longer needed eight hours each night.
Art by Mark Hallett Oviraptor has a reputation it doesn't deserve. Discovered in 1923 in the Gobi in Mongolia, its first known fossil lay on a nest of fossil eggs thought to belong to Protoceratops. Scientists called the toothless, beaked theropod "egg thief," assuming it had been stealing from Protoceratops nests. What's wrong with this picture? Everything, says evidence from the past decade. "Now we know Oviraptor was brooding its own eggs," says Catherine Forster, a paleontologist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. "Paleontologists have found several more Oviraptors squatting over similar nests, with their forearms spread protectively around the nest just like birds." The clincher? Eggs from some nests in the group held 80-million-year-old Oviraptor embryos.
Another supermoon will illuminate the night sky Saturday, but how extraordinary are they really? Not very, according to astronomer Paul Mortfield, but he said that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take a look at the extra-bright moon and take a moment to marvel at the night sky. A “supermoon is not really anything new, [but] the phrase is new. It’s been around for a couple of years because, again, every year that we have full moons some are a little bit closer and some are a little bit further away from us but not by much,” said Mortfield, chair of the committee that runs the David Dunlap Observatory north of Toronto. “It’s only about a 10 per cent difference but the difference is that somebody decided to call it a super moon and again it’s a great opportunity to go out and look up at the sky.” The term “supermoon” spiked in newspaper coverage in March of 2011, when media collectively started covering the semi-annual astronomical phenomenon using the catchy word. Supermoons are more formally known as “perigee moons” and they occur when the moon’s elliptical orbit comes closest to earth. The result is an extra-large, extra-bright moon, especially when it’s rising over the horizon and balloons before the naked eye. If the night is clear, the moon will appear extra luminescent all Saturday night, Mortfield said, despite the fact the true “spike” occurs at 2:09 p.m. EST on Sunday, during peak daylight in Canada. That said, Saturday’s super moon may be even more spectacular than normal as the moon will be even closer than it was in July: about 1,200 kilometres nearer to earth. But there is a downside for stargazers as well, as the annual Perseid meteor shower collides with the super-bright moon, which means the annual display of shooting stars will largely be drowned out. The big ones will still sparkle across the sky for those who are patient enough to wait, Mortfield said. “The great thing about the hype of a supermoon is it gets people out to go look at the full moon and look up at the sky and wonder about what’s going on in the universe,” said Mortfield, who returned to Canada to help run the Dunlap Observatory after two decades working in California for Standford University and NASA. The observatory is not running an event for the supermoon or the meteor shower but its usual programming will run as scheduled.
Copyright (c) Arvin S. Quist INTRODUCTION TO CLASSIFICATION THE NEED FOR CLASSIFICATION A government is responsible for the survival of the nation and its people. To ensure that survival, a government must sometimes stringently control certain information that (1) gives the nation a significant advantage over adversaries or (2) prevents adversaries from having an advantage that could significantly damage the nation. Governments protect that special information by classifying it; that is, by giving it a special designation, such as "Secret," and then restricting access to it (e.g., by need-to-know requirements and physical security measures). This right of a government to keep certain information concerning national security (secrets) from most of the nation's citizens is nearly universally accepted. Since antiquity, governments have protected information that gave them an advantage over adversaries. In wartime, when a nation's survival is at stake, the reasons for secrecy are most apparent, the secrecy restrictions imposed by the government are most widespread,[] and acceptance of those restrictions by the citizens is broadest.[†] In peacetime, there are fewer reasons for secrecy in government, generally the government classifies less information, and citizens are less willing to accept security restrictions on information. MAJOR AREAS OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION The information that is classified by most democracies, whether in peacetime or wartime, is usually limited to information that concerns the nation's defense or its foreign relations--military and diplomatic information. Most of that information falls within five major areas: (1) military operations, (2) weapons technology, (3) diplomatic activities, (4) intelligence activities, and (5) cryptology. The latter two areas might be considered to be special parts of the first three areas. That is, intelligence and cryptology are "service" functions for the primary areas--military operations, weapons technology, and diplomatic activities. From a historical perspective, the classification of weapons technology became widespread only in the 20th century. Classification of information about military operations and diplomatic activities has been practiced for millennia. Examples of military-operations information that is frequently classified include information concerning the strength and deployment of forces, troop movements, ship sailings, the location and timing of planned attacks, tactics and strategy, and supply logistics. Obviously, if an enemy learned the major details of an impending attack, that attack would be less successful than if it came as a surprise to the enemy. Information possessed by a government about an adversary's military activities or capabilities must be protected to preserve the ability to predict those activities or to neutralize those capabilities. If the adversary knew that the government had this information, the adversary would change those plans or capabilities. Military-operations information is usually classified for only a limited time. After an operation is over, most of the important information is known to the enemy. Weapons technology is classified to preserve the advantage of surprise in the first use of a new weapon,† to prevent an adversary from developing effective countermeasures against a new weapon,‡ or to prevent an adversary from using that technology against its originator (by developing a similar weapon). A major factor in that latter reason for classifying weapons technology is "lead time." Classifying advanced weapons-technology information prevents an adversary from using that information to shorten the time required to produce similar weapons systems for its own use. Consequently, assuming continued advancements in a weapons technology by the initial developer of that technology, the adversary's weapons systems will not be as effective as those of the nation that initially developed that technology, and the adversary will be at a disadvantage. With respect to lead time, when weapons systems can be significantly improved, then information on "obsolete" weapons is much less sensitive than information on newer weapons. Thus, information on muzzle-loading rifle technology was not as sensitive as that on breech-loading rifle technology, which was not as sensitive as information on lever-action rifle technology, . . . semiautomatic rifle . . . automatic rifle . . . machine gun. However, with respect to nuclear weapons, a "rogue" nation or terrorist group can probably achieve its objectives just as easily with "crude" kiloton nuclear weapons that might require a ship or truck to transport as with sophisticated megaton nuclear weapons that might fit into a (large) suitcase. Thus, "obsolete" nuclear-weapons technology should be continue to be protected, especially with respect to technologies concerning production of highly enriched uranium or other nuclear-weapon materials. Weapons technology includes scientific and technical information related to that technology. World War I marked the start of the "modern" period when science and technology affected the development of weapons systems to a greater degree than any time previously. That interrelationship became even more pronounced in World War II, with notable scientific and technological successes: the atomic bomb, radar, and the proximity fuse. World War II, particularly with respect to the atomic bomb, marked the first time that the progress of military technology was significantly influenced by scientists, as contrasted to advances by engineers or by scientists working as engineers. With respect to classification, the more that applied scientific or technical information is uniquely applicable to weapons, the more likely that this information will be classified. Generally, basic research is not classified unless it represents a major breakthrough leading to a completely new weapons system. An example of that circumstance was the rigid classification during World War II, and for several years thereafter, of much basic scientific research related to atomic energy (nuclear weapons). The need for secrecy in diplomatic negotiations and relations has long been recognized. A nation's ability to obtain favorable terms in negotiations with other countries would be diminished if its negotiating strategy and goals were known in advance to the other countries.* The effectiveness of military-assistance agreements between nations would be impaired if an adversary knew of them and could plan to neutralize them. In New York Times v. United States, the "Pentagon Papers" case, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stewart recognized the importance of secrecy in foreign policy and national defense matters: It is elementary that the successful conduct of international diplomacy and the maintenance of an effective national defense requires both confidentiality and secrecy. Other nations can hardly deal with this Nation in an atmosphere of mutual trust unless they know that their confidences will be kept . . .. In the area of basic national defense the frequent need for absolute secrecy is, of course, self evident. During the term of the first president, it was established that some need for secrecy in diplomatic matters would remain even after negotiations were completed. President Washington, in 1796, refused a request by the House of Representatives for documents prepared for treaty negotiations with U.S. and gave the following as one reason for refusal: England The nature of foreign negotiations requires caution, and their success must often depend on secrecy; and even when brought to a conclusion a full disclosure of all the measures, demands, or eventual concessions which may have been proposed or contemplated would be extremely impolitic; for this might have a pernicious influence on future negotiations, or produce immediate inconvenience, perhaps danger and mischief, in relation to other powers. It has been said that President Nixon initially was not going to attempt to stop the New York Times and other newspapers from publishing the "Pentagon Papers." However, the executive branch was then in secret diplomatic negotiations with , and Henry Kissinger "is said to have persuaded the president that the Chinese wouldn't continue their secret parleys if they saw that China couldn't keep its secrets." Washington Intelligence information includes information gathering and covert operations. Collecting military and diplomatic information about other nations involves the use of photoreconnaissance airplanes and satellites, communication intercepts, the review of documents obtained openly, and other overt methods. However, information gathering also includes the use of undercover agents, confidential sources, and other covert methods. For those covert activities, secrecy is usually imposed on the identity of agents or sources, on information about intelligence methods and capabilities, and on much of the information received from the covert sources. Few clandestine agents could be recruited (or, in some instances, would live long) if their identity were not a closely guarded secret. Information provided by a clandestine agent must frequently be classified because, if a government knew that some of its information was compromised, it might be able to determine the identity of the person (agent) who provided the information to its adversary. Successful intelligence-gathering methods must be protected so that the adversary does not know the degree of their success and is not stimulated to develop countermeasures to stop the flow of information. Intelligence information from friendly nations is generally classified by the recipient country. Allies would be less willing to share intelligence information if they knew that it would not be protected against disclosure. Cryptology encompasses methods to code and transmit secret messages and methods to intercept and decode messages. Writing messages in code, or cryptography,* has been practiced for thousands of years. One of the earliest preserved texts of a coded message is an inscription carved on an Egyptian tomb in about 1900 B.C. The earliest known pottery glaze formula was written in code on a Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet in about 1500 B.C. The Spartans established a system of military cryptography by the 5th century B.C. Persia later used cryptography for political purposes. Cryptography began its steady development in western civilization starting about the 13th century, primarily in . By the early 16th century, Italy 's ruling Council of Ten had an elaborate organization for enciphering and deciphering messages. Venice Restrictions on cryptologic information are necessary to protect communications. Diplomatic negotiations could not successfully be conducted at locations other than the seat of government if safe communications could not be established. Cryptologic information must also be protected to prevent an adversary from learning of a nation's capabilities to intercept and decode messages. If an adversary learns that its communications are not secure, it will use another method, which will require additional time and effort to defeat.[‡] The Allies' World War II success in breaking the German codes contributed to shortening that war. That success was kept secret until 1974, about 34 years after the German code had been broken and about 29 years after World War II had ended. The U.S. Army's success in breaking a World War II U.S.S.R. code (the Venona project, which began in 1943 and continued until 1980) was not made public until about 1995. That was about 50 years after the first such message had been deciphered (and about 45 years after the U.S.S.R. had learned through espionage of the Army's success). U.S. BASIS FOR CLASSIFICATION IN THE UNITED STATES The need for governmental secrecy was directly recognized in the U.S. Constitution. Article I, Sect. 5, of the Constitution explicitly authorizes secrecy in government by stating that "Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as in their Judgment require Secrecy." Also included in the Constitution, in Article I, Sect. 9, is a statement that "a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time." A U.S. Court of Appeals has determined that the phrase "from time to time" was intended to authorize expenditures for certain military or foreign relations matters that were intended to be kept secret for a time. The Constitution does not explicitly provide for secrecy by the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. However, the authority of that Executive Branch to keep certain information secret from most citizens is implicit in its executive responsibilities, which include the national defense and foreign relations. This presidential authority has been upheld by the Supreme Court in a number of cases. Judicial decisions have also relied on a common-law privilege for a government to withhold information concerning national defense and foreign relations. Congress, by two statutes, the Freedom of Information Act and the Internal Security Act of 1950, has implicitly recognized the president's authority to classify information (see Chapter 3). U.S. At this time in the , information is classified either by presidential authority, currently Executive Order 12958, or by statute, the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (Atomic Energy Act). Classification under Executive Orders and under the Atomic Energy Act is extensively discussed in Chapters 3 and 4, respectively. United States CLASSIFICATION AND SECURITY Classification has been variously described as the "cornerstone" of national security, the "mother" of security, and the "kingpin" of an information security system.,,, Classification identifies the information that must be protected against unauthorized disclosure. Security determines how to protect information after it is classified. Security includes both personnel security and physical security. The initial classification determination, establishing what should not be disclosed to adversaries and the level of protection required, is probably the most important single factor in the security of all classified projects and programs., None of the expensive personnel-clearance and information-control provisions (physical security aspects) of an information security system comes into effect until information has been classified; classification is the pivot on which the whole subsequent security system turns (excluding security for other reasons, such as to prevent theft of materials). 19 Therefore, it is important to classify only information that truly warrants protection in the interest of national security. Since the mid 1970s, several classification experts have remarked on the increasing emphasis by some government agencies on physical-security matters, which has been accompanied by a decreased emphasis on the classification function. One of the founders (and the first chairman) of the National Classification Management Society (NCMS), who was also an Atomic Energy Commission Contractor Classification Officer, has expressed concern about the tendency to emphasize the word "security" at the expense of the word "classification" with respect to security classification of information.17 In the mid 1980s another charter member of the NCMS pointed out that, although the status of classification still remained high in the Department of Energy (DOE), the situation had changed within the Department of Defense, where Classification Management had been organizationally placed under Security. Even the NCMS, founded as a classification organization, appears to be changing to become increasingly oriented towards security matters rather than classification matters. It is noteworthy that the marked emphasis by the U.S. Government in recent years on physical-security measures has not been accompanied by any significant increased emphasis on classification matters. The previous paragraph was written in 1989, and the trend described in that paragraph has continued. The classification function at DOE headquarters is now a part of the security organization as is the classification function at many DOE operations offices and DOE-contractor organizations. That function generally used to be part of a technical or other non-security organization. The NCMS has also continued to become more security-oriented. With respect to classification as a profession (or lack of recognition thereof), it is interesting to note some comments and a recommendation in the Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy. In this 1997 report, that Commission noted the "all-important initial decision of whether to classify at all," and that "this first step of the classification management process . . . tends to be the weakest link in the process of identifying, marking, and then protecting the information." The Commission further stated that "the importance of the initial decision to classify cannot be overstated." However, the Commission then stated that "classification and declassification policy and oversight . . . should be viewed primarily as information management issues which require personnel with subject matter and records management expertise." Although recommending that "The Federal Government . . . [should] create, support, and promote an information systems security career field within the Government," the Commission made no similar recommendation for security classification of information as a profession or career. Res ipsa loquitur. [] "When a nation is at war many things that might be said in time of peace are such a hindrance to its effort that their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight and that no Court could regard them as protected by any constitutional right" [Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47, 52 (1919) (J. Holmes)]. [†] Since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, the United States considers itself to be in a war against terrorism. One consequence has been a significant shift in opinion, not only of the general public but also of some strong supporters of freedom-of-information matters, towards favoring more control of information that might aid terrorists. This increased control, especially pertaining to weapons of mass destruction, includes (1) establishing broader criteria for identifying information that is classified or "sensitive"; (2) permitting reclassification of declassified information, and (3) restricting further governmental distribution of documents already released to the public. However, during the Greek and Roman eras in the Mediterranean, when the infantry was paramount and both sides were approximately equally equipped with respect to weapons, many battles were fought without attempts to maintain secrecy of troop movements or with respect to surprise attacks (B. and F. M. Brodie, From Crossbow to H-Bomb, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Ind., 1973, p. 17). †"Secret" weapons have proven decisive in warfare. One example of the decisive impact of a new weapon was at the battle of Crecy in 1346. At this battle, the English used their "secret" weapon, the longbow, to defeat the French decisively. Although the French had a two-to-one superiority in numbers (about 40,000 to 20,000), the French lost about 11,500 men, while the English lost only about 100 men (W. S. Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Vol. 1, Dodd, Mead and Co., New York, 1961, pp. 332-351; B. and F. M. Brodie, From Crossbow to H-Bomb, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Ind., 1973, pp. 37-40). ‡In World War II, the Germans developed an acoustic torpedo designed to home in on a ship's propellers. However, the Allies obtained advance information about this torpedo so that when it was first used by the Germans, countermeasures were already in place (B. and F. M. Brodie, From Crossbows to H-Bombs, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Ind., 1973, p. 222). In 1921, the United States, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan held a conference to limit their naval armaments. The United States had broken Japan's diplomatic code and thereby knew the lowest naval armaments that Japan would accept. Therefore, U.S. negotiators had merely to wait out Japan's negotiators to reach terms favorable to the United States (J. Bamford, The Puzzle Palace, Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1982, pp. 9-10). The breaking of codes is termed cryptanalysis. [‡] Even "friendly" nations get upset if they know that one of their codes has been broken. As noted earlier in this chapter, the United States deciphered Japan's diplomatic code in 1921. Herbert O. Yardley, who was principally responsible for breaking this code, wrote a book, The American Black Chamber, published in 1931, which included information on this matter. Yardley's book did not contribute to developing friendly United States-Japanese relations. A consequence of this revelation was enactment of a U.S. statute that made it a crime for anyone who, by virtue of his employment by the United States, obtained access to a diplomatic code or a message in such code and published or furnished to another such code or message, "or any matter which was obtained while in the process of transmission between any foreign government and its diplomatic mission in the United States" (48 Stat. 122, June 10, 1933, codified at 18 U.S.C. Sect. 952.) B. and F. M. Brodie, From Crossbow to H-Bomb, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Ind., 1973, p. 172. Hereafter this book is cited as "Brodie." Brodie, p. 233. New York Times v. United States, 403 U.S. 713, 728 (1971). J. D. Richardson, A Compilation of Messages and Papers of the Presidents. 1789-1897, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., Vol. I, at 194-195 (1896). Richard Gid Powers, "Introduction," in Secrecy--The American Experience, by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn., 1998, p. 32. D. Kahn, The Codebreakers, MacMillan, Inc., New York, 1967, p. 71. Hereafter cited as "Kahn." Kahn, p. 75. Kahn, p. 82. Kahn, p. 86. Kahn, p. 106. Kahn, p. 109. See, for example, F. W. Winterbotham, The Ultra Secret, Harper & Row, New York, 1974. Halperin v. CIA, 629 F.2d 144, 154-162 (D.C. Cir., 1980). U.S. Constitution, Article II, sect. 2. See, for example, Totten v. United States, 92 U.S. 105 (1875); United States v. Reynolds, 345 U.S. 1 (1952); Weinberger v. Catholic Action of Hawaii, 454 U.S. 139 (1981). F. E. Rourke, Secrecy and Publicity: Dilemmas of Democracy, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1961, pp. 63-64. D. B. Woodbridge, "Footnotes," J. Natl. Class. Mgmt. Soc. 12 (2), 120-124 (1977), p.122. R. J. Boberg, "Panel--Classification Management Today," J. Natl. Class. Mgmt. Soc. 5 (2), 56-60 (1969), p. 57. E. J. Suto, "History of Classification," J. Natl. Class. Mgmt. Soc. 12 (1), 9-17 (1976), p.13. James J. Bagley, "NCMS - Now and the Future," J. Natl. Class. Mgmt. Soc. 25, 20-29 (1989), p. 28. T. S. Church, "Panel--Science and Technology, and Classification Management," J. Natl. Class. Mgmt. Soc. 2, 39-45 (1966), p. 40. W. N. Thompson, "Security Classification Management Coordination Between Industry and DOD," J. Natl. Class. Mgmt. Soc. 4 (2), 121-128 (1969), p. 121. W. N. Thompson, "User Agency Security Classification Management and Program Security," J. Natl. Class. Mgmt. Soc. 8, 52-53 (1972), p. 52. Department of Defense Handbook for Writing Security Classification Guidance, DoD 5200.1-H, U.S. Department of Defense, Mar. 1986, p. 1-1. F. J. Daigle, "Woodbridge Award Acceptance Remarks," J. Natl. Class. Mgmt. Soc. 21, 110-112 (1985), p. 111. D. C. Richardson, "Management or Enforcement," J. Natl. Class. Mgmt. Soc. 23, 13-20 (1987). Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy, S. Doc. 105-2, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Chairman; Larry Combest, Vice Chairman, Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1997. Hereafter cited as the "Moynihan Report." Moynihan Report, p. 19. Moynihan Report, p. 35. Moynihan Report, p. 44. Moynihan Report, p. 111.
On 13th April 2010, Maryland’s Governor Martin O’Malley signed into law, Senate Bill 690, making Maryland the first US state to legally recognise a new corporate entity, the ‘Benefit Corporation’. While traditional corporation’s primary purpose is dictated by its fiduciary duty to shareholders, which means maximising shareholder profit, benefit corporations have a wider business mandate for social and environmental benefit. The terms ‘Benefit Corporation’ and ‘B-Corp’ are not interchangeable. While both seek to benefit society and the environment, the Benefit Corporation legal entity is completely separate and distinct from B-Corp certification. As of mid 2015, there are 28 states that have followed Maryland’s lead in enacting Benefit Corporation legislation, with over 1550 registered Benefit Corporations in the USA, of which 81 are situated in Maryland and 14 other states are looking at implementation.
Mubarak Al-Sabah : The Foundation of Kuwait Üye Girişi yapın, temin süresi ve fiyatını size bildirelim. Üye Girişi yapın, sizi bu ürün stoklarımıza girdiğinde bilgilendirelim. Temin süremiz 28 - 42 iş günü Yayıncı I.B. Tauris ( 04 / 2014 ) ISBN 9781780764542 \| Ciltli \| 16x24x3,4 cm. \| İngilizce \| 304 Sayfa \| Türler Politika - Dünya Amidst political upheaval and the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the State of Kuwait emerged as an independent country under British protection in 1899, with Sheikh Mubarak Al Sabah widely accredited as the instrument of its foundation. But the path to power for Mubarak was not a simple or smooth one. The author here presents an original perspective on the difficulties and controversies surrounding Mubarak's ascension. With unparalleled insights and access to original sources she reveals the life, personality and politics of a man who, determined to secure a distinctive Kuwaiti state, helped to shape the modern Middle East. This biography provides a comprehensive overview of a time of significant political and social change in the Gulf when development, diplomacy, economics, finance and trade were both routes to political independence
Above: Cherry blossoms and the Jefferson Memorial, photo by Michael Foley (Flickr). Spring in D.C. is traditionally marked by the blooming of the cherry trees that line the Tidal Basin and the Cherry Blossom Festival that marks the occasion. Beyond their aesthetic appeal, the cherry trees represent a long relationship with the government of Japan dating back to the original gift of 2000 trees from the City of Tokyo in 1910. Unfortunately those 2,000 trees arrived diseased and had to be burned to prevent the spread of the insects. However, private donors and the First Lady Helen Taft continued to support the planting of cherry trees in DC. Dr Jukichi Takamine, who had funded the original gift, again put up money for the purchase of the trees (the company he founded, Daiichi Sankyo is still a sponsor today). Taken from a variety of cherry trees lining the Arakawa River in Tokyo, 3,020 cuttings (or “scions”) arrived for planting in 1912. Although the planting was marked with a ceremony involving First Lady Helen Taft and Viscountess Chinda (wife of the Japanese Ambassador), the first true Cherry Blossom Festival did not occur until 1935. Since that time, the gift has been reciprocated several times, as clippings from the DC cherry trees have been sent back to Japan to repair damage (from World War II and other incidents of flooding) to trees that line the Arakawa River. Starting in 1997, the United States National Arboretum has helped to take clippings from the original 1912 cherry trees in order to preserve their genetic heritage. From 2002-2006, 400 trees bred from those clipping were planted to preserve the integrity of the grove. The cherry trees have also been a site of protest over the years. In 1938, women chained themselves to the trees to protest the building of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial (which necessitated the cutting of some of the trees). The issue was resolved when the government promised to re-plant new trees. During World War II, four cherry trees were cut down on December 11th, in what was suspected to be a retaliatory protest against the Japanese following Pearl Harbor. The trees were renamed “Oriental” instead of “Japanese” for the duration of WWII in order to prevent further attacks. The trees have become a central symbol of Washington DC and draw over a million tourists each year. There are dozens of events throughout the Festival that incorporate many local communities and groups. This year’s festival marks the 99th anniversary of the original planting and plans are already being developed for a centennial celebration next year. - National Park Service “History of the Cherry Trees”, http://nps.gov/cherry/cherry-blossom-history.htm Click here to read more about the history of the cherry blossoms on the National Museum of American History Blog, O Say Can You See?
Frequently Asked Questions about Vaccine Recalls Vaccines go through years of testing before and after they are approved for use. Sometimes a vaccine or a particular lot (batch) of vaccine may be withdrawn or recalled from doctor's offices, clinics, hospitals, and other places permitted to administer vaccines. Many types of products, including cars, toys, and food products, are sometimes recalled temporarily or withdrawn permanently from the market because they don't work properly or could pose a safety hazard. Similarly, vaccines or vaccine lots can also be withdrawn or recalled. Vaccine recalls or withdrawals are almost always voluntary by the manufacturer. Only in rare cases will the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) request a recall. But in every case, FDA's role is to oversee a manufacturer's strategy and assess the adequacy of the recall. There have been only a few vaccine recalls or withdrawals, most due to concerns about the vaccine's effectiveness, not its safety. When the strength of a vaccine lot has been recalled, those vaccines may not produce an immune response that is strong enough to protect against disease. Although those vaccines may not be effective, they are still safe. Vaccines are tested carefully and monitored continuously before and after they are licensed for use. If a vaccine lot is found to be unsafe, the FDA recalls it immediately. Your doctor should notify you if a vaccine given to you or your child is recalled. When a recalled product has been widely distributed, the news media often reports on the recall. Not all recalls are announced in the media, but all recalls are listed in FDA's weekly Enforcement Reports. See a list of vaccines that have been recalled in the past few years. Most vaccine recalls are due to low vaccine potency or strength. When the strength of a vaccine lot is lower than it should be, vaccines from the lot might not produce an immune response that is strong enough to protect against disease. Therefore, the people who were vaccinated with a recalled vaccine may need to be vaccinated again to ensure they are protected against the disease. CDC, FDA, the National Institutes of Health, and other federal agencies monitor vaccine safety and investigate any possible problems with the safety of vaccines. The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) accepts reports from the public about possible problems following vaccination. The FDA reviews reports weekly and closely monitors reporting trends for individual vaccine lots.
Peripheral Vision by Zabet Patterson is one of the books that I recently bought to learn more about the origins of computer animation and more specifically, computer art. This book focuses on the collaboration between artists and engineers at Bell Labs, and how they used the SC4020 peripheral device to pioneer computer art in the 1960s and 1970s. For a book about art and history, I found it a bit lacking in imagery so I’ve looked up many of the people and objects that are described and added some images and videos throughout my notes. Bell Labs was home to some of the most significant breakthroughs in science and engineering from the the 1920s to the 1980s. In the 1960s, some of the most interesting works at the intersection of art, science and technology were created with the Stromberg-Carlson 4020 at its Murray Hill campus. The SC4020, also known as the Stromberg-Carlson Microfilm Recorder, was a peripheral device for use with mainframe computers such as the IBM 7090 or 7094. It was based upon the Charactron, a CRT screen, originally developed in the 1950s for the US Department of Defense for a computerized air defense system called SAGE. The Charactron had a cathode ray tube with shaped-beam technology and could display vectors and characters, and had a high refresh rate to allow air force specialist to track airplanes in real time. In 1959, Stromberg-Carlson built the SC4020, a computer-controlled microfilm printer and plotter, that consisted of the Charactron screen and an automatic operated camera enclosed in a light-tight compartment. It accepted instructions from the mainframe computer via magnetic tapes. This was not a cheap machine. It cost approximately $325,000 and the IBM 7094 to which it was frequently attached cost $3.5 million dollars. Running the SC4020 cost approximately $500 per minute of output. Collaboration betweens artists and engineers was spurred through an initiative called Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.). Artists that were invited to the Bell Labs campus were able to access equipment that was far more expensive than anything they could afforded by themselves. In 1963, Dr. Edward E. Zajac produced one of the first computer generated films at Bell Labs called Simulation of a Two-Gyro Gravity-Gradient Attitude Control System. Zajac was interested in visualizing the motion and orientation of an orbiting communication satellite. Sudden and dramatic changes in viewpoint could be achieved easily with computer animation, because the essence of computer film lies in numerical input rather than optical registrations of a physical camera. Previously, the computer would print out numbers of the satellite orientation at successive instants in time and an animator would elaborately compute perspective drawings by hand. A single basic program can generate far more than a single film, it makes possible a whole family of films. This program can be stored as a subroutine and called up as necessary as part of a film. Zajac’s film was made possible, in part, by the creation of such a subroutine by Dr. Frank W. Sinden. Sinden used this to create an educational film called Force, Mass and Motion that illustrates Newton’s basic laws. Most sequences in this film were made by a single programme of around sixty instructions, together with a dozen or so subprogrammes of five or ten instructions each. The subprogrammes would be responsible for drawing circles, drawing arrows, specifying the law of attraction and controlling the camera. These programs were written in Fortan (Formula Translation), an imperative programming language created by IBM in the 1950s for scientific and engineering applications and an early high-level computer programming language. In 1965, the Howard Wise Gallery in New York held the first exhibition of digital art in the United States titled Computer-Generated Pictures and showcased work by scientists Dr. A. Michael Noll and Dr. Béla Julesz. Art critics did not know what to make of it and not a single work was sold. Noll unexpectedly decided to investigate computer art, after a computer-generated data graph had gone haywire because of a programming error and the result resembled a modern abstract painting. Noll was interested in restricting the chaotic effects of purely random number distribution with a sort of pseudo-randomness that was calculated to generate a pleasing appearance. The tension between control and disarray carries through a number of Noll’s works. Some of his early works can be found on his website. Béla Julesz used the digital computer and microfilm printer for his work in perceptual science. The general understanding of stereopsis, the visual perception of a three-dimensional world, was that it could only occur after monocular recognition. Julesz proved that stereopsis can and does occur in the complete absence of monocular form using random-dot stereograms. The random-dot stereograms were created with the computer that generated sets of random patterns that consisted of various characters from the Charactron screen, for producing different brightness levels. It is one of the earliest, if not the first, example of ASCII art. The original picture was scanned into the computer and divided into approximately 5000 points. For each point, the brightness level was read and a small square pattern that consisted of the SC4020 characters to replicate a level grayscale was chosen. Nude had 8 possible brightness levels, and for each level one of two random patterns would be selected. The Poemfields animations were made using the SC4020, an IBM 7094 mainframe and Knowlton’s TARPS language (Two-D Alphanumeric Raster Picture System). TARPS was based on the computer animation programming language BEFLIX (Bell Flicks) that Knowlton created in 1963. The series was named in reference to the Charactron screen, which VanDerBeek viewed as a mosaic field that orchestrated letters and characters. The Charactron could not produce delicate curving lines, but grids, gradients and blocks could be created using specific letters. The numbers and letters were overlaid with hand-painted blocks of color. Lillian Schwartz made some of the most important computer art of the 1970s at Bell Labs with Kenneth Knowlton. She was taught how to use the computer and although she found the process of waiting for 2 or 3 days between the tedious keyboard work and final output frustrating, she recognized the potential of a non-real time apparatus that afforded for both error and the wonder of surprise. She used this “blindness” to her advantage and created generative films with effects that were unpredictable for the viewer, similar to the process of the creation itself. Her first computer-animated film was Pixillation (1970) were she combined computer animation with film animation, processing and coloration. Other films that she created with the SC4020 were UFO’s (1971), ENIGMA (1972) and GOOGOLPLEX (1972), which can be viewed on her website.
Aims and Objectives The department supports the aims of the school, in particular: - to pursue academic excellence - to create an excitement and curiosity about the past, and an interest in learning about it for its own sake. - to develop a sense of chronology - to use and develop understanding of different types of evidence as part of historical enquiry. - to develop opinions, argue a case and make informed judgements based on evidence, always bearing in mind that historical verdicts are provisional and challengeable. - to use imagination, especially in writing about history and interpreting it. - to encourage openness and responsiveness, and specifically to develop a healthily critical attitude towards historical documents and other evidence. - to encourage tolerance (religious, cultural and political), and diversity by learning of the history of other social groups, societies and cultures. To ensure that students taking CE or Scholarship exams are sufficiently prepared. By the age of 7 (end Key Stage 1) students should be able to : 1) Understand ideas of 'past', 'present' and 'future' 2) Understand that there are many types of historical evidence 3) Distinguish between legend and myth, and between real events and people 4) Talk and write about the past factually and empathetically. 5) Use evidence to ask and answer questions. By the age of 11 (end Key Stage 2) students should be able to : 1) Understand that evidence about the past may be interpreted in different ways 2) Write imaginatively about the past without obvious anachronism 3) Explain the reasons for actions and events in the past 4) Compare and contrast features of past and present society 5) Distinguish between a primary and secondary source. By the age of 13 students should be able to : 1) Be aware of, and be able to evaluate differing judgements about the past 2) Be aware of multi-causation eg local, national, long term and short term 3) Understand the main reasons for and results of major events 4) Use a variety of historical sources to produce a detailed, structured narrative.
Approximate extent of East Iranian languages in the 1st century BC is shown in orange. \|Regions with significant populations\| \|Related ethnic groups\| The Sarmatians (Latin: Sarmatæ or Sauromatæ, Greek: Σαρμάται, Σαυρομάται) were an Iranian people of the classical antiquity period, flourishing from about the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD. They spoke Scythian, an Indo-European language from the Eastern Iranian family. Their territory, which was known as Sarmatia to Greco-Roman ethnographers, corresponded to the western part of greater Scythia (mostly modern Ukraine and Southern Russia, also to a smaller extent north eastern Balkans around Moldova). At their greatest reported extent, around 100 BC, these tribes ranged from the Vistula River to the mouth of the Danube and eastward to the Volga, bordering the shores of the Black and Caspian seas as well as the Caucasus to the south. The Sarmatians declined in the 4th century with the incursions connected to the Migration period (Huns, Goths). The descendants of the Sarmatians became known as the Alans during the Early Middle Ages, and ultimately gave rise to the modern Ossetic ethnic group. Sarmatae is in origin probably just one of several tribal names of the Sarmatians that came to be applied to the entire group as an exonym in Greco-Roman ethnography. Strabo in the 1st century names as the main tribes of the Sarmatians the Iazyges, the Roxolani, the Aorsi and the Siraces. The Greek name Sarmatai sometimes appears as "Sauromatai", apparently through a folk etymology associating them with lizards (sauros). Suggestions for this association include the Sarmatians' use of reptile-like scale armour and dragon standards. Greek authors of the 4th century (Pseudo-Scylax, Eudoxus of Cnidus) mention Syrmatae as the name of a people living at the Don, perhaps reflecting the ethnonym as it was pronounced in the final phase of Sarmatian culture. The Avesta mentions Sairima as a region "in the west". In the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, this appears as "Salm", the reputed ancestor of the European peoples. The Sarmatians emerged in the 7th century BC in a region of the steppe to the east of the Don River and south of the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. For centuries they lived in relatively peaceful co-existence with their western neighbors the Scythians. Then, in the 3rd century BC, they spilled over the Don to attack the Scythians on the Pontic steppe to the north of the Black Sea. The Sarmatians were to dominate these territories over the next five centuries. Pliny the Elder wrote that they ranged from the Vistula River in Poland to the Danube. In 1947, Soviet archaeologist Boris Grakov defined a culture flourishing from the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD, apparent in late Kurgan graves, sometimes reusing part of much older Kurgans. It is a nomadic steppe culture ranging from the Black Sea to beyond the Volga, and is especially evident at two of the major sites at Kardaielova and Chernaya in the trans-Uralic steppe. Grekov defined four phases: - Sauromatian, 6th-5th centuries BC - Early Sarmatian, 4th-2nd centuries BC - Middle Sarmatian, late 2nd century BC to late 2nd century AD - Late Sarmatian: late 2nd century AD to 4th century AD While "Sarmatian" and "Sauromatian" are synonymous as ethnonyms, they are given different meanings purely by convention as archaeological technical terms. In Hungary, a great Late Sarmatian pottery center was reportedly unearthed between 2001–2006 near Budapest, in Üllő5 archaeological site. Typical gray, granular Üllő5 ceramics forms a distinct group of Sarmatian pottery found everywhere in the northcentral part of the Great Hungarian Plain region, indicating a lively trading activity. A 1998 paper on the study of glass beads found in Sarmatian graves suggests wide cultural and trade links. Archaeological evidence suggests that Scythian-Sarmatian cultures may have given rise to the myth of Amazons. Graves of armed females have been found in southern Ukraine and Russia. David Anthony notes, "About 20% of Scythian-Sarmatian "warrior graves" on the lower Don and lower Volga contained females dressed for battle as if they were men, a phenomenon that probably inspired the Greek tales about the Amazons." The Sarmatians spoke Scythian language. The numerous Iranian personal names in the Greek inscriptions from the Black Sea Coast indicate that the Sarmatians spoke a North-Eastern Iranian dialect ancestral to Alanic-Ossetic (see Scytho-Sarmatian). Like the Scythians, Sarmatians were of a Caucasoid appearance, and before the arrival of the Huns (4th century AD) it is thought that few had Asiatic or Turco-Mongol features. Sarmatian noblemen often reached 1.70-1.80m (5ft 7ins-5ft 11ins) as measured from skeletons, and they had sturdy bones, long hair and beards. The Alans who were a group of Sarmatian tribes according to the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus "Nearly all the Alani are men of great stature and beauty, their hair is somewhat yellow, their eyes are frighteningly fierce". Greco-Roman ethnography Herodotus (Histories 4.21) in the 5th century BC placed the land of the Sarmatians east of the Tanais, beginning at the corner of the Maeotian Lake, stretching northwards for fifteen days' journey, adjacent to the forested land of the Budinoi. As seen in Roman depictions of Sarmatians, they are of caucasian types Herodotus (4.110-117) gives a story of the Sauromatians' origin from an unfortunate marriage of a band of young Scythian men and a group of Amazons. In the story, some Amazons were captured in battle by Greeks in Pontus (northern Turkey) near the river Thermodon, and the captives were loaded into three boats. They overcame their captors while at sea, but were not able sailors. Their ships were blown north to the Maeotian Lake (the Sea of Azov) onto the shore of Scythia near the cliff region (today's southeastern Crimea). After encountering the Scythians and learning the Scythian language, they agreed to marry Scythian men, but only on the condition that they move away and not be required to follow the customs of Scythian women. According to Herodotus, the descendants of this band settled toward the northeast beyond the Tanais (Don) river and became the Sauromatians. Herodotus' account explains the origins of the Sarmatians' language as an "impure" form of Scythian and credits the unusual freedoms of Sauromatae women, including participation in warfare, as an inheritance from their supposed Amazon ancestors. Later writers refer to the "woman-ruled Sarmatae" (γυναικοκρατούμενοι). However, Herodotus' belief that the Sarmatians were descendants of mythological Amazons is very likely a fictional invention designed to explain certain idiosyncrasies of Sarmatian culture. Their women, so long as they are virgins, ride, shoot, throw the javelin while mounted, and fight with their enemies. They do not lay aside their virginity until they have killed three of their enemies, and they do not marry before they have performed the traditional sacred rites. A woman who takes to herself a husband no longer rides, unless she is compelled to do so by a general expedition. They have no right breast; for while they are yet babies their mothers make red-hot a bronze instrument constructed for this very purpose and apply it to the right breast and cauterize it, so that its growth is arrested, and all its strength and bulk are diverted to the right shoulder and right arm. Strabo mentions the Sarmatians in a number of places, never saying very much about them. He uses both Sarmatai and Sauromatai, but never together, and never suggesting that they are different peoples. He often pairs Sarmatians and Scythians in reference to a series of ethnic names, never stating which is which, as though Sarmatian or Scythian could apply equally to them all. In Strabo, the Sarmatians extend from above the Danube eastward to the Volga, and from north of the Dnepr into the Caucasus, where, he says, they are called Caucasii like everyone else there. This statement indicates that the Alans already had a home in the Caucasus, without waiting for the Huns to push them there. Even more significantly, he points to a Celtic admixture in the region of the Basternae, who, he says, are of Germanic origin. The Celtic Boii, Scordisci and Taurisci are there. A fourth ethnic element being melted in are the Thracians (7.3.2). Moreover, the peoples toward the north are Keltoskythai, "Celtic Scythians" (11.6.2). Strabo also portrays the peoples of the region as being nomadic, or Hamaksoikoi, "wagon-dwellers" and Galaktophagoi, "milk-eaters" referring, no doubt, to the universal koumiss eaten in historical times. The wagons were used for porting tents made of felt, which must have been the yurts used universally by Asian nomads. Pliny the Elder writes (4.12.79-81): From this point (the mouth of the Danube) all the races in general are Scythian, though various sections have occupied the lands adjacent to the coast, in one place the Getae … at another the Sarmatae … Agrippa describes the whole of this area from the Danube to the sea … as far as the river Vistula in the direction of the Sarmatian desert … The name of the Scythians has spread in every direction, as far as the Sarmatae and the Germans, but this old designation has not continued for any except the most outlying sections .... According to Pliny, Scythian rule once extended as far as Germany. Jordanes supports this hypothesis by telling us on the one hand that he was familiar with the Geography of Ptolemy, which includes the entire Balto-Slavic territory in Sarmatia, and on the other that this same region was Scythia. By "Sarmatia", Jordanes means only the Aryan territory. The Sarmatians were, therefore, a sub-group of the broader Scythian peoples. All Germania is divided from Gaul, Raetia, and Pannonia by the Rhine and Danube rivers; from the Sarmatians and the Dacians by shared fear and mountains. The Ocean laps the rest, embracing wide bays and enormous stretches of islands. Just recently, we learned about certain tribes and kings, whom war brought to light. According to Tacitus, like the Persians, the Sarmatians wore long, flowing robes (ch 17). Moreover, the Sarmatians exacted tribute from the Cotini and Osi, and iron from the Cotini (ch. 43), “to their shame” (presumably because they could have used the iron to arm themselves and resist). By the 3rd century BC, the Sarmatian name appears to have supplanted the Scythian in the plains of what is now south Ukraine. The geographer, Ptolemy, reports them at what must be their maximum extent, divided into adjoining European and central Asian sections. Considering the overlap of tribal names between the Scythians and the Sarmatians, no new displacements probably took place. The people were the same Indo-Europeans they used to be, but now under yet another name. On seeing this a man will say that no less than Greeks are foreigners skilled in the arts: for the Sauromatae have no iron, neither mined by themselves nor yet imported. They have, in fact, no dealings at all with the foreigners around them. To meet this deficiency they have contrived inventions. In place of iron they use bone for their spear-blades and cornel wood for their bows and arrows, with bone points for the arrows. They throw a lasso round any enemy they meet, and then turning round their horses upset the enemy caught in the lasso. Their breastplates they make in the following fashion. Each man keeps many mares, since the land is not divided into private allotments, nor does it bear any thing except wild trees, as the people are nomads. These mares they not only use for war, but also sacrifice them to the local gods and eat them for food. Their hoofs they collect, clean, split, and make from them as it were python scales. Whoever has never seen a python must at least have seen a pine-cone still green. He will not be mistaken if he liken the product from the hoof to the segments that are seen on the pine-cone. These pieces they bore and stitch together with the sinews of horses and oxen, and then use them as breastplates that are as handsome and strong as those of the Greeks. For they can withstand blows of missiles and those struck in close combat. Pausanias' description is well borne out in a relief from Tanais. These facts are not necessarily incompatible with Tacitus, as the western Sarmatians might have kept their iron to themselves, it having been a scarce commodity on the plains. In the late 4th century, Ammianus Marcellinus describes a severe defeat which Sarmatian raiders inflicted upon Roman forces in the province of Valeria in Pannonia in late AD 374. The Sarmatians almost destroyed two legions: one recruited from Moesia and one from Pannonia. The last had been sent to intercept a party of Sarmatians which had been in pursuit of a senior Roman officer named Aequitius. The two legions failed to coordinate, allowing the Sarmatians to catch them unprepared. Decline in the 4th century The Sarmatians remained dominant until the Gothic ascendancy in the Black Sea area. Goths attacked Sarmatian tribes on the north of the Danube in Dacia, what is today Romania. The Roman Emperor Constantine called his son Constantine II up from Galia to run a campaign north of the Danube. In very cold weather, the Romans were victorious, killing 100,000 Goths and capturing Ariaricus the son of the Goth king. In their efforts to halt the Gothic expansion and replace it with their own on the north of Lower Danube (present-day Romania), the Sarmatians armed their captives. After the Roman victory, however, the local population revolted against their Sarmatian masters, pushing them beyond the Roman border. Constantine, on whom the Sarmatians had called for help, defeated Limigantes, the leader of the revolt, and moved the Sarmatian population back in. In the Roman provinces, Sarmatian combatants were enlisted in the Roman army, whilst the rest of the population was distributed throughout Thrace, Macedonia and Italy. The Origo Constantini mentions 300,000 refugees resulting from this conflict. The emperor Constantine was subsequently attributed the title of Sarmaticus Maximus. In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Huns expanded and conquered both the Sarmatians and the Germanic Tribes living between the Black Sea and the borders of the Roman Empire. From bases in modern day Hungary, the Huns ruled the entire former Sarmatian territory. Their various constituents flourished under Hunnish rule, fought for the Huns against a combination of Roman and Germanic troops, and went their own ways after the Battle of Chalons, the death of Attila and the appearance of the Chuvash ruling elements west of the Volga- current Russian territory. Ancient DNA of 13 Sarmatian remains from Pokrovka kurgan burials in the southern Ural steppes along the Kazakhstan and Russian border was extracted for comparative analysis. Most of the mitochondrial haplogroups determined were of western Eurasian origin, while only a few were of "central/east Asian Haplotype which is found among the Turkic speaking nomadic people. This Haplotype is almost (one base pair missing) identical with the Haplotype of the (Kazakh) women from western Mongolia." See also - J.Harmatta: "Scythians" in UNESCO Collection of History of Humanity - Volume III: From the Seventh Century BC to the Seventh Century AD. Routledge/UNESCO. 1996. pg. 182 - (2007). Encyclopædia Britannica, s.v. "Sarmatian". Retrieved May 20, 2007, from [Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9065786] - Apollonius (Argonautica, iii) envisaged the Sauromatai as the bitter foe of King Aietes of Colchis (modern Georgia). - James Minahan, "One Europe, Many Nations", Published by Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. pg 518: "The Ossetians, calling themselves Iristi and their homeland Iryston are the most northerly Iranian people. ... They are descended from a division of Sarmatians, the Alans who were pushed out of the Terek River lowlands and in the Caucasus foothills by invading Huns in the fourth century A.D. - Richard Brzezinski and Mariusz Mielczarek (2002). The Sarmatians 600 BC-AD 450 (Men-At-Arms nr. 373). Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-84176-485-6. - Chemical Analyses of Sarmatian Glass Beads from Pokrovka, Russia, by Mark E. Hall and Leonid Yablonsky. - Anthony, David W. (2007). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05887-3. - Handbuch der Orientalistik, Iranistik. By I. Gershevitch, O. Hansen, B. Spuler, M.J. Dresden, Prof M Boyce, M. Boyce Summary. E.J. Brill. 1968. - Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax, 70; cf. Geographi Graeci minores: Volume 1, p.58 - De Aere XVII - Strabo's Geography, books V, VII, XI - J. Harmatta, Studies in the History and Language of the Sarmatians, 1970, ch.1.2 - Germania omnis a Gallis Raetisque et Pannoniis Rheno et Danuvio fluminibus, a Sarmatis Dacisque mutuo metu aut montibus separatur: cetera Oceanus ambit, latos sinus et insularum inmensa spatia complectens, nuper cognitis quibusdam gentibus ac regibus, quos bellum aperuit. - Description of Greece 1.21.5-6 - Amm. Marc. 29.6.13-14 - Origo Constantini 6.32 mentions the actions - Eusebius, Vita Constantini, IV.6 - Charles Matson Odahl, Constantine and the Christian Empire, Chapter X. - Origo Constantini 6.32 mention the actions - Barnes Victories of Constantine page 150–154 - Grant Constantine the Great pages 61–68 - Charles Manson Odahl Constantine and the Christian Empire Chapter X - DNA Results from Pokrovka Warrior Women compared with Meirmgul - Amazon Warrior Women, Secrets of the Dead, PBS, aired 2004 \|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sarmatians\| - Richard Brzezinski and Mariusz Mielczarek, The Sarmatians 600 BC-AD 450 (Men-At-Arms nr. 373), Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2002. ISBN 978-1-84176-485-6. - Davis-Kimball, Jeannine. 2002. Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines. Warner Books, New York. first Trade printing, 2003. ISBN 0-446-67983-6 (pbk). - Davis-Kimball, Jeannine, Vladimir A. Bashilov, Leonid T. Yablonsky, Eds. Nomads of the Eurasian Steppes in the Early Iron Age. Berkeley: Zinat Press 1995. ISBN 1-85979-00-2 - Tadeusz Sulimirski, The Sarmatians (vol. 73 in series "Ancient People and Places") London: Thames & Hudson/New York: Praeger, 1970. - Alexander Guagnini (1538–1614), Sarmatiae Europeae descriptio, Spira 1581. - Bruno Genito, 1988, The Archaeological Cultures of the Sarmatians with a Preliminary Note on the Trial-Trenches at Gyoma 133: a Sarmatian Settlement in South-Eastern Hungary (Campaign 1985), Annali dell'Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli, Vol. 42, pp. 81–126. Napoli.
are gasoline substitutes distilled from carbohydrates which are extracted from plant matter. The most common bioalcohol in North America is ethanol, made from corn kernels. Ethanol presents some distinct advantages over petroleum gasoline for internal combustion engines — primarily in that tailpipe emissions are “cleaner.” However, the vast bulk of ethanol currently produced in the United States comes from a food crop — corn. At least some of the on-going inflation in worldwide food prices can be attributed to the growing portion of the global corn crop that is diverted from the human food chain to fuel production. In keeping with our mission to generate alternative biomass energy from waste streams, Bronco Biodiesel is pioneering research on biofuel production derived from algae in wastewater treatment systems. In addition to ethanol, we are engaged in research to produce biobutanol from wastewater algae. Biobutanol, in contrast to ethanol, can be used in our country’s existing fuel transportation infrastructure (primarily the pipeline system). In addition, biobutanol packs almost 30% more BTUs per gallon than ethanol. It could therefore prove critical to consumers' needs for fuel efficiency in an era of escalating petroleum prices. Bronco Biodiesel is currently: - partnering with Muskegon County to harvest algae from wastewater treatment lagoons and extract recoverable energy. with the National Museum of Natural History and HydroMentia to incorporate energy recovery from algal biomass in nutrient remediation using Algal Turf Scrubbers.™ (funded by Smithsonian Institution) - developing processes for converting algal biomass into liquid transportation biofuels. (Federally funded through P.L. 110-161) Wastewater algae grows from excess nutrient-loading in surface waters of the United States. It is a significant water quality problem across the country and contributes to dead zones of the Great Lakes and oceanic coastal areas. But, it's also a resource for sustainable, renewable biofuel. Wastewater algae is rich in carbohydrates, but lacks the rigid cellular structure that makes terrestrial crops challenging for ethanol fermentation. Algae grows naturally on the order of millions of pounds per person per year in the U.S., or hundreds of millions of gallons of potential biofuel. of the current interest in algal biomass for fuel feedstocks has followed from the now two-decade old Department of Energy Aquatic Species Program research that showed the impressive promise for cultivating high-triglceride content algal species. While these species represent a significant improvement over land-based crops for biodiesel feedstock, they have proven problematic to cultivate. Thus, more recent efforts have targeted molecular biological attempts to create new organisms that lend themselves better to oil production and cultivation. contrast, in keeping with our mission, we focus on algal biomass generated by municipal and commercial wastewater cleanup processes. We have partnered with colleagues who exploit native algae growth as a way of removing nutrients from water supplies. The algal biomass from these sources comprises complex communities of organisms that grow naturally together in a particular climate/season and location. The resulting biomass is rich in both carbohydrates as well as triglycerides, both of which can be converted into liquid fuels. Our research addresses the issue of biomass disposal for water treatment operations and can potentially subsidize water treatment, leading to greater sustainability. There are a variety of areas where innovations and optimizations will be especially important and where we will direct our Bronco Biodiesel's research objectives include: harvesting and preprocessing of algal biomass generated by existing municipal and commercial wastewater remediation installations for conversion to biofuels. - Developing capturing processes by harnessing both photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic organisms. processes for oil extraction from algal biomass and subsequent conversion of the oil to biodiesel, optimizing for yield, efficiency, and waste reduction. - Developing lifecycle analysis for long term cost recovery and energy balance evaluations.
Researchers at the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) have created a way to store data in the form of DNA a material that lasts for tens of thousands of years. The new method, published today in the journal Nature, makes it possible to store at least 100 million hours of high-definition video in about a cup of DNA. There is a lot of digital information in the world about three zettabytes' worth (that's 3000 billion billion bytes) and the constant influx of new digital content poses a real challenge for archivists. Hard disks are expensive and require a constant supply of electricity, while even the best 'no-power' archiving materials such as magnetic tape degrade within a decade. This is a growing problem in the life sciences, where massive volumes of data including DNA sequences make up the fabric of the scientific record. "We already know that DNA is a robust way to store information because we can extract it from bones of woolly mammoths, which date back tens of thousands of years, and make sense of it," explains Nick Goldman of EMBL-EBI. "It's also incredibly small, dense and does not need any power for storage, so shipping and keeping it is easy." Reading DNA is fairly straightforward, but writing it has until now been a major hurdle to making DNA storage a reality. There are two challenges: first, using current methods it is only possible to manufacture DNA in short strings. Secondly, both writing and reading DNA are prone to errors, particularly when the same DNA letter is repeated. Nick Goldman and co-author Ewan Birney, Associate Director of EMBL-EBI, set out to create a code that overcomes both problems. "We knew we needed to make a code using only short strings of DNA, and to do it in such a way that creating a run of the same letter would be impossible. So we figured, let's break up the code into lots of overlapping fragments going in both directions, with indexing information showing where each fragment be \|Contact: Mary Todd-Bergman\| European Molecular Biology Laboratory
in patients who have a positive tuberculin (PPD intermediate) skin test and do not have active TB [latent TB infection (LTBI)] Preventive therapy, or prophylactic therapy, for patients with latent TB infection (LTBI) who need therapy include: INH 300 mg po qd for 9 months – this is the best therapy for LTBI. INH 300 mg po qd for 6 months RIF 600 mg po qd for 4 months RIF 600 mg po qd and PZA 20 mg/kg po qd for 2 months All these regimens require pretreatment liver chemistries and if PZA is given a pretreatment serum uric acid is needed. RIF may be a problem in patients who are being treated for AIDS or HIV infection with protease inhibitors (PIs) and/or non-nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) (See HIV Drug Interactions ). Multiple drugs are always prescribed in the treatment of active TB, and prophylaxis for latent TB infections can be treated with single drugs: The bacterial load (population) of an active tuberculous lesion varies from 107 to 109 (infiltrate versus cavity). Since 1 in 105 mycobacterium is a naturally occurring mutant resistant to INH 1 in 106 mycobacterium is a naturally occurring mutant resistant to RIF 1 in 1013 mycobacterium is a naturally occurring mutant resistant to both INH and RIF it is obvious that multiple drug treatment is needed for active TB. When a latent TB infection (LTBI) is present, the bacterial load is smaller than when active TB is present. Therefore, single drug therapy is adequate because the mycobacterial population is often 10 to 103. In these small populations of mycobacteria, naturally occurring mutants resistant to INH or RIF are very rare or non-existent. Bacillus of Calmette and Guerin (BCG) vaccination: BCG is a vaccine derived from a strain of bovine mycobacteria and is used in countries in which there is a high incidence of active TB. It is usually given as preventive therapy to young people with a negative PPD and is believed to protect those who are vaccinated from developing overwhelming TB and dying of their disease. Due to the use of varied vaccines throughout the world, the efficacy of the vaccine is variable. A proper BCG vaccination will result in a positive PPD. Since a positive PPD test due to BCG vaccination or a new infection with TB cannot be differentiated, patients who test positive on a PPD skin test should all be considered for INH preventive therapy. The problem of INH-associated hepatitis: Approximately 10 to 20% of INH recipients develop elevated liver enzymes. Most patients with mild subclinical hepatic damage do not progress to overt hepatitis and recover completely even while continuing INH therapy. In contrast, continuation of INH in patients with clinical symptoms may result in severe hepatocellular toxicity, which is associated with a higher fatality rate than that of patients in whom INH was discontinued immediately. The risk of death from TB is estimated to be 11 times higher than the risk of death from INH hepatitis. The development of INH hepatitis has been linked to several factors including daily alcohol consumption concurrent rifampin use. The mechanisms underpinning INH hepatotoxicity remain unclear and may be multifactorial. Age and concurrent alcohol use are the most significant factors to consider. Progressive liver damage is rare in persons less than 20 years of age. It occurs in 0.3% of persons between 20 to 34, in 1.2% of patients between 35 and 49, and 2.3% of persons over 50. Whether biochemical monitoring of liver function is of value in the detection of liver toxicity secondary to INH is controversial. The American Thoracic Society and the CDC do not recommend routine LFT’s unless symptoms suggest hepatitis. However, of 1000 patients receiving INH, 47 of 64 patients with extremely high AST levels were asymptomatic. Similar findings have been found in 5 of 83 health care workers receiving INH preventive therapy. Accordingly, many physicians favor monthly LFT monitoring particularly in high-risk patients. High risk patients are
There’s a pretty unromantic reason why the Renaissance sprouted up in Florence – it’s the place where modern banking was born. We like to think of art as a spiritual, sensitive calling, far removed from the ruthless desire for filthy lucre. But Botticelli, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci needed money as much as the rest of us – as a new exhibition in the Palazzo Strozzi reveals. If you are planning an autumn break here, it’s a good way to get a grip on Florence and its history. During the Renaissance, the city was literally the golden source of money. The florin – the little gold coin that takes its name from Florence, minted there from 1252 – was the most trusted currency in Europe. On the back of the florin, banker dynasties flourished in the city for three centuries. The city you stroll through today was largely built by those bankers. Santa Maria Novella, constructed to a revolutionary classical design in 1461 by the architect Leon Battista Alberti, was paid for by the Rucellai banking family. Palazzo Strozzi itself was commissioned in 1489 by the banker Filippo Strozzi (ancestor of Prince Girolamo Strozzi, who was always so hospitable to the Blairs on their summer holidays). The Strozzi is the city’s grandest Renaissance palace, with hulking cornices, fortress-like rusticated walls and its own internal piazza. It now has its own café, too, as well as a modern art gallery, the Strozzina, in the old wine cellars. Bankers also paid for the art and sculpture that filled these palazzi and churches – often in a search for absolution from the terrible sin of usury, or lending money for interest. The exhibition has several Botticellis paid for by repentant bankers. They aren’t as well known as Primavera or The Birth of Venus – which you can see down the road at the Uffizi, behind the massed crowds (visit at the last timed entrance slot, 4.45pm, to enjoy the gallery at its emptiest) – but Botticelli’s Madonnas in the Strozzi are just as stirringly characteristic of the artist’s ideal of womanhood, with their gold-tinted ringlets, green eyes and butter-wouldn’t-melt expressions. The kings of 15th-century Florence banking – and Botticelli’s most generous sponsors – were the Medicis. You could spend days looking at art and buildings paid for by the Medicis alone. Their tombs were carved by Michelangelo in the Sagrestia Nuova of San Lorenzo church, itself designed by Brunelleschi and commissioned by the Medicis. Medici florins also paid for the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi and the Boboli Gardens behind the Palazzo Pitti. Another exhibition, at the Uffizi, explains the relationship between the Medici, the city they controlled and the artists they patronised. The Uffizi is now one of the world’s great galleries – it’s so stuffed with Medici commissions that Caravaggio’s Bacchus was only found in a storeroom in 1916, lost for so long in the embarrassment of riches. The Uffizi began life in 1560 not as a public gallery, though, but as yet another Medici pile – the Palazzo degli Uffizi, “the Palace of the Offices”, where Cosimo Medici oversaw the city’s guilds and government departments and kept his best pictures. The palace was designed by Giorgio Vasari (1511-74), the painter and architect who decorated much of the neighbouring Palazzo Vecchio. He is best known, though, as the first Italian art historian, thanks to his book, The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects. It’s a gossipy, extremely pro-Florence book — with Michelangelo in particular praised to the heavens – but it was, and is, extremely influential, not least as the first book to call the Renaissance the Renaissance, or the Rinascita. Looking at some of Vasari’s rather amateurish paintings in the show, you can see why he turned to writing. The architecture of the Uffizi, too, seems pedestrian in comparison with the sprightly palazzi next door, in Piazza della Signoria. The U-shaped Uffizi is rather odd-looking, turned inside out on itself, with its two classical facades staring across at each other all the way down to the Arno. Still, Vasari had a lot to contend with. Having to build on unstable, sandy ground, he used an ingenious iron skeleton – a very early structural use of the material – to stop the Uffizi falling into the river. As both exhibitions show, Florence’s light, airy beauty is secretly built on metal, precious or otherwise. - Harry Mount stayed at the Hotel Il Salviatino (www.salviatino.com), where double rooms cost from about £150 per person per night). Check availability at Hotel Il Salviatino. - Money and Beauty – Bankers, Botticelli and the Bonfire of the Vanities is at the Palazzo Strozzi (www.palazzostrozzi.org), until January 22, 2012. Entrance: €10 (£8.60). - Vasari, the Uffizi and the Duke is at the Uffizi Gallery (www.uffizi.org) until October 30. To avoid queues, it’s best to book tickets on the website. The price of the exhibition is included in the gallery admission charge of ¤21 (£18). - British Airways (www.ba.com) has twice-daily flights to Florence from Gatwick (the flight is operated by Meridiana).
Powers of the Federal Government the Constitution set the basis for the government we have today. Powers are divided between the federal (or national) government and the 50 states. The Founding Fathers knew they had to leave enough powers with the states when they were writing the Constitution. If they didn't, they knew the state legislatures would never ratify the Constitution. All states were granted the right to control certain things within their borders. They could do so as long as they did not interfere with the rights of other states or the nation. Show What You Know
That bunch of carrots in your refrigerator—where did you get it? Fresh from your garden, clotted with earth? Or from the produce section at the local supermarket? Or the farmers market? Or directly from the farmer down the road? To consider what you eat and what you feed your family is to consider your health. To consider where you grow or buy your food is to consider the health of the Earth, yes, but also the economic health of your community. That bunch of carrots in your refrigerator can represent a lot more than a dose of carotene. How food reaches your table has become a growing concern for many, and for many reasons. While the corner grocery store or supermarkets have been the most popular choices for consumers in past decades, food hubs have become a fast-growing alternative. The Michigan State University (MSU) Center for Regional Food Systems defines "food hubs" as businesses or organizations that actively manage the aggregation (gathering together), distribution and marketing of source-identified food products. Regional food hubs provide a market niche for small to mid-size farmers that the current conventional food distribution does not provide. In a 2013 survey of food hubs, the largest national survey of food hubs to date, MSU found that: • Food hubs are financially viable businesses. • Food hubs are creating jobs. • Food hubs are growing to meet market demand. • Food hubs are creating marketing opportunities and providing crucial services for small and mid-size producers. • Food hubs are supplying food to their communities. The MSU survey found that more than 95 percent of Michigan’s food hubs are experiencing an increase in demand of their products and services. The average food hub’s sales in 2012 exceeded $3.7 million, and their three most commonly reported customer types were restaurants, small grocery stores, and kindergarten through 12th-grade school food services. Among these food hubs, 74 percent reported that most of their customers were located within a 100-mile radius. The survey also demonstrated that the majority of food hubs helped increase access to healthy foods in underserved neighborhoods, thereby supporting a healthier population. About half of food hubs are equipped to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, federal food assistance) benefits. Dotting the state of Michigan, the most active food hubs are: Upper Peninsula: U.P. Food Exchange ; Northwest Michigan: Cherry Capital Foods, LLC ; Central Michigan: Allen Market Place ; Southeast Michigan: Washtenaw Food Hub ; West Michigan: West Michigan FarmLink ; and in Southwest Michigan: Sprout BC (formerly Sprout Urban Farms). Teaching youth how to farm, sharing resources, and farming Sprout BC dates back to 2009, when founder and executive director, Jeremy Andrews, was approached by residents in his Battle Creek community to begin a community garden. At the market in Battle Creek "We became a food hub quite naturally, not necessarily intentionally," Andrews says. "We were a growing farm, teaching youth how to farm, sharing resources and labor with other farmers, and partnering with nearby farms. The food hub grew from that." Andrews’ interest in growing and strengthening his own community went beyond the community garden to now provide distribution and marketing services to about 20 local farmers. "We want to see the number and diversity of farmers in our area increase," Andrews says. "When you look around at what so many farmers are now producing for Big Ag, it’s wheat, corn, and soybeans. We’re not here to fight those farmers. We want to offer additional options while building the local economy. Our purpose is to help our farmers bring their produce to market." Brennan Dougherty, Sprout BC food manager, adds: "We realized, as most emerging food hubs do, that we have incredible producers and wide parts of our community in need of fresh, nutrient-dense food. In Battle Creek, we felt that Sprout was uniquely resourced to help bridge the gap between producers and consumers. We began our food hub on very small scale exchanges, helping one or two restaurants get fresh, local produce from our farmer friends, and then grew from there." The online food hub Paul Quinn and Jerry Adams run West Michigan FarmLink, based in Grand Rapids. Adams founded the organization and Quinn oversees financial aspects of the food hub. "The largest economic impact is keeping locally spent dollars in the local economy," says Quinn. "It has a multiplier effect that resonates throughout the area. In other words, if a buyer in Kalamazoo spends $1 on spring mix from the mainstream supply chain, the unknown grower, on average, receives 12 cents. If that same buyer were to buy spring mix from a farm on the FarmLink system, the local grower would receive the lion's share of that dollar, around 95 cents. That grower would, in turn, have more to spend on labor, fuel and other things necessary to run their farm. The difference is driven by transportation and distribution costs associated with getting those goods to the buyer from a distant, often nebulous farm." "My idea for FarmLink started from a trip to the farmers market," Adams says. "I looked at all the throngs of people at the market, and I wondered—where do they all go when the market closes? What do the farmers do with their produce? I talked to the farmers, and I thought about putting the farmers market online, designing a website that gives them access, listing the produce and prices they offer, and then connecting them to their customers. I wanted to help the farmers make more money by shrinking the margin and cutting down the people between them and their customer." What makes West Michigan FarmLink unique is its easy-to-use website. Farmers post on one day, listing what produce they have available at what price, and the following day chefs and other foodies and buyers log in to look over the lists and make their purchases. Farmers invoice on their own business letterhead, packaging the produce specific to the buyer. "We take only five percent from that transaction," Quinn says. "The farmer makes 95 percent. We encourage our farmers to talk about their product ... and then we check back from time to time to make sure everyone stays honest and transparent. We give farmers the platform, the conduit, to get their product to the market, and the buyer knows exactly where the food he or she buys is sourced." "We’re no Sysco kid!" Adams laughs, referring to one of North America’s largest food distributors and marketers. Quinn nods. "We’re changing the world one potato at a time." Teaching skills to farmers Michelle Walk is the extension educator for community food systems and tourism at the Michigan State University extension in Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She talks about the U.P. Food Exchange, a food hub led by the Marquette Food Co-op and MSU Extension in conjunction with the Western U.P. Health Department, coordinating and supporting local food activities in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. "The U.P. Food Exchange provides easier access for buyers to more farms to be able to purchase more local products," she says. "We are also working to improve the distribution system itself so we can get more product across the U.P. rather than just within the immediate region. We have consistently worked with farms to improve on-farm food safety as it relates to pre- and post-harvest handling and storage of the product. In 2016, we partnered with several entities, including Marquette County, to conduct a meat-processing feasibility study to improve access to USDA-processed meat products across the Upper Peninsula. We will be looking at produce processing next." The U.P. Food Exchange offers workshops to build skills on a variety of topics, including marketing, communication, procurement, and food safety. The main system issues identified by both institutions and farmers were the lack of aggregation and distribution, the challenge of identifying when and where products were available, and being able to place orders for products in a consistent way. "As we developed the U.P. Food Exchange, it was with the intent to address the larger system issues that individual farms or buyers would have a hard time addressing by themselves," Walk says. Based in Okemos, Kelly Lively, policy and outreach partner and food safety team leader for Cherry Capital Foods, talks about what makes their food hub unique: "As many food hubs as there are, there are as many designs. Cherry Capital Foods is a privately-owned company, started when local food was just not an option for many, and diversified farmers and small producers didn’t have a way to get their goods to many outlets. "In the beginning, our focus was on schools, and today we have built a farm-to-school program to get local, whole foods into school meals. We provide marketing materials and encourage our schools to not only put up farmer/producer profiles in the cafeteria but all around their buildings. If kids are seeing farmers all around the school, they will grow to value those people and begin to look for their produce in the cafeteria." Today, Cherry Capital Foods also delivers local whole foods to restaurants, grocery stores and specialty food shops in addition to schools, colleges, and universities, hospitals, retirement homes and pre-school programs. "We not only supply the food and materials, but we actively advocate for change," Lively says. "Our policy team is busy working with organizations locally and nationally to make better food a reality. Changing the food system is no easy or fast task, we are in it for the long haul." Also in the mid-Michigan area, based in Lansing, is Allen Market Place. The Allen Market Place is an enterprise of the Allen Neighborhood Center, a non-profit organization working to strengthen mid-Michigan’s local food system since 1999. It houses an online wholesale market for local goods, a licensed incubator kitchen, and a year-round farmers market. Their online market, similar to other hubs, allows farmers and food producers to post their product online, and registered buyers later log on to make their purchases. Purchases are quickly delivered to The Allen Market Place, where buyers can pick them up or choose to have their purchases delivered by Go Green Trikes, a local tricycle and cargo bike delivery service. Buyers include schools, hospitals, grocers, restaurants, and buyer clubs. "Our goal is to strengthen the relationship between our community and our farmers and food producers," says John McCarthy, exchange manager. "We provide full transparency and traceability, sharing the stories of local farms and processors. We offer farmers additional markets for their products, fair pricing, and a wide range of educational opportunities including ongoing technical assistance, marketing, and business development." On the east side of Michigan, Ann Arbor-based Washtenaw Food Hub was developed in 2011 by local organic farmers, along with food service, project management, and real estate professionals. They restored a 16-acre historic farm to serve a public and institutional demand for local foods. The farm includes three commercial kitchens and provides storage and distribution services, both wholesale and retail, for local farmers. Washtenaw Food Hub also offers and supports education and research on sustainable agriculture and agro-ecology principles. Yet another benefit of all of these food hubs is the creation of new job opportunities. Each supports (and some train) new farmers, but each hub also employs staff. According to the MSU survey, food hubs in Michigan employ, on average, 19 paid positions. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) and its partner, the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at MSU, are convening a network of regional food hubs to create and expand markets for local and regionally grown agricultural products. MDARD calls the network the Michigan Food Hub Community of Practice. The Michigan Food Hub Community of Practice seeks funding for a grant program to create new food hubs and support the success of the food hubs already named here. They support food hub efforts in both rural and urban areas, conduct research on food hub profitability and economic impact, coordinate best practices and training opportunities for a state food hub collaborative, and link to the National Food Hub Community of Practice, sharing experiences, and learning from other food hubs across the country. Any food hub member will tell you: one of the most valuable "additives" of a Michigan food hub is connection. When you extend your hand to pick up a bunch of carrots, you may just be touching the hand who grew them, pulled them from the ground, and harvested them just for you. Zinta Aistars is creative director for Z Word, LLC. She also hosts the weekly radio show about books and writers, Between the Lines, at WMUK 102.1 FM. This article is one of a series of stories about Michigan’s agricultural economy. It is made possible with funding from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Read more in the series here.
Web edition: January 28, 2011 Print edition: February 12, 2011; Vol.179 #4 (p. 31) Many creatures — birds, bees and butterflies, for example — use the planet's magnetic field to navigate, but humans are the only ones to do so with instruments rather than an innate sense. In her first book, Turner, a geophysicist, looks at how people came to invent the compass and what has been learned since about the magnetic field that drives it. Chapter by chapter, the author walks readers through the history of studying Earth's magnetic field, from the ancient Greeks' fascination with natural magnets called lodestones to today's supercomputer simulations of field-generating processes in the planet's core. The first known compasses were used in China by practitioners of feng shui to auspiciously orient homes, villages, fields and tombs, Turner notes. Only much later were the instruments used by European explorers to help them conquer the seas and expand empires. As early as the 14th century, European navigators noticed that at many locations the compass didn't point due north. Three centuries later others detected signs that the direction of Earth's magnetic field had changed. Then in the 20th century, researchers came to realize that the field had actually reversed itself many times over the course of Earth's history — which, in turn, led to discoveries that bolstered then-controversial theories of seafloor spreading and continental drift. By deftly combining threads from science and history, Turner weaves a fascinating geophysical tale that spans several millennia. The Experiment, 2011, 272 p., $15.95.
Erythritol is a sweetener made from sugar alcohols, manufactured to provide a low-calorie substitute for sugar trade, so it is a good alternative when used to sweeten foods without consuming many calories. However, erythritol may also have certain health problems it is better to know before deciding on a sweetener which on the market. What is erythritol? Erythritol is obtained from the fermentation of the natural enzymes contained in the corn and wheat. Because it is a sweetener that the body becomes very slowly glucose, intake not entail risks of alterations in blood sugar, which in turn makes it an artificial sweeteners preferred by diabetics and can not eat sugar. Negative effects of erythritol But not everything is beneficial, and erythritol can also cause some health problems. Mainly its laxative reaction, which causes bloating and diarrhea. While the negative effects depends on the individual and their metabolism, we can say as a general rule that the symptoms you mentioned are more likely in cases of high consumption of the sweetener and infant bodies. It is therefore advisable to pay attention to the recommended amount in each package, and not exceeded in proportion. At the beginning of the article you were saying that erythritol has a much lower level of calories than conventional sugar and other sweeteners, but this does not mean that it lacks them altogether. It is estimated that each grain of erythritol may contain about 2.6 calories, so this information should also be considered for consumption because of an improperly made, in addition to affecting overall health, can cause weight problems or ruin your diet. Erythritol and trans fats You will also have to consider the other components that accompany a commercial sweetener erythritol. This is due to erythritol does not provide the same taste as sugar, so the companies add to the product other ingredients, like trans fat to improve taste and bring a touch sweeter. This entails that, although we will be consuming less calories than traditional sugar, on the other side will be increasing our intake of fat, with its known harmful effects on the body. It is best that you inspect each product carefully and read carefully the nutritional tables. Those sweeteners that contain Trans fats, should be discarded immediately, because this single ingredient decompensation other benefits that could have the erythritol. Enjoy this article? You might also like
Glossary of Generalized Anxiety Disoder Terms Definition of hedonic treadmill Definition of learned helplessness Description of norepinephrine Description of serotonin Definition of manic episode. Major Depressive Episode Definition of major depressive episode Definition of negative reinforcement Definition of substance abuse Definition of substance dependence Definition of panic attack and how it is related to generalized anxiety disorder Definition and description of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder) Definition of social phobia and how it can be related to GAD Definition of agoraphobia and how it can be related to GAD. Definition of specific phobia and the various subtypes. definition of mood disorder Description of depression Discussion of psychotherapy related to generalized anxiety disorder definition of an anxiety disorder
Wednesday November 11, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study suggests that pesticides can pose a serious threat to the environment and possibly human health when used in combination in agricultural products at even levels the EPA allows although they may not cause any harm when used The study led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh found that concentrations of 10 most commonly used pesticides that fell within EPA safe-exposure levels when combined killed 99 percent leopard frog Amphibian populations have been on the decline while the number of deformed frogs has been seen to increase in states like Illinois and Pennsylvania. For the study published Nov. 11 in the online edition of "Oecologia", Rick Relyea and colleagues tested five insecticides-carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, endosulfan, and malathion-and five herbicides-acetochlor, atrazine, glyphosate, metolachlor, and 2,4-D in The researchers found a mixture of all 10 chemicals killed 99 percent of leopard frog tadpoles as did the insecticide only mixture. The herbicide mix had no effect on the tadpoles. They also found that Endosulfan - a neurotoxin banned in several nations but still used extensively in the U.S. agriculture - was more deadly to leopard frog tadpoles than previous thought. This pesticide when used alone killed 84 percent of the leopard frogs. The findings are alarming because current regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not require amphibian testing, Relyea said. This chemical is most lethal among the tested pesticides. "Endosulfan appears to be about 1,000-times more lethal to amphibians than other pesticides that we have examined," Relyea said. "Unfortunately, pesticide regulations do not require amphibian testing, so very little is known about endosulfan's impact on amphibians, despite being sprayed in the environment for more than five decades." For most of the pesticides, the concentration used in the study was far below the human-lifetime-exposure levels set by the EPA and also fell short of the maximum concentrations found in natural bodies of water. The study suggests that the potential harm by pesticides should be considered when they are used in combination, but not individually. Many people may not know this, but multiple pesticides have already been detected in many types of fruits and vegetables. According to the Environmental Working Group, the data from the US government show that apple can contain more than 30 types of Although, the pesticides individually may not pose too much of a risk, the risk from these pesticides in combination remain Those who want to avoid as much as of pesticides may want to consider avoiding certain produce. The conventionally grown fruits and vegetables that contain highest levels of pesticides include peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, imported grapes, pears, spinach, potatoes, carrots, green beans, hot peppers, cucumbers, raspberries, plums, oranges, and domestic grapes according to the But the fruits and vegetables with lowest concentrations of pesticides include broccoli, eggplant, cabbage, banana, kiwi, asparagus, sweet peas (frozen), mango, pineapple, sweet corn (frozen), avocado and onion, according to foodnews.org, a website of the EWG. Disclaimer: What's published on this website should be considered opinions of respective writers only and foodconsumer.org which has no political agenda nor commercial ambition may or may not endorse any opinion of any writer. No accuracy is guaranteed although writers are doing their best to provide accurate information only. The information on this website should not be construed as medical advice and should not be used to replace professional services provided by qualified or licensed health care workers. The site serves only as a platform for writers and readers to share knowledge, experience, and information from the scientific community, organizations, government agencies and individuals. Foodconsumer.org encourages readers who have had medical conditions to consult with licensed health care providers - conventional and or alternative medical practitioners.
2. Name of school/organisation: 3. Event / activity title: 5. Event or activity description (max 300 words): Linking with our local industrial museum children will be taking part in workshops linked to the invention of the 'Makey Makey'. With some of the funding from National Science & Engingeering Week fund we are purchasing some for the school and our local museum is also purchasing some. Linked to the workshops the year 6 in class will be doing a project linked to Makey Makey's that will be showcased at the museum. Alongside this workshop/projects will be mini-projects across the whole school linked to innovation and invention where children will take part in some fun experiments. 8. Event start and end date and time: Monday, 18 March, 2013 - 09:00 to Friday, 22 March, 2013 - 15:15 11. Venue of the event/activity:
When Keynes went to America The first Bretton Woods meeting was intended to establish a postwar money regime and secure funds fo The night the Mount Washington Hotel opened in 1902, its builder, the New Hampshire coal and railroad magnate Joseph Stickney, raised a glass to “the damn fool who built this white elephant”. With its octagonal towers and 300 yards of wooden verandah, its 234 rooms each with its own bath, its telephone and mail system, and its interminable corridors, set in endless New Hampshire wilderness, this colossal monument to the Gilded Age somehow survived the Depression and wartime shortages to its appointment with financial history in July 1944. As allied armies fought their way into Normandy, some 730 finance ministers, delegates and clerks from all 44 allied countries, including China and the Soviet Union, gathered for three weeks at the Mount Washington to plan the postwar monetary and trading order. The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, better known from the hotel's railway stop and mail address as the Bretton Woods conference, established a currency regime and two powerful institutions, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The role of Bretton Woods in the postwar recovery is, as always with economists, disputed but the name still evokes, for men such as Gordon Brown or Nicolas Sarkozy, an idea of order in a chaotic financial world. The gestation of the Bretton Woods conference, as the long-serving US diplomat Dean Acheson put it, "about doubled that of elephants". It arose in the minds of two men of different temper and background but equal brilliance and arrogance: the British economist John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White of the US Treasury. At their backs, like a ghost, was the German banker who served the Nazis till he fell out with Hitler in 1938: Hjalmar Schacht. The Victorian system for settling international transactions, known as the international gold standard, had come to grief in the Depression of the 1930s. A succession of countries, led by Britain, detached their currencies from gold rather than be forced by a fixed exchange-rate to cut demand and add further to unemployment. Britain erected a trade tariff round the British empire, known as Imperial Preference, while other countries devalued their currencies to export at any price. By the summer of 1941, when Keynes retired to his country house in Sussex to think about a successor to the international gold standard, Britain was in a desperate plight, in debt not just to the US but to the countries playing host to her armies, such as India and Egypt. Without currency controls, Britain was bankrupt. Keynes envisaged a sort of supernational bank in which trading accounts would be settled not in gold, but in a sort of artificial or bank money that would be available to members as an overdraft facility according to their share of world trade. Behind it would stand the greatest creditor nation, the United States. As Keynes's biographer, Professor Robert Skidelsky, writes: "Provided all countries were guaranteed sufficient quantities of reserves, it might be possible to dismantle the trade barriers which had grown up in the 1930s and during the war and restore the single world which had vanished in 1914." In devising this plan, Keynes admitted to drawing on Schacht's ingenious use of bilateral clearing arrangements to permit the Third Reich to continue importing raw materials for its military build-up in the 1930s. Keynes, desperate to get away and rest, took the meetings at breakneck speed. On 19 July, he collapsed on the hotel stairs In Washington, Dexter White, director of monetary research at the US Treasury, was also thinking about "future currency arrangements" but from a different viewpoint. From President Roosevelt down, the US could not care less about preserving the British empire. The US wanted currency convertibility and open markets for its exports as soon as possible. The compromise between the Keynes and White plans, which were published in 1943, became known as the Bretton Woods System. The process began in an atmosphere of mistrust. At his first meeting with Henry Morgenthau, the US treasury secretary, Keynes tactlessly suggested that Britain would use US military aid to build up its cash balances. Keynes and his staff objected to the number of lawyers on the US side and made snide remarks about "rabbinics", by which they meant the precision and subtlety of the Jewish officials at the Treasury such as White and Edward Bernstein. Eventually, Keynes and White devised a system in which only the US dollar would exchange at a fixed rate into gold. The allies had to make their currencies convertible into these gold dollars within 1 per cent of a fixed rate, but could draw on short-term assistance from a stabilisation fund to which all members subscribed and the US, naturally, subscribed most. In addition to this fund, now christened the International Monetary Fund, White and his staff had devised a bank to finance the rebuilding of war-damaged economies. This International Bank for Reconstruction and Development still forms the core of what is now known as the World Bank. Lord Keynes was by now ailing and could not bear the thought of working through the Washington summer. With great courtesy, the Americans agreed to hold the drafting meetings in Atlantic City on the New Jersey shore and the main conference in the cool of New Hampshire. Arriving with Keynes by train on 30 June, Lydia Lopokova, the Russian ballerina whom Keynes had married in 1925, found chaos: "The taps run all day, the windows do not close or open, the pipes mend and unmend and no one can get anywhere." They were lodged in the room above Morgenthau, and for three weeks the US treasury secretary was disturbed by Lady Keynes's dancing exercises. With much of the main work done, the conference itself consisted mostly of a British rearguard action to delay the convertibility of its debts and much detail of a mind-numbing complexity. Desperate to get away and rest, Keynes took the meetings on the bank at a breakneck pace. As Acheson reported: "Keynes . . . knows this thing inside out so that when anybody says Section 15-C he knows what that is, but before you have an opportunity to turn to Section 15-C and see what he is talking about, he says, 'I hear no objection to that', and it is passed." On 19 July, Keynes collapsed on the hotel stairs, and word spread that he had had a heart attack. According to Skidelsky, the German newspapers ran adulatory obituaries. On 22 July, Keynes had recovered enough to propose acceptance of the conference's final act. As he left the room, many of the delegates stood and sang "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow". Within two years, Keynes was dead and White survived only two years longer, bedevilled in his last years by allegations of disloyalty in his dealings with the Soviet Union. Some economists, such as Milton Friedman, have questioned whether Keynes and White were correct in their analysis and, even if they were, whether Bretton Woods was the solution. Others argue that such measures as the $3.75bn American loan to Britain in 1945, the $13bn Marshall Plan of 1948 and the 30 per cent devaluation of sterling in 1949 did more to revive Europe. The system of semi-fixed exchange rates just about survived the 1960s but the US, under pressure from financing the war in Vietnam, abandoned gold convertibility in 1971. The two Bretton Woods institutions, the IMF and the World Bank, have been criticised for imposing quasi-colonial conditions on third world borrowers. The IMF is also undercapitalised in the face of the current financial crisis. When Gordon Brown calls for a new Bretton Woods, he is evidently not calling for a currency peg or an infrastructure bank but for a halcyon age of idealism and Anglo-American amity - above all for that ideal or hero of modern times embodied in John Maynard Keynes, the economist as saviour. James Buchan's latest novel is "The Gate of Air", published by the MacLehose Press Thirteen things you may not know about John Maynard Keynes - He was born the year Karl Marx died, 1883. Tags: Economy 2008 More from New Statesman - Online writers: - Steven Baxter - Rowenna Davis - David Allen Green - Mehdi Hasan - Nelson Jones - Gavin Kelly - Helen Lewis - Laurie Penny - The V Spot - Alex Hern - Martha Gill - Alan White - Samira Shackle - Alex Andreou - Nicky Woolf in America - Bim Adewunmi - Kate Mossman on pop - Ryan Gilbey on Film - Martin Robbins - Rafael Behr - Eleanor Margolis
The difficulty of a particular task depends on the specific literacy skills required (also called the task demands) and the characteristics of the written materials used for the task. Some types of task demands are generally less challenging than others. For example, reading words (i.e., basic reading skills) is generally less challenging than making inferences (i.e., inference skills) based on the text that one has read. The written materials also vary in difficulty depending on the text characteristics. The text may sometimes include inhibitors, such as distracting information or less familiar words, which may affect finding the correct response. But highly literate adults are typically able to overcome such problems by relying on the ability to suppress inhibitors and exploit in the text facilitators that may contribute to locating, inferring or calculating a correct response to the assessment task. For example, those adults may parse the question for key terms and then look for the repetition of key terms in the text to find the answer to the question. The 2003 NAAL framework describes all the features of the written materials that may make a NAAL literacy task more or less difficult. View sample assessment questions for examples of inhibitors, facilitators, and computational complexity variables.
One of the mysteries of the English language finally explained. attributive Relating to the diaphragm.‘the phrenic nerves’ mental, emotional, intellectual, inner, non-physical, cerebral, brain, rational, cognitive, abstract, conceptual, theoreticalView synonyms - ‘These carry the rhythmic bursts of impulses, relayed from the brain stem via the phrenic motor neurons in the spinal cord, which cause regular inspiration.’ - ‘A rare variant affects the phrenic nerves and diaphragm.’ - ‘An advantage of the axillary block is that needle placement is far from the dome of the lung and the phrenic nerve.’ - ‘Hiccups are believed to be caused mainly by irritation of either the phrenic or vagus nerves anywhere along their paths.’ - ‘A dissection of both the tectonic ontological nature as well as the mental, or phrenic, nature is the goal, primarily through the eyes of architecture.’ - ‘Thymic tissue can span from the level of the diaphragm to the thyroid, making surgical dissection difficult (especially in light of the proximity of the phrenic and vagus nerve and other vital structures).’ Early 18th century: from French phrénique, from Greek phrēn, phren- ‘diaphragm, mind’ (because the mind was once thought to lie in the diaphragm). In this article we explore how to impress employers with a spot-on CV.

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