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Since 2002, when HAVA was enacted, computer scientists have released over three dozen studies of the software-based voting systems rushed in by HAVA. Every one of these studies has concluded that software-based optical scanners and DREs (direct record electronic systems, often known as “touch screens”) are vulnerable to undetectable manipulation and error. While any machine, including a lever voting machine, can be hacked, software enables a single individual to change thousands of votes in a few minutes without leaving a trace. The inner workings of the software-based machine are invisible. Systematic exploits enable massive vote switching in minutes. In contrast, to affect the outcome of an election conducted with lever machines is labor-intensive since each machine must be individually rigged, increasing the likelihood that the crime would be caught; levers are not capable of systematic exploits. Vote flipping, common on electronic machines, is also not possible on a lever machine. Tampering to a lever machine can be detected because the working parts of the lever machine are visible, as contrasted with software, which is invisible to all but the programmers. Regardless of how the software has been programmed, self-erasing malware can be introduced into an electronic system but not into a lever system. Certification of computerized systems is a ruse because no amount of certification testing will make voting computers secure. - The National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Federal government’s own technical advisers, found that certification testing cannot provide security or reliability: [E]xperience in testing software and systems has shown that testing to high degrees of security and reliability is from a practical perspective not possible.” (Emphasis added.) - A 2007 report authorized by the California Secretary of State found that with software-based voting machines: An attack could plausibly be accomplished by a single skilled individual with temporary access to a single voting machine. The damage could be extensive – malicious code could spread to every voting machine in polling places and to county election servers. - Finding error or fraud in software code has been shown to be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming due to self-erasing code and the fact that code can be several hundred thousand lines in length, according to the 2008 ACCURATE Report (A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable, Auditable, and Transparent Elections): [N]o matter how hard one looks for errors or faults in voting system software, there is no way to guarantee that one has found them all. Even if no errors or faults are found, there is no way to guarantee that none exist…. - Notwithstanding the pre-election certification of the optical scanners and even with security seals in place, in 2006 the University of Connecticut established how easily election results can be falsified on an optical scanner: An Accu-Vote Optical Scan can be compromised with off-the-shelf equipment in a matter of minutes even if the machine has its removable memory card sealed in place. The basic attack can be applied to effect a variety of results, including entirely neutralizing one candidate so that their votes are not counted, swapping the votes of two candidates, or biasing the results by shifting some votes from one candidate to another…. Such vote tabulation corruptions can lay dormant until Election Day, thus avoiding detection through pre-election tests…. [V]oters could be unaware of any discrepancies between their cast votes and the internally recorded votes. - A 2007 Florida report demonstrated how viruses can be introduced and propagated from a single machine to every other computer in the jurisdiction as well as from one election to the next. Each county will use an Election Management System (EMS) computer (commonly known as a “central tabulator”). The central tabulator reprograms the optical scanners before every election using a memory card that tells the machine who is on the ballot and how to count it, and then accumulates and reports precinct-level results after an election. Florida’s study demonstrated how a virus introduced to a single machine would spread to every other machine in the county via memory cards: A cleverly constructed virus can cover its tracks so that infected machines could not be detected by ordinary means and an appropriately programmed virus could self-destruct and erase all its tracks…. [I]f carefully constructed, it can allow an attacker to transfer program control to her own malicious code. Once this happens, the attacker controls the machine. - A 2006 Princeton University report “describes how the virus propagates … via memory cards, without requiring any network.” NY’s wireless ban would not prevent this massive attack because all computers in a county communicate with the EMS central tabulator, which in turn communicates with each computer in the county: An infected machine will infect any memory card that is inserted into it. An infected memory card will infect any machine that is powered up or rebooted with the memory card inserted. Because cards are transferred between machines during vote counting and administrative activities, the infected population will grow over time. - A 2006 report commissioned by California’s Secretary of State corroborated that these attacks to optical scanners cannot be discerned by election officials responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the election: There would be no way to know that any of these attacks occurred; the canvass procedure would not detect any anomalies, and would just produce incorrect results. The only way to detect and correct the problem would be by recount of the original paper ballots. - A 2007 report commissioned by Florida’s Secretary of State reaffirmed that election results could be readily compromised by an individual with only brief access to an optical scanner, by replacing the memory card with one preprogrammed to read one candidate’s votes as counting for another. The report also found “The attack can be carried out with a reasonably low probability of detection….” Flaws in the Optical Scan software enable an unofficial memory card to be inserted into an active terminal. Such a card can be preprogrammed to swap the electronically tabulated votes for two candidates, reroute all of a candidate’s votes to a different candidate, or tabulate votes for several candidates of choice toward a different candidate. - In 2007, Ohio’s Secretary of State released the Evaluation and Validation of Election Related Equipment, Standards and Testing (EVEREST) study, which revealed, among other things, the ineffectiveness of requirements –such as NY’s — that the source code be escrowed to secure the software. The EVEREST team was able to penetrate all of Ohio’s voting systems, including Sequoia’s optical scanner, without the source code. None of these attacks could have been detected or prevented by knowing the source code. The EVEREST report concluded that software-based systems are “insufficient to guarantee a trustworthy election.”

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Historical Events and Figures

Life Club is what regular schools don’t provide: the opportunity for your child to become a creative and confident English speaker. Life Club brings students of a common age group together to participate in teacher-led activities, socialize, and have fun in an English-speaking environment. Life Club focuses on building your child’s confidence, communication skills, and awareness of English speaking cultures through fun performances, speech and drama activities, and authentic experience held outside of the traditional classroom setting. We believe that the most effortless and effective learning happens while the student is having fun. The non-traditional environment of Life Club helps your child gain the skills and confidence to use real-life English. As a component of the Efekta System, Life Club reinforces the language learned in the classroom and through iLAB. Life Club is made up of various activities including games, speech and drama performances, holiday parties, music appreciation, movement, social interaction, arts & crafts, and multi media presentation. All these in English, all the time! Read more about this product. The Life Club Themes Life Club creates a link between English language learning and a broader educational curriculum. The Life Club themes are based on mainstream school subjects such as Science, Geography, History, Art, Mathematics, Music, and Health. This cross-curricular approach also offers students an ideal opportunity to refresh and to revise what they have done and learned in other subject areas, so that their knowledge becomes more active. This makes both learning and teaching English more interesting and memorable. This theme is aimed at helping the students realize and nurture their talents and skills. The sessions will provide the students the opportunity to discover their and each other’s talents. Related Subjects: Arts, Social Science, History, Sports, and Music. Under the Sea This theme presents the great bodies of water, the natural resources, and many fun things about the sea. Students will learn new interesting trivia through the game shows. Related Subjects: Social Science, Natural Science, Geography, and Sports. The Little Green Explorer This theme is about the environment, natural resources and the world in general. It seeks to create awareness among students on how to take care of the environment. Students will learn the basics of news reporting and interviewing during the sessions. Related Subjects: Natural Sciences, Geography, and Health. This theme is about satisfying the curiosity about things and events around students. The Secret Detective theme seeks to open the students’ eyes to the value of research, experimentation, and inquiry. Related Subjects: History and Science. Everybody, especially kids, is interested in animals, wild and domesticated alike. This theme helps the students discover the many creatures that surround them. Through the sessions, they will learn how to appreciate and care for animals and wildlife. Related Subjects: Natural Science and Social Science. This theme will specially focus on the beauty of the universe. Space Wonders presents the topic of space exploration and the science involved in it. Related Subjects: Astronomy, Astrology, History, Science, and Technology. Super Duper Heroes This theme introduces universal heroes and their adventures to students. The theme can help the children to better understand the concept of good deeds, manners and social responsibility. The topics include famous heroes who made a difference to the world. Through role-play, students get to be their own heroes, with or without the superpowers. Related Subjects: History and Social Science. The World Over This theme introduces culture in different English-speaking countries other than The United Kingdom, Australia and the United States of America. Students will become more familiar with countries and cultures around the world. Related Subjects: History, Language and Social Science. Happy Birthday (For Small Stars only) One’s birthday is probably the most important day of the year. This theme introduces the concept of western birthday parties to the students. They will learn the Happy Birthday song, decorate the room, play party games, make birthday cards, decorate birthday cookies, and make and wrap birthday gifts. The students will be involved actively in the preparation of an exciting birthday party for Roddy! Related Subjects: Music, Arts, and Sports. The Life Club Session A Life Club Session is composed of various activities such as Speech and Drama, Social Interaction, Games, Music, Movement, Visual Presentation, and Arts & Crafts, based on a relevant theme. Through these, students experiment with language in a low-stress, fun, and secure English environment. A typical Life Club session will involve the students practicing a range of language skills as they carry out the activities. These will be integrated into the activities and will be practiced together. As most of the sessions will have members who are at different levels and ages, there is a strong emphasis on open-ended tasks and activities. These will allow for more student involvement and will help to promote the students’ autonomy. The teacher should be seen as a group leader or facilitator, assisting and guiding the students as they engage in the activities. The teacher aims to provide learning opportunities whenever possible. Life Club for Parents EF encourages active parental involvement in each student’s learning. To this end, Life Club for Parents is conducted in the school at least once a month. Life Club for Parents gives suggestions on how to support and reinforce at home what your child has learnt in class and in Life Club. EF introduces your child to foreign cultures in a playful, hands-on way, without very detailed background explanations. Through Life Club for Parents, EF can provide you with the background information necessary to understand cultural aspects at a level that is accessible only for adults. Life Club for Parents includes special interest sessions which have been designed to broaden your knowledge in the field of education in order to support your child’s learning development at home.

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Literacy and Reading Activities

Press Release: First Comprehensive National Study Finds Centers Safest Form of Childcare Child care centers are much safer than all other forms of child care, according to a new national study. Sociologists Julia Wrigley and Joanna Dreby of the City University of New York Graduate Center created a comprehensive database of child care failures, including fatalities, between 1985 and 2003. They found that child care is quite safe overall, and child care fatalities are rarer than outside of paid care. But the fatality rate for children who receive child care in private homes is sixteen times higher than the fatality rate for children in child care centers. The study appears in the October issue of the American Sociological Review . It was funded by the Foundation for Child Development. While more than 8 million children are in paid child care every day, until now little has been known about their safety. Wrigley and Dreby analyzed reports of 1,362 fatalities (among 4,356 caregiving failures) from 1985 to 2003. The fatality data was gathered from media reports, legal cases, and state records. Three forms of child care were investigated: child care centers, nannies working in children's homes, and family day care providers working in their own homes. "While accidents can happen anywhere, child care centers are almost 100% protective against children's deaths by violence. They are much safer than arrangements in private homes," explains Wrigley. Infants are by far the most vulnerable children in care. Their fatality rate from both accidents and violence is nearly seven times higher than that of children from one to four. Equally striking are differences in infant fatality rates across types of care. The infant fatality rate in the care of nannies or family day care providers is more than seven times higher than that in centers. Why are centers the safest form of child care? Wrigley and Dreby conclude that centers are the safest form of child care because they afford children multiple forms of protection. Most importantly, staff members do not work alone. They have others watching them and helping them cope with fussy infants or whining toddlers. This helps them maintain their emotional control. It also helps identify and remove unstable or volatile workers. Center teachers also have more training than most caregivers in private homes and they are supervised by professionally-trained directors. Finally, centers control access by outsiders more effectively to keep out people who might pose risks. These protections help reduce risks of accidental deaths, such as suffocation and drowning. But they are especially important in preventing violent deaths. Not a single shaken baby fatality was found in a child care center, while 203 were reported in arrangements in private homes. The stress of infant crying, in particular, can drive caregivers to impulsive acts of violence. With little professional training, without supervisors or coworkers, and often paid very little for long hours of work, even some experienced caregivers can lose emotional control. Once children are past the toddler years, safety differences between centers and other forms of child care diminish. Wrigley says, "Child care is quite safe overall, but it could be made safer. We need to recognize what a stressful and demanding job it is to look after young children. Improved safety will only come with more resources and closer regulation of care." How can we improve child care safety? A complete copy of the article, titled: "Fatalities and the Organization of Childcare," can be found beginning November 1 on the website of the American Sociological Association www.asanet.org which will also be linked from The Graduate Center's website www.gc.cuny.edu . Hard copies may be obtained from by contacting Johanna Ebner at the American Sociological Association, 1307 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20005. While working on this research, Julia Wrigley was a Professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she was recently appointed Acting Associate Provost. Her work focuses on social class and inequality. She is the author of Class Politics and Public Schools , on conflicts over the control and funding of Chicago's schools, and Other People's Children , on relations between middle-class parents and their children's caregivers. She edited Sociology of Education and chaired the ASA section on Children and Youth. Joanna Dreby is a Ph.D. student in Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her research interests include child care, the sociology of children, gender and families and immigration/transnational communities. She recently spent a year in Mexico on a Fulbright doing research for her dissertation on parent-child separation in Mexican transnational families. The Foundation for Child Development is a national, private philanthropy dedicated to the principle that all families should have the social and material resources to raise their children to be healthy, educated, and productive members of society. PK-3, the Foundation's signature focus, seeks to create a new beginning for public education from prekindergarten through third grade. For more information, visit the Foundation's website, http://www.fcd-us.org. The Graduate Center is the doctorate-granting institution of The City University of New York. The only consortium of its kind in the nation, the school draws its faculty of more than 1,700 members mainly from the CUNY senior colleges. Established in 1961, The Graduate Center has grown to an enrollment of about 4,000 students in 32 doctoral programs and six master's degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The Graduate Center also houses 28 research centers and institutes, administers the CUNY Baccalaureate Program as well as a number of other university-wide academic programs, and offers a wide range of continuing education and cultural programs of interest to the general public. Further information on The Graduate Center's programs and activities can be found on its website at: www.gc.cuny.edu. Submitted on: NOV 1, 2005

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Psychological Topics and Issues

January 21, 2010 An estimated 430,000 children worldwide became infected with HIV in 2008, mostly through birth or breastfeeding from an HIV-infected mother. Many regions of the world are gaining increased access to complex antiretroviral drug regimens for preventing HIV transmission from a mother to her child. However, these strategies have not yet been directly compared with simpler antiretroviral drug regimens in terms of their safety, efficacy, feasibility and cost-effectiveness. On January 15, a large, multinational clinical trial began to determine how best to reduce the risk of HIV transmission from infected pregnant women to their babies during pregnancy and breastfeeding while preserving the health of these children and their mothers. The PROMISE (“Promoting Maternal-Infant Survival Everywhere”) study aims to enroll 7,950 HIV-infected women who are pregnant or have recently given birth and 5,950 HIV-exposed infants of these women. The participants will come from as many as 18 countries whose levels of resources range from high to low. The International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials network is conducting the study with funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, both part of the National Institutes of Health. Led by protocol chair Mary Glenn Fowler, M.D., M.P.H., of the Makerere University–Johns Hopkins University Research Collaboration in Kampala, Uganda, the study team expects results in five to six years. The HIV-infected women eligible to participate in PROMISE do not yet qualify for treatment—that is, their CD4+ T cell count, a measure of immune health, exceeds the level (350 cells per cubic millimeter of blood) at which highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) generally is recommended. HAART consists of a potent combination of three or more antiretroviral drugs. The study addresses four distinct research questions. Most volunteers will participate in multiple components of the study to answer these questions. The first component will examine which of two proven strategies is safer and more effective at preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission before and during delivery: giving HIV-infected pregnant women a three-antiretroviral-drug regimen beginning as early as 14 weeks of gestation, or giving them the antiretroviral drug zidovudine beginning as early as 14 weeks of pregnancy and a single dose of the antiretroviral drug nevirapine during labor. The regimen of zidovudine and nevirapine is the standard of care in many countries for women who do not yet require treatment for their HIV infection. Some 4,400 women will be assigned at random to receive either one of these two interventions. The second component of the PROMISE study will compare the safety and efficacy of two methods of preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission during breastfeeding. The study team will assign 4,650 mother-infant pairs at random either to receive a daily dose of infant nevirapine or to have the mothers take a three-antiretroviral-drug regimen throughout breastfeeding. The third component of the PROMISE study will examine the effects of short-term use of a three-antiretroviral-drug regimen during pregnancy and breastfeeding to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission on the health of HIV-infected mothers who do not yet need treatment. For such women, it remains unclear whether stopping the three-drug regimen after giving birth or ceasing to breastfeed would compromise their health. Although past studies have shown that interrupting treatment with antiretroviral drugs has a negative effect, the conditions in those studies are different enough from the conditions of the PROMISE study to make extrapolating the results difficult, according to the study investigators. The 4,675 women participating in this third component of PROMISE will be assigned at random either to stop the three-antiretroviral-drug regimen after giving birth or weaning, or to continue the drug regimen indefinitely. The health of these two groups will be compared. In addition, the women who receive the time-limited three-drug regimen will be compared with the women who participated in the first component of PROMISE and did not receive the three-drug regimen, but rather took zidovudine during pregnancy and single-dose nevirapine during labor. The last component of the PROMISE study involves protecting the health of HIV-exposed but uninfected infants. In resource-limited settings, it is standard to give the antibiotic cotrimoxazole once daily to infants exposed to HIV at birth until the infant has stopped breastfeeding and is known to be HIV-uninfected. While cotrimoxazole prophylaxis improves the survival rate of HIV-infected infants, it is not known whether continuing to administer the drug after weaning similarly would benefit HIV-exposed but uninfected children. In this fourth component of the PROMISE study, nearly 2,290 HIV-exposed but uninfected, weaned infants under one year old will be assigned at random either to continue receiving cotrimoxazole or to receive a placebo through age 18 months. Neither the mothers of the infants nor the study team will know which infants are in which group. The study will determine whether continuing cotrimoxazole prophylaxis in HIV-exposed, uninfected infants from the time they stop breastfeeding through age 18 months decreases their risk of illness and death without causing side effects or generating bacterial resistance to cotrimoxizole. Media inquiries can be directed to the NIAID Office of Communications at 301-402-1663, firstname.lastname@example.org. The NICHD sponsors research on development, before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit the Institute’s Web site at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/. NIAID conducts and supports research—at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide—to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID Web site at www.niaid.nih.gov. About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov. NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health ® back to top Last Updated January 21, 2010

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HIV/AIDS Information

When set to hair mode, particle system creates only static particles, which may be used for hair, fur, grass and the like. The first step is to create the hair, specifying the amount of hair strands and their lengths. The complete path of the particles is calculated in advance. So everything a particle does a hair may do also. A hair is as long as the particle path would be for a particle with a lifetime of 100 frames. Instead of rendering every frame of the particle animation point by point there are calculated control points with an interpolation, the segments. The next step is to style the hair. You can change the look of base hairs by changing the Physics Settings. A more advanced way of changing the hair appearance is to use Children. This adds child hairs to the original ones, and has settings for giving them different types of shapes. You can also interactively style hairs in Particle Mode. In this mode, the particle settings become disabled, and you can comb, trim, lengthen, etc. the hair curves. Hair can now be made dynamic using the cloth solver. This is covered in the Hair Dynamics page. Blender can render hairs in several different ways. Materials have a Strand section, which is covered in the materials section in the Strands Page. Hair can also be used as a basis for the Particle Instance modifier, which allows you to have a mesh be deformed along the curves, which is useful for thicker strands, or things like grass, or feathers, which may have a more specific look. - Regrow Hair for each frame. - Enables advanced settings which reflect the same ones as working in Emitter mode. - Set the amount of hair strands. Use as little particles as possible, especially if you plan to use softbody animation later. But you need enough particles to have good control. For a “normal” haircut I found some thousand (very roughly 2000) particles to give enough control. You may need a lot more particles if you plan to cover a body with fur. Volume will be produced later with Children. Settings for adding movement to hair see Hair Dynamics. - Draw hair as curves. - Draw just the end points if the hairs. - The number of segments (control points minus 1) of the hair strand. In between the control points the segments are interpolated. The number of control points is important: - for the softbody animation, because the control points are animated like vertices, so more control points mean longer calculation times. - for the interactive editing, because you can only move the control points (but you may recalculate the number of control points in Particle Mode). - 10 Segments should be sufficient even for very long hair, 5 Segments are enough for shorter hair, and 2 or 3 segments should be enough for short fur. Hair can be rendered as a Path, Object, or Group. See Particle Visualization for descriptions. - Fur Tutorial, which produced (Image 4b). It deals especially with short hair. - Blender Hair Basics, a thorough overview of all of the hair particle settings.

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Engineering, Color Theory, Photography, Printing

Maui’s death in set net takes species one step closer to extinction WWF-New Zealand’s Executive Director Chris Howe says: “This death of a Maui’s dolphin is a tragedy for a species that is down to only about 100 individuals. Set nets in Maui’s habitat continue to pose an unacceptable risk to these dolphins. Until we get set nets out of the shallow coastal waters where they live, more Maui’s will needlessly get entangled and drown. The species could be extinct within our generation without urgent action.” Maui’s dolphins, a subspecies of the South Island’s Hector’s dolphins, are found only off the west coast of the North Island. They are the world’s rarest marine dolphin, classified internationally as critically endangered. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) yesterday released a statement saying they believe that the dead animal was a Maui’s, not a Hector’s dolphin as originally reported, because of the location of its death. The dead dolphin was returned to the sea by the fisher. MAF claimed the death “occurred outside of the current known range of Maui’s dolphins, as well as outside the current restrictions.” However there have been independent verified sightings of Maui’s dolphins in the coastal waters off Taranaki in recent years, and WWF-New Zealand is urging MAF and the government to extend protection measures throughout the Maui’s historical range to give the species the best chance of survival and recovery. Despite fishing restrictions announced in 2008, Maui’s are not currently protected throughout their entire range. WWF is calling on the government to extend protection measures into harbours and the southern extent of their current range, along with better monitoring and policing of regulations. WWF- New Zealand is urging all members of the public who see a Maui’s dolphin – noted for their rounded dorsal fin - to report it to a special sightings hotline, 0800 4 MAUIS. Mr Howe says: “Every sighting of one of these rare and precious dolphins matters. The more we know about where Maui’s range and their movements, the better we can protect them. “WWF will continue to speak out on behalf of all those New Zealanders who want to stop the extinction of Maui’s dolphins, and urge the government to extend the current protection measures before it is too late.”

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Marine Life Studies

DLTK's Crafts for Kids Cone Santa Paper Craft Set Santa out on a coffee table or the mantle as a fun Christmas decoration or put him on the top of a small Christmas tree as a tree topper - something to color with The directions are appropriate for an older child or adult to assemble. Don't worry too much if younger children glue the pieces a bit off kilter -- part of the fun of watching them grow is seeing their progress over the years! - Color and cut out the pieces. - Roll the large triangular piece and use the tab to glue it into a cone - Glue the nose onto the face using a dot of glue on the nose (this allows the mustache to stick out from the edges a bit in a slightly 3d manner). - Glue the hat band around the top, just above the face. - Glue the beard around the top, just below the face. You can see how the mouth fits into the little notch in the beard. - Glue the belt around the center, just below the buttons. - Fold the arms in half and glue together (so they're coloured on both sides). Use a dot of glue on the top of the arms (shoulder) to position the arms near the beard, leaving them sticking out in a slightly 3d manner. You can have them sticking straight down, reaching forward, waving, etc... however you want Santa to look!). - Close template window when done printing to return to this screen. - Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers). Printable version of these instructions

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Childrens Educational Activities

BJU Press' Spelling Grade 4 introduces new words to master for the 4th grade level. Word lists are primarily grouped by pattern, with lessons including the list of words plus two challenge words, and a "word sort" section that allows students to sort words by pattern. Additional exercises help students to master syllables, vocabulary knowledge, dictionary skills and more through a variety of fun activities. Thirty-two weekly spelling lists are included, and each list contains approximately 20 words. This 4th Edition has been completely revised to include colorful worktext pages with activities designed to strengthen spelling and communication skills. This resource is also known as Bob Jones Spelling Grade 4 Student Worktext, 2nd Edition. - Type: Other () - Category: > Home Schooling - ISBN / UPC: 9781606821923/160682192X - Publish Date: 1/1/2010 - Item No: 319704 - Vendor: Bob Jones University Press

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Literacy and Reading Activities

There is an overwhelming amount of news coverage related to the state of the economy, international politics, and various domestic programs. The environment and environmental policy on the other hand, are being ignored. When environmental policy is discussed many citizens and representatives champion the need for substantial policy reform. However, when actual policies are introduced, they are typically ignored or delayed. Due to the current state of the environment, politicians need to place a higher priority on environmental policy. First, the public needs to understand exactly what environmental policy is and how it affects them. Environmental policy is defined as “any action deliberately taken to manage human activities with a view to prevent, reduce, or mitigate harmful effects on nature and natural resources, and ensuring that man-made changes to the environment do not have harmful effects on humans or the environment,” (McCormick 2001). It generally covers air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem management, biodiversity protection, and the protection of natural resources, wildlife, and endangered species. Issues like these, affect everyone across the globe and cannot be ignored. Environmental policy became a national issue under Theodore Roosevelt, when National Parks were established in hopes of preserving wildlife for future generations. The modern environmental movement began in the 1970s during the Nixon administration, when a large amount of environmental legislation started rolling out. Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which established a national policy promoting the enhancement of the environment and set requirements for all government agencies to prepare Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements. Nixon also established the President’s Council on Environmental Quality. Legislation of the time established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), The Clean Air Act, and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. The EPA has received a lot of notoriety recently, mostly for republican’s desire to get rid of it, though it is still a source vital to protecting the environmental. Rising gas prices in the 1970s inspired a wave of greener vehicles, a phenomenon witnessed again in 2008. High energy costs motivated Jimmy Carter to install solar panels on the white house roof, a clear message that helping the environment was everyone’s responsibility. Focus on environmental policy began dwindling in the 1980s though, under the Regan administration. As the Soviet Union began to weaken and fall, the restructuring of Europe became a priority and the environment quickly slipped to the backburner. Many of the environmental issues that the public faced in the late twentieth century are still issues today, including: climate change, lack of fossil fuels, sustainable energy solutions, ozone depletion, and resource depletion. Today, with the plethora of issues currently affecting the environment, it needs to become a priority again. As gas prices reached record highs in 2007 and 2008, there was a surge in Green Startups to help companies struggling with high fuel costs. As fuel costs decreased, the focus on these Green Startups decreased as well. However, now that gas prices are again on the rise, there will likely be a green resurgence in the market. These green initiatives should not rise and fall with the cost of gas. Environmental issues have impacts and implications far greater than the bottom dollar. Rising sea levels, droughts, and other extreme weather events have enormous human impacts, killing or displacing scores of people each year. In an Oxfam International study at the University of Belgium, the earth is currently experiencing approximately 500 natural disasters a year, affecting over 250 million people (Guitierrez 2008). It is paramount that our government focus significant attention and funding on environmental policy. If we continue to disregard the environment, the planet might be degraded to the point where it is no longer habitable. We only have one Earth; we need to do our best to preserve it. Gutierrez, David. “Natural Disasters Up More Than 400 Percent in Two Decades.” NaturalNews.com, June 5, 2008. Accessed March 10, 2012. http://www.naturalnews.com/023362.html.

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Air Pollution Impact

E Numbers: Emulsifiers Sunday, Oct 16 2011 Emulsification is the word scientists give to mixing liquids together. Specifically, it is the process by which immiscible liquids, liquids that cannot normally mix, are mixed together. The chemical agent used is called an emulsifier. Emulsifiers are not unique to food, we use emulsifiers to clean ourselves (soap), and in order to produce medical injections. Emulsifiers in Food The most familiar emulsifier is probably the egg. Eggs are used as an emulsifier in everything from cakes and custard, to mayonnaise (Figure 1) and from hollandaise, to soufflés. What the egg is doing chemically is allowing the other ingredients to form a stable emulsion (mix). Interestingly, egg itself actually contains two types of emulsifier: one is protein, the other is lecithin (Figure 2). They both have chemical properties that are shared by both water and fatty substances. This helps mix things up sufficiently well to make a homogeneous mixture of water, fat and lecithin, that looks not unlike baby sick. There are others that are used regularly in cooking too. As well as the egg in mayonnaise, mustard powder is also added to many recipes. This also helps it to stay homogeneous. In industrial food production, several harmless emulsifiers, not common-place in the home, have been used for some time. One such is xanthan gum. The name is perhaps misleading as it is not a gum as such when bought, but an off-white powder that is usually accused of being either cocaine or flour. The usage of the word gum is perhaps clearer when we consider the properties it has on being mixed with fat and water. Figure 3 shows the transformation. Here, I include weights and volumes so you can do this yourself if you want to. In part A we see the oil (clear yellow layer, 10 mL) above the water (colourless layer, 25 mL). Adding the xanthan gum (B, 5 g) appears to do little initially (C), however a brief agitation of the system leads to homogenesis of the three substances (D). Not only do we have an homogenous mixture, but also one that is thicker than it was previously – squeezing it out gives the appearance of an off-white turd (E). Said turd goes brilliantly with a sprig of basil or rosemary and glass of chilled white Sancerre. 2 Responses to “E Numbers: Emulsifiers” Leave a Reply You must be logged in to post a comment.

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Biology and Health Studies

U.S. Navy in Florida The presence of the U.S. Navy in Florida officially began with the transfer of the peninsula by Spain to the U.S. in 1821, and the subsequent establishment of Florida as a U.S. Territory. Two of the earliest American military vessels which sank in Florida waters were actually American privateers captured by Britain's Royal Navy during the American Revolution, and which later sank while in Royal Navy service. The captured American privateer Who's Afraid was placed into the Royal Navy and renamed HMS Mentor. The captured American privateer Independence was placed into the Royal Navy and renamed HMS Racer. HMS Mentor was burned by the British at Pensacola in 1781 to prevent her capture by invading Spanish forces. HMS Racer foundered in a gale in the Gulf of Mexico in 1814. The first commissioned Navy ship lost in Florida waters was USS Alligator, which wrecked in the Florida Keys in 1822, while assigned to combat piracy. Many naval, and other military craft have been sunk in Florida waters since 1821, through military action, foundering, grounding, fire and explosion, deliberate sinking to create artificial reefs, and other causes. Such shipwrecks are the major focus of the Florida Navy Legacy Shipwreck Project. During its long history in Florida, the U.S. Navy has established a number of naval bases and stations. The most strategically significant of these have been at Pensacola, Key West, and Jacksonville. There has been a U.S. Navy presence at Pensacola since 1825, at Key West since 1822, and more recently at Jacksonville since the Second World War. There have been several military conflicts in Florida since 1821 in which the U.S. Navy has played an important role. These were the First Seminole War (1816-1818), the Second Seminole War (1835-1842), the Third Seminole War (1855-1858), the Civil War (1861-1865), the Spanish American War (1898), the First World War (1917-1918), the Second World War (1941-45), and events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis (1963). During the Seminole Wars, the Spanish American War, and First and Second World Wars, there were a number of smaller Naval stations established along Florida's vast coastline. During the Seminole Wars, these stations were often operated as supply depots, intended for the joint Army-Navy operations being conducted. One example is the Naval Depot established on Key Biscayne in 1836, which lasted until 1926. During the First and Second World Wars, with new developments in aviation technology, these coastal naval stations were outfitted to serve as stations for lighter than air craft (dirigibles), conventional aircraft, and smaller surface craft, used to patrol Florida's coastline and offshore waters. Between the spring of 1942, and the fall of 1943, German submarines attacked and sank large numbers of ships on Florida's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The Navy's system of coastal defense was ultimately one of the major factors which turned the tide against the U-Boats and caused Germany's Naval Command to redirect its effort to other locations where targets were easier to attack. Since the Second World War, the U.S. Navy has continued to maintain a significant presence in Florida. The Key West Naval Station became a major staging area for the Navy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, for example. Recognizing the on-going strategic significance of the Key West Naval Station, the Navy invested large amounts of money in the early 1980s to upgrade its facilities. Since the stationing of the Navy's first aircraft carrier at Pensacola in 1925, Pensacola has become the focus for naval aviation activities and training. A Naval Training Center was in operation at Orlando from 1968 to 1994. Today in Florida, there are naval facilities at Pensacola, Panama City, Key West, Homestead, Mayport and Jacksonville, as well as some other smaller stations. The U.S. Navy's history in Florida spans 175 years, from the earliest days of U.S. territorial expansion to the Space and Nuclear Age. Although much valuable work has already been done, much of this interesting chapter of U.S. Naval history remains to be studied and written by future historians.

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Historical Military and Maritime Events

by Nate Jones, Vertebrate Ecology Lab (still in the Bering Sea) … Of course the bad weather I’ve been writing about was nothing compared to what happens on the Bering during the months of February or March, and the Gold Rush fishes regularly during that time of year, so I had complete faith in the seaworthiness of the ship and the judgment and skill of the crew. I took comfort in that thought, and stumbled down to my bunk for what became a grueling 72 hours of bumps, rolls, and queasy stomachs. During this stormy time the crew exchanged watches at the helm, keeping the ship pointed into the fury. We all hoped for the best, but by the time the seas had calmed to (a more manageable?) 8-10’, the hungry ocean had damaged and ripped off much of our scientific equipment, snapping several ¼” steel bolts and ripping welds clean apart! The Gold Rush itself weathered this storm in fine shape (wish we could say the same of our scientific equipment!), and there were no major injuries to anyone on board. It really was quite a minor event in the context of the Bering Sea; just another blowy, bumpy day or two out on the water. But, it impressed me and I couldn’t help contemplating darker scenarios – what happens when there is a true emergency? What if someone had been swept overboard, or, worse yet, what if the ship itself had been damaged or taken on water and started to go down? Such things do happen, although not as frequently now as they have in the past (coast guard regulations and improvements in technology and crew training have contributed to much increased safety). In my next post I’ll put up some images from training exercises that are routinely undertaken to help prepare crew and passengers (scientists) for emergencies at sea…

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Polar and Climate Topics

Antoine Pierre Joseph Marie Barnave Barnave, Antoine Pierre Joseph Marie (äNtwänˈ pyĕr zhōzĕfˈ märēˈ bärnävˈ) [key], 1761–93, French revolutionary. A member of the States-General of 1789 from Grenoble, he was a brilliant speaker and leader of the Jacobins. After Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette fled to Varennes in 1791, Barnave believed that the king might finally be persuaded to accept a constitutional government, thereby avoiding the impending political anarchy. He began a correspondence with Marie Antoinette, encouraging her to convert the monarchy to the Revolution; this correspondence was later used as evidence of Barnave's treasonous activities. In July, 1791, he spoke in the assembly in favor of the restoration of the king as a constitutional monarch and appealed for an end to the Revolution. He retired to Grenoble, and was tried for treason and guillotined (1793). His history of the French Revolution, written during his imprisonment, is considered a major work that tried to put the Revolution into a broader political and social framework. See E. Chill, Power, Property, and History: Barnave's Introduction to the French Revolution and Other Writings (1971). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on: French History: Biographies

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Historical and Genealogical Records

There was no question that the monarch was in charge. Elizabeth I (1558-1603) and James I (1603-25) both made it very clear that they ruled the country. They made the laws, they fought the wars, they appointed the top ministers and so on. However, the monarchy worked on the basis of cooperation between the monarch and the political nation. The political nation was the nobles and gentry. The nobles were the very rich landowners. The gentry were the wealthy smaller landowners and also rich merchants in the towns. They were a tiny minority of the population, but they held most of the wealth and power in the kingdom. They saw themselves as the protectors of the ordinary people. They were the Members of Parliament and they collected the king’s taxes. The local gentleman or merchant was usually the local magistrate. The gentry were in charge of the local militia (armed forces). They were also in charge of law and order because there was no police at this time. Their estates and businesses made them the biggest employers. The court was the gathering of people around the monarch. Wherever the monarch was, the court would also be. It included all the top nobles and officials. James I ran a very informal court. In fact he had a reputation for being too informal – he sometimes got drunk and there were lots of stories of very bad behaviour. It was quite easy for a top noble to get to talk to the king. The noble might want to do this because he was concerned about a particular law or policy that he did not agree with. James was usually prepared to explain his policies, and he often made compromises with the nobles. The court was one way that the top nobles could communicate with the king. Parliament was made up of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Lords contained the great nobles from the richest and most powerful families. The MPs in the House of Commons were elected. Members of the gentry and wealthy merchant classes elected men from their own class to sit in Parliament. Parliament was an important way that the political nation and the monarch could communicate. The monarch made speeches to Parliament. MPs also made speeches and wrote letters of advice to the monarch. James I and most other monarchs preferred to rule without Parliament. However, James often ran short of money. He needed the support of MPs to agree to new taxes to raise money. He also needed the cooperation of MPs to collect these taxes. As a result, he usually agreed to listen to the concerns of MPs and accepted some of their advice. Charles I was James I’s son. He came to the throne in 1625. He was the ruler of three kingdoms – England, Ireland and Scotland. It was a hard job to rule three kingdoms. They had different laws, churches, languages and traditions. Charles spent most of his time in his richest and most powerful kingdom – England. His biggest problem was working with the MPs in England’s Parliament. Charles believed very strongly in the Divine Right of kings. This meant that the right to rule was based on the law of God. The King was responsible to God alone therefore nobody could question the King or disobey him. Unfortunately for Charles, the political nation was not happy about such views. They expected to be able to talk to the monarch, discuss policies and reach agreements. Charles was not suited to this approach. He was a private man who did not speak much and who liked order and discipline in all aspects of his life. He never developed his father’s political skill in working out compromises to tricky problems. Charles was shy, small and had a stammer. This probably made him insecure. This may help to explain why his court was very grand and formal. It was held in magnificent palaces like Whitehall, full of riches. Charles invited great painters like Anthony van Dyck to his court. The people there wore expensive, impressive clothes. There were rules about how everyone should behave. Charles also restricted the number of people who could come and talk to him. They had to have an appointment. His right-hand man, the Duke of Buckingham, controlled access to Charles. Charles tended to rely too heavily on one or two officials he trusted. His closest minister was George Villers, usually known as Buckingham. Buckingham used his position of power and influence with Charles to make himself and his family rich. He made sure that his friends and family were appointed to the top jobs in the government. As a result, he was widely hated by many Lords and MPs. What was worse, Buckingham was not particularly good at his job. Charles I gave him command of a military expedition against Spain in 1625. It was a failure, with many of the troops being killed by disease or made ill by cheap Spanish wine. He led another disastrous military campaign in 1627. The following year Buckingham was assassinated.

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Historical and Genealogical Records

If genealogy books were rated by the pound, the book I examined this week would be number one. I don't recall ever picking up a single genealogy book as thick and heavy as this one. Of course, genealogy books are not graded by heft. Nonetheless, this particular book is the definitive guide to descents from the Magna Carta Barons of 1215 A.D. for over 200 individuals who emigrated from the British Isles to the North American colonies in the 17th century. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, by Douglas Richardson is a 1,099-page reference to those descents, combining both research in original records with the use of published literature to provide well-documented ancestral lines for American colonists with Magna Carta ancestry. Yes, that is one thousand ninety-nine pages. Best of all, nearly every page is full of high-quality, well-researched genealogy information. Magna Carta (Latin for "Great Charter") is a document written in 1215 A.D. that serves as the charter of England which limited the power of English monarchs. King John was the ruler at the time, and he ruled with an iron fist, much to the chagrin of his noblemen. The barons of England organized numerous uprisings. In the face of such strong and well-organized opposition, King John was forced to renounce certain rights and to grant a charter of liberties. This document stated that the King would respect certain legal procedures and accept the premise that the will of the king could be bound by law. Magna Carta is widely considered to be the first step in a long historical process leading to the rule of constitutional law. Magna Carta was signed in the meadow at Runnymede on June 15, 1215. Numerous disagreements arose immediately, and King John soon refuted it. A civil war then erupted. In the midst of this war, King John died of dysentery on October 18, 1216. His death quickly changed the nature of the war. His nine-year-old son, King Henry III, was soon crowned King of England. The civil war stopped, and a somewhat modified Magna Carta was issued. When he turned eighteen in 1225, Henry III himself reissued Magna Carta a third time, this time in a shorter version with only 37 articles. The twenty-five barons who signed the Magna Carta were the leading nobles of England at the time. Most were married, and many had large families. Hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of people alive today can trace their ancestry back to one or more of these twenty-five barons. Indeed, this book, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, lists 238 Colonial-era immigrants to the United States with proven descent from the Magna Carta barons. If one of these immigrants is in your family tree, this book will trace your ancestry back to the meadow at Runnymede in 1215 A.D. This scholarly book features thousands of biographical sketches of people who lived in medieval England and their descendants through to those who immigrated to America. The book also contains more than 28,000 source citations to published materials, making it the most documented source book of its kind. In fact, the extensive cross-referencing makes the text simple to follow. The book also contains a 93-page bibliography, probably the most exhaustive listing of medieval genealogy and history ever published. Finally, Magna Carta Ancestry contains an index of over 18,000 entries. Author Doug Richardson has refuted numerous published genealogies in this new book, pointing to source citations that disprove many lineages that have been accepted for decades. If you believe that you have royal or noble English ancestry, you need to check this book! Many new additions to the book show the lineages of colonial immigrants that previously were unknown. As a result, many people will be able to claim noble ancestry for the first time. While the primary audience for this book is anyone with American ancestry in the Colonial era, the book contains extensive biographical information about thousands of individuals who lived in England between 1215 and the 17th century. As such, the information will be of interest to anyone with ancestry in England, even if their later ancestors moved to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or elsewhere. A complete list of the 17th-century American immigrants with proven Magna Carta ancestry can be found on the publisher's web site at http://www.genealogical.com/item_detail.asp?afid=&ID=4887 Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, by Douglas Richardson will be the standard reference for many, many years. This huge scholarly work with more than 28,000 source citations belongs on the shelf at every genealogy library as well as in many private collections. Magna Carta Ancestry sells for $100 and is available directly from Genealogical Publishing Company at http://www.genealogical.com/item_detail.asp?afid=&ID=4887 as well as from Amazon.com and from many other bookstores. You can order it by specifying ISBN 0806317590.

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Historical and Genealogical Records

Fragmented across Central Asia, China, and Tibet, snow leopards (Uncia uncia) roam through mountain corridors and montane habitats. Today, scientists think there are between 4,000 and 7,500 snow leopards exist in the wild with most of them living within China. But accurate estimates are difficult to make when dealing with this elusive master of camouflage in its unwelcoming home. Snow leopards have developed many interesting characteristics that help it survive in the cold, mountainous terrain they call home. Their long tails help them balance on steep, rocky terrain, and their large paws and furry feet act as snow shoes in deep mountain snows. Living at heights of 2,000 to 6,000 kilometers, they also have special nasal cavities that help them breath low-oxygen mountain air. Did you know? Snow leopards can leap vertically 6-10 meters (20-30 feet). This helps them hunt prey on steep, rocky mountainsides. Because food is scarce at such high altitudes, snow leopards are solitary animals, hunting and eating whatever meat they are able to find – including deer, marmots, boars and farm livestock. This also means, however, that they are not as possessive of their home ranges. In areas where food is more plentiful, a snow leopard might have a small range of 12-15 km2, whereas if food is not available, a snow leopard may roam up to 40 km2 to find sufficient food. Threats to the Snow Leopard Snow leopards are hunted for their bones, which are in demand to replace tiger bones in Chinese medicinal traditions. Additionally, in eastern Asia, fur coats and similar items made from snow leopard skins have become increasingly popular. Habitat loss and changing patterns of land use have also threatened snow leopard populations. In the Central Asian mountains, the animals that snow leopards prey on have been hunted to dangerously low numbers, threatening the food supply of these sleek animals. Decreasing wild food supplies have often driven snow leopards to small farms, resulting in unfortunate clashes between these threatened animals and local farmers. Although some conservation projects have been put in place to conserve the habitats and environments for the snow leopard populations, additional projects focusing on local education and corridor-building would make an important contribution to snow leopard conservation.

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Mammals and Conservation

PROVIDENCE, RI -- Shifting glaciers and exploding volcanoes aren't confined to Mars' distant past, according two new reports in the journal Nature. Glaciers moved from the poles to the tropics 350,000 to 4 million years ago, depositing massive amounts of ice at the base of mountains and volcanoes in the eastern Hellas region near the planet's equator, based on a report by a team of scientists analyzing images from the Mars Express mission. Scientists also studied images of glacial remnants on the western side of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system. They found additional evidence of recent ice formation and movement on these tropical mountain glaciers, similar to ones on Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. In a second report, the international team reveals previously unknown traces of a major eruption of Hecates Tholus less than 350,000 million years ago. In a depression on the volcano, researchers found glacial deposits estimated to be 5 to 24 million years old. James Head, professor of geological sciences at Brown University and an author on the Nature papers, said the glacial data suggests recent climate change in Mars' 4.6-billion-year history. The team also concludes that Mars is in an "interglacial" period. As the planet tilts closer to the sun, ice deposited in lower latitudes will vaporize, changing the face of the Red Planet yet again. Discovery of the explosive eruption of Hecates Tholus provides more evidence of recent Mars rumblings. In December, members of the same research team revealed that calderas on five major Mars volcanoes were repeatedly active as little as 2 million years ago. The volcanoes, scientists speculated, may even be active today. "Mars is very dynamic," said Head, lead author of one of the Nature reports. "We see that the climate change and geological forces that drive evolution on Earth are happening there." Head is part of a 33-institution team analyzing images from Mars Express, launched in June 2003 by the European Space Agency. The High Resolution Stereo Camera, or HRSC, on board the orbiter is producing 3-D images of the planet's surface. These sharp, panoramic, full-color pictures provided fodder for a third Nature report. In it, the team offers evidence of a frozen body of water, about the size and depth of the North Sea, in southern Elysium. A plethora of ice and active volcanoes could provide the water and heat needed to sustain basic life forms on Mars. Fresh data from Mars Express – and the announcement that live bacteria were found in a 30,000-year-old chunk of Alaskan ice – is fueling discussion about the possibility of past, even present, life on Mars. In a poll taken at a European Space Agency conference last month, 75 percent of scientists believe bacteria once existed on Mars and 25 percent believe it might still survive there. Head recently traveled to Antarctica to study glaciers, including bacteria that can withstand the continent's dry, cold conditions. The average temperature on Mars is estimated to be 67 degrees below freezing. Similar temperatures are clocked in Antarctica's frigid interior. "We're now seeing geological characteristics on Mars that could be related to life," Head said. "But we're a long way from knowing that life does indeed exist. The glacial deposits we studied would be accessible for sampling in future space missions. If we had ice to study, we would know a lot more about climate change on Mars and whether life is a possibility there." The European Space Agency, the German Aerospace Center and the Freie Universitaet in Berlin built and flew the HRSC and processed data from the camera. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) supported Head's work. AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

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Space Exploration and Astronomy

Teachers, register your class or environmental club in our annual Solar Oven Challenge! Registration begins in the fall, and projects must be completed in the spring to be eligible for prizes and certificates. Who can participate? GreenLearning's Solar Oven Challenge is open to all Canadian classes. Past challenges have included participants from grade 3 through to grade 12. Older students often build solar ovens as part of the heat unit in their Science courses. Other students learn about solar energy as a project in an eco-class or recycling club. How do you register? 1. Registration is now open to Canadian teachers. To register, send an email to Gordon Harrison at GreenLearning. Include your name, school, school address and phone number, and the grade level of the students who will be participating. 2. After you register, you will receive the Solar Oven Challenge Teacher's Guide with solar oven construction plans. Also see re-energy.ca for construction plans, student backgrounders, and related links on solar cooking and other forms of renewable energy. At re-energy.ca, you can also see submissions, photos and recipes from participants in past Solar Oven Challenges. 3. Build, test and bake with solar ovens! 4. Email us photos and descriptions of your creations by the deadline (usually the first week of June). 5. See your recipes and photos showcased at re-energy.ca. Winners will be listed there and in GreenLearning News.

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Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

KDL Recommends For Kids > PLAY-GROW-READ! - Books for Early Literacy > Katie L. Talks: Books that Invite Participation Shout! Shout It Out! Title: Shout! Shout It Out! Author: Denise Fleming CONCEPT E FLEMING Mouse invites the reader to shout out what he or she knows as they review numbers, letters, and easy words. Kids are often told to sit still and be quiet. But Denise Fleming encourages them to shout, shout it out! By taking basic learning concepts like numbers, letters, and colors and putting them on display, she asks kids to shout out what they know—and her readers will be happy to oblige. With bold colors and her unique handmade paper art, Denise Fleming makes learning into a game. Long-time fans and sharp-eyed newcomers will be happy to see that Mouse returns on every page, shouting along with the crowd!

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Literacy and Reading Activities

Entomological Survey of Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area, Belize Peter Kovarik, John Shuey, and Chris Carlton During the mid-late 1990's, lepidopterist John Shuey became interested in testing the widely touted concept that insect communities are useful in evaluating impacts to ecological integrity in tropical forest communities. At that time the literature had been advocating insects, especially butterflies, as appropriate indicators for assessing the impacts of specific management activities on tropical forests. People were already using insects as indicators, despite the fact that this simple premise had yet to be tested. John enlisted coleopterist Peter Kovarik as a partner in this study. The two decided that in addition to butterflies, scarabaeine scarabs and hister beetles would become part of the study. The taxa that were selected were chosen in part because of their susceptibility to bait and or passive trapping techniques. In fact the beauty of this study was that we envisioned relatively little active collecting. This way we could quasi enjoy ourselves while our traps were filling with insects! The site chosen for our study was Rio Bravo Conservation Area located in Orange Walk Province, Belize. Rio Bravo is a 230,000 acre nature preserve in the northwestern corner of the country near the corner where Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico meet. Rio Bravo is a beautiful mosaic of semitropical moist forest, savanna, and wetland habitats with over 230 species of trees, 70 species of mammals, and approximately 400 species of birds. Among large animals, the area has healthy populations of jaguar, puma, Baird's tapir, and two species of monkeys. There are also significant Mayan archeological sites, and the area has a colorful recent history of mahogany logging, chicl? extraction, and marijuana farming. This preserve is ministered by Programme For Belize (PfB), a private conservation organization that holds Rio Bravo in trust for the people of Belize. PfB integrates elements of sustainable forestry and natural product harvesting, ecotourism, and education into a single comprehensive long-term management plan. For a location map of Rio Bravo click on the PfB logo above. For additional information about The Nature Conservancy's role, click on that logo. Rio Bravo turned out to be an ideal setting for our study. In addition to extensive areas of oak-pine savanna, there were huge expanses of contiguous limestone rainforest without excessive topographic variability. Within this expanse of fairly homogenous habitat, there were areas along trails or roads through the forest that had been fairly recently logged. We sought to imbed our sample sites within areas that were both recently disturbed by man and others which had been relatively untouched for quite some time. Because Rio Bravo is a preserve and PfB encourages research activities, we felt confidant that human impact on both the ecosystem and our sampling devices would be minimal. Thus, it seemed probable that any potential differences we observed in insect communities between our sample sites would be primarily due to forest integrity rather than extraneous factors. Our core studies were conducted once during the dry season and twice during the rainy season. They were completed in 1996. Since neither John nor Pete knew much about scarabaeine scarabs, expert Bill Warner was coaxed into participating by promising him many scarabs with no strings attached. In fact Bill eventually joined us in Rio Bravo in July 1996. We are still awaiting some of our quantitative insect data, but we have botanical assessments of each forest tract, and data from the sample events for butterflies and hister beetles in hand. As soon as the last of our insect data is cleaned up, we will finish off the ecological end of this work. Like many studies, this one began small and focused and eventually expanded into a full blown entomological survey. Coleopterist Chris Carlton became the third major player in our survey. Chris has made several trips to Rio Bravo and done some intensive leaf litter work and set up many a flight intercept trap in search of tiny pselaphid beetles. We collected massive amounts of insects and have spent the last several years processing our samples and farming specimens out to various specialists who have generously provided us with identifications. We have learned, with little surprise that many of the insects that inhabit the forests and savannas of Rio Bravo are new to science. Many others are new country records. This is not surprising either since the entomofauna of Belize is poorly known. What is perhaps a bit of a surprise are the many unusual range extensions for some of the described insect species. This indicates that knowing the insect fauna of Belize will improve our understanding of the zoogeography of Mexico and Central America. The following checklists and are now available and more will be added as they mature. Available images may be accessed through links within the checklists. - Anthribidae, by Charles O'Brien - Cerambycidae, by Robert Turnbow - Chrysomelidae, by Shawn Clark - Curculionidae, by Charles O'Brien - Elateroidea, by Paul Johnson - Erotylidae, by Paul Skelley - Mordellidae, by John Jackman - Staphylinidae: subfamily Pselaphinae, by Chris Carlton - Tenebrionidae, by Charles Triplehorn and Otto Merkl For questions and comments contact Peter Kovarik.

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Insect and Pest Studies

UK Telegraph had the original report This astounding achievement is a big step toward protecting sensitive electronics and the delicate human body against the radioactive effects of manned missions between the planets. Earlier paper from 2008 - The interaction of a flowing plasma with a dipole magnetic field: measurements and modelling of a diamagnetic cavity relevant to spacecraft protection Minimag presenation from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, early 2010 In results just published in the journal Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, they have devised a system no bigger than a large desk that uses the same energy as an electric kettle. Two mini-magnetospheres will be contained within two mini satellites located outside the spaceship. Should there be an increase in solar wind flux, or an approaching cloud of energetic particles from a flare and/or coronal mass ejection (CME), the magnetospheres can be switched on and the solar ions are deflected away from the spacecraft. If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks Ocean Floor Gold and Copper Ocean Floor Mining Company

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Space Exploration and Astronomy

You are here: PureEnergySystems.com > News > October E-Cat Test Validates Cold Fusion Despite Challenges The test of the E-Cat (Energy Catalyzer) that took place on October 6, 2011 in Italy has validated Andrea Rossi's claim that the device produces excess energy via a novel Cold Fusion nuclear reaction. Despite its success, the test was flawed, and could have been done in a way that produced more spectacular results -- as if confirmation of cold fusion is not already stunning enough. Andrea Rossi stands in front of his E-Cat apparatus, October 6, 2011 Photo by Maurizio Melis of Radio24 by Hank Mills Pure Energy Systems News Andrea Rossi has made big claims for the past year, about his cold fusion "E-Cat" (Energy Catalyzer) technology. He has claimed that it produces vast amounts of energy via a safe and clean low energy nuclear reaction that consumes only tiny amounts of nickel and hydrogen. A series of tests had been performed earlier this year that seemed to confirm excess energy is produced by the systems tested. Some of the tests were particularly impressive, such as one that lasted eighteen hours, and was performed by Dr. Levi of the University of Bologna. Unfortunately, the tests were not planned out as well as they could have been and had flaws. The most recent test that took place on October 6, 2011 in Bologna, Italy, was supposed to address many of the concerns about the previous tests, and be performed in a way that would put to rest many issues that had been discussed continually on the internet. Despite showing clear evidence of excess energy -- which is absolutely fantastic -- this most recent test failed to live up to its full potential. It was a big success in that it validated the claim the E-Cat produces excess energy via cold fusion, but it was not nearly as successful as it could have been. Or as successful as we, the outsiders looking in, would like for it to have been. The Inventor's Mindset One thing that should be stated is that inventors do not always think like the people who follow their inventions. They have their own mindset and way of looking at things. This should be obvious, because they are seeing *everything* from a different perspective. For example, when we think seeing the inside of an important component would be exciting and informative, they consider it a threat to their intellectual property. Or, for example, when we would like to see a test run for days, they are thinking that a few hours is long enough. In their mind, they know their technology works, and running it for hours, days, or weeks would be more of a chore to them than an exciting event. In Rossi's case, he has worked with these reactors for many years. He has tested them time and time again. In fact, he has built hundreds of units (of different models), and has tested every one of them. He is aware of how the units operate and how they perform. Actually, for a period of many months to a year or more, he had an early model of E-Cat heating one of his offices in Italy. Satisfying the curiosity of internet "chatters" by operating a unit for an extended period of time -- beyond what he thinks is needed to prove the effect -- is just a waste of his time, according to his thinking. He could spend the time getting the one megawatt plant ready to launch. Don't forget, Rossi is a busy person. In addition to finishing the one megawatt plant, he has a new partner company to find, a wife at home, and a life to live! We need to consider that he works sixteen to eighteen hours a day building units, testing them, addressing other issues about the E-Cat. Although he is a very helpful person in many ways (willing to communicate with people and answer questions), he simply does not have the time to grant all of the many requests made of him. If he did, he could not get any work done at all, and the E-Cat would never be launched, or ever make it to the market place! The Outsider's Mindset I consider myself an outsider. I have never built a cold fusion device, have never spent years working to develop a technology, and have never gone through the grueling process of trying to bring a product into the market place. Although I spend a lot of time researching various technologies on the internet, I don't work sixteen to eighteen hours a day. In addition, I have no vested interest in the success of any technology, other than simply wanting at least one to hit the market place, ASAP. As an outsider, I do not think like Rossi thinks. I don't think the majority of people think like Rossi thinks, because they are not in his shoes. They are not working to the point of exhaustion, and do not have years of their life invested in an exotic technology. Due to the fact we do not think like Rossi, his actions or sometimes lack thereof can seem strange, bizarre, or odd. Sometimes, they can make us want to smack ourselves, to make sure we are not in some sort of strange dream. The recent test on October 6, 2011 is an example of a situation in which outsiders would have liked to have seen a very different test. Here are examples of how an outsider would have liked to see the test performed, compared to Rossi's possible mindset. (Please note that I am making speculations about what Rossi is thinking, and his mindset. I do not know for sure if my guesses are accurate. If they are not, then I would like to apologize to Rossi, and give him the chance to respond in any way he sees fit.) In the recent test, the output producing capability of the reactors was throttled down for safety reasons. This may have been done by keeping the hydrogen pressure low, or adding less of the catalyst to the nickel powder. Also, only one out of the three reactors that were inside of the module, were used in the test. For an experimental test to prove the effect beyond a shadow of a doubt, I, as an outsider, would have loved to have seen the device fully throttled up, despite the safety risks. Even if it meant everyone that attended would have had to sign long legal disclaimers, it would have been worth it. I think it would have been great if all three reactors were utilized, and they all were adjusted to produce their maximum level of output. This would have increased the amount of output produced dramatically, and would have reduced the amount of input needed. The more heat produced by the system, the less heat would have needed to be input via the electric resistors. Rossi, on the other hand, probably thought throttling up the device to a high level was not worth the risk, and was not needed to prove that excess energy was being produced. It is true that an explosion causing injuries -- while probably VERY unlikely -- could result in a setback of his project, and possible legal ramifications. Also, in reality, the test proved excess energy was being produced even with only one, throttled down reactor being used. So even though a test of the device adjusted to operate at full power would have been useful and exciting, it was not absolutely needed for what Rossi wanted to accomplish. I would like to ask Rossi to consider performing a demonstration with a module both adjusted to operate at full power, and utilizing all three reactor cores. Even if he has to limit the number of people involved, perform the test remotely with cameras monitoring the module, utilize a blast shield, or only allow certain individuals (who have signed disclaimers) to go into the room in which the module is running. A Longer Self Sustain As an outsider, I have not had the chance to look at test data from these devices self-sustaining for long periods of time -- 12 hours, 24 hours, days, weeks, etc. I would really like to see one of these units self sustain for a *very* long period of time. This is not because I think the output of the E-Cat during the recent test was due to stored energy being released (the 'thermal inertia' theory being floated around the internet). In fact, I think that the flat line in NyTeknik's graph -- showing self sustain mode for three and a half hours without any drop in output temperature -- provides clear evidence against the thermal inertia theory. The reason I would like to see a longer period of self sustain, is that it would not only document a huge gain of energy, but one that no individual could rationally deny! Rossi has claimed that these devices represent an alternative energy solution that could change the world. I think this is true. However, to show just how much potential this technology has, an even more extended test of the E-Cat in self sustain mode (at full power or at least with all three reactors inside the module being used), would have been much more impressive. I am not saying the Oct. 6 test was not impressive -- it was very significant because it demonstrated excess energy and proof of cold fusion -- but that a longer test would have been better. It would have done more to shut up the cynics (a few of which will never change their minds), and help the technology get into the mainstream (dumbstream) media. I really don't think Rossi cares too much about showing off the technology's full potential, at this point. He also does not seem to appear to want the attention of the mainstream media, or at least any more than he thinks he needs. If he did, the test would have been far different, and would have produced such a gigantic amount of excess energy everyone's jaws would have dropped. My jaw dropped when I saw the flat line during self sustain mode (because it proved beyond a doubt the system was producing excess energy), but my jaw did not drop as far as it could have, if the period of operation had lasted longer. Interestingly, I have known inventors, of unrelated energy technologies, that purposely held back from showing the *best* version of their technology. They did not want to show off too much, because they did not want to deal with the fallout of attracting too much attention. Instead of performing an amazing demonstration, they performed one that proved the point -- at least to their satisfaction -- but would not attraction too much attention. I think Rossi may feel the same way. If he had his way, he would have never done a single test before the launch of the one megawatt plant. It was Focardi that convinced him to do a public test, because he feared that (due to health problems) he may not live long enough to see the technology be revealed to the world. A longer test (at least 12 hours) in self sustain mode would have been great, exciting, and would have produced even more excess energy. However, in Rossi's mind, it was not needed, for potentially valid reasons (at least from the perspective of someone on the inside). I would simply like to humbly plead with Rossi, to try and step in the shoes of the outsider, and at the next test allow the module to run for a longer period in self sustain mode. Modern Testing Methods and Tools I have looked at the data acquired during the test, but have not had a chance to study it as in depth as I would like to. The data shows a clear gain of energy in my opinion, and confirms that the E-Cat is producing excess energy. As I said before, the test was a success. However, it could have been performed in a more modern way. For example, all of the temperature measurements, power input measurements, and water flow measurements should have been fed into the same computer, to be recorded in a real time manner. This way all the data would have been automatically recorded into one data set, including the hour and second of every measurement. It seems data collection was not done this way at the test, and some of the data was actually taken by hand! Because the data was not all automatically recorded into one computer during the test, NyTeknik (who had the exclusive right to be the first to post a report on the test) has not yet posted a graph that charts all the measurements of all the factors of the test. What I would like to see is a single high resolution graph, that shows all of the measurements that were taken of every parameter of the test. If one graph showing everything would be too complex for a non-expert to easily interpret, then a series of graphs would be ideal. This would allow everyone to more simply determine the total energy in, and the total energy out. The data collected and the manner in which it was collected is good enough to show there was a significant amount of excess energy produced, especially during self sustain mode. It may also be good enough to show even more details about the excess energy produced. Sadly, I'm not an expert in scientific data interpretation, so it takes me more time to interpret data than an expert who does so full time (like Rossi). I hope that when I have had the time to examine the data in more depth, I will see that Rossi's claims about the results of the test (not just excess energy but a six fold gain of energy, in a worst case scenario) are accurate. At this point, I am not going to doubt him. He is the expert, and there are many people going over the data, and hopefully more data from the test will be coming in the near future. What I would like to do, is request that he upgrade his data acquisition methods for any upcoming public tests. However, from Rossi's perspective, the way the data was acquired was good enough, and proved the point he wanted to make. I respect his view, but I do hope that he will change his mind in the future. For the record, I am not stating that I think better data acquisition techniques are needed to verify his technology produces excess energy, and even significant amounts of it. I simply think it would make analysis of test data much simpler, quicker, and precise. One of the most useful tools in the scientific method is a control. A control is an object or thing that you do not try to change during the experiment. For example, if you were giving an experimental drug to a hundred people, you might want to have a number of additional people who do not receive the drug. You would compare how the drug effects the people who consumed it, to those who did not receive the drug at all. By comparing the two sets of people, those who consumed the drug and those who did not, you could more easily see the effectiveness of the drug -- or if it was doing harm. In Rossi's test, a control system would have been an E-Cat module that was setup in the exact same way, except it would have not been filled with hydrogen gas. It would have had the same flow of water going through it, the same electrical input, and it would have operated for the same length of time as the E-Cat unit with hydrogen. By comparing the two, you could easily see the difference between the "control" E-Cat (that was not having nuclear reactions take place), and the "real" E-Cat (that was producing excess heat). If a control had been used in the experiment, the excess heat would be even more obvious. It would have been so obvious, that it could have made the test go from a major success (with some flaws), to the most spectacular scientific test in the last hundred years. Yes, a control would have made that much of a difference! I understand that Rossi may not see the need for a control, when the test that was performed clearly showed excess energy without it. A control might have made the experiment so mind blowingly amazing, it could have attracted too much media attention, too many scientists that would want to get involved, and too many individuals wanting additional information. The result could have been that Rossi would not even have the time to finish his one megawatt plant. However, from the view point of an outsider, I think a control would have greatly benefited the experiment. If it created too much media attention, perhaps someone could volunteer to work for a month as an unpaid intern, filtering through all of the requests from media representatives, and taking care of many non-technical tasks, so Rossi could focus on getting the one megawatt plant ready! I sincerely hope that during the test of the one megawatt plant, and any tests before then, a control run will be performed, in which no hydrogen is placed in the reactors. Rossi's Statement about the Test Results Andrea Rossi responded to an email we sent him that had questions about the test. Here is the email, and his responses. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUOUS ATTENTION. PLEASE FIND THE ANSWERS IN BLOCK LETTERS ALONG YOUR TEXT: Dear Andrea Rossi, In regards to the latest test of the Energy Catalyzer, I have a number of questions I hope you can answer. 1) My understanding is that if a reactor core is not adjusted to be under-powered (below its maximum potential) in self-sustain mode, it can have a tendency to become unstable and climb in output. If the reactor is left in an unstable self-sustaining mode for too long, the output can climb to potentially dangerous levels. Can you provide some information about how the reactor core in the test was adjusted to self-sustain in a safe manner? NO, VERY SORRY a) For example, there was only one active reactor core in the module tested. How was the single reactor core adjusted to be under-powered? b) Is adjusting the reactor core as simple as lowering the hydrogen pressure? 2) What is the power consumption of the device that "produces frequencies" that was mentioned in the NyTeknik article? Although the power consumption of this device is probably insignificant, providing a figure could help put to rest the idea (that some are suggesting) that a large amount of power was being consumed by the frequency-generating device, and transmitted into the reactor. THE ENERGY CONSUMED FROM THE FREQUENCY GENERATOR IS 50 WH/H AND IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED, BECAUSE THIS APPARATUS WAS PLUGGED IN THE SAME LINE WHERE THE ENERGY-CONSUME MEASUREMENT HAS BEEN DONE a) Can you tell us anything more about this frequency generating device and its function? NO, SORRY, THIS IS A CONFIDENTIAL ISSUE b) Is the frequency-generating device turned on at all times when a module is in operation, or only when a module is in self-sustain mode? c) Some are suggesting that this device is "the" catalyst that drives the reactions in the reactor core. However, you have stated in the past that the catalyst is actually one or more physical elements (in addition to nickel and hydrogen) that are placed in the reactor core. Can you confirm that physical catalysts are used in the reactor? YES, I CONFIRM THIS 3) Does the reaction have to be quenched with additional water flow though the reactor, or is reducing the hydrogen pressure enough to end the reactions on its own? NEEDS ADDITIONAL QUENCHING a) If reducing the hydrogen pressure (or venting it completely) is not enough to turn off the module, could it be due to the fact some hydrogen atoms are still bonded to nickel atoms, and undergoing nuclear reactions? b) If there is some other reason why reducing hydrogen pressure is not enough to quickly turn off the module, could you please specify? Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions, and for allowing a test to be performed that clearly shows anomalous and excess energy being produced. Hopefully, the world will notice the significance of this test. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, AND, SINCE I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOT TIME TO ANSWER (I MADE AN EXCEPTION FOR YOU) PLEASE EXPLAIN THAT BEFORE THE SELF SUSTAINING MODE THE REACTOR WAS ALREADY PRODUCING ENERGY MORE THAN IT CONSUMED, SO THAT THE ENERGY CONSUMED IS NOT LOST, BUT TURNED INTO ENERGY ITSELF, THEREFORE IS NOT PASSIVE. ANOTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION: IF YOU LOOK CAREFULLY AT THE REPORT, YOU WILL SEE THAT THE SPOTS OF DRIVE WITH THE RESISTANCE HAVE A DURATION OF ABOUT 10 MINUTES, WHILE THE DURATION OF THE SELF SUSTAINING MODES IS PROGRESSIVELY LONGER, UNTIL IT ARRIVES TO BE UP TO HOURS. BESIDES, WE PRODUCED AT LEAST 4.3 kWh/h FOR ABOUT 6 HOURS AND CONSUMED AN AVERAGE OF 1.3 kWh/h FOR ABOUT 3 HOURS, SO THAT WE MADE IN TOTAL DURING THE TEST 25.8 kWh AND CONSUMED IN TOTAL DURING THE TEST 3.9 kWh. IN THE WORST POSSIBLE SCENARIO, WHICH MEANS NOT CONSIDERING THAT THE CONSUME IS MAINLY MADE DURING THE HEATING OF THE REACTOR DURING THE FIRST 2 HOURS, WE CAN CONSIDER THAT THE WORST POSSIBLE RATIO IS 25.8 : 3.9 AND THIS IS THE COP 6 WHICH WE ALWAYS SAID. OF COURSE, THE COP IS BETTER, BECAUSE, OBVIOUSLY, THE REACTOR, ONCE IN TEMPERATURE, NEEDS NOT TO BE HEATED AGAIN FROM ROOM TEMPERATURE TO OPERATIONAL TEMPERATURE. WARMEST REGARDS TO ALL, ANDREA ROSSI He claims that the test produced 25.8 kilowatt hours of power, and consumed only 3.9 kilowatt hours, not considering the losses from using two circuits of water and a heat exchanger. This would be very impressive for a system that is only using one reactor core (out of three), that has been adjusted to only produce a fraction of its maximum potential power. However, from my analysis of the data so far (still trying to wrap my head around it), I have not been able to confirm his claim of a COP of 6. I am not saying it is not the case, or not in the data. I simply have yet to fully examine the data, and I am waiting for more data to be released. Actually, I hope that someone will release all the data in one file and/or graph that will be easier to interpret. Perhaps NyTeknik, if they have not done so already, could contact Rossi or someone else who attended and recorded the data, and ask for any test data they are missing. Bottom Line - Cold Fusion Is Here The fact of the matter was that the October 6th test was a success in many ways. - It documented a gain of energy. - It documented a gain of energy in self-sustain mode. - It documented massive "heat after death." Most importantly, it proved beyond a doubt, that cold fusion is a reality. Italian scientific journalist Maurizio Melis of Il Sole 24 Ore, who witnessed the test in Bologna, "In the coming weeks Rossi aims to activate a 1MW plant, which is now almost ready, and we had the opportunity to inspect it during the demonstration of yesterday. If the plant starts up then it will be very difficult to affirm that it is a hoax. Instead, we will be projected suddenly into a new energetic era." The test could have been made better in many ways. It had flaws. However, it was the most significant test of the E-Cat so far, for one reason in particular.... This graph shows that the E-Cat is a device producing excess energy, because the red line does not go down until after the hydrogen is vented. - Some may legitimately argue about how much energy was produced, because we don't yet have all the test data in one easy to interpret graph or file. - Some may point out the flaws in the test, such as the lack of a control, the lack of another several hours of operation in self sustain mode. - Some may point out ways the test could be improved. However, that graph by NyTeknik makes it clear the test was a success -- not a failure. Mainstream media, your alarm clock is buzzing, it's time to wake up! # # # This story is also published at BeforeItsNews. What You Can Do - Pass this on to your friends and favorite news sources. - Join the H-Ni_Fusion technical discussion group to explore the details of the technology. - Once available, purchase a unit and/or encourage others who are able, to do so. - Let professionals in the renewable energy sector know about the promise of - Subscribe to our newsletter to stay abreast of the latest, greatest developments in the free energy - Consider investing in Rossi's group once they open to that in October. - Help us manage the PESWiki feature page on Rossi's technology. Other PES Coverage PESN Coverage of E-Cat For a more exhaustive listing, see News:Rossi_Cold_Fusion LENR-to-Market Weekly -- June 6, 2013 - EU Parliament gives LENR thumbs LENR-to-Market Weekly -- May 30, 2013 - additional info on the E-Cat 3rd party test report (PESN) LENR-to-Market Weekly -- May 23, 2013 - E-Cat 3rd Party Results Posted (PESN) E-Cat Validation Creates More Questions (PESN; May 21, 2013) Third-Party E-Cat Test Results Posted - posted on ArXiv.org May 20, 2013) Interview with E-Cat Distributor License Broker, Roger Green (PESN; May 17, 2013) LENR-to-Market Weekly -- May 9, 2013 - Interview with Rossi about recent 1 MW plant delivery Interview with Andrea Rossi About 1 MW E-Cat Plant Delivery (PESN; May 7, 2013) LENR-to-Market MONTHLY -- April 29, 2013 - E-Cat teases with April 30 delivery date (PESN) LENR-to-Market Weekly -- March 28, 2013 - E-Cat 3rd-Party testing LENR-to-Market Weekly -- March 7, 2013 - more on NASA (PESN) LENR-to-Market Weekly -- February 21, 2013 - NASA on nuclear reactor in LENR-to-Market Weekly -- February 14, 2013 - Piantelli self-sustains 2 LENR-to-Market Weekly -- February 7, 2013 - CF 101 week 2 (PESN) LENR-to-Market Weekly -- January 31, 2013 - CF 101 week 1 at MIT (PESN) LENR-to-Market Weekly -- January 24, 2013 - Piantelli gets CF patent, Rossi rebuffs (PESN) LENR-to-Market Weekly -- January 17, 2013 - Defkalion joint venture LENR-to-Market Weekly -- January 10, 2013 - Rossi having problems finding certification for home application (PESN) LENR-to-Market Weekly -- January 3, 2013 - Hot-Cat creating electromotive force? (PESN)

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Technological Processes and Materials

"Have you ever passed a nail salon gasping from the chemicals seeping through the open door, while a dozen women patrons and their handlers are breathing in those same chemicals without a trace of discomfort?" There was a time shortly before the human genome was sequenced that many believed genetic science was on the cusp of a medical revolution. Our sequenced DNA was thought to hold the key to understanding the onset of disease. Why are some children afflicted with autism? Why do some adults stop producing enough insulin? Why do some otherwise healthy individuals who reach their senior years lose mental functions and memory? Ten years after the human genome was sequenced, biomedical scientists have become more cautious in their optimism about how DNA sequencing will change medicine by revealing the existence of a disease years before its onset or by introducing new therapies with the tools of molecular medicine and stem cells. The terms "gene-environment interaction" and "epigenetics" are now recognized as the clue to many disease conditions. The switches that turn genes on and off may be more important in understanding clinical pathology than mutations in coding sequences of DNA. These switches, which may stop or modify gene expression, are in the form of protein complexes that overlay the DNA code, such as histones or methyl groups, or the RNA interference molecules that reside in the genome. On the website of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences we find the following statement: "A good part of who we are is 'written in our genes,' inherited from Mom and Dad. Many traits, like red or brown hair, body shape and even some personality quirks, are passed on from parent to offspring. But genes are not the whole story. Where we live, how much we exercise, what we eat: These and many other environmental factors can all affect how our genes get expressed." Despite the growing awareness that environmental factors interact with and affect the human genome, most of the research remains focused on the mechanisms operating at the molecular level. Thus, there is much discussion about sequencing the epigenome to gain an understanding of the genetic switches or to probe deeply into non-coding DNA for discovery of RNA sequences that interfere or modulate gene expression. Meanwhile, we know that around 100,000 people die from adverse drug reactions. Some people are highly sensitive to chemicals in perfumes or outgassing from carpets or plastic. The detoxification mechanisms of people vary widely. Without a sufficient quantity of enzyme production, our bodies cannot break down certain chemicals fast enough before experiencing harm. If we expect to make any major inroads into preventing the many environmentally-induced diseases, each of which may affect a small percentage of the population, then we must use the human genome and the epigenome to acquire an understanding of why some people are more adversely affected by environmental agents. What we need is a massive effort to unravel the "gene-environment" interaction in disease causation. We have over 100,000 chemicals in current industrial use. Many of these chemicals were introduced into commerce without much toxicological evaluation. It takes between 25-50 years to regulate or ban a chemical that has been shown to be harmful to humans. The United States has only banned about a half dozen chemicals over half a century. In part this is because the regulatory system is geared toward industrial interests. The government requires very minimal safety studies to permit a chemical into industrial use, but demands an extraordinary body of replicable scientific studies and cost-benefit analyses before a chemical is removed from the marketplace. The one area where there have been major contributions in deciphering the gene-environment interaction is in the study of the genetic effects of ionizing radiation. Perhaps radiation effects on health is the low hanging fruit because of the mutations the radiation produces, although low level radiation effects remains highly controversial. How can we learn what chemicals are adversely affecting the healthy human genome and what chemicals have differential effects on different genomes? How can we detect the detoxification potential of each individual toward a chemical? The differences in people's ability to detoxify a chemical may be the result of shorter genes coding for the relevant detoxifying enzymes, or the enzyme-producing gene is switched off. Most of the commercial interest in the sequenced human genome has been focused on risk factors for certain diseases that are read from the individual's DNA. There is nothing in direct-to-consumer testing kits that reveals the cause of any disease other than what is encrypted in the code itself. And there are only a small number of illnesses where there is a one-to-one correlation between having a particular form of a gene and a disease, such as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia and Canavan's disease. Of course, a massive effort to determine how chemicals interact with the human genome may have unintended consequences. Instead of banning the chemical, it may result in a genetic classification of people-those hypersensitive to chemical X, those with peanut allergies, etc.-putting the onus on them about how to navigate through life. Many people have figured out they are hypersensitive to new carpets, latex or perfumes and learn how to keep away. But if we had a mechanism that showed us these people were not psychologically challenged but rather had a normal genome with less capacity to metabolize chemical toxins, we would have a new regulatory mechanism for removing the chemicals from the environment. Biomedical scientists have been able to titrate chemotherapy agents to individuals based on genomic information. Gene expression patterns associated with sensitivity and/or resistance to chemotherapy may be used to help provide more effective treatment. Scientists have used genetic testing to identify patients at high risk of bleeding from the drug warfarin. Two genes account for most of the risk. Recently, genetic variants in the gene encoding Cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP2C9, which metabolizes warfarin, and the Vitamin K epoxide reductase gene (VKORC1), has enabled more accurate dosing that takes account of the genome of an individual. Genotyping variants in genes encoding Cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP2D6, CYP2C19, and CYP2C9), which metabolize antipsychotic medications, have been used to improve drug response and reduce side-effects. Pain killers like codeine affect people differently. Tests for certain enzymes (P450-2D6) can determine whether someone will be an ultra-rapid metabolizer of codeine, which could induce life-threatening toxicity. If we can understand through certain enzyme pathways that individuals react differently to drugs and that some of us cannot efficiently metabolize certain chemicals, why couldn't we do the same for industrial toxins within the next 20 years? Once we learn that many people cannot de-toxify a chemical that bioaccumulates in their body, it provides new grounds for finding a substitute for that chemical rather than waiting a quarter century to complete hundreds of studies with mixed results. Sheldon Krimsky, PhD, is Chair of the Board of Directors and a founder of the Council for Responsible Genetics. He is a Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University.

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Medical Topics

A rising tide of drug-resistant staph infections Spider bites and pimples that just won't heal. That's how parents are describing their children's skin infections that turn out to be caused by a deadly strain of drug-resistant "staph" bacteria, says C. Buddy Creech, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Creech has been following the rising tide of cases of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, and he's concerned. He describes deaths of children, particularly adolescents, who are healthy and then develop sudden, devastating disease. "These are cases where a child has a fever on Saturday night, feels bad on Sunday, collapses in the pediatrician's office on Monday, and then dies. It's horrible." Skin abscesses are the most common presentation, and recent MRSA outbreaks have occurred among athletes, prisoners and tattoo recipients, with the germ spreading through skin contact or shared items like towels. Of the skin abscesses treated in the adult and pediatric emergency departments at Vanderbilt from Nov. 1, 2004 to Oct. 31, 2005, about 70 percent were positive for MRSA, according to a study conducted by Thomas Talbot, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine. These findings mirror the national scene. A study published this summer in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that 59 percent of all skin infections among adults treated in emergency rooms in 11 U.S. cities in August 2004 were caused by MRSA. "We culture every abscess now," Creech says. "Not only do we want to know if it's MRSA, we want to keep tabs on what MRSA is doing – is it becoming resistant to the drugs that we think still work?" Physicians have been able to turn to some "old" antibiotics to treat community-associated MRSA, sulfa-type drugs like Bactrim that were not being routinely used because other germs had developed resistance to them, Creech says. "There are two MRSA treatment arms right now – we still have a small number of drugs that are easy to give to people at home for uncomplicated MRSA infections, and we have several intravenous drugs, such as vancomycin, that we reserve for the critically ill patients." With any of these antibiotics, Creech warns, "it's the finger in the proverbial dike. We will inevitably see resistance – it's just a matter of time." Wendy Inman, a 30-year-old mother of three from Waynesboro, Tenn., knows about resistance firsthand. She has battled skin abscesses caused by MRSA for the past three years. Because of repeated boils in her underarm area, both wearing clothing and letting her arms hang at her side have been painful. Bactrim would help for only about six weeks, then the pus-filled cysts would return. She was referred to Vanderbilt's Patty Wright, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine, in June, and prescribed Bactrim and a decontaminating-cleansing regimen that has kept the skin abscesses at bay. Twice a day, for the first week of each month, Inman cleanses with a surgical-type scrub and uses an antibiotic nasal ointment. She also takes diluted bleach baths twice a week during that week, and takes a daily dose of Vitamin C. "People who have never had this don't realize how bad this is," she said. "It's like living with a toothache, a constant pain. But, now, it's such a blessing to be free of pain," she says. - Leigh MacMillan and Nancy Humphrey

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Infectious Disease Information

In ancient China one’s Zodiac sign was fixed by the position of the planet Jupiter during the year of one’s birth (it takes twelve years for Jupiter to orbit the sun). On this level, Ai Weiwei Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads represents a system of measuring time and distinguishing characteristics of the human psyche linked to the heavens above. In the mid-eighteenth century the Qianlong Emperor, ruler of the Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty—a Manchu (not Chinese) by birth—was fascinated by European technology. On the condition that they not proselytize, he invited European Jesuit priests into the Forbidden City, where they worked as scientists, engineers, architects, and artists. These priests spoke, read, and wrote Chinese fluently; in this way they could easily communicate with the most eminent Chinese and Manchu scholar-officials in the Forbidden City. Sent to China by the Vatican with the mission of converting China to the Catholic Church (in which they largely failed), these priests nonetheless had an enormous influence on Chinese intellectual and artistic life. Among the projects commissioned by the Emperor from the Jesuits was a grand palace known as the Yuan Ming Yuan, or “Palace of Perfect Brightness.” It consisted of a mix of styles: sections built in traditional Chinese wooden architecture and others made of marble, imitating such European palaces as Versailles. In front of one building in the European manner was a large fountain, with twelve animal-headed waterspouts. These functioned as symbols of the Zodiac and of the hours of the day (the Chinese measured the day in units equivalent to two Western hours, which when multiplied by twelve makes up a twenty-four hour day). In an astonishing irony, in 1860 the entire Palace was destroyed and looted by British and French troops as part of military actions of the Second Opium War. Of the twelve original bronze heads, seven survive. In casting his new Zodiac Heads, Ai Weiwei carefully followed the style of the originals, but exercised considerable artistic license in designing the five heads whose models are missing (including the dragon). Ai Weiwei’s Zodiac Heads are thus a multi-layered meditation on political power, the nature of time, and the often tormented relationship between China and West, at the same time calling into question the arbitrary nature of such concepts as “national treasure.” That all of this is accomplished with considerable humor is a tribute to Ai’s detachment. I am proud that LACMA is showing this work by one of China’s greatest artists and most courageous social critics. Stephen Little, curator, Chinese and Korean Art

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East Asian Culture

All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to: email@example.com, or mailed to: Cambria Press 20 Northpointe Parkway, Suite 188 Amherst, NY 14228Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lively, Donald E., 1947- The Constitution, race, and renewed relevance of original intent : reclaiming the lost opportunity of federalism / Donald E. Lively. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-60497-562-8 (alk. paper) 1. Slavery—Law and legislation—United States—History. 2. Race discrimination—Law and legislation—United States—History. 3. Segregation—Law and legislation—United States—History. 4. African Americans—Civil rights—History. 5. Constitutional amendments—United States—History. 6. Constitutional history—United States. 7. Equality before the law—United States. 8. Federal government—United States. I. Title.

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Racial and Social Justice

Nutrition basics (19) - Dietary fiber: Essential for a healthy diet - Artificial sweeteners and other sugar substitutes - Added sugar: Don't get sabotaged by sweeteners - see all in Nutrition basics Healthy diets (12) - DASH diet: Tips for dining out - DASH diet: Tips for shopping and cooking - DASH diet: Healthy eating to lower your blood pressure - see all in Healthy diets Healthy cooking (14) - Healthy chicken recipes - Meatless meals: The benefits of eating less meat - Healthy cooking for 1 or 2 - see all in Healthy cooking Healthy menus and shopping strategies (13) - Free range and other meat and poultry terms - Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid: A sample menu - Healthy breakfast: Quick, flexible options to grab at home - see all in Healthy menus and shopping strategies Nutritional supplements (3) - Herbal supplements: What to know before you buy - Calcium and calcium supplements: Achieving the right balance - Supplements: Nutrition in a pill? Whole grains: Hearty options for a healthy diet Find out why whole grains are better than refined grains and how to add more whole grains to your diet.By Mayo Clinic staff Grains, especially whole grains, are an essential part of a healthy diet. All types of grains are good sources of complex carbohydrates and some key vitamins and minerals. Grains are also naturally low in fat. All of this makes grains a healthy option. Better yet, they've been linked to a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers and other health problems. The healthiest kinds of grains are whole grains. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that at least half of all the grains you eat are whole grains. Chances are you eat lots of grains already. But are they whole grains? If you're like most, you're not getting enough whole grains in your diet. See how to make whole grains a part of your healthy diet. Types of grains Also called cereals, grains and whole grains are the seeds of grasses cultivated for food. Grains and whole grains come in many shapes and sizes, from large kernels of popcorn to small quinoa seeds. - Whole grains. These are unrefined grains that haven't had their bran and germ removed by milling. Whole grains are better sources of fiber and other important nutrients, such as selenium, potassium and magnesium. Whole grains are either single foods, such as brown rice and popcorn, or ingredients in products, such as buckwheat in pancakes or whole wheat in bread. - Refined grains. Refined grains are milled, a process that strips out both the bran and germ to give them a finer texture and extend their shelf life. The refining process also removes many nutrients, including fiber. Refined grains include white flour, white rice, white bread and degermed cornflower. Many breads, cereals, crackers, desserts and pastries are made with refined grains, too. - Enriched grains. Enriched means that some of the nutrients lost during processing are added back in. Some enriched grains are grains that have lost B vitamins added back in — but not the lost fiber. Fortifying means adding in nutrients that don't occur naturally in the food. Most refined grains are enriched, and many enriched grains also are fortified with other vitamins and minerals, such as folic acid and iron. Some countries require certain refined grains to be enriched. Whole grains may or may not be fortified. (1 of 2) - Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/DGAs2010-PolicyDocument.htm. Accessed June 30, 2011. - Dole Food Company, et al. Encyclopedia of Foods: A Guide to Healthy Nutrition. San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press; 2002. - Whole white wheat FAQ. Whole Grains Council. http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/whole-white-wheat-faq. Accessed June 30, 2011. - Maras JE, et al. Whole grain intake: The Baltimore longitudinal study of aging. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 2009;22:53. - Choosing whole grains FAQ. Eat right Ontario. http://www.eatrightontario.ca/en/viewdocument.aspx?id=39. Accessed June 30, 2011. - Duyff RL. American Dietetic Association Complete Food and Nutrition Guide. 3rd edition. Hoboken, N.J.:John Wiley & Sons; 2006. - What foods are in the grains group? U.S. Department of Agriculture. http://www.choosemyplate.gov/foodgroups/grains.html. Accessed June 30, 2011. - O'Neil C., et al. Whole-grain consumption is associated with diet quality and nutrient intake in adults: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2004. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2010;110:1461. - Zeratsky KA (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. July 5, 2011. - Nelson JK (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. July 7, 2011.

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Healthy Eating and Obesity Strategies

Job Description: To Explore the Unknown Curiosity about how life might have evolved on Mars could help reveal more about our own planet. Planetary studies can spark the imagination. We want to go to Mars. Humans have dreamed of going to another planet and looking for life throughout the ages. We want to better understand the nature of the Solar System and we want to know if we're alone. We're finding out as much as we can about our nearest habitable neighbor in order to lay the groundwork for the eventual colonization of Mars. There is nothing scientifically stopping us. A passion for exploration The discovery of hundreds of worlds around other stars has shown that planets orbit at least 5 to 10 percent of all stars. But how many of these planets are Earth-size, and possibly Earth-like?

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Space Exploration and Astronomy

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.

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Mammals and Conservation

London: No matter how bright you think your child is, until the age of seven, children are no brainier than the birds. Researchers at the University of Cambridge during simple experiments found out that birds did just as well as children up until the age of seven, The Daily Mail reported. By pitting birds against boys and girls using tests inspired by the Aesop's fable in which a thirsty crow is able to drink from a pitcher after using pebbles to raise the water level to within its reach. In two of the three tests the birds, Eurasian jays, did just as well as the seven-year-old children. After this, the human mind proved superior to the bird brain. The experiments built on earlier work in which jays quickly learned that adding stones to a cylinder half-filled with water would bring a tasty treat floating on the surface within reach of their beaks. In a second task the jays, colourful members of the crow family and about the same size as jackdaws, realized it was better to use pebbles, which sink, than corks, which float. When Cambridgeshire children, aged four to ten, were set similar tasks, they did as well as the jays on the first, up to the age of seven. From the age of eight, the pupils learned more quickly than the birds. The pattern was similar with the second task, except four-year-old children did worse than the jays. However, a third, more complex, task separated the youngsters from the birds. It again involved dropping objects into water to raise its level. But this time, a U-shaped tube was used, with the join at its bottom hidden; giving the impression it was two separate tubes. This appeared to confuse the birds. However, the children did as well as before. The researchers said this shows children are better at putting preconceptions aside. Lucy Cheke, a PhD student, said: "It is a child's job to learn about the world. They can't do that if they're limited by a preconceived idea about what is or is not possible. For a child, if it works, it works. The birds, however, found it much harder to learn what was happening because they were put off by the fact it shouldn’t be happening." First Published: Thursday, July 26, 2012, 16:22

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Bird Species Profiles

Photo: James Duncan Davidson Drawn into controversy Wearing his wide-brimmed hat, climate scientist James Hansen starts his TEDTalk by asking, ”What do I know that would cause me, a reticent midwestern scientist, to get arrested in front of the White House, protesting?” Hansen studied under professor James Van Allen, who told him about observations of Venus — there was intense microwave radiation — because it’s hot, and it was kept that way by a thick C02 atmosphere. He was fortunate enough to join NASA and send an instrument to Venus. But while it was in transit, he became involved in calculating what would be the effect of the greenhouse effect here on Earth. It turns out the atmosphere was changing before our eyes and, “A planet changing before our eyes is more important, it affects and changes our lives.” The greenhouse effect has been understood for a century. Infrared radiation is absorbed by a layer of gas, working like a blanket to keep heat in. He worked with other scientists and eventually published an article in Science in 1981. They made several predictions in that paper: There would be shifting climate zones, rising sea levels, an opening of the northwest passage, and other effects. All of these have happened or are underway. That paper was reported on the front page of the NY Times, and led to him testifying to congress. He told them it would produce varied effects, heat waves and droughts, but also (because warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor) more extreme rainfall, stronger storms and greater flooding. All the global warming ‘hoopla’ became too much, and was distracting him from doing science. In addition, he was upset that the White House had altered his testimony, so he decided to leave communication to others. The future draws him back in The problem with not speaking was that he had two grandchildren. He realized he did not want them to say, “Opah understood what was happening, but he didn’t make it clear.” So he was drawn more and more into the urgency. Adding carbon to the air is like throwing a blanket on the bed. “More energy is coming in than is going out, until Earth is warm enough to raiate to space as much energy as it recieves from the Sun.” The key quantity is the imbalance, so they did the measurements. It turns out that continents to depths of tens of meters were getting warmer, and the Earth is gaining energy from heat. That amount of energy is equivalent to dropping 400,000 Hrioshima bombs every day, over a year, and there is as much in the pipeline as has already occurred. If we want to restore energy balance and prevent further warming, we need to reduce the carbon levels from 391 parts per million to 350. The arguments against Deniers contend that it’s the sun driving this change. But Hansen notes the biggest change occurred during the low point of the solar cycle — meaning that the effect from the sun is dwarfed by the warming effect. There are remarkable records in the Earth of what has come before, and we’ve studied them extensively. There is a high correlation between the overall temperature, carbon levels, and sea level. The temperature slightly leads carbon changes by a couple centuries. Deniers like to use that to trick the public. But these are amplifying feedbacks, even through it’s instigated by small effect, a cycle is set up that feed in on itself: More sun in the summer means that ice sheets melt, which means a darker planet, which means more warming. These amplifying feedbacks account for almost entire paleoclimate changes. The same amplifying feedbacks must occur today. Ice sheets will melt, carbon and methane will be releaseed. “We can’t say exactly how fast these effects will happen, but it is certain they will occur. Unless we stop the warming.” The view of the future Hansen presents data showing that Greenland and Antarctica are both losing mass, and that methane is bubbling from the permafrost. That does not bode well. Historically, even at today’s level of carbon, the sea level was 15 meters higher than it is now. We will get least one meter of that this century. We will have started a process that is out of humanity’s control. There will be no stable shoreline, and the economic implications of that are devastating — not to mention the spectacular loss of speices. It’s possible that 20-50% of all species could be extinct by end of century if we stay on fossil fuels. Changes have already started. The Texas, Moscow, Oklahoma and other heat waves in recent memory were all exceptional events. There is clear evidence that these were caused by global warming. Hansen’s grandson Jake is super-enthusiastic, “He thinks he can protect his 2 and a half day old little sister. It would be immoral to leave these people with a climate system spiraling out of control.” The tragedy is that we can solve this. It could be addressed by collecting a fee for carbon emissions, distributed to all residents. That would stimulate the economy and innovation, and would not enlarge the government. Instead of doing this, we are subsidizing fossil fuels by $400-500 billion per year worldwide. This, says Hansen, is a planetary emergency, just as important as an asteroid on its way. “But we dither, taking no action to divert the asteroid, even though the longer we wait, the more difficult and expensive it becomes.” “Now you know some of what I know that is sounding me to sound this alarm. Clearly I haven’t gotten this message across. I need your help. We owe it to our children and grandchildren.”

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Climate and Weather Events

Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of EPA's Standards (2006)Board on Environmental Science and Toxicology Each report is produced by a committee of experts selected by the Academy to address a particular statement of task and is subject to a rigorous, independent peer review; while the reports represent views of the committee, they also are endorsed by the Academy. Learn more on our expert consensus reports. Most people associate fluoride with the practice of intentionally adding fluoride to public drinking-water supplies for the prevention of tooth decay. However, fluoride can also enter public water systems from natural sources, including runoff from weathering of fluoride-containing rocks and soils and leaching from soil into groundwater. Fluoride pollution from various industrial emissions can also contaminate water supplies. In a few areas of the United States, fluoride concentrations in water are much higher than normal, mostly from natural sources. Because it can occur at toxic levels, fluoride is one of the drinking water contaminants regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 1986, EPA established a maximum allowable concentration for fluoride in drinking water of 4 milligrams per liter (mg/L), a guideline designed to prevent the public from being exposed to harmful levels of fluoride. After reviewing research on various health effects from exposure to fluoride, including studies conducted in the last 10 years, this report concludes that EPA\u0092s drinking water standard for fluoride does not protect against adverse health effects. Just over 200,000 Americans live in communities where fluoride levels in drinking water are 4 mg/L or higher. Children in those communities are at risk of developing severe tooth enamel fluorosis, a condition that can cause tooth enamel loss and pitting. A majority of the report\u0092s authoring committee also concluded that people who drink water containing 4 mg/L or more of fluoride over a lifetime are likely at increased risk for bone fractures. - A few studies of human populations have suggested that fluoride might be associated with alterations in reproductive hormones, fertility, and Down's syndrome, but their design limitations make them of little value for risk evaluation - Assessing whether fluoride constitutes a risk factor for osteosarcoma is complicated by the rarity of the disease and the difficulty of characterizing biologic dose because of the ubiquity of population exposure to fluoride and the difficulty of acquiring bone samples in nonaffected individuals. - Bone fluoride concentrations increase with both magnitude and length of exposure. Empirical data suggest substantial variations in bone fluoride concentrations at any given water concentration. - Case reports and in vitro and animal studies indicated that exposure to fluoride at concentrations greater than 4 mg/L can be irritating to the gastrointestinal system, affect renal tissues and function, and alter hepatic and immunologic parameters. Such effects are unlikely to be a risk for the average individual exposed to fluoride at 4 mg/L in drinking water. However, a potentially susceptible subpopulation comprises individuals with renal impairments who retain more fluoride than healthy people do. - Fluoride is an endocrine disruptor in the broad sense of altering normal endocrine function or response, although probably not in the sense of mimicking a normal hormone. The mechanisms of action remain to be worked out and appear to include both direct and indirect mechanisms. - Gaps in the information on fluoride prevented the committee from making some judgments about the safety or the risks of fluoride at concentrations of 2 to 4 mg/L. - Groups likely to have increased bone fluoride concentrations include the elderly and people with severe renal insufficiency. - In light of the collective evidence on various health end points and total exposure to fluoride, the committee concludes that EPA�s MCLG of 4 mg/L should be lowered. - Little data is available on immunologic parameters in human subjects exposed to fluoride from drinking water or osteoporosis therapy, but in vitro and animal data suggest the need for more research in this area. - On the basis of information largely derived from histological, chemical, and molecular studies, it is apparent that fluorides have the ability to interfere with the functions of the brain and the body by direct and indirect means. - On the basis of pharmacokinetic modeling, the current best estimate for bone fluoride concentrations after 70 years of exposure to fluoride at 4 mg/L in water is 10,000 to 12,000 mg/kg in bone ash. Higher values would be predicted for people consuming large amounts of water (>2 L/day) or for those with additional sources of exposure. Less information was available for estimating bone concentrations from lifetime exposure to fluoride in water at 2 mg/L. The committee estimates average bone concentrations of 4,000 to 5,000 mg/kg ash. - Pharmacokinetics should be taken into account when comparing effects of fluoride in different species. Limited evidence suggests that rats require higher chronic exposures than humans to achieve the same plasma and bone concentrations. - Studies of the effects of fluoride on the kidney, liver, and immune system indicate that exposure to concentrations much higher than 4 mg/L can affect renal tissues and function and cause hepatic and immunologic alterations in test animals and in vitro test systems. - The committee did not find any human studies on drinking water containing fluoride at 4 mg/L where GI, renal, hepatic, or immune effects were carefully documented. - The committee finds that the available epidemiologic data for assessing bone fracture risk in relation to fluoride exposure around 2 mg/L are inadequate for drawing firm conclusions about the risk or safety of exposures at that concentration. - The committee's conclusions regarding the potential for adverse effects from fluoride at 2 to 4 mg/L in drinking water do not address the lower exposures commonly experienced by most U.S. citizens. The charge to the committee did not include an examination of the benefits and risks that might occur at these lower concentrations of fluoride in drinking water. - The damage to teeth caused by severe enamel fluorosis is a toxic effect that the majority of the committee judged to be consistent with prevailing risk assessment definitions of adverse health effects. - The degree to which moderate enamel fluorosis might go beyond a cosmetic effect to create an adverse psychological effect or an adverse effect on social functioning is also not known. - The single most important contributor to fluoride exposures (approaching 50% or more) is fluoridated water and other beverages and foods prepared or manufactured with fluoridated water.

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Dental Health Concerns

Filed underWebMD News For more trusted health news and information, visit CBS Denver's Researchers have revealed a simple trick that may help athletes keep their cool during a game’s high-pressure moments. Their advice to avoid choking under pressure: Clench the fist of your non-dominant hand. The findings appear in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. In the study, right-handed athletes who squeezed a ball with their left hand or clenched their left fist before a competition were less likely to choke in high-stress matches. Here’s why: The left side of the body is controlled by the right side of the brain. “Increasing activation in the right hemisphere decreases activation in the left hemisphere,” says study researcher Juergen Beckmann, PhD. Choking under pressure seems to be caused by a dominant activation in the left hemisphere, which controls key areas of the brain that help us psych ourselves out when under the gun. Clenching Technique May Reduce Choke Risk Brain scans show that a decrease of activation in the brain’s left hemisphere boosts performance, says Beckmann. He is the chair of sport psychology at the Technical University of Munich in Germany. The researchers conducted three studies involving soccer players, judo experts, and badminton players. They tested the athletes’ skills during normal practice and during important matches that took place before a large crowd or video cameras. The researchers only tested right-handed people. The athletes were less likely to choke under pressure when they squeezed a ball in their left hand than when they squeezed it in their right hand. This technique seems to work best in situations where movements such as kicking a ball are automatic. Overthinking them, however, can impair performance. “So far, we know that the technique seems to work only with complex motor tasks which have become automated,” says Beckmann. “It should not only work with sports but also … could be helpful for elderly people to maintain balance when they are afraid that they might fall.” Break the Thought Cycle Beckmann and his team are now studying the technique among expert musicians. “It might also be useful for surgeons or other professions in which precision, pressure, and highly automated tasks combine,” he says. To date, the team has conducted 13 studies, including one with gymnasts. “Whenever the specified conditions were given, the technique never failed.” David Straker, MD, says some athletes start thinking the worst when they step up to the plate in a baseball game or need to take a foul shot on the basketball court — and then they choke. “They have likely done this thousands of times. And 99% of the time, they do it perfectly, but still they choke,” he says. Straker is an adjunct assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. He often recommends a short course of therapy to help people change how they think and overcome self-defeating thoughts. “See a therapist and try to work on changing how you think in these situations,” he says. “When you start ruminating, take a step back and remind yourself that you have done this so many times and you do it well,” he says. “The fist- or ball-clenching technique used in the new study may also help distract people from the negative thoughts.” In the Zone And performance anxiety is not just an issue for athletes. “We know that elderly people are more likely to fall if they are thinking about it, and people also choke during exams even though they know the subject cold,” Straker says. Whatever the scenario, changing the thought process can make a difference. Sports performance expert Todd Stofka puts it like this: “You think you can or think you can’t.” He is the founder of Philly Hypnosis Performance in Philadelphia and regularly helps athletes think that they can. “Your confidence dictates whether you do better or worse. It is more than positive thinking. It’s desired-results thinking.” He often tells clients to visualize what they want in that high-stress moment. This process starts with breaking the initial connection. “Think of it as a series of light switches,” he says. “You can pull your ear or adjust your shirt or do something to stop the negative thoughts, and from there can move toward visualizing hitting the ball out of the park.” Being calm is also important. “Top performers play their very best when they are relaxed and in the zone,” he says. Getting in the zone starts with stopping anxiety-producing thoughts and anticipation.

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Brain Injury and Concussions

CHOSEN PEOPLE.(Redirected from PECULIAR PEOPLE.) Name for the Jewish people expressive of the idea of their having been chosen by God to fulfil the mission of proclaiming His truth among all the nations. This choice does not imply a superior claim, but a superior duty and responsibility on the part of the Jewish people, inasmuch as they have been pledged by the covenant which God concluded with Abraham, their ancestor, and again with the entire nation on Sinai, to testify, by precept and example, to the truth revealed to them, to lead a holy life as God's priest-people, and, if needs be, sacrifice their very lives for the sake of this truth. In this peculiar sense they are called God's own people; their religious genius, as manifested in their patriarchs, prophets, inspired poets, sages, and heroes, having rendered them the chosen people of religion to a far greater extent than the artistic and philosophical genius of the Greeks made that nation the chosen people of art and philosophy, or the juridical and political genius of the Romans made them the chosen people of law and politics.Consciousness of Selection. Unlike any other nation, the Jewish people began their career conscious of their life-purpose and world-duty as the priests and teachers of a universal religious truth; and their whole history, with all its tragic sternness, was and to the end of time will be devoted to the carrying out of this purpose and the discharge of this duty. This view is expressed in all the Biblical and rabbinical passages referring to Israel as the chosen people, or to Abraham as their ancestor. "For I have singled him out [A. V., "have known him"] to the end that he may command his children and his house after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment" (Gen. xviii. 1, Hebr.; compare Neh. ix. 7, "Thou art the Lord, the God who didst choose Abram").Conditions of Choice. That Israel's character as the chosen people is conditioned by obedience to God's commandments is stated in the very words of the Sinai covenant: "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" (Ex. xix. 5, 6). "The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people; but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers" (Deut. vii. 7, 8). The great obligation imposed upon Israel as the chosen people is especially emphasized by the prophet Amos (iii. 2): "You only have I singled out [R. V., "known"] of all the families of the earth: therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities." Compare Deut. xiv. 2: "Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth," and ib. xxiv. 18, 19, R. V.God's Witnesses and Their Inheritance. Particularly is the world-mission of the chosen people dwelt upon by Deutero-Isaiah, the seer of the Exile (Isa. xli.; xlii. 1-7; xliii. 10. "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen"; ib. verse 21, R. V., "The people which I formed for myself that they might set forth my praise"; compare xliv. 1, 2; xlix. 6, 7). As God's chosen people, Israel is also called His "inheritance" (Deut. iv. 20; ix. 26, 29; xxxii. 9; Ps. xxxiii. 12: "The people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance"; I Kings viii. 53, Jer. x. 16; and elsewhere). As the children of the Patriarchs they are His chosen ones (Ps. cv. 6).—In Rabbinical Literature: According to the Rabbis, Israel has not been chosen as the people of the Law on account of its racial superiority. "Israel is of all nations the most wilful or headstrong one [ In the Jewish liturgy, praise is frequently offered to God for having chosen Israel from among all thenations of the earth: in Ahabah Rabbah, in the benediction before the reading from the Law, and in the seven benedictions of the holy days and New Moon; concerning which see Geiger's "Jüd. Zeit." vii. 55; and Einhorn, in "Protocolle der Zweiten Rabbinerversammlung," p. 75, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1845. "The character of Israel as the chosen people," writes Güdemann ("Das Judenthum," 1902, p. 44) "does not involve the inferiority of other nations. The universality of Israel's idea of God is sufficient proof against such an assumption. Every nation requires a certain self-consciousness for the carrying out of its mission. Israel's self-consciousness was tempered by the memory of its servitude in Egypt and the recognition of its being 'the servant of the Lord.' It was the noblesse oblige of the God-appointed worker for the entire human race."

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Bible Study and Lessons

run the given instructions Major Section: PROOF-CHECKER-COMMANDS Example: (do-all induct p prove)Run the indicated instructions until there is a hard ``failure''. The instruction ``succeeds'' if and only if each instruction in General Form: (do-all &rest instruction-list) instruction-listdoes. (See the documentation for sequencefor an explanation of ``success'' and ``failure.'') As each instruction is executed, the system will print the usual prompt followed by that instruction, unless the global state variable do-all ``fails'', then the failure is hard if and only if the last instruction it runs has a hard ``failure''. Obscure point: For the record, (do-all ins_1 ins_2 ... ins_k) is the same as (sequence (ins_1 ins_2 ... ins_k)).

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GNU Project Tools

Tata teams up with Aussies for India’s first floating solar plant The pilot project, which is due to start operations by the end of the year, is based on a Sunengy patented Liquid Solar Array (LSA) technology which uses traditional concentrated photovoltaic technology - a lens and a small area of solar cells that tracks the sun throughout the day, like a sunflower LSA inventor and Sunengy executive director and chief technology officer, Phil Connor, said that when located on and combined with hydroelectric dams, LSA provides the breakthroughs of reduced cost and "on demand" 24/7 availability that are necessary for solar power to become widely used. Floating the LSA on water reduces the need for expensive supporting structures to protect it from high winds. The lenses submerge in bad weather and the water also cools the cells which increases their efficiency and life-span. According to Connor, hydro power supplies 87 percent of the world's renewable energy and 16 percent of the world's power but is limited by its water resource. He said an LSA installation could match the power output of a typical hydro dam using less than 10 percent of its surface area and supply an additional six to eight hours of power per day. Modeling by Sunengy shows that a 240 MW LSA system could increase annual energy generation at the Portuguese hydro plant, Alqueva, by 230 percent. "LSA effectively turns a dam into a very large battery, offering free solar storage and opportunity for improved water resource management," said Connor. "If India uses just one percent of its 30,000 square kilometers of captured water with our system, we can generate power equivalent to 15 large coal-fired power stations." Construction of the pilot plant in India will commence in August 2011. Sunengy also plans to establish a larger LSA system in Australia's Hunter Valley by mid-2012 before going into full production.

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Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

Smartphones have been around for at least several years now, but they still have certain limitations. Despite having a plethora of wireless technologies built-in--Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, etc.--there's no simple way to transfer "clippings" of data from one device to another. But a new research project at MIT called Sparsh is aiming to fix that oversight. Sparsh (the Hindi word for "touch") isn't an app, at least not in the way we generally use the word. It's a tool that's supposed to be part of a mobile operating system, like "undo" or "select all," running within apps at all times. It creates a virtual cloud-based clipboard where any data, like a phone number or photograph, can temporarily live until it's "pasted" to another device. For it to work, at least two devices need to be Sparsh-enabled. A user wanting to share data becomes, in concept, an avatar for a copy-and-paste-like function. The person touches data on a device, such as a photo or text, and Sparsh sends it to the cloud. The same person then touches another device, and presto! The relevant information is pasted in as if it had been copied from the same machine. Sparsh isn't the only tool for transferring small amounts of device-to-device data on the scene. Indeed, a popular iPhone app called Bump allows people to trade photos, apps, contact info, and even music from one phone to another simply by bumping the devices together. Bump is very cool, but it requires both the sender and recipient to be running the app. In addition, it's not open with what it can send or where it can send it--it only works from phone to phone, and while there are many options for things it can send, there are more things it simply can't. Sparsh aims to live in the devices we use at the operating-system level, meaning it would seem intuitive to use and be available within any app for almost any type of data. … Read more

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Networking and Data Transmission

Fuel cells and the electric motor are examples of highly-efficient, electric drive trains. Electric vehicles are expected to one day outstrip sales of combustion engines vehicles. Innovative technologies such as fuel cells, electric motors and electric vehicles will influence our future mobility. The market for electric vehicles boasts the most potential. Fuel cells, electric motors and electric vehicles are currently experiencing a breakthrough. Fuel cells are being used in new applications such as automobiles or laptop computers. Like electric vehicles, fuel cells are still in the development phase however. The potential is far from being exploited. Because a genuine fuel cell boom is anticipated, mass production is already underway. Like fuel cells, the application potential for electric motors and electric vehicles is still in its infancy stage. The discovery of the relationship between magnetic fields and electricity laid the foundation for the electric motor, and thus the electric vehicle. The electric motor that eventually resulted from this discovery is driven by the Lorentz force, which is the force on an electric charge as it moves through a magnetic field. The development of traditional technologies such as fuel cells and the electric motor has led to a rise in environmentally-friendly electric vehicles. Hybrid vehicles are still dominating the market in the segment for environmentally-friendly automobiles however. Utilizing a combination of combustion and electric motors, hybrid vehicles are slimmed-down versions of the electric vehicle. Fuel cells are based on the principle of a galvanic process. The composition of a fuel cell is influenced by both electrodes. The fuel cell energy stems from the electrode potential, which is created by the charging of the anode and cathode. The charging results in a potential difference in the fuel cell, which is eventually transformed into electric energy. From its discovery, to today's high-technology status, the fuel cell has experienced an astounding development. Fuel cells are already being used in a variety of applications today. But its impressive career is far from over. Because of their simple operation, the use of fuel cells in electric vehicles represents the market of the future. Theelectric motor began as an electromechanical transformer. As the description implies, the electric motor is capable of transforming electricity into mechanical energy. The electric motor functions by transforming its mechanical force into motion. Like fuel cell technology, the electric motor is a popular drive train alternative in electric vehicles. The development of the electric motor as a drive train for electric vehicles is still a work in progress however. The first genuine electric motor was produced as early as 1834. Today, state-of-the-art, innovative technologies are still based on discoveries made by researchers nearly 200 years ago, as illustrated by the examples of the fuel cell, electric motor and electric vehicle. While electric motors and fuel cells were originally used in industrial machine applications, electric vehicles are the technology of the future. At the beginning of their development, electric motors were initially used in locomotives . At this point, the focus is on the development of roadworthy electric vehicles. The key drivers of modern research into the electric vehicle are the electric motor's high degree of efficiency and low CO2 output, two factors that are behind current efforts to combat energy resource and climate change issues. The major issue is energy storage , which is the why researches are focused primarily on this aspect. For this reason, hybrid model electric vehicles - the combination of electric and combustion motors - are still in their infancy stage. Automotive Engineering highlights issues related to automobile manufacturing - including vehicle parts and accessories - and the environmental impact and safety of automotive products, production facilities and manufacturing processes. innovations-report offers stimulating reports and articles on a variety of topics ranging from automobile fuel cells, hybrid technologies, energy saving vehicles and carbon particle filters to engine and brake technologies, driving safety and assistance systems. Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoffmechanik IWM13.08.2008 | Read more The National Academies21.07.2008 | Read more Fraunhofer Institute for Information and Data Processing IITB11.07.2008 | Read more Du Pont de Nemours (Deutschland) GmbH11.07.2008 | Read more University of Portsmouth02.07.2008 | Read more DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory06.06.2008 | Read more Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS04.06.2008 | Read more Fraunhofer-Institut für Betriebsfestigkeit und Systemzuverlässigkeit LBF09.05.2008 | Read more Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication System02.05.2008 | Read more Du Pont de Nemours (Deutschland) GmbH09.04.2008 | Read more National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)04.04.2008 | Read more University of Stuttgart17.03.2008 | Read more DOE/Argonne National Laboratory26.02.2008 | Read more DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory25.02.2008 | Read more Du Pont de Nemours (Deutschland) GmbH20.02.2008 | Read more Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)14.02.2008 | Read more A fried breakfast food popular in Spain provided the inspiration for the development of doughnut-shaped droplets that may provide scientists with a new approach for studying fundamental issues in physics, mathematics and materials. The doughnut-shaped droplets, a shape known as toroidal, are formed from two dissimilar liquids using a simple rotating stage and an injection needle. About a millimeter in overall size, the droplets are produced individually, their shapes maintained by a surrounding springy material made of polymers. Droplets in this toroidal shape made ... Frauhofer FEP will present a novel roll-to-roll manufacturing process for high-barriers and functional films for flexible displays at the SID DisplayWeek 2013 in Vancouver – the International showcase for the Display Industry. Displays that are flexible and paper thin at the same time?! What might still seem like science fiction will be a major topic at the SID Display Week 2013 that currently takes place in Vancouver in Canada. High manufacturing cost and a short lifetime are still a major obstacle on ... University of Würzburg physicists have succeeded in creating a new type of laser. Its operation principle is completely different from conventional devices, which opens up the possibility of a significantly reduced energy input requirement. The researchers report their work in the current issue of Nature. It also emits light the waves of which are in phase with one another: the polariton laser, developed ... Innsbruck physicists led by Rainer Blatt and Peter Zoller experimentally gained a deep insight into the nature of quantum mechanical phase transitions. They are the first scientists that simulated the competition between two rival dynamical processes at a novel type of transition between two quantum mechanical orders. They have published the results of their work in the journal Nature Physics. “When water boils, its molecules are released as vapor. We call this ... Researchers have shown that, by using global positioning systems (GPS) to measure ground deformation caused by a large underwater earthquake, they can provide accurate warning of the resulting tsunami in just a few minutes after the earthquake onset. For the devastating Japan 2011 event, the team reveals that the analysis of the GPS data and issue of a detailed tsunami alert would have taken no more than three minutes. The results are published on 17 May in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, an open access journal of ... 22.05.2013 | Life Sciences 22.05.2013 | Ecology, The Environment and Conservation 22.05.2013 | Earth Sciences 17.05.2013 | Event News 15.05.2013 | Event News 08.05.2013 | Event News

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Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

Located 2,341 feet beneath the surface, in an old iron mine, the lab is deep enough that particle physics experiments see less than 100,000 times the cosmic radiation than on the surface, allowing sensitive searches for exotic particles like neutrinos and dark matter. The MINOS neutrino experiment and the CDMS2 dark matter search are the two largest projects supplemented by several smaller experiments taking advantage of low background radiation to search for dark matter, measure neutron background underground, and assay experimental equipment to ensure radiopurity. Summer visitors take tours of the lab and learn about particle astrophysics, and during the school year field trips are popular with Minnesota science classes. The only operational deep underground lab in the US. Space and infrastructure available for a wide range of neutrino, dark matter, and low background counting experiments.

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Physics Concepts and Discoveries

Human nature and the nature of war Twenty years ago, Canadian military historian and journalist Gwynne Dyer fascinated the public in 45 countries with his award-winning television series on the nature of war. He followed up that success with an equally remarkable book that grew out of the research that went into the television series. Now Dr. Dyer has published, in his words, "a completely rewritten and updated new edition" of War. People who have never read the book should certainly do so, but should people who read it back in the 1980s reread it? Yes. It cannot be said too often that modern warfare threatens the very existence of human life on this planet. Dr. Dyer argues that, with the proliferation of nuclear weapons, there is every reason to suppose that sooner or later a country made desperate by its fear of defeat in a conventional war will resort to the ultimate weapon. In so doing, that country has the potential to destroy or contaminate much of the rest of the world. Every adult needs to understand the nature of war, its evolution into an all-engulfing process, why it is so difficult to stop once it has begun, and what our best hopes are for ending war or at least limiting its dangers. Several important developments have taken place since Dr. Dyer published the first edition. The Cold War has ended, and the United States is now the world's only superpower. However, the author notes that it won't be long before China and India develop into superpowers, and the danger of an all-out war is bound to increase when some powers are in decline while others, hitherto excluded from the inner circle, are coming to the fore. Nuclear proliferation, the development of chemical and bacterial weapons and the spread of ballistic missile technology means that poor nations or even guerrilla groups can now be a threat to world peace. Finally, the U.S. government decision to adopt unilateral measures, bypassing the United Nations and the International Court of Justice, has jeopardized the slow, tentative process of creating a world body that can prevent war or limit its destructiveness. New social developments also played a role in Dr. Dyer's decision to write a new edition of War. Recently published findings on primates and the nature of early man, especially the behaviour of hunter-gatherer societies, have caused him to change some of his views about the nature of modern man. The new research has overturned previous assumptions that early man was an essentially peaceful fellow who respected his environment, and the prospect of changing our ingrained behaviour patterns now appears more difficult and challenging. But, he writes, we have to understand the nature of that beast, man, if we are to avoid the path to extinction. For the moment, extinction seems to be the route we have chosen. Several chapters shed light on today's situation. One chapter describes how the U.S. Marine Corps trains young recruits to become killers and willingly offer themselves up as cannon fodder. Even mature men, given the right kind of indoctrination, will put themselves in the forefront of battle. Despite such pessimistic accounts of how easy it is to train people to do what is irrational, Dr. Dyer argues that human beings do not enjoy the prospect of killing their fellow humans. Humans have a strong egalitarian, democratic streak; if it's allowed expression, we opt for rational solutions to the disputes that inevitably crop up between nations, ethnic groups, religions and clans. Consequently, Dr. Dyer believes that spreading democracy is one way of checking the tendency to go to war, since democracies generally do not wage war on other democracies. He argues that those who best understand the problem - diplomats and soldiers - are the ones most likely to see the value of strengthening international bodies like the UN and the International Court at the expense of national sovereignty. The problem is to convince the peoples of the world and the politicians in charge that this is what we must learn to do. The end of the Cold War has given us a temporary reprieve. But if we do not use this opportunity to strengthen the UN, we may not be able to avoid the doom that surely awaits us. War by Gwynne Dyer, Toronto, 2004, 484 pages, $39.95, cloth. Dr. Benazon is a retired English professor from Champlain Regional College, Quebec.

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Historical Events and Figures

Safety in the gym begins with the design and equipping of the gym. In order to do everything possible to ensure the safety of gymnasts, certain design concepts must be incorporated into the building and layout or redesign of any gymnastics facility. Emergency Response Equipment and System While we plan to make sure the safety of all gymnasts is so aggressively protected that no serious injury will ever occur, it is a prime responsibility of a gym designer to design and provide an emergency response system. A proper emergency response system will include both emergency response equipment and hardware and safety plans and safety training for all staff. Emergency Situations to Plan for and Provide Emergency Response Equipment for - Emergencies when the coach is alone in the gym (no other coaches or office staff) - Emergencies when no other staff person notices the problem. - Emergencies when the coach cannot leave the accident area at all - Emergencies in the waiting areas or other parts of the facility other than the gym The concept of clear pathways to emergency exits is a commonly ignored gym design problem. In any emergency, especially in case of fire, clear, quick access to exits is necessary. Clear pathways are also needed to provide easy access to all gym areas for emergency personnel. When gym areas are not separated for age groups, walkways provide safe passage for preschoolers and other young gymnasts through areas where larger, older gymnasts are working out. Separate Cordoned-Off Preschool Areas Mixing small inexperienced preschoolers with older larger gymnasts in the same areas can be a prescription for accident and injury. Separate areas can still be a problem when preschoolers must travel from preschool area to preschool area but must travel through areas with older larger gymnasts. It is also probably a very good idea to provide separate areas for younger beginner gymnasts as well as preschoolers. Pits are one of the biggest safety feature innovations in the history of gymnastics and sports training. As a minimum there should be pits available for training bar dismounts and release moves and also vault and tumbling pits. Pits for beam dismounts, p-bar dismounts, ring dismounts should also be available for maximum safety. Training pits should logically be longer and wider than competition matting requirements. Since gymnasts have not yet mastered the skills they are performing, like they would be in competitions, they need a larger margin of safety in the size of the safe landing areas. Gymnasts landing in pits may fall backwards or sideways striking the edge of the pit if the pit is not wide or ling enough. 8″ Pit Side Mats For the same reasons as above, falls backwards or sideways, the sides of the pit should be fully padded with mats soft enough to really cushion a fall against them. The commonly used inch and a ¼ mats over concrete are not really enough protection. Type of Pits Must Match Training Style and Systems There are loose foam bungee pits, loose foam pits, bungee resi-pits and resi-pits. It is extremely common for coaches to place 8″ foam or competition mats over loose foam pits for more stable landings as gymnasts progress. Ideally all of those pits would be available for training progressions providing the full range of landing and release move safety progression. If only one pit type is available, it should likely be the softest landing, the loose foam bungee pit. The style of training progressions normally used by the coaches should match the type of pit being used. More gymnast skill and experience is required for safe landings on the harder pit surfaces as opposed to the softer ones. Unless gymnasts are training for competitive trampoline competition, it is much safer for all trampolines in the gym to be sunk in the ground with the bed level with the rest of the floor. Then, in case an athlete should fly off of the trampoline, the fall is to a level floor (suitably matted) and not down and additional four and a half feet fall from an above ground trampoline. Open View of Whole Gym for General Supervision Visibility All gyms should have at least one person or more designated with responsibility for general supervision of the gym at all times. General supervision means that someone should be watching the entire gym, not just one class to look for possible dangerous situations, like wandering preschoolers or non-class members, accidents, etc. In order for this to happen the gym must be completely open so that one person can see the whole gym. View into Gym from all Offices and other Rooms For the same general supervision reasons as above, ideally all offices and other rooms in the gym should have a view into the gym so as much supervision as possible occurs, including from staff members not in the gym itself. Windows or other openings into the gym from all, or as many as possible, rooms in the building make general supervision of the gym easier and more effective. Available Hydration and Air Conditioning for Safe Summer Workouts In certain climates or during certain seasons of the year, heat stroke or heat exhaustion are things all coaches should be aware of and taking precautions to prevent. From a design perspective, this means that where applicable, air conditioning should be available in the gym to lessen the possibilities. Equipment or a system should be in place to allow proper hydration for gymnasts. This would show up in gym design by having a sufficient number of water fountains or water sources, spread throughout the gym. Complete Matting and Safety Margins One of the most important safety measures for gym design, in terms of gym equipment layout is allowing sufficient space for safe matting and allowing for a sufficient matting margin of error. To us, that means that matting should extend to any and all places that might even possibly need to be padded against a fall from the equipment. Sufficient space for and sufficient matting should always be designed into any gym design. Fire Control Detection and Suppression System Considering the dangers from the smoke from burning foam and smoke inhalation in general, smoke detectors or a smoke detector system should be a requirement for gymnastics facilities. In addition, because of the flammability of foam, it would be good policy to have a fire detection and suppression system throughout the entire gym. You can learn much more about designing a safer gym in our Secrets to Gymnastics Gym Design e-book.

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Safety and Risk Awareness

Office of Environment and Energy The Energy web site describes HUD energy initiatives, policies and how federal government wide energy policies affect HUD programs and assistance. HUD faces many challenges when it comes to energy policy. For an overview, see Implementing HUD's Energy Strategy, a report to Congress dated December 2008, that includes a summary of progress toward implementing planned actions . First, utility bills burden the poor and can cause homelessness. There is a Home Energy Affordability Gap Index based on energy bills for persons below 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. The gap was $34.1 billion at 2007/2008 winter heating fuel prices . The burden on the poor is more than four times the average 4 percent others pay.Twenty-six percent of evictions were due to utility cut-offs in St. Paul, MN. Second, HUD programs are affected by energy costs. HUD's own "energy bill" - the amount that HUD spends annually on heating, lighting, and cooling its portfolio of public and assisted housing and section 8 vouchers - reached the $5 billion mark in 2007 . Public Housing utilities cost more than $1 billion per year. Third, energy costs affect economic development. Importing fuel drains millions of dollars from local economies . Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) Information on state, local, utility and federal incentives and policies that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency from a database funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Edison Electric Institute’s Electric Company Programs Information on energy efficiency and low-income assistance programs offered by various utilities across the nation. HUD’s Public and Indian Housing Environmental and Conservation Clearinghouse Sources of funding for energy conservation and utility cost reduction activities from HUD’s Public and Indian Housing Environmental Clearinghouse. Promoting Energy Star through HUD’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program Resources for promoting Energy Star through the HOME program. Additional HUD Resources Useful documents, publications, and information related to resource conservation in public housing from HUD’s Public and Indian Housing Environmental Clearinghouse. Energy Star For New Construction Assisted By The Home Program HUD has worked with EPA to promote the use of ENERGY STAR standards in construction of houses. Here are the results of that production by the HOME Program for Fiscal Year 2009. Energy Star for Grantees Energy Efficiency with CDBG HOME Energy Star Awards for Affordable Housing Regional Energy Coordinators reviewed applications for Energy Star Awards for Affordable Housing in 2008, 2009, and 2010. HUD CHP Screening Tools HUD's 2002 Energy Action Plan committed HUD to promote the use of combined heat and power (cogeneration) (CHP) in housing and community development. HUD developed a Q Guide explaining CHP to building owners and managers. HUD and DOE Oak Ridge National Laboratory then developed a Level 1 feasibility screening software tool to enable them quickly to get a rough estimate of the cost, savings and payback for installing CHP. The Level 1 screening tool requires only monthly utility bills and a little information about the building and its occupants. PDF | Download Software | more... HUD and ORNL have now produced a Level 2 Combined Heat and Power (CHP) analysis tool for more detailed analysis of the potential for installing combined heat and power (cogeneration) in multifamily buildings. Level 2 works from hourly utility consumption and detailed information about the building and its equipment. ORNL Level 2 Tool "HUD CHP Guide #3 Introduction to the Level 2 Analysis for Combined Heat and Power in Multifamily Housing" explains how it was developed and provides links to ORNL for downloading the tool, its Users' Manual and training material. It also provides an exercise to demonstrate how it works. The tool is complex and calls for analysis by those with advanced ability to understand building energy use and simulation. Green Homes and Communities This website has very good energy information, including references to Sustainable Communities, DOE EECBG funding etc. Energy Efficiency in CPD Programs - See Table on page 13 for planned actions developed by the Energy Task Force. - See Fisher, Sheehan and Colton, On the Brink 2008; The Home Energy Affordability Gap - See Table B-1, in "Implementing HUD's Energy Strategy" - See Energy and Economic Development Phase I | Phase II.

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Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

Project looked at massive mobile launch platform, shuttle transporter ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Sandia National Laboratories recently conducted a series of tests to help NASA understand the fatigue on the space shuttle caused during rollout from the Kennedy Space Center assembly building to the launch pad - a four-mile trip. The tests are part of NASA's return-to-flight mission, with the first flight scheduled between May 15 and June 3. Sandia, a National Nuclear Security Administration laboratory, helped NASA design the test and instrumentation to measure the dynamic vibration environment during rollout. Sandia also computed the input forces the crawler applies to the Mobile Launch Platform (MLP). These computations are being used by Boeing and NASA to determine the fatigue life for critical shuttle components. Sandia engineer Tom Carne assisted in a series of tests beginning in November 2003 to develop the data necessary to understand the environment and the response of the space shuttle vehicle during rollout. "NASA requested Sandia to assist them in this project because of our expertise in planning and conducting structural dynamic tests on very large structures," Carne says. Sandia's solid mechanics/structural dynamics group has done numerous structural analysis projects on large structures including the I-40 Rio Grande bridge in Albuquerque, large wind turbines up to 110 meters tall, and the Department of Energy's Armored Tractor. One of the group's main missions is analysis and testing of the shock and vibration environments for weapons. The three-million-pound shuttle sits on the eight-million-pound mobile launch platform, which is carried by a six-million-pound crawler. The crawler transports the vehicle and platform four miles from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad. Moving the shuttle that distance, which normally takes five to six hours at 0.9 mph, had been considered a relatively low-stress process during most of the life of the shuttle system. As the equipment ages, however, more emphasis is being given to understanding how the rollout may fatigue the transport system. Data were collected for rollouts of the MLP-only and the MLP with the two solid rocket boosters, at five different speeds ranging from 0.5 to 0.9 mph. For the tests more than 100 accelerometers were placed on the MLP, crawler, and solid rocket boosters. A data acquisition system installed inside the MLP for the road test measured and recorded the accelerations. The data were analyzed so that the character of the rollout environment is understood and can be analytically imposed on the shuttle using a finite-element computer model to predict fatigue damage to critical components. Even though these stresses are much lower than those seen during the launch, the five- to six-hour duration of the transport and the low-frequency vibration could cause fatigue in components within the orbiter. Carne says the rollout analysis team determined that there are two families of forcing harmonics caused by the crawler drive train that vibrate the platform as a function of crawler speed, in addition to the random inputs induced by the road bed. Fortunately, he says, the harmonic forcing frequencies can be adjusted by merely changing the drive speed of the crawler, resulting in less damaging frequencies. The team used a Sandia-developed algorithm, the Sum of Weighted Accelerations Technique (SWAT), to estimate the applied forces. Carne says the SWAT results were beneficial in choosing a new rollout speed that will extend the fatigue life of the shuttle components that were affected by rollout. The SWAT-generated input forces have subsequently been used as the force input for NASA's NASTRAN structural analysis of the mobile launch platform, emulating the test conditions. The correlation between the rollout-measured data and the predictions from the NASTRAN analysis has engendered confidence in both the SWAT-computed forces and the NASTRAN model of the MLP and solid rocket boosters, he says. The analyses showed that the shuttle's vibration response can be much reduced when the driving frequencies are shifted away from the shuttle's own resonant natural frequencies. They helped NASA determine that merely reducing crawler speed from 0.9 mph to 0.8 mph would significantly reduce the vibrations in the shuttle by shifting the impact frequency of the crawler treads. Source: Eurekalert & othersLast reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009 Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved. Affirmations are like prescriptions for certain aspects of yourself you want to change. -- Jerry Frankhauser

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Space Exploration and Astronomy

This coin represent King Eukratides I of Bactria, a land in central Asia (Afghanistan) that was conquered by Alexander. The adoption of the title 'Great King', implying imperial rather than merely royal status, followed some years after Eukratides' consolidation of control over Bactria. He established himself as king of "the thousand cities of Bactria" and set out to enlarge his kingdom in all directions. While returning from one of his campaigns, he was killed by one of his sons, who seized the throne. Bactrian coins were made to the Greek Standard, and this is one of the most beautiful coins of the late Hellenistic period. Known for their strongly realistic portraits, this tetradrachm of Eukratides is no exception. He is depicted as a formidable warrior, wearing a cuirass and a bronze helmet over his diadem. His features are individualized, his expression stern. On the reverse, his parents, Heliocles and Laodice, have been memorialized. How many hands have touched a coin in your pocket or your purse? What eras and lands have the coin traversed on its journey into our possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of who touched the coin before us, or where the coin will venture to after us. More than money, coins are a symbol of the state that struck them, of a specific time and place, whether contemporary currencies or artifacts of long forgotten empires. This stunning hand-struck coin reveals an expertise of craftsmanship and intricate sculptural detail that is often lacking in contemporary machine-made currencies. This coin is a memorial an ancient king and his kingdom passed from the hands of civilization to civilization, from generation to generation that still appears as vibrant today as the day it was struck. - (LC.025)

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Ancient Historical Figures

Robert Bridges, ed. (18441930). The Spirit of Man: An Anthology. 1916. From Pulvis et umbra Robert Louis Stevenson (18501894) POOR1 soul, here for so little, cast among so many hardships, filled with desires so incommensurate and so inconsistent, savagely surrounded, savagely descended, irremediably condemned to prey upon his fellow lives: who shd have blamed him had he been of a piece with his destiny and a being merely barbarous? And we look and behold him instead filled with imperfect virtues: sitting down, amidst his momentary life, to debate of Right and Wrong and the attributes of the Deity .. To touch the heart of his mystery, we find in him the thought of Duty; the thought of something owing to himself, to his neighbour, to his God: an ideal of decency, to which he would rise if it were possible; a limit of shame, below which, if it be possible, he will not stoop .. It matters not where we look, under what climate we observe him, in what stage of society, in what depth of ignorance, burthened with what erroneous morality; by camp-fires in Assiniboia, the snow powdering his shoulders, the wind plucking his blanket, as he sits, passing the ceremonial calumet and uttering his grave opinions like a Roman senator; in ships at sea, a man inured to hardships and vile pleasures; in the slums of cities, moving among indifferent millions to mechanical employments,.. a fool, a thief, the comrade of thieves, even here keeping the point of honour and the touch of pity, often repaying the worlds scorn with service, often standing firm upon a scruple, and at a certain cost rejecting riches:everywhere some virtue cherished or affected, everywhere some decency of thought and carriage, everywhere the ensign of mans ineffectual goodness:ah! if I could show you this! if I could show you these men and women, all the world over, in every stage of history, under every abuse of error, under every circumstance of failure, without hope, without help, without thanks, still obscurely fighting the lost fight of virtue, still clinging, in the brothel or on the scaffold, to some rag of honour, the poor jewel of their souls! They may seek to escape, and yet they cannot; it is not alone their privilege and glory, but their doom; they are condemned to some nobility; all their lives long, the desire of good is at their heels, the implacable hunter ..

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Literary Analysis and Summaries

Bonding, Sealing and Gasketing Bonding and sealing equipment for an array of materials, products, markets and end-uses Bonding is joining two work pieces with a liquid or semi-liquid material to create a long-lasting bond Automotive Hem-Flange Bonding Bonding solutions for automotive metal Adhesive dispensing equipment for structural adhesives Equipment solutions for creating a secondary seal on insulating glass. Adhesive handling equipment for bonding filter elements into assemblies Equipment to create liquid gasketing from beads of two-component silicone or polyurethane Equipment to create liquid gasketing from single-component RTV silicone Roll coating refers to coating a laminate with an adhesive. Sealing is the process of closing or securing a part or assembly with a fluid-tight, air-tight adhesive.

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Materials and Energy Technologies

Many soldiers fighting in the First World War suffered from trench foot. This was an infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and insanitary conditions. In the trenches men stood for hours on end in waterlogged trenches without being able to remove wet socks or boots. The feet would gradually go numb and the skin would turn red or blue. If untreated, trench foot could turn gangrenous and result in amputation. Trench foot was a particular problem in the early stages of the war. For example, during the winter of 1914-15 over 20,000 men in the British Army were treated for trench foot. Brigadier-General Frank Percy Crozier argued that: " The fight against the condition known as trench-feet had been incessant and an uphill game." Arthur Savage pointed out that trench foot had serious consequences: "My memories are of sheer terror and the horror of seeing men sobbing because they had trench foot that had turned gangrenous. They knew they were going to lose a leg." Brigadier-General Frank Percy Crozier explained how the officers tried to solve the problem: "Socks are changed and dried in the line, thigh boots are worn and are dried every four days when we come out." The only remedy for trench foot was for the soldiers to dry their feet and change their socks several times a day. By the end of 1915 British soldiers in the trenches had to have three pairs of socks with them and were under orders to change their socks at least twice a day. As well as drying their feet, soldiers were told to cover their feet with a grease made from whale-oil. It has been estimated that a battalion at the front would use ten gallons of whale-oil every day. The trenches were wet and cold and at this time some of them did not have duckboards and dug-outs. The battalion lived in mud and water. Altogether about 200 men were evacuated for trench feet and rheumatism. Gum boots were provided for the troops in the most exposed positions. Trench feet was still a new ailment and the provision of dry socks was vitally important. Part of the trench was reserved for men to go two at a time, at least once a day, and rub each other's feet with grease. If you have never had trench feet described to you. I will tell you. Your feet swell to two or three times their normal size and go completely dead. You could stick a bayonet into them and not feel a thing. If you are fortunate enough not to lose your feet and the swelling begins to go down. It is then that the intolerable, indescribable agony begins. I have heard men cry and even scream with the pain and many had to have their feet and legs amputated. My memories are of sheer terror and the horror of seeing men sobbing because they had trench foot that had turned gangrenous. They knew they were going to lose a leg. Memories of lice in your clothing driving you crazy. Filth and lack of privacy. Of huge rats that showed no fear of you as they stole your food rations. And cold deep wet mud everywhere. And of course, corpses. I'd never seen a dead body before I went to war. But in the trenches the dead are lying all around you. You could be talking to the fellow next to you when suddenly he'd be hit by a sniper and fall dead beside you. And there he's stay for days. Some of their feet were horrible to look at: raw skin and bleeding blisters and big, angry sores. Their army boots rarely fitted comfortably. They were made in a few standard sizes, and a man was lucky if he got a pair that was neither too big nor too small. To march all day in them with blistered feet must have been a torment... The men marched like beasts of burden with heavy packs on their backs, rifles and bandoliers of ammunition slung across their shoulders. Sometimes they would break into a marching song to ease the misery, but now and then, as I marched at the head of my platoon, I would hear a clatter behind me and turn to see a man lying prostrate in the road. The sergeants were instructed to prod them and order them to get up. There was always the possibility that the man had decided that he had taken as much as he could bear and had staged his collapse to get out of it. But most of them were genuine - down and out. The fight against the condition known as "trench-feet" had been incessant and an uphill game. However, science and discipline had conquered, and now we seldom have a case, and if we do there is trouble. Socks are changed and dried in the line, thigh boots are worn and are dried every four days when we come out. Things are better, but the weather gets worse.

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Military History Events

Image: Blazing volcano "This is an erupting volcano, showing the process of releasing lava and smoke. Volcanoes erupt because heat within the Earth melts rocks and creates a substance called magma. Magma rises and pushes through the Earths surface and the volcano erupts. Once out of the volcano, magma is called lava. Volcanoes are one of the landforms of the Earth" - Brix Orolfo, age 12yrs. - © Brix Orolfo Winner, Geology rocks drawing competition 2011, secondary school category

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Volcanoes and Earth Science

Understanding SQL's underlying theory is the best way to guarantee that your SQL code is correct and your database schema is robust and maintainable. On the other hand, if you're not well versed in the theory, you can fall into several traps. In SQL and Relational Theory, author C.J. Date demonstrates how you can apply relational theory directly to your use of SQL. With numerous examples and clear explanations of the reasoning behind them, you'll learn how to deal with common SQL dilemmas, such as: - Should database access granted be through views instead of base tables? - Nulls in your database are causing you to get wrong answers. Why? What can you do about it? - Could you write an SQL query to find employees who have never been in the same department for more than six months at a time? - SQL supports "quantified comparisons," but they're better avoided. Why? How do you avoid them? - Constraints are crucially important, but most SQL products don't support them properly. What can you do to resolve this situation? Database theory and practice have evolved since Edgar Codd originally defined the relational model back in 1969. Independent of any SQL products, SQL and Relational Theory draws on decades of research to present the most up-to-date treatment of the material available anywhere. Anyone with a modest to advanced background in SQL will benefit from the many insights in this book.

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Database Management Systems

How will the technology and policy changes now sweeping through the industry affect the architecture of the utility grid? Will America build an increasingly robust transmission infrastructure, or... Unforeseen consequences of dedicated renewable energy transmission. Growth in renewable electricity (RE) generation will require major expansion of electricity transmission grids, and in the U.S. this could require building an additional 20,000 miles of transmission over the next decade—double what’s currently planned. To facilitate this, government policymakers are planning to build what are sometimes called “green” transmission lines that are restricted to carrying electricity generated by renewable sources, primarily wind and solar. However, state and local jurisdictions are resisting siting of transmission unless it serves local constituents and existing power plants. If such transmission is built and local access is allowed, then the major beneficiaries of the added transmission might be existing power generation facilities, especially coal plants. Many of these facilities have very low electricity generating costs and their capacity factors are transmission-constrained. Their access to added transmission lines could enable them to sell electric power at rates against which RE can’t compete. 20,000 Miles of Wire JP Morgan studied a possible federal renewable energy standard (RES) and its impact on the growth rate of RE. 1 We used JP Morgan data to estimate the potential impact of an RES and the transmission required to facilitate it on the existing fleet of power plants. The analysis focused primarily on coal plants because they can increase their capacity factors, whereas U.S. nuclear plants already have capacity factors above 90 percent. Given the location of the coal plants throughout the U.S. and their current capacity factors, we estimated the impact of expanded electricity transmission lines on RE generation and costs and on conventional electricity generation and costs. The locations of the RE central station technologies and their distances from major load centers largely determine the new transmission that will be required. Geothermal will be installed in a small number of Western states, 2 while biomass will be installed primarily in the northern Great Plains, the Pacific Northwest, and perhaps parts of the South. Solar thermal (ST) and photovoltaics (PV) will be installed in some Western and Southwestern states, and wind will be installed primarily in the northern Great Plains. The major load centers are primarily metropolitan areas in the coastal states, the Boston-Washington corridor, the West Coast corridor, and major Midwestern cities. In general, increased transmission capability is desirable, because a robust interstate electric transmission system is in everyone’s interest—consumers, power producers, and governments. An expanded transmission network will allow for power system growth, provide greater flexibility in expanding generation at existing plant sites, and facilitate construction of new generating plants at optimal locations. However, there’s a mismatch between RE resources and load centers: Most of the best RE sites are west of the Mississippi river, but most of the load centers are east of the river or on the West Coast. Even West Coast load centers are far from the best RE sites. We estimated how much new transmission needs to be built to

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Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

05-11-2009 / Fluvirin – Fighting Against Influenza 04-30-2009 / Fluzone For Children 04-14-2009 / Flu Vaccines And Protein Chemistry 04-10-2009 / X Ray, Viral Structure And Flu Vaccines. 04-07-2009 / The History Of Influenza 04-06-2009 / Flu Vaccine Contamination And Quality Control 03-22-2009 / Egg Allergies And Flu Vaccines 03-12-2009 / Australian Discovery May Improve Existing Vaccines 03-06-2009 / How Humidity Affects Flu Outbreaks 03-05-2009 / Preservative-Free Flu Shots 03-04-2009 / Flu Strains Developing Resistance to Tamiflu 03-03-2009 / The History Of Influenza 02-23-2009 / Preservative-Free Flu Vaccines Egg Allergies And Flu Vaccines The majority of flu vaccines are made using processes that employ fertilized hen eggs. This process of manufacturing causes the vaccines to pick up small amounts of egg proteins. Even the nasal mist flu vaccine has as much or more egg protein as the injectable variety. For most people, this is no problem. The majority of us pick up hundreds of times more egg protein from our diet than in a flu shot. Even excluding the obvious source, eggs, we get exposed to egg proteins from baked goods or foods processed with eggs on a regular basis. But there is a small, yet real section of the population that has an allergy to eggs. For those individuals, the flu shot can be a serious problem. This is not a matter of one manufacturer against another: the fertilized hen's egg method is used throughout the vaccine industry. There are some different vaccine development methods on the horizon, however, that will use bacteria that have been genetically engineered to make flu vaccines. But until that day, the egg method and the egg protein in flu vaccines are here to stay. The amount of egg protein varies from one vaccine manufacturer to another. If you are concerned about allergic reactions, you should talk with your doctor and request a vaccine with the least egg protein available. A skin test to determine whether or not you will have an allergic reaction to the vaccine is a good idea before getting a flu shot. If it is determined that you can have the vaccine, the best course of action is not to leave the medical facility for at least 30 minutes afterwards, so that the staff can observe you and respond promptly to any distress that you may have. If your allergies are too severe for vaccination, there’s still a way to minimize the effects of the vaccine. You can have the vaccine administered in small doses over a period of time, instead of getting the full dose in one sitting. This, of course, should also take place under close medical supervision. In the cases of the most severe egg allergies, it will probably be safer to not have the vaccine at all and take antiviral medications if you are exposed to or catch the flu. Sign Up For Your

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Infectious Disease Reports

June 1st 1584 Perth's HammermenThe Hammermen’s Incorporation of Perth embraced a whole collection of crafts including silversmiths, goldsmiths, clocksmiths and watchmakers, gunsmiths, locksmiths, blacksmiths and others. At the head of the organisation was the Deacon who was responsible, not only for the testing and quality of the articles made by the various crafts, but also for such matters as the employment of apprentices and the times and places of public selling. He had the authority to punish either by fines or in extreme cases by expulsion. Another important member was the boxmaster or treasurer who had responsibility for ‘Saint Eloyis Box’, a wooden chest which contained money, valuables and securities of all kinds. As a rich and powerful organisation, the Hammermen were able to safeguard the interests of their group and also to provide welfare and education for the widows and orphans of their former members. This was considered to be an important aspect of their work. From 1584 all transactions and business transacted by the Hammermen were recorded in the Hammermen’s Book. The book itself was provided by “William Lauder, burgess of Perth, as maister joynit with the Craft of the Hammermen as buik binder and pearchment maker.” From 1589, the Hammermen had their own seats in the gallery of St John’s Kirk. There are few records of the early work of silversmiths or goldsmiths and the unsettled political conditions of the time were not conducive to the production of fine silverware. It was not until the late 18th Century that there was something of a boom in the trade. Even so it continued to be strictly functional, plain communion cups, plain spoons and teapots with the minimum of decoration. It was early in the 19th Century before more ornate work appeared. This came in particular from Robert Keay the elder and his nephew Robert Keay the younger who between them carried on business for sixty five years, until 1865. Other well known names were John Pringle, John Hogg, Charles Murray, John Scott, Charles Sheddon and David Greig the elder. But already there were two factors which between them were to kill the craft of silversmithing in Perth. In 1836 an Act was passed requiring all silver to be essayed in Glasgow or Edinburgh. This had the effect of concentrating production in these cities. Then by 1850 the new cheaper process of electro-plating took over much of the cheaper end of the market. Perhaps the last successful Perth silversmith was David MacGregor who was active from 1860 until his death in 1908.

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History and Geography Topics

Author:Inam Abidi Amrohvi “The tyrant dies and his rule ends, the martyr dies and his rule begins.” — Soren Kierkegard The straight path or the right path is always the most difficult one to travel but one that rewards the most, and so we are told when young. This battle of good versus the evil is an age old phenomenon. Every religion has some story or the other to show us the ‘right’ path from the ‘wrong’ one.Hinduism celebrates the victory of Lord Krishna over the demon Narakasura (among other stories) as Diwali, Christians remember the crucification of Jesus Christ as a supreme sacrifice in the way of God, and so do Muslims observe Moharram (the month in which the tragedy of Karbala took place) to commemorate the supreme sacrifice of Imam Husain, the grandson of the Prophet [PBUH]. “Think not of those who are slain in Allah’s way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord.”—Surah Aal-e-Imran (Chapter 3), Verse 169 The tragedy of Karbala took place some 49 years after the death of Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] in 61 Hijri (AD 680). The Events Leading Up To Karbala The Muslim Caliphate briefly came to Imam Hasan (elder grandson of the Prophet [PBUH]) after the martydom of Ali bin Abi Talib (son-in-law of the Prophet [PBUH] and the Fourth Caliph of Islam). Sensing a possible split in the Muslim empire Hasan entered into a peace treaty with Amir Mu’awiyah, the son of Abu Sufyan and father of Yazid. “Hasan agreed to relinquish all authority to Mu’awiyah in exchange for an agreement not to harm any of the supporters of Ali, and to govern by the book of God and the examples of the Prophet. This he would do by letter and by word, explaining to the congregation in the Kufa mosque that he had ceded his right to rule ‘for the best interest of the community and for the sake of sparing blood’. Mu’awiyah acknowledged that ‘the reign would belong to Hasan after him’ (though this would soon be quietly forgotten) and that to avoid all future strife the next Caliph was to be decided by a formal council.” —The Heirs of the Prophet Muhammad and the roots of the Sunni-Shia Schism, Barnaby Rogerson All the first four Caliphs had first been acclaimed by the people of Medina but this right and duty had now been brushed aside in favour of the courtiers at Damascus. The solemn pledge to hold a ’shura’ was broken. None of the previous Caliphs had thought to impose their own sons on the community, and had looked beyond the narrow loyalties of a family, towards their brother in faith. When Mu’awiyah died, Yazid was acclaimed as the Caliph. It marked the decisive emergence of dynastic monarchy triumphing over the religion of God. The moment Yazid came to power he started demanding the oath of allegiance (bay’ah) from everyone using unfair means. Paying allegiance was an old Arab practice which was carried out in important matters such as that of rulership and authority. Those who were ruled, and specially the well known among them, would give their hand in allegiance, agreement and obedience to their king or the one in authority and in this way would show their whole-hearted support for his actions without any opposition to him. The approach of Yazid was proof enough of the kind of Muslim he was. He showed complete disregard for the tenets of Islam. *Ibne Aseer (A renowned historian Allamah Ali bin Abil Karam more famous as Ibne Aseer Jazari) in his Tareekhe Kamil has this to say for Yazid, “Yazid was notorious and well known for his love of numerous musical instruments, passion for hunting and play with young boys, dogs, monkeys, etc. Every morning he rose still drunk. His monkeys and young boys wore gold caps. If a monkey died, he spent a considerable time in mourning it.” “Traditions inform us that Yazeed loved worldly vices, would drink, listen to music, kept the company of boys with no facial hair, played drums, kept dogs, making frogs, bears and monkeys fight. Every morning he used be intoxicated and use to bind monkey with the saddle of a horse and make the horse run.” —Al Bidayah Wal Nihayah, Ibn Kathir Yazid’s message was delivered to Imam Husain as well but he said a firm no. Acknowledging Yazid’s authority by the Prophet’s [PBUH] grandson at this point would have meant confirmation of his evil deeds and Caliphate. For Yazid, Husain’s seal of approval was the one most needed. *Abul Hasan Ali bin Husain Mas’oodi in his Muroojuz Zahab wa ma’adinul Jawahir reported, “Whoever accepted the slavery of Yazid by swearing fealty at his hands was spared, otherwise he was subjugated. Thus the meaning of allegiance to Yazid was not merely the acceptance of a new caliph, but it meant to sell one’s Religion and faith in slavery to a tyrant.” The Kufans urged Husain in Medina to ride north and lead them against the usurpation of the Islamic world by Yazid, and to reclaim his rightful place as the head of the Muslim nation. Husain, encouraged by the chief men of Medina, decided to respond and rode out of the oasis to assume the leadership of the true army of Islam. But not a soul left the garrison city to join him on the desert trail. The Kufans too would betray him! When Husain settled at a land devoid of water or vegetation named Karbala (‘Karb’ in Arabic means grief and ‘bala’ is for trials) he had just 72 loyal soldiers with him. Battle For Truth The battle of Karbala finds great similarity with the one at Badr – Islam’s first battle. It was the holy Prophet [PBUH] at Badr who fought with 313 die-hard supporters against a formidable army of some 1000 men. That day against all odds the small group won a decisive victory, and paved the way for a future Muslim empire. 56 years later it was his grandson with just 72 loyal men, who fought against an impossible opposition of several thousands to save Islam from the clutches of tyranny. Karbala was a battle of truth against falsehood, humanity against villainy, righteousness against evil, justice against corruption. The much loved grandson of the Prophet [PBUH] stood in the scorching heat of Karbala along with his companions, devoid of water but determined. His loved ones, including his six month old son, fell martyr one after the other. In spite of this he repeatedly invited the other party towards righteousness and forbade them from evil and immorality, but it all fell on deaf ears. When the time arrived for him to march ahead all alone, he did it in a fashion which was reminiscent of his illustrious father Ali. One of those who fought the battle of Karbala against him says, “I have never seen a person bereaved of his sons, menfolk and his companions more Lion-hearted than him. The foot soldiers were scattering to his right and left like goats when a wolf come upon them.” —–Ibne Aseer, Tareekh Kamil Husain fell in the desert of Karbala on that fateful Friday, the 10th of Moharram 61H. Worse was to follow. The bodies of the martyrs including the Imam were not only refused a proper burial but were trampled under the horses’ hooves and were left for the birds. The Kufan army looted the belongings of Husain. Imam’s family including his women-folk and tender children were humiliated and taken captives after burning down their camps. The women were paraded with uncovered heads. It wasn’t Islam! “If Hussain fought to quench his worldly desires, then I do not understand why his sisters, wives and children accompanied him. It stands to reason therefore that he sacrificed purely for Islam.” —Charles Dickens The severed heads of the martyrs including Husain were raised on spears. How Yazid played with Husain’s head and the emotions of Imam’s family is a well documented fact. Karbala to this day remains a heart-wrenching story of exemplary courage and bravery to uphold the real principles of Islam. “In a distant age and climate, the tragic scene of the death of Husain will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader.”—Edward Gibbon Abdullah Yusuf Ali, the famous English translator of Qurán, has beautifully summed up the whole essence of this epic battle. There is of course the physical suffering in martyrdom, and all sorrow and suffering claim our sympathy, —- the dearest, purest, most outflowing sympathy that we can give. But there is a greater suffering than physical suffering. That is when a valiant soul seems to stand against the world; when the noblest motives are reviled and mocked; when truth seems to suffer an eclipse. It may even seem that the martyr has but to say a word of compliance, do a little deed of non-resistance; and much sorrow and suffering would be saved; and the insidious whisper comes: “Truth after all can never die.” That is perfectly true. Abstract truth can never die. It is independent of man’s cognition. But the whole battle is for man’s keeping hold of truth and righteousness. And that can only be done by the highest examples of man’s conduct – spiritual striving and suffering enduring firmness of faith and purpose, patience and courage where ordinary mortals would give in or be cowed down, the sacrifice of ordinary motives to supreme truth in scorn of consequence. The martyr bears witness, and the witness redeems what would otherwise be called failure. It so happened with Husain. For all were touched by the story of his martyrdom, and it gave the deathblow to the politics of Damascus and all it stood for. Lessons From Karbala Karbala stands for courage, self-sacrifice, integrity, honesty, vision, and bravery beyond words. It symbolises all that is pure and true. Karbala teaches us that real battles are always fought in the minds and not on ground. Yazid was powerful and yet he lost the battle for truth. “I learned from Hussain how to be wronged and be a winner.” —Mahatma Gandhi Also, being in the majority need not necessarily make you right. “The best lesson which we get from the tragedy of Karbala is that Hussain and his companions were the rigid believers of God. They illustrated that numerical superiority does not count when it comes to truth and falsehood. The victory of Hussain despite his minority marvels me! —Thomas Carlyle As the old adage goes, “Nothing lasts for ever.” Husain and his followers made sure that their martyrdom gave a fatal blow to Yazid’s oppressive rule. Karbala haunted Yazid till his eventual death two years later. “Imam Husayn uprooted despotism forever till the Day of Resurrection. He watered the dry garden of freedom with the surging wave of his blood, and indeed he awakened the sleeping Muslim nation. Husayn weltered in blood and dust for the sake of truth. Verily he, therefore, became the bed-rock (foundation) of the Muslim creed; la ilaha illa Allah (There is no god but Allah).”—Sir Muhammad Iqbal It also teaches us to be patient and stand up against any form of wrong treatment. We curse Yazid and his army for their inhuman treatment of people, yet the cruel treatment of captives by the so called jihadis meets little protest. Muslims must recognize and protest against the savagery of inhuman treatment at all times, no matter who does it and where it takes place. “If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein (For ever): And the wrath and the curse of Allah are upon him, and a dreadful penalty is prepared for him.”— Surah An-Nisa (Chapter 4), Verse 93 The best homage that we can pay to the great tragedy is to do some soul-searching. Do we have the right to be called the followers of the Prophet [PBUH]? Have we really understood the message of Imam Husain? Are the tears for Husain drawn merely by the scenes of mere butchery? Would we ever stand up to the false narrations of the events at Karbala by some maulanas to generate excessive grief? Was Karbala a political war or a struggle for true faith? Are we ready to shed aside our differences and respect each others’ view during our religious discourses during Moharram? And when we finally have all the answers then we would understand the real message of Karbala. “Shah ast Hussain, Badshah ast Hussain, Deen ast Hussain, Deen e Panah ast Hussain, Sar dad, na dad dast, dar dast-e-yazeed, Haqaa key binaey La ila ast Hussain” “It’s Hussain the Prince, it’s Hussain the king, He is Faith, and Faith’s Defender most daring, He preferred death to Yazid’s allegiance, With his blood, Islam has verily been living.” —Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti

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Islamic and Arabic Studies

A mobile phone user outside a mobile payment facility in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. our goal: to alleviate poverty by expanding access to digitally-based financial tools and services. At A Glance Increasing poor people’s access to financial services can help them weather personal financial crises and increase their chances of climbing out of poverty. About 80 percent of the world’s poor adults do not have a bank account or use other formal financial services—not only because of poverty but also due to costs, travel distance, and other barriers. Our strategy aims to capitalize on rapid advances in mobile communications and digital payment systems to connect poor households to affordable and reliable financial tools. Our Financial Services for the Poor strategy, updated in 2012, is led by Rodger Voorhies, director, and is part of the foundation’s Global Development Division. Poor people do not live in a static state of poverty. Every year, many millions of people transition out of poverty by successfully adopting new farming technologies, investing in new business opportunities, or finding new jobs. At the same time, large numbers of people fall back into poverty due to health problems, financial setbacks, and other shocks. If available at critical moments, effective tools for savings, payment, credit, and insurance can help households capture an opportunity to climb out of poverty or weather a crisis or emergency without falling deeper into poverty. Worldwide, approximately 2.5 billion people do not have a formal account at a financial institution, according to the World Bank’s Global Financial Inclusion Database. As a result, most poor households operate almost entirely in the cash economy, particularly in the developing world. This means they use cash, physical assets (such as jewelry and livestock), or informal providers (such as money lenders and payment couriers) to meet their financial needs—from receiving wages to saving money for fertilizer. However, these informal mechanisms tend to be insecure, expensive, and complicated to use. And they offer limited recourse when major problems arise, such as a serious illness in the family. A growing body of evidence suggests that increasing poor people’s access to better financial tools can help accelerate the rate at which they move out of poverty and help them hold on to economic gains. However, it is costly to serve poor people with financial services, in part because most of their transactions are conducted in cash. Storing, transporting, and processing cash is expensive for banks, insurance companies, utility companies, and other institutions, and they pass on those costs to customers. A foundation-supported initiative allows Rwandan farmers to access markets for their beans and maize using mobile phones. In wealthier countries, people conduct most of their financial activities in digital form, and value is stored virtually and transferred instantaneously. The global revolution in mobile communications, along with rapid advances in digital payment systems, is creating opportunities to connect poor households to affordable and reliable financial tools through mobile phones and other digital interfaces. In fact, research has shown that the most effective way to significantly expand poor people’s access to formal financial services is through digital means. In addition to cost savings, digital financial services offer a wide array of benefits: - They connect poor people to the formal financial sector and enable them to become customers and suppliers within the wider economy. - Financial flows can be accurately tracked, resulting in safer and speedier transactions and less corruption and theft. - Providers can use financial histories to develop products that are better suited to customers’ needs, cash flow, and risk profiles, including fee-for-service offerings and smaller-unit transactions. - Direct deposits (including wages and government assistance) allow money to “bypass” the home, helping users save rather than spend and often giving women more financial authority within the family. - Automatic reminders, positive default options, and other choices offered via mobile phone menus offer convenience and save time. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Financial Services for the Poor program aims to play a catalytic role in broadening the reach of digital payment systems, particularly in poor and rural areas, and expanding the range of services available on these platforms. Until the infrastructure and customer base are well established, this might involve a combination of mobile banking services that are accessible via cell phones and brick-and-mortar stores where subscribers can convert cash they earn into digital money (and vice-versa). Our approach has three mutually reinforcing objectives: - Reducing the amount of time and money that poor people must spend to conduct financial transactions - Increasing poor people’s capacity to weather financial shocks and capture income-generating opportunities - Generating economy-wide efficiencies by digitally connecting large numbers of poor people to one another, financial services providers, government services, and businesses A tea vendor in Uttar Pradesh, India, checks her bank balance on her mobile phone. We are not focused on a particular product or distribution channel, but rather on innovative ways to expand access and encourage markets. At the same time, we are aware that interventions in this and other areas too often involve technologies that are made available to the intended users but are not adopted. To address this demand-side challenge, we are supporting research and product design experiments to identify design features, price incentives, and marketing messages that will encourage poor people to adopt and actively use digital financial services. We are also supporting policymakers as they work to develop policies and regulations that facilitate these developments. We believe that the combined effect of these interventions will accelerate the rate at which poor people transition out of poverty and decrease the rate at which they fall back into poverty. Our strategy also recognizes that countries are at different stages in developing an inclusive digital financial system and that we must tailor our interventions accordingly. Areas of Focus Our work falls into four areas: Digital payment systems In countries with a minimum level of connectivity in poor and rural areas, we work with in-country providers to extend the reach of digital payment systems into those communities and encourage poor people to adopt these systems through a mobile phone or other digital interface. Payment systems are crucial because they enable people to collect payments from customers, buy goods, pay for water and electricity, and send money to friends, family, and business partners. They also enable governments to collect taxes and disburse social payments. When these transactions are costly and inconvenient, economic activity is impeded. Digital financial services In countries where digital payment systems have taken hold in poor and rural communities, we work with banks, insurance companies, and other providers to increase the range of financial services that people can access in digital form. Many of these services are designed to meet the specific household management needs of low-income people, particularly smallholder farmers and women. We work at the global level with governments, donors, financial standards-setting bodies, and the private sector to maximize our collective impact on poor people’s access to financial services. Research and innovation We collect data to measure the impact of our grants and interventions and to help key stakeholders make better decisions. We also conduct research and nurture innovations that could lead to longer-term improvements in delivering digital financial services on a broad scale.

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Finance Education

A new carbon cycle model developed by researchers in Europe indicates that global carbon emissions must start dropping by no later than 2015 to prevent the planet from tipping into dangerous climate instability. The finding is likely to put new pressure on the world’s top two carbon emitters — China and the US — both of which were widely blamed for failure to reach a binding global accord on carbon reductions in Copenhagen last December. Furthermore, the non-binding outcome of Copenhagen has global carbon emissions peaking in 2020 — five years too late, according to the latest model. The model, developed by researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, suggests the world’s annual carbon emissions can reach no more than 10 billion tonnes in five years’ time before they must be put on a steady downward path. After that, the researchers say, emissions must drop by 56 per cent by mid-century and need to approach zero by 2100. Those targets are necessary to prevent average global temperatures from rising by more than 2 degrees C by 2100. Under that scenario, though, further warming can still be expected for years to come afterward. “It will take centuries for the global climate system to stabilise,” says Erich Roeckner, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute. The new model is the first to pinpoint the extent to which global carbon emissions must be cut to prevent dangerous climate change. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have risen by 35 per cent, to around 390 parts per million today. Stabilising the climate will require concentrations to climb to no higher than 450 parts per million. “What’s new about this research is that we have integrated the carbon cycle into our model to obtain the emissions data,” Roeckner says.

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Climate and Weather Events

Conservation work completed on one of Glasgow’s most historic buildings 27 February 2013 Glasgow Cathedral has recently received £30,000 worth of conservation work by Historic Scotland to repair the damage inflicted by last year’s gales. Despite being the only medieval cathedral on the Scottish mainland to have survived the 1560 Reformation virtually complete, the weathercock and spike on top of the landmark did not escape last year’s merciless strong winds unscathed. The spike of the church was no longer vertical due to corrosion and a closer examination of the weathercock showed damage to some of the rivets with the tail being completely blown off. A further structural inspection also found an area of the steeple was in need of re-pointing. Overseeing the conservation work was Historic Scotland's District Architect, Ian Lambie. While the conservation itself was a fairly simple task, it was made more complex by the height of the building and the narrow conditions. Ian Lambie said: “The only way of accessing the spire head was by climbing up inside the steeple using steep narrow ladders and squeezing and crawling through small windows at the apex. Making repairs at this sort of height has its challenges but it's always worth it for the view!” Now that the necessary repairs are complete, the weathercock should be able to withstand the worst of the wind and the re-pointing should hold for at least another ten years. Notes for editors: Historic Scotland around the web: - Historic Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government charged with safeguarding the nation’s historic environment. The agency is fully accountable to Scottish Ministers and through them to the Scottish Parliament.

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History and Geography Topics

Essentials oils have been used throughout history medicinally and as Fragrance, and interest has revived over the past several years with an increase in the popularity of aromatherapy. Natural essential oils stimulate our mind and body, promote circulation and support skin cell function, and contain fungicidal and anti-bacterial properties making them a valuable component in beauty and health products. In fact tea tree oil for example, is the strongest known antibiotic in the world. What are Essential Oils? Essential oils are concentrated oils extracted from fruit, flowers, leaves, and stems of plants. These fragrant oils help plants to attract insects and protect them against harmful organisms. Each plant's oil carries a distinctive scent (or essence) with unique properties from the plant, flower, or fruit from which they are derived. Some, like Lavender and rose, are used to soothe and calm. Other essential oils are more invigorating — basil and rosemary — and used to boost energy and bring about mental clarity. How are Essential Oils Produced? Essential oils are generally produced via two main methods of extraction; steam distillation and cold-pressing. During steam distillation, oil is released from the plant. Oil and water then separate providing the plant's essential oil, called hydrosol or floral water. Lavender, peppermint, and eucalyptus oils are obtained through distillation. Most citrus oils are produced using the cold-press method of extraction. The rinds are ground down and pressed mechanically, releasing a mixture of oil and liquid. Use in Cosmetics Many natural cosmetics manufacturers use a blend of natural essential oils to compose their individual product fragrances, Lavera included. These oils are a much safer alternative to synthetic Fragrance, which have been linked to skin irritation, headaches, and even birth defects. Essential oils are also used as a preservative method in cosmetics. We utilize a blend of 18 essential oils and vitamins to preserve our products and prevent bacterial growth. As a result, Lavera products have a 2-3 year shelf life from date of manufacture, without the use of Parabens and other synthetic preservatives. Concerns Over Safety Some essential oils, like citrus peel extracts, are very effective insecticides and considered to be of low toxicity to mammals. While these oils may be detrimental to the safety of insects and small mammals, the doses used are much higher than those used in cosmetic products, and the subject is much smaller than a human. Essential oils are highly concentrated and should not be applied directly to the skin, but diluted with a base oil, like Jojoba or Sweet Almond. Essential oils should be avoided in high concentrations and not ingested unless prescribed by a health practitioner. Essential Oils Used in Lavera Products The essential oils used in Lavera products are 100% natural and pharmaceutical-grade. Our essential oil blend used to impart the Lavera scent is listed on Lavera labels as "Fragrance (Parfum)" with a footnote stating that only natural essential oils are used, never synthetic fragrance. For more information on fragrance labeling in cosmetics please read The Dirty Dozen on our blog. The primary essential oils used in Lavera products for preservation are: - Citral — found in Lemon Oil, Orange Oil, Lemon-Grass Oil and Bergamot Oil - Citronellol – found in Geranium Oil, Muscatel Sage, Sandalwood and Citronella Oil - Eugenol – found in Clove Oil - Coumarin – found in Sweet grass and sweet clover - Geraniol – found in Rose Oil, Geranium Oil, Palmarosa Oil, Lavender Oil and Ylang-Ylang Oil - Limonene – found in Lemon Oil, Orange Oil, Grapefruit Oil, Bergamot Oil, Fennel Oil and Lavender Oil - Linalool – found in Lavender Oil, Bergamot Oil, Geranium Oil and Ylang-Ylang Oil Each of these natural essential oils is used in Lavera products at a range of 0.1% or less to ensure safety and gentleness. These are safe levels of essential oils that not only provide our natural and unique aroma blends, but keep our products fresh and help to prevent harmful bacterial growth. A much healthier alternative to products with synthetic fragrance and preservatives. Natural essential oils, when used properly, are a safe and effective means of conveying fragrance in a cosmetic product, as well as ensuring the product’s safety.

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Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs

Early Detection is Key in the Fight Against Ovarian Cancer Northwestern Memorial experts urge women to recognize warning signs; receive appropriate screenings Ovarian cancer is a rare but often deadly disease that can strike at any time in a woman’s life. It affects one in 70 women and in the past was referred to as a silent killer, but researchers have found that there are symptoms associated with ovarian cancer that can assist in early detection. Experts at Northwestern Memorial say the best defense is to make use of preventive methods, understand the risks and recognize potential warning signs of ovarian cancer. “Currently, there is no reliable screening test to identify early ovarian cancer. Women need to focus on good health habits, listen to their bodies and tell their doctor if a change occurs,” said Diljeet Singh, MD, gynecological oncologist and co-director of the Ovarian Cancer Early Detection and Prevention Program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Catching ovarian cancer early increases five-year survival odds from 30 percent to more than 90 percent. But the symptoms of ovarian cancer often mimic other less dangerous conditions making it difficult to recognize. Singh says women should be aware of possible early warning signs which include: • Pelvic or abdominal pain • Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly • Urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency) • Increased abdominal size (pants getting tighter around waist) Singh comments that the frequency and number of symptoms is important and women who experience a combination of these symptoms almost daily for two to three weeks should see their doctor. Doctors say it is not clear what causes ovarian cancer but there are factors that increase the odds of developing the disease including carrying a mutation of the BRCA gene, having a personal history of breast cancer or a family history of ovarian cancer, being over the age of 45 or if a woman is obese. If a woman is high-risk, doctors recommend screening begin at age 20 to 25, or five to 10 years earlier than the youngest age of diagnosis in the family. In addition, there are genetic tests available that can identify women who are at a substantially increased risk. While ovarian cancer is difficult to detect, specialized centers such as the Northwestern Ovarian Cancer Early Detection and Prevention Program, a collaborative effort between the hospital and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Centerof Northwestern University, have strategies for monitoring women at risk. Patients are monitored with physical examinations, ultrasound and blood tests every six months. “The goals of the program are to help women understand their personal risks and what they can do to decrease their risk, to help develop methods of early detection and prevention and to identify women who would benefit from preventive surgery,” said Singh, also an associate professor at the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and member of the Lurie Cancer Center. Studies have shown there are ways to reduce the risk of developing the disease. Women who use birth control pills for at least five years are three-times less likely to develop ovarian cancer. In addition, permanent forms of birth control such as tubal ligation have been found to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer by 50 percent. In cases where women have an extensive family history of breast or ovarian cancer, or who carry altered versions of the BRCA genes, may receive a recommendation to remove the ovaries and fallopian tubes which lowers the risk of ovarian cancer by more than 95 percent. “Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, getting regular exercise, maintaining a normal body weight and managing stresses are all ways women can help decrease their risk of ovarian cancer,” added Singh. Treatment for ovarian cancer usually begins with surgery to determine if the cancer has spread. Doctors at Northwestern Memorial also use a form of chemotherapy called intraperitoneal chemotherapy, which is injected directly into the abdominal cavity and has been linked to a 15-month improvement in survival. “The best scenario would be to prevent this cancer entirely but until that day comes women need to focus on good health behaviors, listen to their bodies and know their family history” stated Singh. For more information please call 312-926-0779. Jennifer Monasteri, Manager

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Medical Topics

A large-scale screen in Drosophila cells has shown how RNA interference can provide insights into the pathways controlling cell morphology. When thinking of genetic screens in Drosophila, the Nobel-prize-winning screens for embryonic developmental phenotypes spring to mind. Loss-of-function mutational analysis has proved to be a powerful approach for dissecting complex processes such as morphogenesis and wing development. But historically the fruitfly community has focused much less on the study of cells in culture. All that may now be about to change. In this issue of Journal of Biology , Amy Kiger and colleagues describe the results of a powerful strategy for conducting high-throughput systematic loss-of-function screens in Drosophila tissue-culture cells (see 'The bottom line' box for a summary of the work). Picking apart signaling pathways The study was led by Norbert Perrimon, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator who runs a Drosophila laboratory at Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA. Perrimon has focused his lab on developing large-scale genetic screens to dissect signal transduction pathways by analysis of mutant phenotypes. The Perrimon lab has a collection of hundreds of mutants with interesting developmental defects, each one waiting for a creative postdoc to track down the gene and work out what it does. "One can assume that genes with similar phenotypes are related and act in the same pathways," says Perrimon. This approach had allowed the lab to define groups of mutants, which have then been used to dissect conserved signal transduction pathways, such as those involving the Wnt family of intercellular signaling molecules and the Jak-Stat intracellular signal transducers. Completion of the Drosophila melanogaster genome-sequencing project three years ago encouraged the fly community to explore new approaches. "Now we had 16,000 pieces of the puzzle, and working out what they each did was going to be an enormous challenge," says Perrimon. When RNA-interference (RNAi) technology appeared on the scene as a new way of inactivating genes whose sequence is known (see the 'Background' box), it seemed an appealing way to speed up the task of dissecting complex genetic pathways: genes could be systematically inactivated and loss-of-function phenotypes studied on a large scale. But applying the RNAi approach - which had worked so spectacularly in Caenorhabditis elegans [3,4] - to Drosophila proved not to be so straightforward, and early attempts at injecting interfering RNAs into embryos were plagued by technical problems and inconsistent results. It was not until Jack Dixon's group at the University of California in San Diego showed that gene silencing by RNAi works well in fly cells in culture that the stage was set for a screen on the scale that fly geneticists are used to. "The cell biology community has a real 'nuts and bolts' view of the way that nature works," says Buzz Baum, who was a postdoctoral fellow in the Perrimon group. "Lots of cell biologists were beginning to use RNAi [when we began this work], but they still hadn't learnt to think as geneticists. What I wanted to do when I joined Norbert's lab was to take genetics to cell biology." So, he and Amy Kiger began to set up the methodologies for a large-scale screen. "We began exploring ways in which RNAi in cell culture could be used in a much more far-reaching way," recalls Amy Kiger, a postdoc in the Perrimon lab and lead author on the study. Screening for cell morphology "We needed to set up a pilot screen to work out the methodologies," says Perrimon. "We were interested in genes involved in morphogenesis, so we decided to focus on changes in cell morphology and genes that regulate the cytoskeleton." They hoped that some of the genes identified would be on the same pathways as those that they had already studied in flies. The Perrimon group was fortunate to be surrounded by a number of laboratories with experience of cell-based screening and robotic technologies, including automated microscopes. "The thing that can be difficult about taking an assay to high throughput is that the way that the cells and microscopes behave can be quite different when you scale up," says Baum, who now runs his own laboratory at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in London, UK. "The most important thing was finding cell lines where we could study the sort of things that we were interested in. We had to learn quite a bit about fly cell culture. We got cell lines from all over the world and tested them with thirty-odd RNAs. We got all these specific cellular phenotypes - it was really quite magical!" They selected two hemocyte cell lines for the screen; these were chosen because of their different shapes - Kc167 cells are small and round, whereas the S2R+ cells are large, flat and strongly adherent (Figure 1). It seemed likely that defining the sets of genes that generated the cell shape in these two cell lines would give clues about basic cell morphology and fly morphogenesis. Perrimon and colleagues then scaled up operations by constructing a library of double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) representing around a thousand genes that could be used as a 'tool kit' for exploring cell morphology phenotypes; the kit included genes thought to be involved in regulating the cytoskeleton, such as putative GTPases and kinases. The library of dsRNAs was introduced into cells in 384-well optical-bottom plates, to allow image-based screening. The team recorded all visible changes three days after introduction of the RNA, using automated microscopy. Around 16% of the genes gave visible phenotypes in at least one of the two cell lines. The group then had to work out a formalized process for dealing with all the information that came out of the screen. After familiarizing themselves with the range of phenotypes that appeared, they developed a system of 'phenotypic annotation' to record the effects of silencing each one of hundreds of genes, starting out by defining seven major phenotypic categories on the basis of defects in actin filaments, microtubules, DNA, cell shape, cell size, cell number and cell viability. Each class was then further subdivided into a number of categories that describe specific morphological attributes; for example, changes in cell shape were categorized using descriptions such as round or flat, retracted, bipolar, spiky or stretchy. Obviously these phenotypes overlap in many cases, so that the effects of each RNAi can be defined in terms of its phenotypic profile. Christophe Antoniewski, at the Institut Jacques Monod in Paris, notes that "the use of a 'phenotype matrix' provides an opportunity for statistical analysis of the results using clustering approaches on qualitative traits instead of quantitative traits." As with all genetic screens, genes with similar profiles might be expected to participate in common morphogenetic functions. For example, RNA specific for the Rho1 GTPase and the Pebble Rho-GTP exchange factor, as well as for an uncharacterized predicted kinase (CG10522), all generated enlarged, multinucleated cells, reflecting defects in cytokinesis; Kiger et al. suggest that CG10522 may be a novel effector, downstream of Rho1 and with a role in cytokinesis. The most commonly seen phenotypes were changes in actin organization and cell shape. Several of the genes identified are thought to limit the rate of formation of filamentous (F) actin and encode proteins with F-actin capping functions. Some of these regulators seemed to play similar roles in both the adherent or non-adherent fly cell lines. But by comparing the adherent S2R+ cells with the round Kc167 cells, Kiger et al. were able to study genes involved in maintaining a particular (round or flat) cell shape. They expected to identify a set of genes that were differently expressed in the two cell lines and were responsible for their distinct morphologies. Indeed, they found that 78% of the morphological RNAi phenotypes were seen in only one of the cell types. For example, dsRNAs targeting genes involved in actin filament formation caused Kc167 cells to flatten, whereas dsRNAs for genes involved in cell-matrix adhesion functions caused S2R+ cells to round up and detach. Analysis of the levels of expression of the integrin adhesion receptors, which are known to mediate cell-matrix adhesion, showed that they are not expressed at lower levels in Kc167 cells, although the expression of the cytoskeletal component talin was significantly lower. The authors conclude that both integrin-mediated adhesion and reorganization of the cortical F-actin network are necessary to determine cell spreading. The Perrimon group was very satisfied to see how successfully this pilot screen worked. Having established the 'proof of principle' they have now scaled up to perform whole-genome screens in Drosophila cells in culture (see the 'Behind the scenes' box for more on the development of the work). "It's really changing completely the way we do science," says Perrimon enthusiastically. "Everything now comes down to the assays that we design. You can be as imaginative as you want. We need to do more and more screens and to compile databases of annotated information so that we can build correlations between components of different pathways. The long-term experiment is to see how much of the complexity in the cell can actually be reduced by finding these kinds of correlations." Others in the field agree. "It's exciting to see RNAi technology in cultured cells being adapted to a high-throughput format and being used to screen for genes involved in cell morphogenesis and cytoskeletal function," says Matthew Welch, a cell biologist working at the University of California, Berkeley. "Although the classical genetic approach has been used very successfully for many years to study cell morphogenesis in yeast and other organisms, the ability to systematically silence a large number of genes in cultured animal cells using RNAi has brought this approach to new systems and will help answer outstanding questions in new ways." And Antoniewski concurs. "This type of approach is fascinating because it actually combines both 'forward' and 'reverse' genetics in a single screen. Kiger et al. have coupled systematic knock-down technology to a phenotypic screen, so systematic 'reverse genetics' is guided by the functional assay. This is new and important." Baum predicts that deciphering the meaning of such large datasets will probably require new ways of thinking and the help of mathematicians and physicists. These approaches are being incorporated into the broad field of 'systems biology'. To help the application of this technology throughout the fly and cell biology communities, Perrimon and collaborators have set up the Drosophila RNAi Screening Center (DRSC) , to make the relatively expensive and sophisticated technology accessible to all interested researchers; it also has the advantage of permitting valuable functional comparisons across many studies and the creation of an information database with a standardized format. The DRSC is currently performing screens for cell growth and viability and is accepting applications for potential collaborative screens. "We may need many different assays to dissect a single pathway," says Perrimon. He is interested in any proposal with a good cell-based assay. The Center is able to perform a whole-genome screen in just one week. But at a cost of US$10,000 per screen the DRSC will be carefully selecting screens with a high chance of success. The cell biology community is keen to use the RNAi approach to probe basic questions about cell functions. "This type of approach, like classical genetics, is very flexible and can be applied to a wide range of cellular processes," says Welch. "What's also exciting is that open access to information from large-scale efforts like this one will be extremely useful for other researchers interested in a range of issues, from the function of their favorite gene or protein to more global issues of how gene function is integrated and coordinated during complex processes like cell morphogenesis." And as Antoniewski points out, "in a third of cases, an RNAi phenotype identified a previously uncharacterized gene that lacked a corresponding mutant allele in Drosophila. This is extremely important, because it shows that RNAi screens can identify new functions that could not have been identified by classical genetics using mutagenesis." An additional aspect of the potential for this type of approach is highlighted by Kiger. "Now that large-scale reverse-genetic or 'functional genomic' approaches are possible in yeast, worms and fly cells, it is interesting to consider how we might eventually be able to make functional comparisons across species that could shed light on common (or contrasting) cellular mechanisms throughout evolution." Other groups are using RNAi technology in a more focused way to tackle biological questions. Ronald Vale's group at the University of California in San Francisco has used RNAi targeting specific gene families to investigate cytoskeletal function in Drosophila S2 cells. They targeted dynein and all 25 Drosophila kinesins to investigate the role of molecular motors during mitosis , and also identified sets of genes important for regulating actin dynamics during lamella formation . Rogers et al. suggest, "If proper cues are provided to these cells, cell migration and cell polarity may be amenable to investigation as well." A combination of genome-wide screens and studies focused on specific gene families will be needed to identify and then characterize components of the specific pathways involved in complex cellular processes. It will also be interesting to apply the tricks of the classic geneticists' trade, such as screens for modifiers and suppressors. "I think the power of the RNAi screens will come when we combine RNAi screening data with data from other sources, like genomic sequence, microarray data, proteomic data, and so on," adds Baum. "This opens up the possibility of real systems biology: generating a more global understanding of the logical circuitry that underlies cell behavior. This approach is going to have a big impact - because I think that a lot of the apparent complexity in cell biology is a product of over-expression studies, and loss-of-function data can clarify some of these situations." "And then we will have to go back to the fly," says Perrimon. "The next step will be to take what we have learned from the cell-based assays and validate them in vivo, either using defined existing mutations or by trying to generate them using classical methods or a promising gene-knockout methodology. Or we can also express [RNA] hairpins, which basically give an in vivo RNAi effect." Many of the lessons learnt by classical fly genetics have subsequently been confirmed and explored further in cellular systems. Now it looks as though researchers can begin by doing genetics in cells and then return to the whole fly to investigate further. Gonczy P, Echeverri G, Oegema K, Coulson A, Jones SJ, Copley RR, Duperon J, Oegema J, Brehm M, Cassin E, et al.: Functional genomic analysis of cell division in C. elegans using RNAi of genes on chromosome III.

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Medical Topics

Problem 367Published on Saturday, 14th January 2012, 10:00 pm; Solved by 247 Bozo sort, not to be confused with the slightly less efficient bogo sort, consists out of checking if the input sequence is sorted and if not swapping randomly two elements. This is repeated until eventually the sequence is sorted. If we consider all permutations of the first 4 natural numbers as input the expectation value of the number of swaps, averaged over all 4! input sequences is 24.75. The already sorted sequence takes 0 steps. In this problem we consider the following variant on bozo sort. If the sequence is not in order we pick three elements at random and shuffle these three elements randomly. All 3!=6 permutations of those three elements are equally likely. The already sorted sequence will take 0 steps. If we consider all permutations of the first 4 natural numbers as input the expectation value of the number of shuffles, averaged over all 4! input sequences is 27.5. Consider as input sequences the permutations of the first 11 natural numbers. Averaged over all 11! input sequences, what is the expected number of shuffles this sorting algorithm will perform? Give your answer rounded to the nearest integer.

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Statistical Methods and Tools

This book provides readers with an overview of how Americans have commemorated and remembered the Civil War. The Civil War was one of the most divisive, dramatic, and deadly events in the course of American history. It involved not just northerners and southerners, but whites and blacks, women and men, and the elites, and the lower class. Not surprisingly, the ways in which this conflict is remembered and commemorated varies widely. Most Americans are aware of statues or other outdoor art dedicated to the memory of the Civil War. Indeed, the erection of Civil War monuments permanently changed the landscape of U.S. public parks and cemeteries by the turn of the century. But monuments are only one way that the Civil War is memorialized. This book describes the different ways in which Americans have publicly remembered their Civil War, from the immediate postwar era to the early 21st century. Each chapter covers a specific historical period. Within each chapter, the author highlights important individuals, groups, and social factors, helping readers to understand the process of memory. The author further notes the conflicting tensions between disparate groups as they sought to commemorate "their" war. An epilogue examines the present-day memory of the war and current debates and controversies. • Presents events related to the commemoration of public memory of the Civil War chronologically, from 1865 to the present • Illustrated with photographs of monuments, individuals, and events related to commemoration activities, as well as selected political cartoons related to Civil War memory from popular publications • Bibliography includes both primary and secondary sources on the subject of Civil War memory • Provides readers with a broad overview of an extremely popular topic in Civil War history in an easy-to-read, narrative form • Summarizes the most recent scholarship on the subject into one volume • Provides both in-depth critical analyses and clear summaries of the key themes • The role of memory in shaping historical consciousness is a timely scholarly topic

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Historical Narratives and Artifacts

NSAIDs include both prescription and over-the-counter medication. They are often used to relieve pain or reduce inflammation from conditions such as arthritis. However, NSAIDs can make your body retain fluid and decrease the function of your kidneys. This may cause your blood pressure to rise even higher, putting greater stress on your heart and kidneys. Common NSAIDs that can raise blood pressure include: You may also find NSAIDs in over-the-counter medication for other health problems. Cold medicine, for example, often contains NSAIDs. It's a good idea whenever you purchase an over-the-counter drug to check the label for NSAIDs. Ask your doctor if any NSAID is okay for you to use. Your doctor may be able to recommend alternatives, such as using acetaminophen instead of ibuprofen. Cough and Cold Medications Many cough and cold medications contain NSAIDs to relieve pain. As mentioned above, NSAIDs may increase your blood pressure. Cough and cold medications also frequently contain decongestants. Decongestants can make blood pressure worse in two ways: Decongestants may make your blood pressure and heart rate rise. Decongestants may prevent your blood pressure medication from working properly. Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) is a specific decongestant that can increase blood pressure. What can you do? Avoid using cough and cold medicine that contains NSAIDs or decongestants, especially pseudoephedrine. Ask your doctor for suggestions about other ways to ease congestion symptoms such as antihistamines or nasal sprays which should minimize cardiovascular effects. Migraine Headache Medications Some migraine medications work by tightening blood vessels in your head. This relieves migraine pain. However, they also constrict blood vessels throughout your body. This makes your blood pressure rise, perhaps to dangerous levels. If you have high blood pressure or any other type of heart disease, talk with your doctor before taking a drug for migraines or severe headaches. Weight Loss Drugs Some weight loss drugs may make heart disease worse: Appetite suppressants tend to "rev" up your body. This can make blood pressure rise and put more stress on your heart. Before using any weight loss drug, whether prescription or over-the-counter, be sure to check with your doctor. These medications can be useful for weight loss but may do you more harm than good. More Tips for Avoiding Medication Problems Be sure any medications you choose to use are safe for people who have high blood pressure. These suggestions can help: Give a list of ALL the medications you use, both prescription and over-the-counter, to every doctor you visit. Read medication labels before buying over-the-counter products. Make sure the medicine doesn't contain ingredients that could make your high blood pressure worse, such as NSAIDs or decongestants. Talk to your doctor before using any over-the-counter medication, herbal preparation, vitamins, or other nutritional supplements. Ask for alternatives to potentially harmful medicines.

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Medical Topics

Profile: In the late 1600s, King Louis XIV of France brought Breton and Norman horses to the region of North America now known as Canada. They are believed to be the ancestors of the modern Canadian Horse, which still possesses traits similar to the Arabian, Andalusian and Barb bloodlines that the Breton and Norman horses also displayed. These French horses bred with little interference for hundreds of years, and the resulting breed became known as the Canadian Horse, or Cheval Canadien. Met with harsh weather and sparse food supplies, the Canadian Horse became a sturdy animal and remains hardy today. In the mid-1800s, the Canadian Horse could be found in Canada and the United States, and was crossbred to improve the strength of other breeds. The Morgan, Tennessee Walking Horse, Standardbred and American Saddlebred are said to trace back to the Canadian Horse. Canadian Horses were exported to southern Africa for the Boer War, to work on sugar plantations in the West Indies, and for the Civil War in America. With this exportation and the introduction of machinery replacing horse power, the Canadian Horse nearly became extinct. The first studbook was produced in 1886 by a group of concerned enthusiasts, and the Canadian Horse Breeders Association was formed in 1895. Today, the breed is still listed as critical by the American Livestock Conservancy. Characteristics: The Canadian Horse has a beautifully arched neck with a long, flowing mane and tail. Its head is refined with a short forehead and small throatlatch. The chest is deep and the back is short and strong. Long, sloping shoulders and broad hindquarters give way to muscular legs with clean joints and bone structure.

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Horse Care and Breeds

Animal bites and scratches, even when they are minor, can become infected and spread bacteria to other parts of the body. Whether the bite is from a family pet or an animal in the wild, scratches and bites can carry disease. Cat scratches, for example, even from a kitten can carry "cat scratch disease," a bacterial infection. Other animals can transmit rabies and tetanus. Bites that break the skin are even more likely to become infected. For superficial bites from a familiar household pet who is immunized and in good health: For deeper bites or puncture wounds from any animal, or for any bite from a strange animal: Call your doctor or other health care provider for any flu-like symptoms, such as a fever, headache, malaise, decreased appetite, or swollen glands following an animal bite. Rabies is a viral infection of certain warm-blooded animals and is caused by a virus in the Rhabdoviridae family. It attacks the nervous system and, once symptoms develop, it is 100 percent fatal in animals, if left untreated. In North America, rabies occurs primarily in skunks, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, and bats. In some areas, these wild animals infect domestic cats, dogs, and livestock. In the U.S., cats are more likely than dogs to be rabid. Individual states maintain information about animals that may carry rabies. It is best to check for region specific information if you are unsure about a specific animal and have been bitten. Travelers to developing countries, where vaccination of domestic animals is not routine, should talk with their health care provider about getting the rabies vaccine before traveling. The rabies virus enters the body through a cut or scratch, or through mucous membranes (such as the lining of the mouth and eyes), and travels to the central nervous system. Once the infection is established in the brain, the virus travels down the nerves from the brain and multiplies in different organs. The salivary glands are most important in the spread of rabies from one animal to another. When an infected animal bites another animal, the rabies virus is transmitted through the infected animal's saliva. Scratches by claws of rabid animals are also dangerous because these animals lick their claws. The incubation in humans from the time of exposure to the onset of illness can range anywhere from five days to more than a year, although the average incubation period is about two months. The following are the most common symptoms of rabies. However, each individual may experience symptoms differently. Symptoms may include: Rabies: Stage 1 Rabies: Stage 2 The symptoms of rabies may resemble other conditions or medical problems. Always consult your doctor for a diagnosis. In animals, the direct fluorescent antibody test (dFA) performed on brain tissue is most frequently used to detect rabies. Within a few hours, diagnostic laboratories can determine whether an animal is rabid and provide this information to medical professionals. These results may save a person from undergoing treatment if the animal is not rabid. In humans, a number of tests are necessary to confirm or rule out rabies, as no single test can be used to rule out the disease with certainty. Tests are performed on samples of serum, saliva, and spinal fluid. Skin biopsies may also be taken from the nape of the neck. Unfortunately, there is no known, effective treatment for rabies once symptoms of the disease occur. However, there are effective new vaccines (HDCV, PCEC) that provide immunity to rabies when administered soon after an exposure. It may also be used for protection before an exposure occurs, for persons such as veterinarians and animal handlers. Being safe around animals, even your own pets, can help reduce the risk of animal bites. Some general guidelines for avoiding animal bites and rabies include the following: If you or someone you know is bitten by an animal, remember these facts to report to your health care provider: Click here to view the Online Resources of Non-Traumatic Emergencies

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Pets and Veterinary Care

Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter When astronauts return to the moon for long duration missions, they will need reliable sources of power. Solar energy will be plentiful for the 14 Earth-day- long lunar daytime, but what about the equally as long lunar night? NASA engineers are exploring the possibility of nuclear fission to provide the necessary power. If you’re having visions of a Three Mile Island nuclear reactor on the moon, put your fears to rest. A nuclear reactor used in space is much different than Earth-based systems, says Lee Mason of the NASA Glenn Research Center, who is the principal investigator for testing a fission powered system for the moon. There are no large concrete cooling towers, and the reactor is about the size of an office trash can. Of course, it won’t produce as much energy as the big reactors on Earth, but it should be more than adequate for the projected power needs of a lunar outpost. “Our goal is to build a technology demonstration unit with all the major components of a fission surface power system and conduct non-nuclear, integrated system testing in a ground-based space simulation facility,” said Mason. “Our long-term goal is to demonstrate technical readiness early in the next decade, when NASA is expected to decide on the type of power system to be used on the lunar surface.” A fission surface power system on the moon has the potential to generate a steady 40 kilowatts of electric power, enough for about eight houses on Earth. It works by splitting uranium atoms in a reactor to generate heat that then is converted into electric power. The fission surface power system can produce large amounts of power in harsh environments, like those on the surface of the moon or Mars, because it does not rely on sunlight. The primary components of fission surface power systems are a heat source, power conversion, heat rejection and power conditioning, and distribution. Glenn recently contracted for the design and analysis of two different types of advanced power conversion units as an early step in the development of a full system-level technology demonstration. These power conversion units are necessary to process the heat produced by the nuclear reactor and efficiently convert it to electrical power. Two different companies have designed concepts that can produce a total of 12 kilowatts of power. One uses piston engines and the other a high speed turbine coupled with a rotary alternator. “Development and testing of the power conversion unit will be a key factor in demonstrating the readiness of fission surface power technology and provide NASA with viable and cost-effective options for nuclear power on the moon and Mars,” said Don Palac, manager of Glenn’s Fission Surface Power Project. A contractor will be selected after a year of design and analysis. Testing of the non-nuclear system is expected to take place in 2012 or 2013 to verify the performance and safety of the systems and determine if these systems can easily be used on the moon, or even on Mars.

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Space Exploration and Astronomy

for National Geographic News To swat a fly can be a lesson in futility. The insect darts from each swipe with uncanny precision, altering its course to zip off in nearly the opposite direction. Precisely how a fly achieves its aerial acrobatics is more than a curiosity of annoyance for Michael Dickinson, a bioengineer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Dickinson has built an entire research lab, not to mention professional career, seeking an answer to just how a fly's brain controls its muscles in precision flight. "An interest in the brain led to an interest in flight and aerodynamics," said Dickinson. "I've spent a lot of time with folks in the lab trying to figure out the basic aerodynamics of insect flight." Together with Steven Fry, a biologist at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, and Rosalyn Sayaman, a research assistant also at the California Institute of Technology, Dickinson determined how common fruit flies use their wings to make 90-degree turns at speeds faster than a blink of the human eye, let alone the swoosh of a swatter. The researchers discovered that the mechanics of how flies execute such turns were contrary to what they initially believed. To turn, a flying creature must generate enough twisting force, or torque, to offset two forces working against itthe inertia of its own body (think forward motion on a bicycle, once you stop pedaling) and the viscous friction of the air, which for small insects is thought to be like syrup. Scientists had long assumed that the viscosity of the air, and not inertia, was the greater force for insects such as flies to overcome. Inertia, they believed, was primarily the bane of larger animals like birds. "No one challenged the notion because there was no indication that it might be different," said Fry. "The results actually proved the opposite." The research team found that fruit flies make subtle changes in the tilt of their wings relative to the ground and the size of each wing flap to generate the forces that allow them to turn. Flies then create an opposite twisting force with their wings to stop the inertia of the turn, preventing an out of control spin. This finding, say the researchers, indicates that inertia, and not friction, is the greater force for the fruit fly to overcome in the turn. Ron Fearing, an electrical engineer at the University of California at Berkeley who is developing a tiny robotic insect capable of autonomous flight, said that the research team has "shown a quite surprising result, in that very subtle changes in wing motion are responsible for rapid maneuvers." The Fly Tests SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES

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Insect and Pest Studies

Statement of Purpose THE CIVIL WAR CENTER The Civil War was arguably the most important event in the history of the United States. The conflict fundamentally altered the relationship of the states to the federal government, freed four million slaves, and changed the socio-economic development of the nation. Few states were affected more by this tumultuous period than Georgia. Georgia furnished substantial natural resources, manpower, and political and military leadership to the Southern Republic’s war effort. Important figures such as Vice President of the Confederacy Alexander Stephens, General William J. Hardee, and General James Longstreet led the way in the South’s fight for its independence. Critical battles at Dalton, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, and Kennesaw Mountain were fought only a short distance from our own Kennesaw State University. Georgia’s society – men and women, white and black, slave and free – experienced change on a scale never witnessed before or since. However, despite Georgia’s key role in the war, no research center exists in the state where scholars, students, and interested citizens can go to find out about Georgia’s experience in the nation’s greatest calamity. The Civil War historian in Kennesaw State University’s Department of History and Philosophy recognized this void and secured the support of the College of Humanities and Social Science to begin developing the Center. After nearly a year of planning and designing, the Civil War Center became a functioning unit within the college. Thus, the mission and purpose of the Center is clear: compile and organize key resources and help educate the public on all aspects of the South's role in the Civil War period. No other event in American history affected the development of the United States more than the Civil War. The Civil War era is defined broadly to include primarily the nineteenth century, yet events before and after are related to the war as well. The nineteenth century witnessed dramatic social, economic, and political changes that reshaped American life and culture. While the Civil War is central to the experience, the decades before and after contain the seeds and bitter harvest of the national ordeal. The Center will, therefore, include resources on the causes, course, and repercussions of the war within the historic South. This region encompasses the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. To summarize, then, the Civil War Center is committed to the following: WHY KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY IS AN The Atlanta area is an ideal location to house such a center because of its transportation networks, historic sites, and the abounding enthusiasm the Civil War generates among the citizens of the state and region. First and foremost an educational repository, the Civil War Center will offer the following advantages to instructors and students in the area: KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY’S ROLE Kennesaw State University is the third largest university out of thirty-five institutions in the University System of Georgia. It supports a growing student population of approximately 20,000 from 132 countries. KSU lies in the center of an area replete with key resources, events, and expertise with which to study Georgia's and the historic South's role in the Civil War. Critical battles at Dalton, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, and Kennesaw Mountain were fought only a short distance from our own KSU, making the university a logical site to house the Civil War Center. Enthusiasm for the period abounds among the citizens of the area, and KSU's proximity to Atlanta, the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, nearby historic Civil War sites, and interstate access will no doubt attract visitors from across the state, region, and country. The Center will, in both the present and future, enhance KSU's reputation through the following: KSU and the College of Humanities and Social Science are committed to supporting the Center through funding from the capital campaign, staffing as needed and budget allows, purchasing of equipment and other materials, and housing for the collection. Created in 2006, the Center has already generated a flurry of interest and excitement in the area. Fundraising efforts are gaining momentum, and the archival collections are growing rapidly. In its brief tenure, the Center has made great strides in perpetuating its mission to educate the public on the importance of the Civil War to the nation's history.

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Historical Narratives and Artifacts

- Digital Resources Positive Health Information Pattern number within this pattern set:74 Health information in the developed world exists in vast quantities, not only for the general public but also for health professionals. Much of this information depicts good health in terms of vigilance against the failings of our own bodies. This serves to create dependency on a high tech, commodity health system. The style of language and the content of information are very important in how information makes people perceive the world. Authors in many fields have noted patterns of communication that create distrust and enforce dependency by emphasizing danger from external, uncontrollable forces. If people have a sense of helplessness in the face of this threat, they do not act upon their own feelings and perceptions. Negative language has the effect of emphasizing threats, magnifying fears, and creating dependency. Reminding people of their mortality tends to make them hold more closely to traditional culture (Pyszczynski, Solomon, & Greenberg, 2003); this has implications for mental health, and can also be used to influence mass opinion and behavior. A recent example is the US administrations use of language to create fear and mistrust among the public by creating the specter of a constant external threat (Brooks, 2003). Much health information, especially advertising from hospital corporations and pharmaceutical companies, uses this technique. A paternalistic (doctor knows best) and commodity-driven medical system produces an endless stream of information that encourages the perception that natural processes, such as growing older or pregnancy, are fraught with danger. This inhibits the spread of health information that is not based on the treatments that this system has to offer. Language may not only be negative; it can also be empty (Brooks, 2003); complex issues are broken down into broad statements with little meaning. In health care information, this pattern of communication places the cause of ill health on the individual. The complexity of individuals relationships to the world they live in and the effects on individual health of pollution, poverty, and unhealthy social norms and values are ignored. People come to construe healthy behavior in terms of dependency on a medical industry that constantly invents not only new cures, but new diseases for the cures it already possesses (Blech, 2006). Empty language is like empty calories. It tastes good and you can eat a lot of it, but you dont obtain much benefit. A great deal of health information tempts us to feel that we are well-informed. We are bombarded by advertising and public health campaigns that do little more than create mistrust of the inherent healthy processes we possess. To reduce complex health issues to taking a pill ignores peoples emotional needs and the complex connection between body and mind; instead it emphasizes the negative aspects of their health. The use of estrogen replacement in post-menopausal women illustrates this. Estrogen replacement was pushed on women as a way if combating the problems of growing old such as osteoporosis, heart disease, memory loss and drying skin. The unspoken message was that there was something wrong with growing old that taking medication could correct it. Preventative approaches, that emphasized a lifetime of healthy behaviors and the inherent correctness of aging, were ignored. In pattern 47, Health Center, Alexander et al. (1977) describe a medical system that emphasizes sickness over health. By contrast, they show the Pioneer Health Center in Peckham, an experiment from the 1930s, as an example of medical care that focuses on health instead of sickness. In the same manner, health information must distinguish between healing and medicine. We need to hear messages of what is right with us and what needs to be done to stay in touch with the inherent health of our bodies. Many alternative health practices, such as yoga, polarity treatment, or acupuncture focus on the inherent healthiness of the body. In these practices, the underlying concept is on healing, the natural process by which the body repairs itself. The rise of alternatives to conventional medicine reflects, in part, the lack of substance people feel from the information they receive after a visit to a doctor. Health-related discussion forums, that include both lay and professional perspectives but avoid the disease-mongering (Marshall & Aldhous, 2006) influence of industry funding, offer a way to make sense of information from various health related sources without falling victim to negative language and information; people put information into the context of everyday life and validate positive perceptions of themselves. This type of information has substance to it, not only because it is active rather than passive; it has the positive effect of engaging people in independent, creative thinking. Health information should emphasize the idea that people are inherently healthy. It must inspire trust in the bodys ability to heal itself, once a healthy path has been taken. Where information of this kind is insufficient, either create it or supplant it with participant-controlled interactive forums. Verbiage for pattern card: Health information in the developed world often depicts health in terms of vigilance against external, uncontrollable forces. This fosters distrust and dependency on a high-tech, commodity health system. Positive Health Information is built on the fact that people are inherently healthy. It inspires trust in the body's ability to heal itself, once a healthy path has been taken.

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Healthcare and Nursing Topics

Twas on the thirty-first of May, In eighteen sixty-two, The rebels met our Union force, To see what they could do. McClellan was near Richmond then, That nasty rebels den, Where whites the gentlemen are crowned, Where Negroes are not men. They met and fought with iron will Each eager to obtain The mend that every solider loves— The victor’s glorious name. The cannon sent her iron hall, The market, showers of lead, Which filled the air with dying groans, And strewed the field with dead The Ninety-Second stood firm in front, In Palmer’s bold brigade, Until in “Dixie’s land” they had Some scores of widows made. But when they saw they were out-flanked, They wheeled about and fled, While many of our Northern braves Were numbered with the dead The double guide our soldiers took, Soon left me far behind— That aimble step I could not take, Although so well inclined. The rebels came with savage yells, A Yankee they had found, With curses bid me “face about,” And march away to town. They marched me down with many more, Through mud and mire to town, And there with bars and prisons walls, Yours honor did surround. They [?] tobacco with in those walls, In times of peace and trace, But now the bedbugs and the lice Hold nightly dress parades. They gave us rations twice each day, But nothing for our beds, With fleas and bedbugs without number Gently crawling round our heads. Our morning rations were of bread, A slice of sinking meat, Which hunger made us soon devour, And ever lasted sweet. At night we had a little soup, Some water bolled with peas, And then we took our prison beds, To dream of lice and fleas. We were confined three days and nights Within those iron bars, When, oh! the welcome news then came, To get abound the cars. They marched us through their nasty streets, That all the crowd might see, The “hiding Yankees” from the North, That in than land run free. The crowd was dense on either side, Composed of whites and blacks, While many shouted in the crowd, To shoot them in their tracks. We traveled all this days and night, Oppressed by dust and heat; We got some muddy water, But nothing for to eat. At length each man face crackers got, All counted our with care, And this they thought a liberal thing, Considering who we were. Again we traveled all day and night, As we had the day before, With nothing for our rations, While our seats were getting sore. Again our scanty breakfast came; Five crackers as before, And this thought a heavy draft On old Jeff’s three years store. This morning found us all within The north Carolina state, With Salisbury’s prison walls ahead, Where we could read our face, We found Carolina on the fence, A leg on either side; She says it’s Southern fashion For ladies so to ride. She sends her troops to help the North, Then Northern Prisoners keep; But vengeance sure is on her track, And Vengeance never sleeps. Our prison walls were large and high, For Spinning cotton made, When “old King Cotton” ruled as king, And Negroes were in trade. But when they found his glory gone, And cotton would not sell, They turned their fields into burying-grounds, Their factories into hells. They fired upon our stars and stripes, They stole our arms and money, And then they cried, “let us alone,” In accents sweet as honey. The rebels sung throughtout the South, In Dixie’s land they’d stand, And, if they ever lived to die, They’d die in Dixie’s land. We found them standing when we came, When not too drunk or tipsy “Right smost” they’d rather run and live, Than die to live in Dixie. The people here are ignorant, And iced as tools by rouges, They’ve herded with the blacks so long, They’ve got the laugh and brogue. School houses here you never find, Such sights are seldom seen, With truant boys and red-checked girls, A romping on the green. I’m proud to say I’m from the North, Where no one lacks for knowledge, For every mile or two you go, You’ll find a school or college. They keep their slave pens and often sell Their very blood and bone, For crosses with the negro slave, There gently never own. They keep their slaves in ignorance, They’re never taught to read, For knowledge and old slavery Have never yet agreed. They breed and sell the negro here As Northern men would cattle, The whiter they can get the skin, The more come in the chattle. They buy our huts, caps, coats and rings, And trinkets we have wrought, As keepsakes of those Yankee boys They, in their battles caught. The only way they have to live, And save our preclous lives, Is to manufacture rings from bones, And trade for cakes and pies. If they should get to Heaven’s gate, And find all Union there, They would serve at once to Hell, And Join their kindred there. And now we’ve sung about the South, And of their doings there, Now let us step within the bars, And learn the prisoners face. They give us rations twice each day, Their coarsest negro’s fare, And this they think is generous, Considering who we were. Our morning rations are of bread, The loves are very small, A little slice of bacon, From which the maggots fall. They take the liquor from this meat, Stir in a little rice, And this we have for supper, Its flavor very nice. Our rations here are always fresh, Because they have no salt, And if they hear a man complain, He’s told it’s his even fault. At night we sleep upon the floor, We often lay in tiers,’ While body lice in whose battalions, Charge upon our fronts and rears. They turn us out a while each day, Upon our prison health, To pick the lice from off our clothes, The maggots from our teeth. They keep a bake house near our den, To bake our daily bread, You’d think some children had the dough, To make some from cats heads. The bakers lake our flour and rice, To make sweet cake and pie, The half-starved Yanks think they must eat, So to bakers fly. They give the prisoner scanty fare, To rob them of their money; They say our hungry boys must have, Some cakes as sweet as honey. Our generous keeper says to us, Tells to us one and all, I fear your dally rations May sometimes be too small. If any want more rations here, To keep your souls alive, Just step into my sutler’s shop, And buy sweetmeats and ples. If any lack the dime of scrip, Or think his fare is hard, Just take him to the guard-house, Or “buck” him in the yard. And now we’ve sung about our den, And how we live in there; Now let us sing about our dead, In “Dixie’s land so fair.” When any of the prisoners die, No matter what their grades, They get a negro with his cart To take him to the shades. They’d get a negro with his cart, Drawn by a stubborn mule, To show their height of chivalry If southern power could rule. The fifteenth of August Carolina called, And to the prisoners said, Just jump aboard my cattle cars, With some of my “nice bread.” I’m pledged to take you to your lines, My pledges seldom fall, You’ll find my seats are rather hard, But easier than my rail. With bounding hearts we heard her through, Then through the gate did spring, And when aboard her cattle cars, We made the welkin ring. In highest glee we started off, No joys our tongues could tell; But instead of going to our lines, We went to “Island Belle.” Belle Island is a sandy plain, Without a tree or shade, Or cooling spring to quench the thirst, That heat and hunger made. Our rations here are very small, Some bread and stinking beef, Which only sharpens appetite, And gives but saint relief. When beef is scarce we sometimes get A soup of hugs and files; And if perchance there should be bears, They seldom show their eyes. This nasty, stinking, scorch fare, We often fail to get; And then with rage we’d gnash our teeth, Like madmen in a fit. Here many of the prisoners lie Upon the burning sand; Two weak by far to walk around, While many cannot stand. Starvation stares us in the face, His laws are open wide; Unless our friends send quick relief, We down his throat must glide. Our numbers here grow less and less, The strongest soon must fall, For old Grim death is on our track, And soon will on us call. Some six or eight die every day, This face none can deny; While many with their dying breath, For food and rations cry. It’s hard to die in distant lands, Without a kindred near, To wipe the death sweat from our face, Or drop one friendly tear. A lady came into our camp, To bring us small supplies; They dragged her to the old guard-house, For selling cakes and pies. They “gagged” and “bucked” a prisoner here Until he could not stand, The blood flowed freely from his mouth Upon the burning sand. The only crime he did commit, The only wrong he’d done— His Northern pride it would not stoop To [?] those southern guns. We are ragged set of men, This prison has no charms; But “Uncle Sam” will own his boys, And give them all a farm. I long to see my friends again, Of which I fondly dreampt; But I’d rather see my country free, And old Jeff. pulling hemp. Old Jeff. you’d better pack your kit, For Richmond soon must fall, For little Mac is stepping back To mount upon your wall. Your only hope, “the Old Stone Wall,” Must soon to ruin go; He’s run around your land so long, You thought all safe you know. And now your health is failing fast, And your blood is getting low; You’d better call your boys all home, Before you go below. The Stars and Stripes again must float, O’er Dixie’s sunny land: And Southern rebels must soon obey, Old Abram’s just demands. Now here’s a toast for Uncle Abe, May he live one thousand years; And for his firmness in this war, We’ll give three hearty cheers. Now here’s another for Jeff.— May the gallows claim its own: And when he dangles from the rope, We’ll give three doleful groans. Farewell old Richmond’s prison wall, Farewell old Salisbury too; And now farewell to Island Belle— Four weeks on you will do. And now you’ve heard my story through, That happy day has come, When I can bid Secesh farewell, And leave this Isle for—ANNAPOLIS.

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Historical Narratives and Artifacts

Eating and drinking My partner is so restless now that he can’t seem to sit and finish a meal. But he’s happy to take a sandwich and eat it as he goes. I used to get so upset when my sister ate with her fingers in company. I used to try to make her use her fork and for a while I didn’t invite anyone round. But then I thought about it and I decided that it really didn’t do anyone any harm. She wasn’t worried and my friends all said they didn’t mind – it was just me being embarrassed. So I decided not to worry about it any more. You may have found that mealtimes are becoming more and more difficult. Perhaps the person with dementia makes a mess eating and you need to help them handle knives and forks. This might irritate you or make you feel embarrassed in front of guests. You may find that they eat more often because they forget having eaten or that they forget to eat altogether. They might start to eat everything or just one thing. They might also be perturbed by the difficulties they are experiencing. They might feel embarrassed or frustrated at not being able to eat correctly and suffer from other problems such as constipation, forgetting to chew food and loss of or disturbance of their sense of taste. Eating and drinking can clearly be problematic for you both. However, there are a number of ways you can help the person to maintain a healthy diet and enjoy meals, whilst at the same time contributing to maintaining a certain level of independence. How to cope with eating and drinking Provide assistance, whilst encouraging independence So as not to make the person with dementia feel like a child or embarrassed, it is best to encourage them to do as much as possible themselves. For example, if they cannot handle a knife, instead of spoon-feeding, you could prepare bite-sized pieces of food or cut it up before serving it. By changing the way to eat or serve food, you can leave the person with the chance to remain independent longer. Sometimes, a simple reminder (e.g. to use a spoon instead of a fork) may be all that is needed. It might help to have your own meal at the same time. However, at some stage, you may find that spoon-feeding is necessary. If this occurs, you should be careful not to try when the person is drowsy, agitated or lying down, as otherwise they could choke. Certain medication can lead to problems swallowing as food becomes lodged in the person’s mouth. If they have difficulty swallowing, the following guidelines might be useful to bear in mind. Make sure that the person sits upright, keeps their chin down and takes small sips of drink. Avoid vessels which force the head back too much (specially designed cups and mugs exist). Alternate food and drink to help clear the mouth. Encourage the person to try to swallow each mouthful of food twice (e.g. to swallow a second time even if the mouth is empty). If they have not swallowed, it can be useful to present an empty spoon. Encourage frequent swallows to counteract dribbling. Avoid mixtures of liquid and solid food (e.g. certain soups or cornflakes), stringy textures (e.g. cabbage, runner beans); floppy textures (e.g. lettuce, cucumber) and small, hard textures (e.g. peanuts and sweet corn). Making mealtimes a pleasant experience As a result of these difficulties, the person with dementia may start to dislike mealtimes, seeing them as an ordeal rather than a pleasant experience. However, giving the person enough time to try to manage alone or a little assistance may help them to feel more relaxed. Background music might also help contribute to a relaxed atmosphere. They might not manage to eat without being slightly messy or untidy, but in this case, it is perhaps best not to draw attention to it, as it could make them less inclined to try. Finally, they might want to be more involved, e.g. help to prepare food or clear the table. Mealtimes provide an ideal opportunity to give the person with dementia the chance to remain active and feel useful. How to prevent problems with eating and drinking You may be able to prevent some problems from occurring, by taking certain precautions or slightly adapting the way you normally prepare food and serve it. - The routine : Give more time; serve plates of food instead of having self-service; remove condiments once used; have smaller meals more often if the person forgets having eaten; serve the main meal at midday to prevent night-time indigestion, etc. - The utensils and layout : Try to find out about specially designed utensils, non-breakable dishes, non-slip mats and drinking containers that cannot be knocked over; use mugs if possible for certain food as the ability to hold a mug tends to be retained longer than the ability to use a knife and fork; provide a sharp contrast between plates and the table and avoid strong patterns on table cloths as this can cause confusion. - The kind of food served : Prepare finger foods if the person has difficulty handling a knife and fork or is restless and cannot stay long at table; bite sized pieces avoid the need to use a knife; prepare food in a liquidiser rather than serving baby food if they cannot manage solid food so as to avoid embarrassment; avoid milk or citrus juice which tends to produce more mucus and can aggravate respiratory problems and drooling, if this is a problem. Ensure a sufficient amount of liquid per day It is important that you try to give the person with dementia enough to drink to avoid dehydration, constipation and more confusion. If possible, try to encourage them to drink 1½ litres (8 cups) of liquid per day. However, there are certain cases where even more attention needs to be taken, e.g. with people who have vomiting, diarrhoea or diabetes and people who are taking diuretics (water pills) or heart medication. On the more practical side, you will need to make sure that drinks are not too hot, as otherwise the person might scald themselves without realising. If they tend to become agitated, it is best to limit drinks which are stimulants (e.g. coffee, tea, hot chocolate, etc.). Possible alternatives include fruit and milk drinks, as well as decaffeinated drinks. Otherwise let them drink what they are used to. Consult a doctor in case of loss of appetite You should not worry too much if the person with dementia loses weight, as this can be a natural consequence of the disease. They might even be eating normally. However, it is nevertheless a good idea to contact your doctor just to check that there is not a physical cause and in case nutritional supplements should be given. Last Updated: jeudi 06 août 2009

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Healthy Eating and Obesity Strategies

By Isaac Sever, Cypress Semiconductor Stepper motors convert electrical energy into discrete mechanical rotation. They are ideally suited for many measurement and control applications where positional accuracy is important. Stepping motors have the following advantages: - Full torque when rotation is stopped. This is in contrast to brushed and brushless DC motors, which cannot provide full torque continuously when the rotor is stopped. This aids in maintaining the current position. - Precise open-loop positioning and repetition. Stepper motors move in discrete steps as long as the motor stays under the maximum torque and current limits. This allows the rotor position to be determined by the control sequence without additional tracking or feedback. High quality stepping motors have three to five percent precision within a single step. - Quick starts, stop, and reverse capability. - High reliability because there is no brush or physical contact required for commutation. The life span of a stepping motor is dependent on the performance of the bearings. - Microstepping mode can be used allowing direct connection to a load without intermediate gearing. - A wide speed range can be controlled by varying the drive signal timing. - Inherent resonance can cause noise, jerky rotation, and at extreme levels, loss of position. - It is possible to lose position control in some situations, because no feedback is natively provided. - Power consumption does not decrease to zero, even if load is absent. - Stepping motors have low-power density and lower maximum speed compared to brushed and brushless DC motors. Typical loaded maximum operating speeds for stepper motors are around 1000 RPM. - Complex electronic controls are required. Figure 1: Structure of motors. Types of stepping motors There are several basic types of stepping motors: - Variable reluctance motors with metal teeth. - Permanent magnet motors. - Hybrid motors with both permanent magnets and metal teeth. Variable reluctance stepping motors have three to five windings and a common terminal connection, creating several phases on the stator. The rotor is toothed and made of metal, but is not permanently magnetized. A simplified variable reluctance stepping motor is shown in Figure 2. In this figure, the rotor has four teeth and the stator has three independent windings (six phases), creating 30 degree steps. Figure 2: Simple variable reluctance stepping motor. The rotation of a variable reluctance stepping motor is produced by energizing individual windings. When a winding is energized, current flows and magnetic poles are created, which attracts the metal teeth of the rotor. The rotor moves one step to align the offset teeth to the energized winding. At this position, the next adjacent windings can be energized to continue rotation to another step, or the current winding can remain energized to hold the motor at its current position. When the phases are turned on sequentially, the rotor rotates continuously. The described rotation is identical to a typical BLDC motor. The fundamental difference between a stepper and BLDC motor is that the stepper is designed to operate continuously stalled without overheating or damage. Rotation for a variable reluctance stepping motor with three windings and four rotor teeth is illustrated in Figure 3. 1, 2, 3, 1 → 3 steps → quarter turn 12 steps per rotation As shown in Figure 3, energizing each of the windings in sequence moves the rotor a quarter turn, 12 steps are required for a full rotation. Table 1: Variable reluctance stepper motor in Figure 3. The three steps shown in Figure 3 move the rotor a quarter turn. A full rotation requires 12 steps for a variable reluctance stepper motor. Typical variable reluctance motors have more teeth and use a tooth pole along with a toothed rotor to produce step angles near one degree. Figure 3: Rotation control of variable reluctance stepping motor. Permanent magnet stepping motor A permanent magnet stepping motor consists of a stator with windings and a rotor with permanent magnet poles. Alternate rotor poles have rectilinear forms parallel to the motor axis. Stepping motors with magnetized rotors provide greater flux and torque than motors with variable reluctance. The motor, shown in Figure 4, has three rotor pole pairs and two independent stator windings, creating 30 degree steps. Motors with permanent magnets are subjected to influence from the back-EMF of the rotor, which limits the maximum speed. Therefore, when high speeds are required, motors with variable reluctance are preferred over motors with permanent magnets. Figure 4: Permanent magnet stepping motor. Rotation of a permanent magnet stepping motor is produced by energizing individual windings in a positive or negative direction. When a winding is energized, a north and south pole are created, depending on the polarity of the current flowing. These generated poles attract the permanent poles of the rotor. The rotor moves one step to align the offset permanent poles to the corresponding energized windings. At this position, the next adjacent windings can be energized to continue rotation to another step, or the current winding can remain energized to hold the motor at its current position. When the phases are turned on sequentially the rotor is continuously rotated. Rotation for a permanent magnet stepping motor with two windings and three pairs of permanent rotor poles (six poles) is shown in Figure 5. Winding in sequence: 1 +/-, 2 +/-, 1 -/+, 2 -/+ → 3 steps → quarter turn 12 steps per rotation Table 2: Permanent magnet stepping motor in Figure 5. With one winding energized, the three steps move the rotor a quarter turn. A full rotation requires 12 steps for a permanent magnet stepper motor (bipolar) with both windings energized in each step. As shown in Figure 5, energizing each winding in sequence through each polarity moves the rotor a quarter turn. As before, 12 steps are required for a full rotation. Figure 5: Rotation control of permanent magnet stepping motor, sequencing individual windings. Another alternative to rotate a permanent magnet rotor is to energize both windings in each step. The vector torque generated by each of the coils is additive; this doubles the current flowing in the motor, and increases the torque. More complex control is also required to sequence the turning on and off of both windings. As shown in Figure 6, energizing two windings in each step, sequencing through each combination of polarities moves the rotor a quarter turn. As before, 12 steps are required for a full rotation. Table 3: Permanent magnet stepping motor in Figure 6. Figure 6: Rotation control of permanent magnet stepping motor using both windings together. Typical permanent magnet motors have more poles to create smaller steps. To make significantly smaller steps down to one degree, permanent magnet rotors can add metal teeth and toothed windings. This hybrid motor is described in the next section. Hybrid stepping motor Hybrid stepping motors combine a permanent magnet and a rotor with metal teeth to provide features of the variable reluctance and permanent magnet motors. Hybrid motors are more expensive than motors with permanent magnets, but they use smaller steps, have greater torque, and have greater maximum speeds. A hybrid motor rotor has teeth placed on the directional axes. The rotor is divided into parts between constant magnet poles. The number of rotor pole pairs is equal to the number of teeth on one of the rotor’s parts. The hybrid motor stator has teeth creating more poles than just the main poles containing windings. The rotor teeth provide a smaller magnetic circuit resistance in some rotor positions, which improves static and dynamic torque. This is provided by corresponding teeth positioning; some parts of the rotor teeth are placed opposite the stator teeth and the remaining rotor teeth are placed between the stator teeth. Dependence between the number of rotor poles, the stator equivalent poles, and the phase number define step angle: Figure 7: Hybrid stepping motor. Rotation of a hybrid stepping motor is produced with the same control method as a permanent magnet stepping motor, by energizing individual windings in a positive or negative direction. When a winding is energized, a north and south pole are created, depending on the polarity of the current flowing. These generated poles attract the permanent poles of the rotor and the finer metal rotor teeth. The rotor moves one step to align the offset magnetized rotor teeth to the corresponding energized windings. Stepping motor control A step motor is a synchronous electric motor. Its fixed rotor equilibrium position occurs when aligned with the stator magnetic field. When the stator changes position, the rotor rotates to occupy a new equilibrium position. There are several stepper motor drive modes: - Full-step mode. - Double-step mode. - Half-step mode. - Microstep Mode. Stepping motors can be controlled in a variety of ways, trading off implementation requirements with greater accuracy and smoother transitions. Rotation control with full-steps, half-steps, and microsteps is described as follows: Full-step mode for a permanent magnet and hybrid stepping motor is detailed in the Stepper Motor Introduction. Figure 5 illustrates one-phase full-step mode in which only one winding is turned on at a time. In this mode, the rotor’s balanced position for each step is in line with the stator poles. With only half of the motor coils used at a given time, the full torque obtained is limited. Two-phase, full-step mode shown in Figure 6 uses both windings energized in each step. This doubles the current through the motor and provides 40 percent more torque than when only one phase is used at a time. With two windings energized, the rotor’s balanced position for each step is halfway between the two energized stator poles. The full-step and double-step drive modes can be combined to generate half-steps of rotation for half-step mode. First one winding is turned on, and then the second winding is energized, moving the rotor half a step towards the second, as shown in Figure 8. A half-step with the combination of one and two windings energized in full-step mode produces higher resolution, but does not provide constant torque throughout rotation. Figure 8: Three half steps, 1/8 of a rotation. Microstepping mode is an extension of the half-step drive mode. Instead of switching the current in a winding from on to off, the current is scaled up and down in smaller steps. When two phases are turned on and the current of each phase is not equal, the rotor position is determined by the current phase ratio. This changing current ratio creates discrete steps in the torque exerted on the rotor and results in smaller fractional steps of rotation between each full-step. Microstep mode reduces torque ripple and low-speed resonance present in the other modes and is required in many situations. Microstepping creates rotation of the rotor by scaling the contributions of the two additive torque vectors from the two stepper motor windings. Figure 9: Torque in microstepping control mode. The total torque exerted on the rotor is the vector addition of the torque from the two rotors. Each of the torques is proportional to the position of the rotor and the sine/cosine of the step angle. These equations can be combined and solved for the position of the rotor. Fractional steps are created by scaling torque contributions between windings. Because torque is proportional to magnetic flux that is proportional to the current in the winding, the position of the rotor can be controlled by controlling the current flowing in each winding. To create smooth microsteps between full-steps, the current is varied sinusoidally with a 90 degree phase shift between the two windings as shown in Figure 10. The current is scaled by controlling the root mean square (RMS) current using a current mode buck converter, commonly called a chopper drive when used with stepper motors. The phase current is converted into a voltage using a sense resistor in each phase ground path. This voltage is routed to a comparator that disables the output whenever the phase current rises above a reference. The comparator reference is provided by a voltage digital-to-analog converter (VDAC). By changing the VDAC supplied current limit for each microstep, the total motor torque remains approximately constant for each step of the sinusoidal current waveform. Figure 10: VDAC current limit for microstep mode. Microstepping allows the rotor position to be controlled with more accuracy and also has advantages in the rotation. Advantages of microstepping are: - Position is controlled with more accuracy. - Rotation can be stopped at specific fraction of a step. - Transitions are smoother. - Damp resonance creates fewer oscillations as motor steps (especially at startup and slowdown). Figure 11: Smooth transitions between steps and limited oscillations and settling in microstep mode. PSoC 3 introduction The CY8C3866AXI device is in the PSoC 3 architecture. A block diagram of the device is shown in Figure 12 with the blocks used in the stepper application highlighted. Figure 12: PSoC 3 (CY8C3866AXI) block diagram. The PSoC 3 digital subsystem provides unique configurability of functions and interconnects. The stepper motor control uses these digital resources to implement timers, pulse width modulator (PWM) blocks, control registers, and a hardware lookup table (LUT). The PSoC 3 analog subsystem provides the device the second half of its unique configurability. The stepper motor uses dedicated comparators, voltage DACs, and programmable gain amplifiers (PGA). Stepper motor control based on PSoC 3 The block diagram of the stepper motor control based on the CY8C3866AXI is shown in Figure 13. The PSoC Creator™ schematic is shown in Figure 14. Figure 13: Block diagram of PSoC 3 stepper motor controller. Input control signals to the PSoC 3 device are: - Motor Current Sensing: Analog input pins to detect motor phase current on shunt resistor. Used to limit current of the motor phases. See details in the following section. - User Interface Pins - User Input: Analog pin to read potentiometer for parameter input. Two digital pins for Menu control buttons. - Character LCD: Digital output port (seven pins) to drive the character LCD on the DVK for menu options and user feedback. - PWM signals to the high-side drivers (four digital output pins). - PWM signals to the low-side drivers (four digital output pins). Figure 14: PSoC Creator schematic for stepper motor control. The PWMs are not used to produce the typical pulse width modulation output used with other motors. Instead, the PWMs act more as a timer to ensure a maximum chopping frequency to avoid overheating the drivers. Additionally, the PWM ‘kill circuit’ natively includes the cycle kill mode that implements the chopper drive method by disabling the drive outputs for the remainder of the current PWM cycle after the comparator trips. The PWM signals are routed to a look up table (LUT) logic block, along with the current stepping stage index. This logic block implements a LUT using the PLD capabilities of a universal digital block (UDB) and routes the PWM signals to the eight legal output control combinations based on the current polarity of each phase. These control signals are routed through GPIOs to the external power driver circuits that drive the stepper motor. In the demonstrated chopper drive topology, transistors or MOSFETs are typically used to switch the high voltages and currents used to drive the stepper motors. The sequencing of the PWM control signals on the external power drivers produces the step by step rotation of the motor. A timer generates periodic interrupts that generate each step (or microstep) of the motor. This timer can be used to run the motor at a specific speed, or to a specific position (exact number of steps). To set the speed of the motor, the interrupt period of the timer is updated by firmware. PSoC 3 also implements current limiting for motor overcurrent protection and microstepping in hardware. This is described in the following section. Microstepping and current protection implementation Microstepping limits the current flowing in the motor windings to create smooth and well-controlled transitions between full-steps. This functionality also builds protection in hardware for overcurrent that shields the motor from damage. The block diagram of the system with the current feedback sensing paths is shown in Figure 15. Figure 15: Overcurrent protection block diagram for microstepping. Motor current is measured with two shunt resistors in the ground paths of the power driver MOSFETS (R1 and R2 in Figure 15). This voltage is low-pass filtered on the board and connected to two analog pins on PSoC 3 (labeled Curr_A and Curr_B). The input voltages are fed into programmable gain amplifiers (PGA) implemented with the analog continuous time (CT) blocks. The PGA buffers the input voltage and drives it to a continuous time comparator. This voltage level from the sense resistor is compared to the current limit, set by an 8-bit voltage DAC. For microstepping the DACs’ output, sine and cosine waveforms are generated from a software lookup table. This limits the motor current sinusoidally for smooth microstepping. The output of the comparator is connected to the PWM block and kills the PWM output when the current limit threshold is exceeded. This provides cycle-by-cycle current limiting to the motor and creates smooth microstepping transitions. The implementation of the current limiting protection in PSoC Creator is shown in Figure 16. Figure 16: PSoC Creator schematic implementation of current limiting block for microstepping. The PSoC 3 resources used in current limiting are: - Two continuous time (CT) blocks implement the PGAs. - Two fixed analog comparators are dedicated analog resources and do not use any SC/CT blocks. - Two 8-bit PWMs implemented in UDBs (the same PWMs used to control the power device drivers). The output of the comparator triggers the kill input to the PWM when a current limiting condition is detected. - Two 8-bit VDACs. These built in 8-bit voltage DACs are used to set the threshold for the comparator current limit. Shown in Figure 17 are the settings for each DAC and rotation index, and the microstep pointer (ramping 1-128). Figure 17: Current limit versus time step for 128 step microstepping. The currents flowing in the two windings are measured with small sense resistors between the power devices and ground. The value of the current detection shunt resistor is a trade-off between power efficiency and robustness of the detection blocks. For a given current limit, enough change in voltage must be generated by the motor current to accurately detect the change with the comparator, but increasing the resistor increases heat and reduces efficiency. The current limiting protection mechanism implemented in PSoC 3 hardware is an on-chip low-cost solution. The output PWM drivers are controlled by a hardware lookup table. The table takes inputs from the two PWM blocks and a control register that holds the rotation index (as shown in Figure 18). In Table 4, the PWM control hardware LUT receives the stage index and PWM signals as inputs and outputs the eight PWM driver signals. Table 4: PWM control hardware LUT. Figure 18: PSoC Creator schematic LUT implementation of PWM output control. When operating with microstep drive mode, the PWM outputs for PWM_A and PWM_B cycle through 01, 10, and 11. When the stepper motor operates under full-step mode, both PWMs are on (11). In this case, the LUT simplifies to the following table the rotation sequence described in the full-step descriptions earlier. In Table 5, the simplified MPhase output control hardware LUT receives the stage index and PWM signals as inputs and outputs the eight PWM driver signals. Table 5: MPhase output control hardware LUT. The stepper motor can be run at a fixed speed or to a desired position. To run at a fixed speed, the timer period that triggers each step (or microstep) is adjusted. The 16-bit timer terminal count triggers an interrupt that is used to initiate each step. Input frequency of the timer is 100 kHz to ensure precision speed control. PSoC 3 is also able to receive step pulse commands from an external controller such as a PLC. In Figure 19, the timer terminal count triggers an interrupt that initiates each step. Figure 19: PSoC Creator schematic implementation of speed control timer. To run in position control mode, the stepper motor turns a specific number of steps and then stops. (Position control mode is not supported with the user interface in the stepper motor demo). An internal counter is used to count the desired steps. When the desired position is reached, the step control from the timer interrupt is masked until the user requests another action. When the motor stops, phase current is lowered automatically to save power and reduce heating. The ability to control the position in an open loop configuration by counting steps (or microsteps) is dependent on the stepper motor operating within the torque and motor load limits. If the torque/load limits are exceeded, the motor can miss steps and the absolute rotational position information is lost. There is one main loop and one interrupt service routine (ISR) for control of the motor, the timer ISR. The timer ISR generates an interrupt that triggers the step control function (see Figure 19). Each time the step function is called, the motor takes one step (or microstep). The step function looks up the sinusoidal values from a table and sets the DAC output voltage to control the phase currents. A flow chart of the firmware operation is shown in Figure 20. Other ISRs for the UART and ADC are also used for the demo project UI and GUI interfaces. Figure 20: Stepper motor control firmware flow chart. PSoC resource utilization The stepper motor uses resources from the digital and analog portions of the PSoC 3 device. The highest use of resources stem from the VDACs and comparators. Two VDACs and two comparators are used for the stepper motor microstepping control. This constraint limits the CY8C3866AXI-040 device to a maximum of two stepper motor controllers. Table 6: Stepper motor demo CY8C3866AXI-040 resource utilization (blocks with none used are not shown). Table 7: Stepper motor demo on CY8C3866AXI-040 memory utilization (Keil™ Complier, Level-5 optimization) Cypress’ stepper motor control with PSoC 3 incorporates current limiting and microstepping control for an optimized solution. Up to 128 microsteps is suitable for precision position control. The PSoC 3 stepper motor control solution has low total system cost and leaves significant PSoC 3 resources available for additional system functions. - Cypress Application Note AN2229, “Motor Control - Multi-Functional Stepping Motor Driver” by Victor Kremin and Ruslan Bachinsky. Discover the benefits of becoming a My Digi-Key registered user. • Enjoy faster, easier ordering with your information preloaded. • View your order status, web order history • Use our BOM Manager tool • Import a text file into a RoHS query

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Technological Processes and Materials

Pacific ecosystem: An ochre sea star makes a kelp forest home in Monterey Bay, California. Image courtesy of Kip F. Evans Ocean Literacy - Essential Principle 5 The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems. Fundamental Concept 5a. Ocean life ranges in size from the smallest virus to the largest animal that has lived on Earth, the blue whale. Fundamental Concept 5b. Most life in the ocean exists as microbes. Microbes are the most important primary producers in the ocean. Not only are they the most abundant life form in the ocean, they have extremely fast growth rates and life cycles. Fundamental Concept 5c. Some major groups are found exclusively in the ocean. The diversity of major groups of organisms is much greater in the ocean than on land. Fundamental Concept 5d. Ocean biology provides many unique examples of life cycles, adaptations and important relationships among organisms (symbiosis, predator-prey dynamics and energy transfer) that do not occur on land. Fundamental Concept 5e. The ocean is three-dimensional, offering vast living space and diverse habitats from the surface through the water column to the seafloor. Most of the living space on Earth is in the ocean. Fundamental Concept 5f. Ocean habitats are defined by environmental factors. Due to interactions of abiotic factors such as salinity, temperature, oxygen, pH, light, nutrients, pressure, substrate and circulation, ocean life is not evenly distributed temporally or spatially, i.e., it is “patchy”. Some regions of the ocean support more diverse and abundant life than anywhere on Earth, while much of the ocean is considered a desert. Fundamental Concept 5g. There are deep ocean ecosystems that are independent of energy from sunlight and photosynthetic organisms. Hydrothermal vents, submarine hot springs, methane cold seeps, and whale falls rely only on chemical energy and chemosynthetic organisms to support life. Fundamental Concept 5h. Tides, waves and predation cause vertical zonation patterns along the shore, influencing the distribution and diversity of organisms. Fundamental Concept 5i. Estuaries provide important and productive nursery areas for many marine and aquatic species. Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store! The Winter 2009 issue of The Earth Scientist , focuses on Earth System science, including articles on student inquiry, differentiated instruction, geomorphic concepts, the rock cycle, and much more! You might also be interested in: About 70% of the Earth is covered with water, and we find 97% of that water in the oceans. Everyone who has taken in a mouthful of ocean water while swimming knows that the ocean is really salty. All water...more Oxygen is a chemical element with an atomic number of 8 (it has eight protons in its nucleus). Oxygen forms a chemical compound (O2) of two atoms which is a colorless gas at normal temperatures and pressures....more The deep ocean is very cold, under high pressure, and always dark because sunlight can not penetrate that far. The only light comes from bioluminescence – a chemical reaction inside the bodies of some...more Photosynthesis is the name of the process by which autotrophs (self-feeders) convert water, carbon dioxide, and solar energy into sugars and oxygen. It is a complex chemical process by which plants and...more Methane is gas that is found in small quantities in Earth's atmosphere. Methane is the simplest hydrocarbon, consisting of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas....more The intertidal zone is the area along a coastline that is underwater at high tide and above the water at low tide. Whether it’s a rocky coast, a sandy beach, or a salt marsh, life in the intertidal zone...more The ocean makes Earth habitable. Fundamental Concept 4a. Most of the oxygen in the atmosphere originally came from the activities of photosynthetic organisms in the ocean. Fundamental Concept 4b. The first...more

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Marine Life Studies

Rurik DynastyArticle Free Pass Rurik Dynasty, princes of Kievan Rus and, later, Muscovy who, according to tradition, were descendants of the Varangian prince Rurik, who had been invited by the people of Novgorod to rule that city (c. 862); the Rurik princes maintained their control over Kievan Rus and, later, Muscovy until 1598. Rurik’s successor Oleg (d. 912) conquered Kiev (c. 882) and established control of the trade route extending from Novgorod, along the Dnieper River, to the Black Sea. Igor (allegedly Rurik’s son; reigned 912–945) and his successors—his wife, St. Olga (regent 945–969), and their son Svyatoslav (reigned 945–972)—further extended their territories; Svyatoslav’s son Vladimir I (St. Vladimir; reigned c. 980–1015) consolidated the dynasty’s rule. Vladimir compiled the first Kievan Rus law code and introduced Christianity into the country. He also organized the Kievan Rus lands into a cohesive confederation by distributing the major cities among his sons; the eldest was to be grand prince of Kiev, and the brothers were to succeed each other, moving up the hierarchy of cities toward Kiev, filling vacancies left by the advancement or death of an elder brother. The youngest brother was to be succeeded as grand prince by his eldest nephew whose father had been a grand prince. This succession pattern was generally followed through the reigns of Svyatopolk (1015–19); Yaroslav the Wise (1019–54); his sons Izyaslav (1054–68; 1069–73; and 1077–78), Svyatoslav (1073–76), and Vsevolod (1078–93); and Svyatopolk II (son of Izyaslav; reigned 1093–1113). The successions were accomplished, however, amid continual civil wars. In addition to the princes’ unwillingness to adhere to the pattern and readiness to seize their positions by force instead, the system was upset whenever a city rejected the prince designated to rule it. It was also undermined by the tendency of the princes to settle in regions they ruled rather than move from city to city to become the prince of Kiev. In 1097 all the princes of Kievan Rus met at Lyubech (northwest of Chernigov) and decided to divide their lands into patrimonial estates. The succession for grand prince, however, continued to be based on the generation pattern; thus, Vladimir Monomakh succeeded his cousin Svyatopolk II as grand prince of Kiev. During his reign (1113–25) Vladimir tried to restore unity to the lands of Kievan Rus; and his sons (Mstislav, reigned 1125–32; Yaropolk, 1132–39; Vyacheslav, 1139; and Yury Dolgoruky, 1149–57) succeeded him eventually, though not without some troubles in the 1140s. Nevertheless, distinct branches of the dynasty established their own rule in the major centres of the country outside Kiev—Halicz, Novgorod, and Suzdal. The princes of these regions vied with each other for control of Kiev; but when Andrew Bogolyubsky of Suzdal finally conquered and sacked the city (1169), he returned to Vladimir (a city in the Suzdal principality) and transferred the seat of the grand prince to Vladimir. Andrew Bogolyubsky’s brother Vsevolod III succeeded him as grand prince of Vladimir (reigned 1176–1212); Vsevolod was followed by his sons Yury (1212–38), Yaroslav (1238–46), and Svyatoslav (1246–47) and his grandson Andrew (1247–52). Alexander Nevsky (1252–63) succeeded his brother Andrew; and Alexander’s brothers and sons succeeded him. Furthering the tendency toward fragmentation, however, none moved to Vladimir but remained in their regional seats and secured their local princely houses. Thus, Alexander’s brother Yaroslav (grand prince of Vladimir, 1264–71) founded the house of Tver, and Alexander’s son Daniel founded the house of Moscow. After the Mongol invasion (1240) the Russian princes were obliged to seek a patent from the Mongol khan in order to rule as grand prince. Rivalry for the patent, as well as for leadership in the grand principality of Vladimir, developed among the princely houses, particularly those of Tver and Moscow. Gradually, the princes of Moscow became dominant, forming the grand principality of Moscow (Muscovy), which they ruled until their male line died out in 1598. What made you want to look up "Rurik Dynasty"? Please share what surprised you most...

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European History Narratives

There are really two decisions that must be made regarding the hidden layers: how many hidden layers to actually have in the neural network and how many neurons will be in each of these layers. We will first examine how to determine the number of hidden layers to use with the neural network. Problems that require two hidden layers are rarely encountered. However, neural networks with two hidden layers can represent functions with any kind of shape. There is currently no theoretical reason to use neural networks with any more than two hidden layers. In fact, for many practical problems, there is no reason to use any more than one hidden layer. Table 5.1 summarizes the capabilities of neural network architectures with various hidden layers. Table 5.1: Determining the Number of Hidden Layers |Number of Hidden Layers||Result| |none||Only capable of representing linear separable functions or decisions.| |1||Can approximate any function that contains a continuous mapping from one finite space to another.| |2||Can represent an arbitrary decision boundary to arbitrary accuracy with rational activation functions and can approximate any smooth mapping to any accuracy.| Deciding the number of hidden neuron layers is only a small part of the problem. You must also determine how many neurons will be in each of these hidden layers. This process is covered in the next section. Deciding the number of neurons in the hidden layers is a very important part of deciding your overall neural network architecture. Though these layers do not directly interact with the external environment, they have a tremendous influence on the final output. Both the number of hidden layers and the number of neurons in each of these hidden layers must be carefully considered. Using too few neurons in the hidden layers will result in something called underfitting. Underfitting occurs when there are too few neurons in the hidden layers to adequately detect the signals in a complicated data set. Using too many neurons in the hidden layers can result in several problems. First, too many neurons in the hidden layers may result in overfitting. Overfitting occurs when the neural network has so much information processing capacity that the limited amount of information contained in the training set is not enough to train all of the neurons in the hidden layers. A second problem can occur even when the training data is sufficient. An inordinately large number of neurons in the hidden layers can increase the time it takes to train the network. The amount of training time can increase to the point that it is impossible to adequately train the neural network. Obviously, some compromise must be reached between too many and too few neurons in the hidden layers. There are many rule-of-thumb methods for determining the correct number of neurons to use in the hidden layers, such as the following: These three rules provide a starting point for you to consider. Ultimately, the selection of an architecture for your neural network will come down to trial and error. But what exactly is meant by trial and error? You do not want to start throwing random numbers of layers and neurons at your network. To do so would be very time consuming. Chapter 8, “Pruning a Neural Network” will explore various ways to determine an optimal structure for a neural network.

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Technology and AI Trends

Friday Flyby May Trigger 'Asteroid-Quake' on Space Rock The close flyby of Earth by asteroid 2012 DA14 on Friday (Feb. 15) could trigger a quake on the space rock, scientists say. "We are going to be looking closely for evidence of seismic activity on 2014 DA14 as it passes by," Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary science at MIT, said in a statement. "This is the first case of an object coming close enough to experience quakes and where we have enough notice to plan observations." During the unprecedented close approach, 2012 DA14, which is about half the size of a football field, will cruise within 17,200 miles (27,700 kilometers) of the planet. It poses no threat to Earth, but the flyby marks the first time scientists like Binzel have had the chance to observe such a big space rock this close-up. Binzel believes many near-Earth asteroids get shaken up when they fly too closely to our planet's gravitational field, which could help explain why some space rocks seem to shed a worn-looking outer coating caused by "space weathering." [Asteroid 2012 DA14's Flyby: Complete Coverage] "As asteroids move through space, they slowly turn dark red," Binzel said. "This phenomenon, called space weathering, is caused by long exposure to cosmic rays and solar radiation. For decades, however, we have known about a handful of small asteroids that looked [light and fresh]; they were not space-weathered." Binzel and his colleagues calculated the orbits of those squeaky-clean asteroids and found out what they all had in common: close encounters with Earth in the past million years. "Gravitational forces during the flybys can stretch, rattle and torque these asteroids, causing dark, space-weathered material on the surface to be overturned, revealing the fresh stuff underneath," Binzel said. Compared to quakes on Earth, asteroid-quakes would look quite minor. Binzel said an astronaut floating next to an asteroid during a tremor might notice its surface sway by a few centimeters or spot "gentle avalanches" on the space rock's steepest crater slopes. "These asteroids experience [seismic activity] in the milli- to micro-g range," he said. "That might not sound like much, but remember these are small bodies. Gravity is not very strong, so just a little shaking or stretching goes a long way." Binzel and his colleagues will be looking for changes in the color, spin, shape and reflectivity of asteroid 2012 DA14 as it passes by. SPACE.com is providing complete coverage of asteroid 2012 DA14's flyby. Visit SPACE.com on Friday for day-long coverage as the asteroid buzzes Earth. ABOUT THE AUTHOR MORE FROM SPACE.com

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Space Exploration and Astronomy

The World Heritage Committee, 1. Having examined Documents WHC-08/32.COM/8B and WHC-08/32.COM/INF.8B1, 2. Inscribes the Al-Hijr Archaeological Site (Madâin Sâlih), Saudi Arabia,on the World Heritage List on the basis of criteria (ii) and (iii); 3. Adopts the following Statement of Outstanding Universal Value: The archaeological site of Al-Hijr is a major site of the Nabataean civilisation, in the south of its zone of influence. Its integrity is remarkable and it is well conserved. It includes a major ensemble of tombs and monuments, whose architecture and decorations are directly cut into the sandstone. It bears witness to the encounter between a variety of decorative and architectural influences (Assyrian, Egyptian, Phoenician, Hellenistic), and the epigraphic presence of several ancient languages (Lihyanite, Talmudic, Nabataean, Greek, Latin). It bears witness to the development of Nabataean agricultural techniques using a large number of artificial wells in rocky ground. The wells are still in use. The ancient city of Hegra/Al-Hijr bears witness to the international caravan trade during late Antiquity. Criterion (ii): The site of Al-Hijr is located at a meeting point between various civilisations of late Antiquity, on a trade route between the Arabian Peninsula, the Mediterranean world and Asia. It bears outstanding witness to important cultural exchanges in architecture, decoration, language use and the caravan trade. Although the Nabataean city was abandoned during the pre-Islamic period, the route continued to play its international role for caravans and then for the pilgrimage to Mecca, up to its modernisation by the construction of the railway at the start of the 20th century. Criterion (iii): The site of Al-Hijr bears unique testimony to the Nabataean civilisation, between the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC and the pre-Islamic period, and particularly in the 1st century AD. It is an outstanding illustration of the architectural style specific to the Nabataeans, consisting of monuments directly cut into the rock, and with facades bearing a large number of decorative motifs. The site includes a set of wells, most of which were sunk into the rock, demonstrating the Nabataeans' mastery of hydraulic techniques for agricultural purposes. The testimony borne by Al-Hijr to the Nabataean civilisation is of outstanding integrity and authenticity, because of its early abandonment and the benefit over a very long period of highly favourable climatic conditions. The State Party has begun to set up an extremely comprehensive Local Management Unit, and this process is now under way. The announced management plan should enable satisfactory protection of the property. With this in mind, the plan should organise systematic monitoring of the conservation of the site, and prepare a project for the presentation of the Outstanding Universal Value of the property for the benefit both of visitors and of the population of the region. 4. Requests the State Party to: - a) implement the established management plan; - b) in the framework of the management plan and the Local Management Unit, conduct regular monitoring; 5. Recommends that: - a) the new framework law on the Kingdom's Antiquities and Museums be promulgated; - b) care be taken to ensure that the development of reception facilities at the property and future developments in the wider surroundings of the property do not impact on the expression of the property's Outstanding Universal Value.

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Middle East History & Politics

: Grade-2 English Games Sight Words is a simple vocabulary and memory exercise for kids. It is designed to introduce kids to some common dolch sight words. Early readers recognize sight words from having memorized them. In this exercise, kids will learn to recognize and recall dolch sight words by flipping the cards and making a pair of the matching words. Kids will enjoy as they sharpen their memory skills and build their vocabulary. This will help kids in improving their reading skills also.

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Literacy and Reading Activities

Last week a curious, free release popped up on Steam: Moonbase Alpha, a NASA-funded game where up to six players can team up in order to save a near-future Lunar base crippled by a meteor strike. The game is just the first release from NASA's Learning Technologies program, which aims to help raise interest in the space program through gaming. Ars spoke with Daniel Laughlin, project manager of Learning Technologies, to learn more about the game and what we can expect to see in the future. The game was codeveloped by Army Game Studio and Virtual Heroes, two of the leading developers of "serious games." And according to Laughlin, NASA's decision to move into the game space was influenced a great deal by the success of the studios' previous releases. "The project was inspired in part by America's Army," Laughlin told Ars. "It started as an effort to prove we could create a commercial quality game using NASA content that is fun. NASA was looking for a project at the same time the Army Game Studio was looking to branch out from America’s Army. It helped that Army Game Studio and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center are co-located at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. Virtual Heroes has a history for with America’s Army so we were excited to see them selected to support the Army Game Studio on the game." Though development of the game didn't start until last year, Laughlin actually began researching the prospect of using games as an educational tool back in 2004. The main impetus for the project was the decline in interest in STEM education—science, technology, engineering and mathematics—amongst the American population. "The US is facing a crisis in technical fields," explained Laughlin. "There are not enough students studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics to fill our national needs in those areas. NASA literally cannot function without STEM graduates. The big goals for NASA Education are to get more students into STEM fields of study and graduating into STEM careers. It’s also the president’s goal with the Educate to Innovate initiative. Moonbase Alpha was developed in support of those goals." In addition to funding the game, NASA also had a hand in ensuring that it was as accurate as possible, going so far as to have several engineers and scientists review the game for accuracy. Meanwhile, all of the models for the structures, vehicles and space suits were based on NASA’s lunar architecture plans. The game itself only takes around 20 minutes to play, and despite its sophisticated 3D visuals—the game utilizes Unreal Engine 3—Moonbase Alpha is really just a proof of concept. NASA has another, much more ambitious project in the works: an MMO tentatively titled Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond. And, according to Laughlin, the success of Moonbase Alpha could have a big affect on the development of the MMO. "Summaries of the player feedback from Moonbase Alpha will be going to the design team for Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond," he told Ars. "Even more importantly, Moonbase Alpha has the potential to make or break the MMO project. A big negative reaction would mean revisiting the rationale for the MMO and reconsidering the project. A big positive reaction will give momentum and support to Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond." Moonbase Alpha is currently available as a free download on Steam.

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Space Exploration and Astronomy

NICAEA, ARABIC CANONS OF, name applied to several series of canons that are missing in the Greek or Latin canonical collections. They appear to have been reworked from the Syriac, at least in part. In the latter language the texts attributed to the Council of NICAEA in 325 are said to have come from the pen of the bishop Maruta of Maipherkat (in Arabic Mayyafaraqin, today a town in Turkey). At all events, who the translator, or rather the adapter, was is not known, nor at what date the canons were adopted by the Copts. It will be noted—this is not a proof that they were previously unknown—that in his Nomocanon the twelfth-century patriarch GABRIEL II IBN TURAYK knew only the twenty canons counted in the Greek collections, while MIKHA’IL, bishop of Damietta, cited two series of canons of Nicaea, one of twenty canons and one of eighty-four. Given that the grouping of these texts diverges greatly in the manuscripts, it has seemed better to follow the exposition given by Abu al-Barakat IBN KABAR in his religious encyclopedia Misbah al-Zulmah. This passage was translated into French in J. M. Vansleb's Histoire de l'église d'Alexandrie (1677, pp. 265ff.). Ibn Kabar divides the documents attributed to the Council of Nicaea into three books. In the first book (according to him, it is the second in the Greek collections) he groups a history of CONSTANTINE I and his mother, Helena, as well as a presentation of his incentives for the convocation of the council, which forms a kind of introduction. The collection of Macarius, a monk of Dayr Abu Maqar in the fourteenth century, adds at this point a list of heresies and sects and a list of the 318 bishops who participated. Then comes the series of twenty authentic canons, according to the Melchite recension, followed by the Coptic series of thirty (sometimes thirty-three) canons concerning anchorites, monks, and the clergy. W. Riedel (1968, pp. 38, 1791) asked if this was not a reworking of the Syntagma ad monachos attributed to Saint Athanasius. As to the second book, Ibn Kabar tells us, "The Melchites and the Nestorians have translated [the second book] and the Jacobites have adopted it." It is a series of eighty-four (sometimes eighty) canons. This division would perhaps indicate that the original text was continuous. The third book contains the "Books of the Kings," which are themselves divided into four books and also exist independently. This is a collection of the legislation enacted by the Byzantine emperors Constantine, Theodosius, and Leo. Here these canons are attributed to the Council of Nicaea. It appears that the Christians of the Orient adopted these texts in defiance of the Muslims, who referred to the Shari‘ah, or Muslim sacred law, for guidance in purely civil matters such as marriages, inheritances, and the like. These texts provide numerous translations. The first book gives a history of the emperor Constantine and his mother and relates the story of the council, as well as the reasons for the convocation of the bishops. It includes the twenty authentic canons followed by the thirty canons called Arabic and gives the history, or prehistory, of the Council of Nicaea in a rather free Latin translation by Abraham Ecchellensis (Ibrahim al-Haqilani), a celebrated Maronite deacon. The "Thirty Canons Relative to the Monks and Clergy" are given in Latin by the same author in a paraphrase rather than a true translation. The list of heresies is given in German translation by A. Harnack (1899, pp. 14-71). The list of the bishops according to the Coptic texts is examined by, among others, F. Haase (1920, pp. 81-92). As for the eighty-four canons, they will be found in a paraphrase by Abraham Ecchellensis in J. D. Mansi (cols. 1029-1049). The enormous mass of the documents relating, rightly or wrongly, to the first council, which played a considerable role in the East more than anywhere else, is organized in the collection of Macarius into four books. The difference between his division and that of Ibn Kabar is that Macarius' second book comprises not all the eighty-four canons but only the first thirty-two. Canons forty-eight to seventy-three, combined with the thirty concerning anchorites, monks, and clergy, form the third book, the fourth containing only the Coptic recension of the twenty official canons. The "Four Books of the Kings" have with him a place apart. The Arabic Canons of Nicaea are, in the strict sense, the eighty-four canons adapted from the Syriac by the Melchites and borrowed by the Copts. In addition to this series of eighty-four canons in Arabic literature, the literature in the Coptic language contains a series that has not survived in Arabic translation, called Gnômès. It is credited to the Council of Nicaea and gives moral exhortations, which probably reflect the discipline in force in the fourth century in the church of Alexandria. It was published and translated into French by E. Revillout (1873, pp. 210-88; and 1875, pp. 5-77, 209-266). Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.

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Bible Study and Lessons

Delahoyde & Hughes A 6th-century BCE Greek philosopher and mathematician, originally from Samos (an island off the coast of Asia Minor settled by the Greeks), and born about 570 BCE, he left home around 530 BCE to escape the tyranny of the autocrat Polycrates. He lived in southern Italy, influencing city politics until the turn of the century when the citizens revolted against his influence and forced him to settle in Metapontum instead. Followers venerated him and they formed some sort of religious order. Although he did not set down his ideas in written form, Pythagorean centers sprang up throughout the Greek mainland during the 5th century BCE, including in Thebes and Athens, so he certainly influenced Socrates and therefore Plato. Legends include an instance of a superhuman voice wishing Pythagoras good morning as he was crossing the river Casas, and his being able to appear in both Croton and Metapontum on the same day at the same hour. Pythagoras' concepts included the mathematical order of the cosmos, and he may have been led to this assessment from the mathematical order of music (consonants of octaves, fifths, and fourths being produced by simple ratios in the lengths of the vibrating strings). We know "the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the sides containing the right angle." But Pythagoras had an all-inclusive vision, which also included the "music of the spheres" (the sound that no doubt had to be produced by the planets encircling earth). Pythagoras believed in reincarnation and claimed to remember previous incarnations. [Transmigration of souls is not a Greek leaning, so one school of thought says Pythagoras travelled east beyond Egypt and came back with the notion (but they say this of Jesus too).] A later report claims he told followers that he has once been Aethalides, a son of Hermes, who allowed him one wish excluding immortality. He wished to remember what happened to him, alive and dead. One of his remembered incarnations was as Euphorbus, who was wounded by Menelaus. Afterwards, he became Hermotimus, who in a temple of Apollo identified the shield of Menelaus (dedicated to Apollo when he sailed back from Troy). His next incarnation was as Pyrrhus the Delian fisherman, and then Pythagoras.There is a famous story that he once stopped an animal from being beaten because he insisted he recognized the voice of a dead friend. (I wonder if that might not have been merely a humane device to stop the beating of an animal.) (Asimov 535)Due partly to his belief in metempsychosis, he opposed the taking of life, the eating of flesh, and association with those who benefit by the slaughter business. He supposedly coined the term "Philosophy" first as a word to signify the love and pursuit of wisdom, which helps the soul bring itself into attunement with the cosmos. - Do you agree with the philosophy of Pythagoras?Without transmigration of souls as a foundation, Metamorphoses still works because of its notions of the earth being generous, its commentary on pollution, and in general its environmentalism which seems almost modern in essence. - But we don't sacrifice to the gods anymore.Uh huh, well, in celebration of the Pilgrims infiltrating North America we butcher countless turkeys; and there is a trend of celebrating the birth and rebirth of our Lord and Saviour with roast pigs; and there's this sanctimony about grilling ground flesh in honor of "the boys" who died in the big war; and we certainly sacrifice millions of animals now to the "god" Science. So what we consider "religion" may have changed more than the nature of the practices (or the excuses). - The final connection to all the previous books?Metamorphoses celebrates the joy of change, of the natural world being animated, and in the ongoing process of wondrous creation. The stories are intended to inspire respect for the wonders of nature (however based in speciesistic assumptions that stories must be about humans). In this ongoing creation and active context, we have responsibilities too -- according to Pythagoras. The world, its flora, and its fauna: all have past lives and life stories worthy of some respect. Ferguson, Kitty. The Music of Pythagoras. NY: Walker & Co., 2008. Orpheus: Roman Mythology

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Ancient Historical Figures

The wide variety of national origins and the USA's relatively short history has resulted in a rich blend of cultural and traditional customs. All Americans are renowned for their openness and friendliness to visitors. As a rule, dress is casual; although smart restaurants, hotels and clubs insist on suits and ties or long dresses. Smoking is becoming increasingly unpopular and is often considered offensive; in fact, it's forbidden on city transport and often in public buildings. There will usually be a notice where no smoking is requested, and most restaurants have smoking and non-smoking sections. Most people are Protestant with significant Roman Catholic, Jewish and ethnic minorities. Archaeological finds suggest that Florida had been inhabited for thousands of years before any European settlements. Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish conquistador, named Florida in honour of his discovery of the land in 1513, during Pascua Florida - a Spanish term for the Easter season. Over the following century, both the Spanish and French established settlements with varying degrees of success. The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the development of English colonies to the north and French to the west. Great Britain gained control of Florida diplomatically in 1763 through the Peace of Paris, but Spain regained it after Britain's defeat by the American colonies and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles (1783). Finally, in 1819, Spain ceded Florida to the United States in exchange for the American renunciation of any claims on Texas. On March 3, 1845, Florida became the 27th state of the United States of America. Until the mid-twentieth century Florida was the least populated Southern state. However, the local climate - helped by the growing availability of air conditioning - made the state a desirable location, and migration sharply increased the population. Economic prosperity led to the Florida land boom of the 1920s, which brought a brief period of intense development before the Great Depression brought it all to an end. Florida's economy didn't fully recover until World War II. But today, it's the most populous state in the South besides Texas, and the fourth most populous in the United States. Before the American Civil War, when slavery was legal, African Americans made up nearly half of the state's population. This proportion declined over the next century, as many moved north in the Great Migration while large numbers of northern whites moved to the state. Recently, the state's percentage of black residents has begun to grow again. Today, large concentrations of black residents can be found in northern Florida (especially in Jacksonville, Gainesville and Pensacola), the Tampa Bay area, and South Florida (where their numbers have been bolstered by significant immigration from Haiti and Jamaica). Florida's Hispanic population includes large communities of Cuban Americans in Miami and Tampa, Puerto Ricans in Tampa and Orlando, and Central American migrant workers in inland West-Central and South Florida. The Hispanic community continues to grow more affluent and mobile. Whites of all ethnic groups are present in all areas of the state. Those of British ancestry can be found in large numbers in the coastal cities, there's a large German population in South West Florida, a sizeable Italian community in the Miami area, and white Floridians of longer-present generations in parts of inland and northern Florida. Native white Floridians, especially those who have descended from long-time Florida families, affectionately refer to themselves as "Florida Crackers." As far as language is concerned, around 75% of Florida residents speak only English at home, while around 15% speak Spanish. Haitian Creole is the third most spoken language at around 2%. Orlando holiday resorts |International Drive Holidays||36 Hotels, Villas + Apartments| |Kissimmee Holidays||21 Hotels, Villas + Apartments| |Walt Disney World Resort Holidays||17 Hotels, Villas + Apartments| |Lake Buena Vista Holidays||9 Hotels, Villas + Apartments| |Disney Area Holidays||6 Hotels, Villas + Apartments|

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Historical Descriptions

From Sioux Falls to Rapid City, fire weather meteorologists are watching conditions closely. And until we receive widespread, heavy moisture they'll be monitoring what is known as the Keetch-Byram Drought Index or KBDI. It measures the amount of precipitation needed to return the soil to full saturation. It uses a system rating of zero to 800, which represents the moisture amount of zero to eight inches of water. It's what is needed to reduce the drought index to zero, which is saturation. Much of KELOLAND is at 500 or above. The KBDI of 400 to 600 is typical of late summer and early fall. When it gets to 600 and above, that's when intense, deep burning fires can be expected with an emphasis on downwind new fires occuring. The highest spots are in south central, north central and northeast South Dakota. Just this week, the area near Lake Andes is also considered at 800. It's an important number to know this time of year, whether you're harvesting or off road for hunting. © 2012 KELOLAND TV. All Rights Reserved.

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Forest Management and Restoration

- Media Center - Library Overview - Library User Information - Collections Overview - Library Catalog - Programs & Services - Research Resources - Collections Online - Rights & Reproductions - Donations and Support - Projects & Partnerships - Library News & Updates - Plan a Visit - Support MdHS Maryland’s Largest Civil War Exhibit Now Open Baltimore, Maryland (April 21, 2011) -The Maryland Historical Society’s (MdHS) Museum opened Maryland’s largest and most comprehensive Civil War exhibit on April 16. The impact of the war on the people of Maryland is being told in personal terms in “Divided Voices: Maryland in the Civil War.” The largest Civil War exhibit in the museum’s 167-year history occupies over 5,000 square feet and tells the story of a tragedy in three acts: the romantic war, the real war and the long reunion. For more information on this 150th anniversary of the Civil War exhibit go to www.mdhs.org or call 410-685-3750. The exhibit takes visitors back in time with 3-D videos that leads them back to 1861. There are also be interactive exhibits designed for children and adults as well as storyteller guides in period costumes. On Saturdays and Sundays the Maryland Historical Society Players perform short vignettes of major events that took place in Maryland. Admission - $6 adults, $5 seniors, 3-18 $4, under 3 free. Museum is free on first Thursday of each month. The romantic war was the first year or so of the conflict, when both sides saw the war as an adventure and patriotic duty. The real war over the next three years of bloodshed left hundreds of thousands of young men dead. The long reunion focuses on the reuniting of the country, which some say is not complete to this day. Maryland sent 60,000 men to serve in the Union Army. Over 20,000 more served in the Confederacy. The first bloodshed of the war took place in Baltimore. The human stories of these men and women are told by bringing letters to life with today’s technology, as well as the display of hundreds of rare objects, many of which have not been shown publicly since the 19th century. Museum visitors see Robert E. Lee’s camp chair, John Brown’s carbine, Abraham Lincoln memorabilia as well as compelling and heartbreaking photographs of the period. Visitors will learn of Maryland’s major battles like Antietam and of lesser-known battles like the Battles of Monocacy and Silver Spring. They will come to understand how the soldiers suffered. More than 600,000 men died in the Civil War, compared to 400,000 American deaths in World War II. It was the deadliest war in American history. Museum goers will discover why the first widely-used bullet made this one of history’s bloodiest wars and how this spurred advances in medical care. Triage, the ambulance corps, field hospitals and many significant surgical advances all began during the Civil War. The war’s impact on Maryland’s citizens is revealed. Baltimore, for example, was under martial law and occupied by Union troops for the entire war. Lincoln’s suspension of the writ of habeas corpus ( people can’t be jailed without trial or a hearing) was famously used against John Merryman of Cockeysville, Maryland. Lincoln was willing to break the law to keep Maryland from joining the Confederacy and cutting the capital off from the North. The State legislature moved from Annapolis to Frederick to keep Maryland from joining the Confederacy. Visitors also learn the important role that African Americans played in the war. Over 10,000 African Americans served in the Union Army. Harriet Tubman served as a spy for the Union Army. Black soldiers such as Christian Fleetwood of Baltimore led African American troops into battle and earned America’s highest military honor. Women’s growing role in society during those years will be revealed. They began serving as nurses for the first time. Women on the home front mourned their dead, creating the “Vacant Chair” tradition at dinner tables in Maryland and elsewhere. The Civil War exhibit will run for the next four years with annual updates. Visitors to the museum will also find major exhibits of famous Maryland paintings, silver, furniture, maritime history and children’s toys from the last 300 years. The Maryland Historical Society was founded in 1844 and is the world’s largest museum and library dedicated to the history of Maryland. Occupying an entire city block in the Mount Vernon district of Baltimore, the society’s mission is to “collect, preserve, and interpret the objects and materials that reflect Maryland’s diverse cultural heritage.” The Society is home to the original manuscript of the Star Spangled Banner and publishes a quarterly titled “Maryland Historical Magazine.” More information about the Maryland Historical Society can be found online at http://www.mdhs.org/ Three Union soldiers are stationed on Federal Hill overlooking what is now the Inner Harbor of Baltimore (1862 photo). Their cannon is trained on the city as Baltimore was under martial law throughout the Civil War. Lincoln was afraid that Maryland would secede from the Union cutting Washington D.C. off from the North. The background is a contemporary photo of Baltimore from the same angle. The historic photo is part of the Maryland Historical Society's Civil War exhibit, Divided Voices: Maryland in the Civil War, the largest and most comprehensive display on the subject in the state.

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Historical Narratives and Artifacts

Dora Bas Rivka Silver O'H The Sideways Ark G-d told Moshe to go among the Jews and accept donations for building the Mishkan (Tabernacle). These donations could consist of gold, silver, copper, colored wool and other fabrics, skins, wood, gems, oil and spices. G-d would instruct Moshe in building the Mishkan, where His Presence would reside. The first vessel G-d described was the Aron (Ark), a wooden box overlaid with gold. There were rings on the corners, through which poles were placed to carry the Aron; these poles were never to be removed. (The Ark is popularly depicted with the poles running along the longer sides but, really, the poles ran along the shorter ends. See Talmud Menachos 98a-b).

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Bible Study and Lessons

LACMA May Fund The Fading Watts Towers Due to a severe budget crisis, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is interested in stepping into the breach as curator and conservator of the Watts Towers this summer to maintain the historic landmark. The Towers were built by Italian immigrant construction worker Sabato Rodia in his spare time over a period of 33 years, from 1921 to 1954. He created the framework of steel, wire and concrete and ornamented the three main spires and their 14 surrounding sculptural elements with colorful bits of broken glass, pottery and seashells. His work is an example of non-traditional vernacular architecture and American Naïve art. Article LA Times.

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Historic Places and Events

Mercury findings raise new questions One of a kind New data from NASA's Messenger spacecraft has surprised scientists showing the planet Mercury has some of the most unusual internal dynamics ever seen. The findings, which will appear in the journal Science, mean the planet closest to the Sun has evolved differently compared to the other terrestrial planets in the solar system. After its first full year in orbit around Mercury, Messenger has returned a detailed picture of the planet's northern hemisphere suggesting a deep reservoir of high-density material exists below a thin crust surface. Using the Messenger data, Dr Maria Zuber, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and colleagues created a detailed elevation model showing the planet's northern hemisphere is far flatter than Mars or the Moon. They also found extensive lowlands and a vast northern volcanic plain. The researchers were also surprised to discover that the floor of several craters are tilted. For example, the 1500-kilometre wide Caloris impact crater is tilted to the extent that parts of its floor are now taller than the rim. Unlike the Moon "Prior to Messenger's observations, many scientists believed Mercury was much like the Moon," says Zuber. "We thought it cooled off very early in solar system history, and has been a dead planet throughout most of its evolution." Now Zuber and colleagues say there's compelling evidence that Mercury must have sustained intense geophysical activity for most of its history. Messenger's also provided scientists with the first measurements of Mercury's gravity field showing the planet's crust is thicker at low latitudes and thinner toward the northern polar region. They believe Mercury's outer shell is denser than previously thought, indicating a deep layer of iron sulfide below the surface. The data also suggests Mercury has a huge iron rich liquid outer core and perhaps a solid inner core, together comprising about 85 per cent of the planet's radius. By comparison Earth's core is about half our planet's radius. The data means Mercury's mantle and crust occupy only the outer 15 percent or so of the planet's radius giving it a different internal structure compared to other terrestrial planets. Strange and interesting world Planetary scientist Dr Craig O'Neill from Sydney's Macquarie University says the new data shows Mercury is a far more interesting planet than previously thought. "It seems the internal dynamics of Mercury is doing a lot more to the planet's crust than we gave it credit for," says O'Neill. "The tilted crater floors are interesting and we don't really know what would have caused this." According to O'Neill the discovery of what may be a liquid core, could also explain the magnetic field detected around Mercury. "We used to think it was just residual traces of magnetism in the rocks," says O'Neill. "But thanks to Messenger we now know there's something going on in Mercury's core."

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Space Exploration and Astronomy

This week I was visited by a woman inventor who created a way to reduce one seemingly small contributor to the landfill. You know those little tiny plastic spoons they give you in the ice cream shop so you can taste lots of flavors before you make a selection or that are distributed along with little samples of a new soup in the supermarket? Well they're not reused, recycled, or biodegradable. That's why Peggy Cross developed the EcoTaster (shown left),a paperboard tasting spoon made from recycled materials that will decompose in compost in just two weeks. For full-size portions, she also offers the EcoTensil (shown right) which is made of the same type of paperboard as a milk carton and will also biodegrade, although a little bit more slowly. Cross also pointed out that these made-in-the-USA tools are made of less material and take up less space than other disposable utensils (see photo at left), making for a much smaller carbon footprint. Stonyfield Farms recently used the spoons for yogurt samplings at the US Open tennis championship--we hope they start popping up in supermarkets, trade shows, and sports events all over the country. Voskos Yogurt, Solgar Vitamin and Herb Company, and Schoolhouse Kitchen are other companies that are already using them. Here at GHRI we've demonstrated our commitment to the environment with our Green Good Housekeeping Seal which helps you make wise choices for the earth, when you're out shopping.

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Waste Reduction and Recycling

Crew: Filipchenko, Grechko. Soyuz s/n 18 would have been the active spacecraft of the first dual-spacecraft test of the Kontakt docking system. A crew transfer using the Krechet spacesuit would presumably have taken place. Backup crew: Lazarev, Makarov. Soyuz s/n 18 would have been the active spacecraft of the first dual-spacecraft test of the Kontakt docking system. A crew transfer using the Krechet spacesuit would presumably have taken place. By December 1970, there were four crews in training for two pairs of Soyuz spacecraft to be launched to test the Kontakt lunar rendezvous/docking system. During the Salyut 1 mission, in June 1971, six crews were identified and assigned to specific Soyuz spacecraft serial numbers for these tests. These would have been launched in three pairs beginning in early 1972, depending on the schedule for the DOS-2 station. In the event, the death of the Soyuz 11 crew, and subsequent redesign of the Soyuz spacecraft, led to these Kontakt missions being cancelled and the whole Kontakt test series being reformulated with new crew members in early 1973. Soyuz Kontakt 1 would have been the active spacecraft of the first mission. AKA: Soyuz s/n 18. More... - Chronology... First Launch: 1972 Early. Lazarev Lazarev, Vasili Grigoryevich (1928-1990) Russian physician cosmonaut. Flew on Soyuz 12, Soyuz 18-1. Survived first manned spaceflight abort during launch. More... Filipchenko Filipchenko, Anatoli Vassilyevich (1928-) Russian pilot cosmonaut. Flew on Soyuz 7, Soyuz 16. More... Grechko Grechko, Georgi Mikhailovich (1931-) Russian engineer cosmonaut. Flew on Soyuz 17, Salyut 6 EO-1, Salyut 7 EP-5. More... Makarov Makarov, Oleg Grigoryevich (1933-2003) Russian engineer cosmonaut. Flew on Soyuz 12, Soyuz 18-1, Salyut 6 EP-1, Salyut 6 EO-5. Survived first manned spaceflight abort during launch. More... Lunar L3 The Soviet program to land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth. More... Soyuz sn 18 Chronology 1971 June 15 - - Soyuz Kontakt and DOS-2 crew assignments made. - . Nation: USSR. Related Persons: Filipchenko; Grechko; Lazarev; Makarov; Vorobyov; Yazdovsky; Yakovlev; Porvatkin; Kovalyonok; Isakov; Shcheglov; Leonov; Rukavishnikov; Kolodin; Gubarev; Sevastyanov; Voronov; Klimuk; Artyukhin; Bykovsky; Alekseyev, Semyon; Gorbatko. Program: Salyut; Lunar L3. Flight: Soyuz 11; Soyuz 12 / DOS 1; Soyuz sn 18; Soyuz sn 19; Soyuz sn 20; Soyuz sn 21; Soyuz sn 22; Soyuz sn 23; DOS 2-1; DOS 2-2; DOS 2-3; DOS 2-4. Spacecraft: Soyuz Kontakt; Salyut 1. Crews are formed for six Soyuz (Kontakt?) flights. Soyuz s/n 18 - Filipchenko and Grechko; Soyuz s/n 19 - Lazarev and Makarov; Soyuz s/n 20 - Vorobyov and Yazdovsky; Soyuz s/n 21 - Yakovlelv and Porvatkin; Soyuz s/n 22 - Kovalyonok and Isakov; Soyuz s/n 23 - Shcheglov and [illegible]. Five crews are training for Salyut flights: Crew 1, Leonov, Rukavishnikov, and Kolodin; Crew 2, Gubarev, Sevastyanov, and Voronov. TsKBEM engineer cosmonauts are to be selected will round out the last three crews, but VVS members will be: Crew 3, Klimuk, Artyukhin; Crew 4, Bykovskyy, Alekseyev; Crew 5, Gorbatko. Leonov and Gubarev will have their crews fully ready for Soyuz 12 by 30 June, for a launch date between 15-20 July. Leonov is asking to go to East Germany for two to three days in the first week of July. Kamanin is fully opposed to this - he is thinkng not of his upcoming flight, but the exhibition of his paintings at the Prezdensk Gallery! 1972 Early - - Soyuz sn 18 (cancelled) - . Crew: Filipchenko; Grechko. Nation: USSR. Related Persons: Filipchenko; Grechko. Program: Lunar L3. Flight: Soyuz sn 18. Spacecraft: Soyuz Kontakt. Summary: Soyuz s/n 18 would have been the active spacecraft of the first dual launch to test the Kontakt lunar orbit rendezvous system. A crew transfer using the Krechet spacesuit would presumably have taken place.. Home - Browse - Contact © / Conditions for Use

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Space Exploration and Astronomy

Ismaili Community: History The Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, generally known as the Ismailis, belong to the Shia branch of Islam. The Shia form one of the two major branches of Islam, the Sunni being the other. The Ismailis live in over 25 different countries, mainly in Central and South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, as well as in Europe, North America and Australia. As Muslims, the Ismailis affirm the fundamental Islamic testimony of truth, the Shahada, that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) is His Messenger. They believe that Muhammad was the last and final Prophet of Allah, and that the Holy Quran, Allah's final message to mankind, was revealed through him. Muslims hold this revelation to be the culmination of the message that had been revealed through other Prophets of the Abrahamic tradition before Muhammad, including Abraham, Moses and Jesus, all of whom Muslims revere as Prophets of Allah. In common with other Shia Muslims, the Ismailis affirm that after the Prophet's death, Hazrat Ali, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, became the first Imam - the spiritual leader - of the Muslim community and that this spiritual leadership (known as Imamat) continues thereafter by hereditary succession through Ali and his wife Fatima, the Prophet's daughter. Succession to Imamat, according to Shia doctrine and tradition, is by way of Nass (Designation), it being the absolute prerogative of the Imam of the Time to appoint his successor from amongst any of his male descendants. His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan is the 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims. He was born on 13 December 1936 in Geneva, son of Prince Aly Khan and Princess Tajuddawlah Aly Khan and spent his early childhood in Nairobi, Kenya. He attended Le Rosey School in Switzerland for nine years and graduated from Harvard in 1959 with a BA (Honours) in Islamic History. He succeeded his grandfather Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan on 11 July 1957 at the age of 20. Spiritual allegiance to the Imam and adherence to the Shia Imami Ismaili tariqah (persuasion) of Islam according to the guidance of the Imam of the Time, have engendered in the Ismaili Community an ethos of self-reliance, unity, and a common identity. In a number of the countries where they live, the Ismailis have evolved a well-defined institutional framework through which they have, under the leadership and guidance of the Imam, established schools, hospitals, health centres, housing societies and a variety of social and economic development institutions for the common good of all citizens regardless of their race or religion. During the course of history, the Ismailis have, under the guidance of their Imams, made significant contributions to Islamic civilisations, the cultural, intellectual and religious life of Muslims. The University of al-Azhar and the Academy of Science, Dar al-Ilm, in Egypt and indeed the city of Cairo itself, are testimony to this contribution. Among the renowned philosophers, jurists, physicians, mathematicians, astronomers and scientists of the past who flourished under the patronage of Ismaili Imams are Qadi al-Numan, al-Kirmani, Ibn al-Haytham (al-Hazen), Nasir e-Khusraw and Nasir al-Din Tusi.

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Islamic and Arabic Studies

By A. M. Sullivan CHAPTER IX. (continued) From the Atlas and Cyclopedia of Ireland (1900) It was to the rugged and desolate Hebrides that Columba turned his face when he accepted the terrible penance of Molaise. He bade farewell to his relatives, and, with a few monks who insisted on accompany him whithersoever he might go, launched his frail currochs from the northern shore. They landed first, or rather were carried by wind and stream, upon the little isle of Oronsay, close by Islay; and here for a moment they thought their future abode was to be. But when Columba, with the early morning, ascending the highest ground on the island, to take what he thought would be a harmless look toward the land of his heart, lo! on the dim horizon a faint blue ridge—the distant hills of Antrim! He averts his head and flies downward to the strand! Here they cannot stay, if his vow is to be kept. They betake them once more to the currochs, and steering further northward, eventually land upon Iona, thenceforth, till time shall be no more, to be famed as the sacred isle of Columba! Here landing, he ascended the loftiest of the hills upon the isle, and "gazing into the distance, found no longer any trace of Ireland upon the horizon." In Iona accordingly he resolved to make his home. The spot from whence St. Columba made this sorrowful survey is still called by the islesmen in the Gaelic tongue, Carn-cul-ri-Erinn, or the Cairn of Farewell—literally, The back turned on Ireland. Writers without number have traced the glories of Iona. Here rose, as if by miracle, a city of churches; the isle became one vast monastery, and soon much too small for the crowds that still pressed thither. Then from the parent isle there went forth to the surrounding shores, and all over the mainland, off-shoot establishments and missionary colonies (all under the authority of Columba), until in time the Gospel light was ablaze on the hills of Albyn; and the names of St. Columba and Iona were on every tongue from Rome to the utmost limits of Europe! "This man, whom we have seen so passionate, so irritable, so warlike and vindictive, became little by little the most gentle, the humblest, the most tender of friends and fathers. It was he, the great head of the Caledonian Church, who, kneeling before the strangers who came to Iona, or before the monks returning from their work, took off their shoes, washed their feet, and after having washed them, respectfully kissed them. But charity was still stronger than humility in that transfigured soul. No necessity, spiritual or temporal, found him indifferent. He devoted himself to the solace of all infirmities, all misery and pain, weeping often over those who did not weep for themselves. "The work of transcription remained until his last day the occupation of his old age, as it had been the passion of his youth; it had such an attraction for him, and seemed to him so essential to a knowledge of the truth that, as we have already said, three hundred copies of the Holy Gospels, copied by his own hand, have been attributed to him." But still Columba carried with him in his heart the great grief that made life for him a lengthened penance. "Far from having any prevision of the glory of Iona, his soul," says Montalembert, "was still swayed by a sentiment which never abandoned him—regret for his lost country. All his life he retained for Ireland the passionate tenderness of an exile, a love which displayed itself in the songs which have been preserved to us, and which date perhaps from the first moment of his exile. . . . 'Death in faultless Ireland is better than life without end in Albyn.' After this cry of despair follow strains more plaintive and submissive." "But it was not only in these elegies, repeated and perhaps retouched by Irish bards and monks, but at each instant of his life, in season and out of season, that this love and passionate longing for his native country burst forth in words and musings; the narratives of his most trustworthy biographers are full of it. The most severe penance which he could have imagined for the guiltiest sinners who came to confess to him, was to impose upon them the same fate which he had voluntarily inflicted on himself—never to set foot again upon Irish soil! But when, instead of forbidding to sinners all access to that beloved isle, he had to smother his envy of those who hard the right and happiness to go there at their pleasure, he dared scarcely trust himself to name its name; and when speaking to his guests, or to the monks who were to return to Ireland, he would only say to them, 'you will return to the country that you love.' " "We are now," said Dr. Johnson, " treading that illustrious island which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions; whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion....Far from me and from my friends be such frigid philosophy as may conduct us indifferent and unmoved over any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona."—Boswell's "Tour to the Hebrides." From a sad, comfortless childhood Giles Truelove developed into a reclusive and uncommunicative man whose sole passion was books. For so long they were the only meaning to his existence. But when fate eventually intervened to have the outside world intrude upon his life, he began to discover emotions that he never knew he had. A story for the genuine booklover, penned by an Irish bookseller under the pseudonym of Ralph St. John Featherstonehaugh. FREE download 23rd - 27th May Join our mailing list to receive updates on new content on Library, our latest ebooks, and more. You won't be inundated with emails! — we'll just keep you posted periodically — about once a monthish — on what's happening with the library.

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Historical and Genealogical Records

Artificial intelligence research is ushering in a new era of sophisticated, mass-market transportation technology. While computers can already fly a passenger jet better than a trained human pilot, people are still faced with the dangerous yet tedious task of driving automobiles. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is the field that focuses on integrating information technology with vehicles and transportation infrastructure to make transportation safer, cheaper, and more efficient. Recent advances in ITS point to a future in which vehicles themselves handle the vast majority of the driving task. Once autonomous vehicles become popular, autonomous interactions amongst multiple vehicles will be possible. Current methods of vehicle coordination, which are all designed to work with human drivers, will be outdated. The bottleneck for roadway efficiency will no longer be the drivers, but rather the mechanism by which those drivers' actions are coordinated. While open-road driving is a well-studied and more-or-less-solved problem, urban traffic scenarios, especially intersections, are much more challenging. We believe current methods for controlling traffic, specifically at intersections, will not be able to take advantage of the increased sensitivity and precision of autonomous vehicles as compared to human drivers. In this article, we suggest an alternative mechanism for coordinating the movement of autonomous vehicles through intersections. Drivers and intersections in this mechanism are treated as autonomous agents in a multiagent system. In this multiagent system, intersections use a new reservation-based approach built around a detailed communication protocol, which we also present. We demonstrate in simulation that our new mechanism has the potential to significantly outperform current intersection control technology -- traffic lights and stop signs. Because our mechanism can emulate a traffic light or stop sign, it subsumes the most popular current methods of intersection control. This article also presents two extensions to the mechanism. The first extension allows the system to control human-driven vehicles in addition to autonomous vehicles. The second gives priority to emergency vehicles without significant cost to civilian vehicles. The mechanism, including both extensions, is implemented and tested in simulation, and we present experimental results that strongly attest to the efficacy of this approach.

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Safety and Risk Awareness

Diabetic Ketoacidosis Symptoms The body's cells need two energy requirements to function. The blood stream delivers both oxygen and glucose to the front door of the cell. The the oxygen is invited in, but the glucose needs a key to open the door. The insulin molecule is that key. When we eat, the body senses the levels of glucose in the blood stream and secretes just the right amount of insulin from the pancreas so that cells and the body can function. People with diabetes don't have the luxury of that auto-sensing. They need to balance the amount of glucose intake with the amount of insulin that needs to be injected. Not enough insulin and the glucose levels in the blood stream start to rise; too much insulin, and they plummet. The consequences of hypoglycemia (hypo=low, glycemia=glucose in the blood) are easy to understand. No energy source, no function - and the first organ to go is the brain. It needs glucose to function and without it, the brain shuts down quickly. Confusion, lethargy, and coma occur quickly. It's interesting that brain cells don't need insulin to open their doors to glucose, so when people develop coma from low blood sugar, they waken almost instantaneously upon treatment. Blood sugar is one of the first things checked on scene of a comatose patient, because it's so easy to fix and very embarrassing for an EMT to miss.

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Diabetes Management and Awareness

Patent Models: Textile and Sewing Machines - Introduction For much of the nineteenth century, inventors submitted a model with their patent application to the United States Patent Office. The National Museum of American History’s patent model collection began with the acquisition of 284 models from the Patent Office in June 1908, and reached more than 1,000 models by the end of that summer. In 1926, Congress decided to dispense with the stored collection of models and gave the Smithsonian Institution the opportunity to collect any models it wanted. Today, the Museum’s collection exceeds 10,000 patent models dating from 1836 to 1910. The Museum’s Textile Collection contains over four thousand patent models. The collection includes many examples of carding machines, spinning machines, knitting machines, rope making machines, looms, baskets, carpets, fabrics, and sewing machines. Even the simple clothespin is well represented, with 41 patent models. This sampling of patent models from the Textile Collection describes the two major groupings, textile machinery and sewing machines. In both groups, the examination of the models begins with the earliest of the inventions. In this early group of patent models, the textile machinery models date from 1837 to 1840, and the sewing machine models from 1842 to 1854. For more information about the Museum’s patent model collection, see Patent Model Index, Guide to the Collections of the National Museum of American History. "Patent Models: Textile and Sewing Machines - Introduction" showing 1 items. - Spinning Wheel Patent Model - Patent No. 710, issued April 25, 1838 - Hiram F. Wheeler of Springville, Pennsylvania - Hiram Wheeler’s domestic wheel was for spinning wool. He titled his invention “inclined spinner,” referring to the fact that the operator would sit at the wheel as opposed to standing and walking when using the typical wool wheel. When the treadle was forced down by the operator’s foot, a cord pulled the carriage and spinning wheel head away from the spinner. A weight brought both of them back toward the spinner. This movement of the carriage was equivalent to the spinner walking forward to the spindle tip for the draw out and then back to the wheel. Wheeler specifically claimed as his invention this sliding action of the wheel head. - Currently not on view - model constructed - before 1838-04-25 - patent date - Wheeler, Hiram F. - ID Number - catalog number - accession number - patent number - Data Source - National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

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Technological Processes and Materials

Belmont Station "Quality" Physical Education Mr. Comins and Mrs. Martin What is "Quality" Physical Education? A program that involves moderate/vigorous activity 90% of the time or more Intentional fitness - Use of functional equipment Teacher role modeling of all lessons Core curriculum content integration Physical fitness and nutrition integration Our lessons for the 2012-2013 school year will reflect a physical education program that stresses physical fitness, nutrition, and motor skills. Belmont Station will continue to teach the Five for Life program. Children in grades one through five will participate at moderate to vigorous levels of physical activity for much of the time they attend physical education class. All activities will be centered around the academic content presented in the Five for Life curriculum. Intensity levels, the five components of fitness, nutrition, the muscular system, and the skeletal system are several of the units that will be taught this upcoming year. Feedback technologies such as pedometers and heart rate batons will continue to be used as well. Please take some time to check out our web page. It will be updated each month so that our students and parents can see what we will be doing. It's going to be another productive year in physical education class!

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Education Programs and Extracurriculars

Includes bibliographical references (p. -491) and indexes. PART ONE: FRAMEWORK Guide to This Book Qualitative Research: Why and How To Do It Qualitative and Quantitative Research Ethics of Qualitative Research PART TWO: FROM THEORY TO TEXT Making Use of the Literature in Qualitative Research Theoretical Positions Underlying Qualitative Research Epistemological Background: Construction and Understanding of Texts PART THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN The Qualitative Research Process Research Questions Entering the Field Sampling How to Design Qualitative Research: An Overview PART FOUR: VERBAL DATA Interviews Narratives Focus Groups Verbal Data: An Overview PART FIVE: OBSERVATION AND MEDIATED DATA Observation and Ethnography Visual Data: Photography, Film, and Video Using Documents as Data Qualitative Online Research: Using the Internet Observation and Mediated Data: An Overview PART SIX: FROM TEXT TO THEORY Documentation of Data Coding and Categorizing Analyzing Conversation, Discourse, and Genres Narrative and Hermeneutic Analysis Using Computers in Qualitative Analysis Text Interpretation: An Overview PART SEVEN: GROUNDING AND WRITING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Quality Criteria in Qualitative Research The Quality of Qualitative Research: Beyond Criteria Writing Qualitative Research PART EIGHT: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: INTEGRATION AND OUTLOOK Qualitative Research At Work I: Grounded Theory Qualitative Research At Work II: Triangulation Qualitative Research: State of the Art and the Future Glossary References Author index Subject index About the Author. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 'The fourth edition of Uwe Flick's "Introduction to Qualitative Research" remains the most comprehensive and thorough text in qualitative research. It is student - and user-friendly, thoroughly up-to-date in terms of the latest developments in the field, imminently practical. It is the single most important introductory book on qualitative inquiry in the social sciences today' - Norman K. Denzin, University of Illinois. The new edition of Uwe Flick's bestselling textbook has been fully revised, expanded and updated. "An Introduction to Qualitative Research" guides the student step-by-step through the research process of qualitative research. This classic text covers all of the main theoretical approaches to qualitative research, and provides unmatched coverage of the full range of different qualitative methods and approaches now available to researchers. A range of new features have been added to the new edition including: new structure to better meet the needs of teaching qualitative research; a new chapter on Grounded Theory plus updated coverage on the full range of other qualitative methods; a summary section discussing the state-of-the-art in qualitative research; a glossary; and, updated cases studies, exercises and guided questions. This new edition will continue to ensure that. "An Introduction to Qualitative Research" remains an essential introductory text for all students of qualitative research. (source: Nielsen Book Data)

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Educational Tools and Guides

First of all, these phrases sound very strange to me (I should have the context they are used into, in order to have a better understanding of them). In Spanish such phrases may be an example of that is knoun as "Complemento del Nombre". I'm not sure if such a concept exists in English grammar. In Spanish you must think of that complement as some sort of adjective that specifies the role of the main noun. Its structure is: [Main Noun] de [Specifier Noun] So, with the phrase "Fiestas de árboles", you have: - Fiestas is the main noun. - árboles is the specifier. then you may have these meanings (among others, depending on the context): - Parties attended by trees (should be better expressed with: Fiestas de los árboles). - Parties made out of trees (parties whose main element are trees). On the other hand, "Árboles de fiestas" may have these meanings: - Abbreviation of Árboles que están de fiestas: trees which are going or attending to a party. - Trees used within parties (should be also expressed with: Árboles para fiestas). As you can see, at least the meanings I can think of these phrases are very similar for both cases.

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Linguistic explanations

Sudoku Puzzle #11 Education World's weekly Sudoku Puzzle feature offers a perfect tool for building students' critical thinking skills. It can be used in class, assigned for homework, or offered as a challenge or reward activity. The best part of all: as students learn to complete the puzzles they will be building confidence in their ability to tackle challenging tasks and building critical thinking skills that will carry over into all aspects of their classroom performance. Each Suduko puzzle challenges students to use the numbers provided to help them fill in the blank squares so that each number, 1 to 9, appears in every Column, Row, and Block of the completed puzzle. Click for a PDF [portable document format] printable page. (If you are unable to view the printable page, download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.) Click for the answers to this week's puzzle. Click for Sudoku Puzzles from previous weeks. Click for tips for teaching students to do Sudoku puzzles. Copyright © 2006 Education World

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Math Learning Resources

Recently there has been a substantial increase in the attention being paid to Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) by the media, state and federal natural resource agencies, and hunters and outdoor enthusiasts. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) developed this page to provide background information on CWD and explain what is being done to determine if the disease is in Florida, and if it is not, what we are doing to make sure it never gets here. What is Chronic Wasting Disease? Chronic Wasting Disease is a progressive, neurological, debilitating disease that belongs to a family of diseases known as Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs). It is believed to be caused by an abnormal protein called a prion. CWD has been diagnosed in mule deer, white-tailed deer, and Rocky Mountain elk in captive herds and in the wild. Other cervids (antlered animals) may also be susceptible. CWD attacks the brains of infected animals, causing them to become emaciated, display abnormal behavior, and lose bodily functions. CWD is a fatal disease. Clinical signs include excessive salivation and grinding of teeth, increased drinking and urination, dramatic loss of weight and body condition, poor hair coat, staggering, and finally death. Behavioral changes, including decreased interaction with other animals, listlessness, lowering of the head, blank facial expression, and repetitive walking in set patterns also may occur. How is CWD transmitted? Transmission of CWD occurs by direct contact with body fluids (feces, urine, saliva) or by indirect contact (contaminated environment). The prion is persistent in the environment and premises may remain infective for years. Crowding, such as in deer farms or by artificial feeding, facilitates transmission. There is no evidence that CWD can be transmitted to livestock or humans. Where is CWD found? CWD has been found in captive and/or free-ranging cervids in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta, and South Korea. In the US, the core endemic area is contiguous portions of Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska. The prevalence of CWD in this area is approximately <1% - 15% in mule deer and <1% in elk, although this varies greatly by location. Virginia and West Virginia are the only Southeastern states where CWD has been detected. CWD has not been found in Florida. How is CWD diagnosed? Currently the only practical method for diagnosing CWD is through analysis of brain stem tissue or lymph nodes from dead animals. There is no practical live-animal test. A tonsilar biopsy may be done on live animals; however, this is difficult and deer have to be held until diagnosis. How is CWD controlled in a population? Control is extremely difficult once CWD becomes established in a natural population. This is because of the lack of a practical live-animal test, long incubation periods, and the persistence of the prion in the environment. Also, there is no vaccine or treatment once an animal gets the disease. If detected early in free-ranging populations, i.e. when prevalence is low, then eradication may be an achievable goal. This is not currently considered possible in the core endemic area; Wisconsin, however, has initiated an aggressive eradication program in the portion of the state where CWD has been found. What steps is FWC taking to determine if CWD is in Florida, and if it is not, what is being done to keep it from getting here? The FWC has initiated a comprehensive monitoring program to make sure CWD is not already in Florida. We are asking the general public to keep their eye out for deer showing symptoms indicative of CWD. If you see a sickly, extremely skinny deer (see photo) report its location to the CWD hotline, toll free (866) 293-9282. If you harvest such a deer, do not handle it but call the CWD hotline. A biologist will collect the deer and take it to a lab for a necropsy. In addition, we will be collecting and testing tissue samples from hunter-killed deer during the hunting season. All CWD test results will be posted on this site as they are received. Click here for Florida CWD test results. The number one objective in CWD management is to prevent it from spreading into new areas. One theoretical mode of disease transmission is through infected deer, elk or moose carcasses. Therefore, in an effort to minimize the risk of the disease spreading, Florida has adopted regulations affecting the transportation of hunter-harvested deer, elk and moose from CWD-infected areas. It is illegal to bring into Florida carcasses of any species of the family Cervidae (e.g. deer, elk and moose) from 21 states and two Canadian provinces where CWD has been detected. At this time, CWD has been detected in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. Visit the United States Department of Agriculture's Web site for state-to-state CWD reports. Hunters still can bring back de-boned meat from any CWD-affected region, as well as finished taxidermy mounts, hides, skulls, antlers and teeth as long as all soft tissue has been removed. Whole, bone-in carcasses and parts are permitted to be brought back to Florida if they were harvested from non-affected CWD states. The most likely way CWD will get to Florida is through importation of live infected animals. To prevent this, live cervids (mule deer, white-tailed deer and elk) cannot be imported into Florida unless they come from a herd certified CWD-free by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Any illegal importations of cervids should be reported to 1-888-404-FWCC. Public health and wildlife officials advise hunters to take the following precautions when pursuing or handling deer that may have been exposed to CWD: - Do not shoot, handle or consume any animal that is acting abnormally or appears to be sick. Contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) toll free at (866) 293-9282, if you see or harvest an animal that appears sick. - Wear latex or rubber gloves when field dressing your deer. - Bone out the meat from your animal. Don't saw through bone, and avoid cutting through the brain or spinal cord (backbone). - Minimize the handling of brain and spinal tissues. - Wash hands and instruments thoroughly after field dressing is completed. - Avoid consuming brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils and lymph nodes of harvested animals. (Normal field dressing coupled with boning out a carcass will remove most, if not all, of these body parts. Cutting away all fatty tissue will remove remaining lymph nodes.) - Avoid consuming the meat from any animal that tests positive for the disease. - If you have your deer commercially processed, request that your animal is processed individually, without meat from other animals being added to meat from your animal. For additional information on Chronic Wasting Disease check out these sites: USDA - Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services USGS - National Wildlife Health Center Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study Florida Department of Health - Disease Control Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance Other FWC Resources: Florida Monitoring Program 2002-2009 If you see a sickly, extremely skinny deer report its location to the CWD hotline, toll free (866) 293-9282.

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Livestock and Poultry Insights

Someone with cataracts sees the world as if they were looking through a pair of foggy glasses in the winter. Everything looks blurry and doing normal things, like driving, becomes extremely difficult if not impossible. The description is perfectly accurate because cataracts are actually the fogging up of the eyes natural lenses. The lens of the eye focuses light into the retina and controls the eye’s ability to focus between short and long distances. The iris and pupil are both in front of the lens. The lens is clear and composed of both protein and water. Aging, disease and injury can cause the proteins to mass together and a small part of the lens to become clouded up. The cataract can then become larger over time and vision becomes more and more difficult. Cataracts are not dangerous to your overall health. They can be extremely frustrating because of the loss of vision, though. There are rare circumstances when a cataract becomes white. This is called an overripe cataract, or hypermature cataract. This type of cataract affects your vision so much that it can cause other symptoms like a headache or other types of pain. Hypermature cataracts usually require surgery because they are such a nuisance. If you notice your vision declining you should go talk with your doctor or optometrist. There are several tests they can give you to quickly determine if you have cataracts. A visual acuity test is the standard eye test where you read letters and numbers (like when you get your drivers license). A slit-lamp exam is a specialized microscope that examines your eye closely. Retinal exam is performed by putting special drops into your eye, which dilate your pupils, so the doctor can better see what is going on with your eye lens. The most common treatment for cataracts is surgery. People tend to wait as long as possible before surgery even though it can be performed in the early stages of vision loss. There are several herbs that can help strengthen your eye if you opt out of surgery in the early going. Bilberry is great if you are looking to make your eye capillaries stronger and restore your eyes to their once strong state. Roobios and Sutherlandia Frutescens are very helpful in allowing the body to deliver plenty of oxygen, blood and other nutrients to the eyes. This gives your eyes all they need to be able to recover and become stronger. Vizu-All Plus is a natural remedy that may help maintain healthy eyes and circulatory health. Vizu-All Plus may also help lessen common problems associated with night vision and eye sensitivity often associated with the normal aging process. It is a good idea to use the right type of vitamins or herbs as you advance in age. This will help ensure that you keep your vision well into your golden years. Related Natural Product Vizu-All Plus is a natural, safe, effective and powerful herbal formula containing carefully selected herbs to promote healthy eye functioning and to guard against eye disorders such as cataracts, macular degeneration and visual problems associated with diabetes. Use this remedy to promote healthy eye functioning; counteract cell damage caused by free radicals; strengthen blood capillaries in the eye; help the retina adapt to both dark and light; prevent macular degeneration and cataracts; prevent and treat glaucoma Formulated by a clinical psychologist, Vizu-All Plus is pharmaceutically manufactured to the highest standards.Free PDF Health Ebook...

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Eye Health and Vision Issues

Other Qs & As What is pleurisy? I have been prescribed amoxycillin 500mg three times daily but cannot find any information about this condition or where I got it from. How long will it last and will it affect me in the future? Other times when I got a bad dose of the flu, my breathing has been strained and sore – then I get a cold like a tight band round my chest. Could this be connected or not? Thank you for your email. Pleurisy is simply an inflammation of the membrane that covers your lungs inside your chest. It is usually caused by a lung infection such as pneumonia, which can easily result from a bad cold. The antibiotic you have been prescribed is to remedy just such an infection. Pleurisy is not uncommon and its main symptom is a fairly sharp pain on breathing deeply in following on from having a cold. It usually lasts no more than a week to 10 days once antibiotics have been started, and there is no reason why it should affect you in the future. Some people do seem to have ‘weak’ chests in that infection tends to move downwards from the head onto the lungs fairly easily, but if you are one of these people, having antibiotics by you to take at the first sign of any chestiness is a good idea and preventative. Finally, I would only recommend that you ask your GP to test you for asthma as mild undiagnosed asthma can sometimes be a predisposing factor for pleurisy and also for the feeling of having a tight band around the chest when exercising, suffering from a cold or even breathing cold air. Incidentally, I see that you are taking an anti-inflammatory agent, ibuprofen, for pain in joints as well as cimetidine to prevent inflammation of the lining of the stomach which anti-inflammatory medication can in itself cause. To answer your other question, you should have some investigations for these joint pains to rule out any form of arthritis, and you should not be having repeat prescriptions without these investigations or having your medication reviewed. The NetDoctor Medical Team

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Medical Topics