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|Liftoff to Learning: Lets Talk Robotics - NASA; Johnson Space Center| This episode of Liftoff to Learning examines some of NASA’s robotic research and how robots are used in space exploration. Classroom scenes show robot study at the intermediate and high school level. Astronauts from STS-85 and STS-87 host the show. The program is intended for grades 5-12. To license this film and get a higher quality version for broadcast/film purposes, contact A/V Geeks LLC. Keywords: NASA; robotics; STS-85; STS-87

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Space Exploration and Astronomy

General best practices for performance You must plan for every feature in your app, and the same is true for performance. Planning for performance consists of determining what your performance-critical scenarios will be, defining what good performance means, and measuring early enough in the development process to ensure that you can be confident in your ability to hit your goals. You don't need to completely understand the platform to reason about where you might need to improve performance. By knowing what parts of your code execute most frequently, you can determine the best places to optimize your app. The users' experience is a basic way to define good performance. For example, an app's startup time can influence a user's perception of its performance. A user might consider the performance of an app's launch time of less than one second to be excellent, less than 5 seconds to be good, and greater than 5 seconds to be poor. Sometimes you also have to consider other metrics that don't have a direct impact on the user experience. An example of this is memory consumption. When an app uses large amounts of memory, it takes it from the rest of the system, causing the system as a whole to appear sluggish to the user. It is difficult to have a goal on overall sluggishness of the system, so having a goal on memory consumption is reasonable. When defining your performance goals, take into consideration the perceived size of your app. Users’ expectations for the performance of your app may be influenced by their qualitative perception of how big your app is, and you should take into account whether your users will consider your app to be small, medium, or large. As an example, you might want a small app that doesn't use a lot of media to consume less than 100MB of memory. As part of your plan, you define all of the points during development where you will measure performance. Measuring performance serve different purposes depending on whether measure during the prototyping, development, or deployment phase of your project. In all cases, measure on a representative device so that you get accurate info. For more info about how to measure your app’s performance in Visual Studio, see Analyzing the performance of Windows Windows Store apps. Measuring your app’s performance during the early stages of prototyping can add tremendous value to your project. We recommend that you measure performance as soon as you have code that does meaningful work. Early measurements give you a good idea of where the important costs are in your app, and inform design decisions. This results in high performing apps that scale well. It can be very costly to change design decisions later on in the project. Measuring performance too late in the product cycle can result in last minute hacks and poor performance. Measuring your app’s performance during development time helps you: - Determine if you are on track to meet your goals. - If you are not on track, find out early if you need to make structural changes, such as data representation, in order to get back on track. You don't need to optimize every part of your app, and performance improvements to the majority of your code usually don't result in a material difference to the user. Measure your app's performance to identify the high traffic areas in your code, and focus on getting good performance in only those areas. Often, there is a trade-off between creating software that follows good design practices and writing code that performs at the highest optimization. It is generally better to prioritize developer productivity and good software design in areas where performance is not a concern. Windows 8 can run on many devices under a variety of circumstances and it is impossible for you to simulate all the conditions in which your app will run. Collecting telemetry about your app's performance on user machines can help you understand what your end-users are experiencing. This can be accomplished by adding instrumentation to various parts of your application and occasionally uploading the data to a web service. From this info, you can determine what the average user sees and what the worst and best case performance of your app is. This will help you decide which aspects of performance to focus on for the next version of your app. Let's look at a few key performance best practices that are specific to Windows Store apps. When you create an app, be aware that the type of computer that your users have might have significantly less power than your development environment. Windows 8 was designed with low power devices, such as tablets, in mind. Also, Windows RT uses these same design principles to take advantage of the low power consumption characteristics of ARM-based platforms. Windows Store apps need to do their part to ensure that they perform well on these devices. Operations that seem to run fast on your development machine can have a big impact to the user-experience on a low power device. As a heuristic, expect that a low power device is about 4 times slower than a desktop computer and set your goals accordingly. Testing your app early and often on the type of computer that you expect the user to have allows you to form a realistic understanding of how your users will experience your app. Most of the performance work you do naturally reduces the amount of power your app consumes. The CPU is a major consumer of battery power on devices, even at low utilization. Windows 8 tries to keep the CPU in a low power state when it is idle, but activates it every time you schedule work. You can further reduce your app's consumption of battery power by ensuring that your app doesn't have timers unnecessarily schedule work on the CPU when it is idle. For example, an app might poll for data from web services and sensors (such as the GPS). Consider battery consumption when deciding how often you poll for data. This is also an important consideration for animations that require constant updates to the screen and keep the CPU and graphics pipeline active. Animations can be an effective in delivering a great user experience, but make a conscious choice about when you use them. This is particularly important for data-driven apps where the user may be looking at your app but not interacting with it. For example, a user may spend a while looking at content in a news reader or photo viewer without interacting with the app. It can also be wasteful to use animations in snap mode because the user is not giving the app their full attention. Many apps connect to web services to get new info for the user. Reducing the frequency at which you poll for new info can improve your battery consumption. Reducing memory helps avoid sluggishness and is even more important for Windows Store apps because of the Process Lifetime Management (PLM) system. The PLM system determines which apps to terminate, in part, by the app's memory footprint. By keeping your app's memory footprint low, you reduce the chance of it getting terminated when it is not being used. For example, you can reduce your app’s memory footprint by releasing unnecessary resources such as images on suspend. The PLM system may also choose to swap out your app to disk, and swap it back into memory the next time it is switched to. If you lower the memory footprint of your app it will resume faster. The related topics contain more in-depth performance best-practices for developing Windows Store apps. These best practices cover topics that are likely to be the source of performance issues in your app. But these best practices will only make a difference if they are on performance critical paths of your app. We recommend that you follow the principles on this page and determine if applying these best practices will help you achieve your performance goals. Build date: 11/29/2012

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GNU Project Tools

A new smartphone app aims to provide a cheaper alternative to ultrasound in Africa by bringing an old technique into the 21st century. "We couldn't hear anything,” says Aaron Tushabe, recounting a trip with two friends to the maternity ward of the main hospital in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. The student had been handed an ear-trumpet-like device called a Pinard horn, used to listen for the vital signs of a baby in a mother’s abdomen. Despite straining to hear against the murmur of the ward, Tushabe couldn’t hear any signs. Luckily, the problem was not with the baby, but the combination of what he calls a “rather primitive device”, and his lack of training. In fact, the Pinard horn, named after the French doctor who invented it back in the 19th Century, can be very effective in the right hands. It can determine the age, position and heart rate of the foetus, along with an indication of its overall health. But to do this consistently can take many years of practice. Meanwhile, in developing countries, “a woman dies from complications in childbirth every minute”, according to the UN, while every year “eight million babies die before or during delivery or in the first week of life”. The key to saving those lives, the UN says, is “access to skilled care during pregnancy, childbirth and the first month after delivery”. These kinds of statistics, along with their experience of using the Pinard horn, got the three computer science students thinking about whether they could improve the design. “We saw that technology gap and started thinking about how we might bridge it.” In developed countries, ultrasound is the answer. But these machines – responsible for those fuzzy black and white pictures that are liberally posted on Facebook, brought out at parties, and waived at co-workers when someone becomes pregnant – are expensive. Even if a hospital could afford one, few expectant mothers can afford the $10 scan in countries where many live below the poverty line. And so, a new project called WinSenga was born to build what Joshua Okello, one of the other students who visited the hospital, calls "an enhancement" to the Pinard horn. The new device still consists of a plastic trumpet, but with a highly sensitive microphone inside. The souped-up device, which is placed on a women's abdomen just like a regular horn, connects to a Windows-based phone running an app that, as Okello says, "plays the part of the midwife's ear." The system picks up the foetal heart rate, transmits it to the phone, and then the phone runs an analysis. The app, developed in conjunction with medics for the UN agency Unicef then recommends a course of action, if any, for the mother and her unborn child. "When I first heard the idea, I thought it was brilliant," says Davis Musinguzi, a medic and Unicef advisor. "But being software developers, they needed guidance on the medical component of the application." The doctor says he advised on the medical parameters, procedures and standards that needed to be part of the software. He also says he tried to ensure that the new device wouldn't disrupt the normal workflow of an antenatal visit, but rather help eliminate the bottlenecks. The value of going mobile is pretty clear, allowing carers to visit mothers wherever they are. "We envision a midwife being able to travel to rural areas on specific days, and then mothers could gather in, for example, a local church,” Tushabe says. “Then, the midwife could administer the antenatal diagnosis to all the mothers." Okello, Tushabe and their partner Josiah Kuvuma presented their idea earlier this year at an event sponsored by Microsoft called the Imagine Cup, which aims to solve pressing problems, particularly in the developing world. The event partly inspired the name. The “Win” part comes from the software giant’s own products, Okello tells me, while "Senga" refers to the local name for the aunt who used to help village mothers-to-be with their antenatal care and their births. The team went on to win the regional competition before losing out in the finals held at Sydney. However, the loss has not held them back. The team says they have since been approached for potential partnerships and are currently looking for funding to launch a six-month field trial of their system. If that's successful, then WinSenga could launch as a product. The team says its too early to talk about pricing, but they are heartened by the fact that the cost of smartphone handsets is rapidly dropping across Africa, making their system much more attractive to potential clients. While they wait for funding, the WinSenga team is far from idle. Despite the fact that all three team members still have busy university schedules, they have already launched an expanded version of the software designed to assist healthcare workers and mothers during labour. The group's website also promises a version called "WinSenga Plus", which would assist with postnatal care as well. And as if that isn't enough, WinSenga say they are almost ready to launch an Android version of their application, and will then start work on a version for iOS. The apps are all part of a new movement, says Dr Musinguzi, which is gathering momentum. "The use of mobile technology is a relatively new intervention to improving health services," he says. WinSenga and other devices and apps that are coming on to the market, he says, will have to prove themselves to healthcare professionals by "reducing the burden of doing what they have always done." It will take training and investment, he says, but it "will pay off in the long run”. It is a sentiment that Okello agrees with. "Communities that have healthy mothers are generally much more productive. It's all tied in."

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Health Initiatives

Written By Dan Suthers based on explanations by Scott Ferguson, June Firing, Kyle Hogrefe, and Danny Merritt. Physical Oceanography studies the movement of ocean water (ranging from small scale oscillations to basin-wide flows) and the physical and chemical characteristics of that water (e.g., temperature and salinity). Most research on currents and water characteristics has focused on large scale patterns, such as gyres that flow around ocean basins . Water of different densities does not mix easily. Density depends on temperature and salinity. Therefore, if you measure the temperature and salinity of water at different depths you can track the same body of water as it moves around an ocean basin (e.g., the North Pacific) and even around the globe. In this research, measurements are often taken on a large scale. For example, during a transect a ship might make measurements of water temperature and salinity at different depths, but do so only at every degree of longitude or latitude: about every 60 miles. One square kilometer is a standard resolution for satellites that calculate sea surface temperature. This research helps us understand major influences on reef life, such as transport of warm or cold water, nutrients, and possibly organisms from one region to another. However, the data gathered for oceanography at this scale is not detailed enough to understand how water characteristics influence life at a local level. Reef-specific oceanography studies the currents and water characteristics on a local scale. The topography of a reef--where it's shallow and deep; how it's situated relative to ocean currents and prevailing winds--can influence water temperature and the distribution of nutrients beyond what can be predicted by looking only at large scale currents in the region of the reef. Marine biologists such as those on this expedition study the distribution of marine life on a local scale, comparing for example life at different depths and within and outside an atoll, as well comparing reefs at different locations in the island chain. In order to understand the distribution of life they are seeing, they need reef-specific oceanographic data. Data for reef-specific oceanography is being gathered by taking direct measurements while we are up here, by leaving sensors in place that send their data back by satellite or are retrieved later, and by satellite imagery. The first two forms of data, measured directly on site, help scientists to "ground truth" satellite data: observations in the field are compared to what the satellite sees so that we know how to interpret the images. Reef Oceanography data is being gathered on this expedition by two teams: Night Operations (Scott Ferguson, assisted by Drew Rapp), who operate off the Hi`ialakai; and the Mooring Team (Elizabeth Keenan, Danny Merritt, Stephani Holzwarth, and team leader Kyle Hogrefe), who operate off of the jet boat HI-2. The instruments they use and what they measure are described below. As we consider this diverse collection of instruments we should keep in mind that they are all contributing to the same objective: to have an empirically based model of how ocean water characteristics are distributed across space and time. The most important water characteristic studied from the point of view of reef health is temperature. See our article on coral bleaching for a discussion of how temperature can affect the symbiotic relationship between coral and algae. Reef life is also strongly affected by the availability of nutrients. Both temperature and nutrients, in turn, are affected by the movement of water, so some of the measurements made are intended to give a profile of the bodies of water surrounding reefs. Yearly Water Column Measurements Some measurements are only taken about once a year, when researchers can come up to the locations where the measurements are made. Ship-based CTDs. The Night Operations team conduct Conductivity, Temperature and Depth or "CTD" measurements at several locations around the reef. (They also make observations with a Towed Optical Assessment Device, but this is for unrelated purposes: see the September 18th journal for a brief description.) The CTD deployed by Night Operations is a large device that can reach 500 meters in depth, taking up to five water samples at different depths, and making other measurements on a continuous basis on the the way down and up. Temperature and pressure are measured directly. Salinity is measured indirectly by measuring the conductivity of water to electricity. Chlorophyll is measured indirectly by a fluorometer that emits purple light ("black light") and measures fluorescence in response to that light. These measurements are made continuously, providing a profile of temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll as a function of depth. The photograph shows the dta from a test run of the CTD, including temperature (blue), salinity (red) and density (green). Analysis of the water samples will tell scientists how much chlorophyll is actually in the water. This information can then be compared to the measurements of the flurometer to see how well it predicts levels of chlorophyll. The presence of chlorophyll is a good sign of producivity: the food chain is built on phytoplankton (microscopic plants) that produce food energy from light energy. They are eaten by microscopic zooplankton (floating animals), which in turn are eaten by larger animals, and so on. Shipboard CTD measurements are typically taken at three locations around a given island or atoll: the windward and leeward sides, and at a standard oceanographic "station" assigned to each island or atoll that is being surveyed over a long period of time. There is one such station per each major island or atoll in the NWHI: Nihoa, Necker, French Frigate Shoals, Gardner, Maro Reef, Laysan, Lisanski, Pearl and Hermes, Midway, and Kure. Shallow water CTDs. In order to understand the local reef ecosystem, we need measurements at more locations than just three, and we need to sample in shallower water than the ship can operate in. For these reasons, the oceanographers aboard make other measurements from the HI-2 jetboat. These measurements are taken every mile or two around the island/atoll between the 80 and 120 foot isobath and inside the atolls in a few places as well, providing greater resolution. A handheld CTD device is pictured. Like its big brother, it includes a temperature sensor, a depth sensor, and a conductivity sensor (for salinity). The handheld device also has transmissometer that measures the level of particulate matter in the water (a proxy for turbidity). It does so by shining a light at a sensor and seeing how much of that light gets through the water. These measurements are also made continuously as the device descends and ascends. Unlike the larger version, the small boat CTD does not take water samples and does not have a fluormeter. Separate devices are used for these purposes. Water samples are taken by a handheld device consisting of a tube with spring loaded caps at both ends. The caps are set in the open position so water can flow through the tube as it descends. A weight is then slid down the supporting rope to hit a trigger and close the caps. The sampler is then taken to the surface, where the water is used to first rinse out a sample bottle (to avoid contamination from other water), and then the sample bottle is filled. The bottle is opaque to prevent further modification of the chlorophyll content by light. (Water from the large CTD is also stored in these same bottles.) Water samples are typically taken at three depths, 5, 30 and 60 feet, measured out by marks on the rope holding the sampling device. A radiometer on the small boat plays the role of the fluorometer, and also gives important information about available solar radiation. Two radiometers are coupled together to take readings above and below water. A instrument on the boat reads the amount of light arriving at the ocean surface. Another instrument is put in the water to read the light reflected back from the water. This is compared to the former surface measurement for reference. These measurements are made at light frequencies relevant to photosynthesis. By reading reflected light at certain wavelenghths, scientists can tell how much chlorophyll is in the water. Time Series Measurements The measurements just described provide a lot of detail about the water at a given location and different depths, but only at one or a few points in time: when the scientists can come up here. To fully understand an ecosystem, we need to monitor it over many years. The instruments described in this section record a series of measurements of water characteristics over time. They include CREWS buoys, SST buoys, and SST "pipe bombs." CREWS Buoys. These are large buoys (pictured) that are anchored at a specific location and can send data back daily to scientists via satellite. CREWS stands for Coral Reef Early Warning System, reflecting a major function of these buoys: to warn scientists as soon as possible of an unusual change taking place in the environment of a coral reef ecosystem. These buoys have sensors both in and above the water that measure water and air temperature, water salinity (via conductivity), wind speed, and barometric pressure. A few of them also have radiometers, but these can only be located where staff can get to them every few weeks to clean the sensors. There is one at French Frigate Shoals, serviced by USGS staff on Tern Island. SST Buoys and Pipes. CREWS buoys are large and expensive, so other instruments are also used that measure fewer parameters but can be deployed in more locations. Sea Surface Temperature (SST) buoys are round floating buoys that are anchored in a specific location. They measure water temperature and send this data back at regular intervals via satellite. The "pipe bombs of science" are strapped to the reef at different depths and locations around an atoll. These are set to measure temperature every half an hour, and record it on a data chip. Scientists must come up to the NWHI and retrieve these devices in order to obtain the data. Tracking Water Movement Currents, tides and waves also affect reef life. The mooring team installs two further kinds of instruments to track these parameters. Now we can appreciate why they are always so busy! Wave and Tide Recorders (WTDs), record water pressure with high sensitivity, providing information about waves and tides. (When a wave passes over, or when the tide comes in, there is more water over the instrument and hence more pressure on it.) This instrument measures the tide 48 times a day, and records wave height 8 times a day in the process. Each measurement involves recording the pressure for 18 minutes, and then estimating wave and tide values based on changes in the pressure. They are deployed at 50 to 100 feet. The Ocean Data Platform (ODP) contains temperature and salinity sensors, as well as an Acoustic Doppler Profiler (ADP). The ADP can measure current speed and direction in multiple directions and at different depths. These are placed at 60-100 feet, "hopefully deeper than the wave energy you are trying to study," as Kyle put it after a day of trying to extract an ODP that had somehow flipped and gotten wedged in the rocks! Other instruments used by reef oceanographers are not described here because we don't have them on this expedition. Drifting buoys that follow water at 15 meters depth, measuring GPS position and water temperature over time, were not delivered to Honolulu in time for the expedition due to the hurricanes in Florida. Two other sensors will be installed on the Hi`ialakai later this year: an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler that measures current velocity using the Doppler effect, and a sonar that measures biomass in the water column. Putting It All Together into a Model of the NWHI Visualize, if you will, a three dimensional model of the Northwestern Hawaiian Island chain. Imagine that we have represented this model in a computer such that we can attach the data gathered by the various devices just discussed to the corresponding location in the model. Now imagine that we can move a slider or use a play/fast forward/rewind control like on a video recorder to move this model through time, so we can store data taken at different times as well as different places. In other words, we have organized all the data collected in a four dimensional "space," where the first three dimensions are for the location of the various sensors discussed above (latitude, longitude, and depth) and the fourth dimension is for time. In some places in this model, we will have detailed information such as temperature, salinity, chlorophyll and light levels, etc., measured continuously over a number of years. In other places we will have only temperature, and in some places we have measurements only once a year. Finally, in most places we have no measurements at all! But we have taken our measurements at enough locations that we can "interpolate" or predict mathematically the values the measures would be at the points in between those we actually took. In some places and times we have different measures of the same thing. For example, we have the actual chlorophyll content of water and the estimate of that content taken by a radiometer or fluorometer; or we have the actual temperature and the estimated temperature taken by satellite. We can see how close these measurements are to each other, to better understand how we can use less expensive measures (such as a satellite) to estimate parameters that otherwise would require more expensive measures (sending people to the actual locations). All of this data organized in space and time provides a physical model of the ocean environment of reef ecosystems. Marine biologists can use this model to understand what is affecting the prevalence and health of the various organisms of the reef. We will see how marine biologists find out what organisms are present in another article. Garrison (2002)

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Polar and Climate Topics

Preprocessing of Educational Institution Web Log Data for Finding Frequent Patterns Using Weighted Association Rule Mining Technique In the Internet world, web search is mandatory to all. Millions of searches performed for each second in a web and that search information are stored in Web Server Log. Web Log data are massive and erroneous stream data. Handling huge data and incorrect data processing are two significant problems in Web Data Mining. Processing of huge data is a complex task, which increases processing time and memory occupation that will reduce the performance of the system. Incorrect data sometimes produce an erroneous result that reduces the quality of data. To handle this problem web Miner's has introduced several preprocessing methods to reduce the log data size and to eliminate incorrect records, which lead to improved quality, quantity and performance.

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Technology and Computing

Games, Interactivity, and Playable Media Games, Interactivity, and Playable Media spans offerings in visual arts, film and media, and computer science to foster technical and digital literacy in the arts. Designed for experimentation, this initiative helps students establish digital proficiency while supporting the exploration of a wide range of new media forms and technologies. Courses of study might include visual programming, artificial intelligence, gaming, robotics, experimental animation, computer arts, experimental media design, data visualization, real-time interactivity, digital signal processing, cross-platform media environments, and mobile media development. Students are encouraged to coordinate these project-based investigations of the digital throughout their studies in the humanities, including literature, philosophy, politics, sociology, theatre, and writing.

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Assistive Technology in Education

What is Bereavement? Bereavement coincides with the imminent dying and death of the individual and consists of two stages: separation and mourning. Separation occurs when the loved one’s consciousness diminishes and awareness of the environment vanishes. At this time, the family fully experiences their loss and the loneliness of separation. Self-absorption is the hurdle for the family to overcome now. Hospice intervention is directed toward promoting intimacy, if family members are to be supported in their ability to grieve within their family network. Mourning begins when the reality of impending death hits. The obstacle for the family to overcome here is guilt. Human grief is as strong and as unique as the relationship that has been severed. Grief is a personal experience, different for each member of a family who is grieving over the loss of the same person. Hospice intervention is geared toward fostering relief expressed through mourning. The family members may have reached the limits of their own endurance and may initially confess relief that their loved one has died and that they remained with the person through that time. Echoes from previous losses may then surface, and these mournings, if uncompleted, may hinder relief. The mourning process is relieved only when the deceased person enriches the continued family life. Hospice provides bereavement services for the patient’s family/caregiver. This includes telephone calls, visits, letters, support groups, and an annual memorial service. The family needs continuing support to help move through their mourning process. A special bereavement program offered to the general community is Wings! Camp for Grieving Children. Because of their limited life experiences, and lack of coping skills, children may find the grief process very difficult. At Wings!, children between the ages of 8 and 17 learn, in a safe and caring environment, that their feelings are normal and an important part of the healing process. Grief-related activities are conducted in small groups led by trained counselors. Children are encouraged to express themselves through arts and crafts.

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Mindfulness and Well-being

Jump to:Page Content Susan Greenhalgh, , Professor of Anthropology, Harvard Since the introduction of the 1-child policy in 1980, the gender gap among Chinese infants has soared, leaving China with a huge surplus of boys and deficit of girls. Today, as the first generation of singletons begins to marry in large numbers, 10 percent of men – mostly rural, ill-educated peasants – will not be able to find brides. How has the PRC regime sought to address these problems? What framings and measures has it used, and with what effect? In this talk, anthropologist Greenhalgh argues that state policy on the gender gap has been heavily biased in favor of rural women, with the result that older rural men, dubbed "bare sticks," now face social marginalization, political exclusion from the category of deserving citizens, and the prospect of reproductive extinction. In Chinese population politics, the woman question has become a serious man question, to the benefit of none. Lunch will be provided. An RSVP is not required as this is an open event.

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India Cultural Highlights

Biochemical Conversion Processes The diagram below depicts a high-level view of the primary units of operation in the biochemical conversion process. Specific process operation conditions, and inputs and outputs within and between each unit, vary in practice. These process variations can impact the key performance outcomes (titer, rate, and yield), which determine economic viability when the process is scaled up. The following descriptions highlight issues in each key process step. During pretreatment, biomass feedstock undergoes a process to mechanically or chemically fractionate the lignocellulosic complex into soluble and insoluble components. Soluble components include mixtures of five- and six-carbon sugars (mainly xylose, arabinose, mannose, galactose, and glucose) and some sugars oligomers. Insoluble components include cellulosic polymers and oligomers and lignin (and any other components that may be linked to the constituents). Depending on the exact chemistry chosen for this step, variable amounts of the biomass may be solubilized. The main purpose of this step is to open up the physical structure of the plant cell walls to permit further deconstruction during the hydrolysis stepyea. The more open structure of the resulting material makes the remaining carbohydrate polymers more accessible for hydrolytic conversion to soluble sugars by enzymes or chemicals. The specific mix of sugars and oligomers released depends on the feedstock used and the pretreatment technology employed. In some process configurations, the pretreated material goes through a hydrolysate conditioning and/or neutralization process to adjust the pH of the biomass slurry and remove undesirable by-product from pretreatment that are toxic to the downstream fermenting microorganism. In some cases, this step and hydrolysis, the next step, are combined into a single process. In hydrolysis, the pretreated material, with the remaining solid carbohydrate fraction, primarily cellulose, is guided through a chemical reaction that releases the readily fermentable sugar, glucose. This can be accomplished with enzymes, such as cellulases, or with strong acids. Addition of other enzymes in this step, such as xylanases, may allow for less severe pretreatment conditions, potentially resulting in a reduced overall pretreatment and hydrolysis cost. Depending on the process design, enzymatic hydrolysis requires several hours to several days, after which the mixture of sugars and any unreacted cellulose is transferred to the fermenter. Current processes use purchased enzymes or enzymes manufactured on site, based on the economics of the specific process. For technologies using strong acids, acid recovery is important for the economics to be viable. Currently, the most common approach to biological processing is to employ a fermentation step, wherein an inoculum of a fermenting microorganism is added to the biomass hydrolysates. Fermentation of all sugars is then carried out, and after a few days of continued saccharification and fermentation, nearly all of the sugars are converted to biofuels or other chemicals of interest. The resulting aqueous mixture or two-phase broth is sent to product recovery. Some processes combine the hydrolysis and fermentation steps (i.e., simultaneous saccharification and fermentation [SSF]). Chemical or catalytic conversion can be used in place of, or in addition to, fermentation to convert the hydrolysis products, such as sugars, alcohols, or a variety of other stable oxygenates, to desired end products. The addition of a catalyst makes the reaction less energy intensive, thus making the entire process more efficient. Different reactions achieve different yields and intermediates while targeting different end fuels and chemicals, so current research is aimed at identifying optimal process combinations with respect to efficiency, feedstock utilization, cost, sustainability, finished product characteristics, and anticipated market demands. Product Upgrading and Recovery Product upgrading and recovery varies based on the type of conversion used and the type of product generated, but in general, involves any biological and chemical transformations, distillation or any other separation and recovery method, and some cleanup processes to separate the fuel from the water and residual solids. Residual solids are composed primarily of lignin, which can be burned for combined heat and power generation or chemically converted to intermediate chemicals or intermediates for other uses.

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Waste Reduction and Recycling

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR Published: November 21, 2006 THE CLAIM -- Pricking a stroke victim's fingers can help delay symptoms. THE FACTS -- A recent, widely circulated e-mail message proposes an unusual way to help the victim of a stroke. ''Help the victim sit up to prevent him from falling over,'' the message states. ''Then sterilize a needle and use it to prick the tip of the person's finger. After a few minutes, the victim should regain consciousness.'' The message says that doing this somehow relieves blood pressure and eases symptoms. Like most medical advice dispensed in the form of a chain e-mail message, it has no scientific basis. In fact, following its advice can do harm. Forcing a stroke victim to sit up is never a good idea, because it can cause a drop in blood pressure, says Dr. Larry B. Goldstein, director of the Duke Stroke Center. It would be better to help the person lie down. Pricking the victim's finger is also a bad idea, not only because it is futile, but because doing so can delay medical treatment, which is the only thing that can help. THE BOTTOM LINE -- Only emergency medical treatment can help a stroke victim. ANAHAD O'CONNOR Drawing (Drawing by Leif Parsons)

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Health and Wellness Tips

Science Fair Project Encyclopedia He joined the Parcham faction of the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in 1965. Despite being regarded as an intelligent man, he was referred to as Najib-e Gaw (the Bull) by his opponents due to his physique. The PDPA staged a successful coup in 1978, but the Khalq faction of the PDPA gained supremacy, and after a brief stint as ambassador in Tehran, Najibullah was dismissed from government and went into exile in Europe. He returned to Kabul after the Soviet invasion in 1979. In 1980, he was appointed the head of KHAD, the secret police. Under Najibullah's control, it is claimed that KHAD arrested, tortured and executed tens of thousands of Afghans. Najibullah replaced Babrak Karmal as Afghanistan's President in 1986. After the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, he withstood a coup headed by his defence minister in 1990 and relaxed his autocratic control to gain support. But by 1992 Najibullah agreed to step down in favor of a transitional government. Najibullah tried to flee Kabul, but his departure was blocked by Abdul Rashid Dostum. Najibullah sought sanctuary in the UN compound in Kabul. He remained there until September 1996 when the Taliban captured Kabul. The Taliban dragged Najibullah from the UN compound and hanged him from a traffic light post in the streets of the capital. The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details

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African Historical Insights

December 19, 2012 Share Email Print Kate Wong is an editor and writer at Scientific American covering paleontology, archaeology and life sciences. Follow on Twitter PALEO DIET: Analyses of tartar on the teeth of Australopithecus sediba show that this early human species ate bark and other unexpected foods. Image: Kate Wong Recent years have brought considerable riches for those of us interested in human evolution and 2012 proved no exception. New fossils, archaeological finds and genetic analyses yielded thrilling insights into the shape of the family tree, the diets of our ancient predecessors, the origins of art and advanced weaponry, the interactions between early Homo sapiens and other human species, and other facets of our ancestors’ lives. The list below highlights the discoveries that most captivated me in a year of revelations about the way we were. Did I miss your favorite? Let me know in the comments. - A 3.4 million-year-old fossil foot suggests a second lineage of hominins (creatures more closely related to us than to our closest living relatives, chimpanzees) may have lived alongside Lucy’s kind and spent more time in the trees than on the ground. - Fossils from Kenya dating to between 1.87 million and 1.95 million years ago rekindle debate over whether our own genus, Homo, split into multiple lineages early on. - Analysis of tartar, molar wear and tooth chemistry in the nearly two-million-year-old hominin known as Australopithecus sediba shows that it had an unexpected diet, including tree bark. - A shift in the technology and diet of early Homo around two million years ago may have doomed large carnivores - Tiny bits of burned plants and bone from a South African cave show that humans had tamed fire by 1 million years ago–some 600,000 year earlier than had previously been documented. - Our ancestors began making multicomponent tools in the form of deadly stone-tipped spears 500,000 years ago—200,000 years earlier than previously thought. - Cave paintings in Spain are the oldest in the world and are sufficiently ancient to be the creations of Neandertals. - Neandertals hunted birds for their fashionable feathers for thousands of years and may have exploited certain plants for their medicinal properties–compelling evidence that our hominin cousins were cognitively sophisticated. - Reconstructed genome of the Denisovans–an enigmatic group of archaic hominins—confirms that early Homo sapiens interbred with them and reveals new details of their genetic legacy. - Whole-genome sequencing of modern hunter-gatherers from Africa turns up loads of previously unknown genetic variants and indicates that early Homo sapiens interbred with another hominin species long ago in Africa. - Paleoanthropology’s hobbit, a tiny hominin species called Homo floresiensis, gets a new face thanks to forensic reconstruction–and the result is startlingly familiar. - Stone tools and preserved poop from Oregon add to mounting evidence that the early human colonization of the Americas was more complex than scholars once envisioned. - Study finds that mom’s metabolism—not the size of the pelvis—limits gestation length to nine months, providing a new explanation for why humans give birth to helpless babies. About the Author: Kate Wong is an editor and writer at Scientific American covering paleontology, archaeology and life sciences. Follow on Twitter @katewong Rights & Permissions

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Fossil Discoveries and Insights

Balmoral Castle is in Aberdeenshire – and is usually known as The Queen’s private residence in Scotland – while the rest of the family enjoy the estate with their grandparents. |Balmoral Castle in 1854 painted| by Queen Victoria during its Queen Victoria had, in 1848, found the house “small but pretty”, and recorded in her diary that: “All seemed to breathe freedom and peace, and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils”. Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s Prince Consort, bought it in 1852 and in the following years had it rebuilt in white granite as a castellated mansion in Scottish baronial style. The grounds were laid out by Prince Albert in the 1850s and planted out as parterre gardens with rare conifers, while plantations were established around the house. |South front of Balmoral Castle| The couple took a great interest in their staff setting up a lending library; while they also encouraged new ideas ... developed a model dairy, which was completed by the Queen after her husband’s death in 1861. Near the Castle the Queen created her cottage garden around a private house, known as the Garden Cottage, while later in the 1920s Queen Mary, George V’s wife, altered it to include a sunken garden. |Edward VII relaxing at Balmoral| photographed by his wife, Alexandra In our present Queen’s reign (1952 - ....) the Duke of Edinburgh, her husband, has improved the gardens – redesigning the herbaceous borders, planting up a shrubbery around the river and adding a water garden near Victoria’s Garden Cottage. |North-West corner of Balmoral Castle| Today it is a working estate – deer stalking, grouse shoots, forestry and farming are the main land uses, while there are tours to be booked, and cottages to rent. The Castle, gardens and exhibitions (especially in this Diamond Jubilee Year) are open to the public from April to July. Queen Victoria (1837 - 1901) in her journals described Balmoral as “my dear paradise in the Highlands” ... That is B for Balmoral Castle ... a Scottish baronial castellated mansion built for Queen Victoria in the 1850s; now managed by the Balmoral Estates ... part of the ABC series Aspects of British Castles By the way I meant to add yesterday - that Bob Scotney is also doing Castles - his A was for Amberley - should you wish to visit ... Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

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History and Geography Topics

Mount Hope Cemetery: Restoring history If you visit the Chinese Immigrant Memorial at Mount Hope Cemetery in Mattapan, Mass, you will notice that a lot of the headstones are in poor condition. This is due to aging, but it is also because of vandalism and lack of care for many years. Many of these headstones belong to the Chinese immigrants that created the Chinatown that we are able to enjoy today. The first Chinese settlers of Boston Chinatown came from San Francisco, Ca, to North Adams, MA around the 1870s. These settlers consisted of about 75 workers who started working at the Sampson Shoe Factory in North Adams and later traveled to Boston. Chinese laundries and Chinese restaurants were soon established along Harrison Avenue. Overtime, Chinatown slowly began to evolve to include many other infamous streets such as Kneeland Street and Hudson Street. Like many immigrants, the Chinese Settlers came to the United States for a better life for themselves and their family. Unfortunately, many of the early settlers were bachelors who did not have families in the United States nor were they able to have a family before they deceased. Many of these settlers that passed away were buried in Mount Hope. Without family members, these headstones remained in Mount Hope Cemetery for decades without proper care. As any item with age, the heads stone deteriorated and some were even vandalized. Perhaps, it was fate for us to keep our history when the cemetery experienced financial burden which led the city to contact the Chinatown community. This attention was brought to two active members of the Chinatown community, Davis Woo and David S.Y. Wong, in 1989. And in 1992, when The Chinese Historical Society of New England (CHSNE) was established, they began the project to restore history. CHSNE and along with many efforts of volunteers had started a project in hopes to restore these burial grounds, build a memorial alter, and find a way to restore the damaged tombstones. With ambition and hard work, CHSNE and volunteers alike were able to raise an amazing amount of money. On March 2007, the Chinese Immigrant Memorial was complete. Although the Chinese Immigrant Memorial is complete, many efforts are still involved in this project. Every year, a group of students from UMASS Boston (UMB), led by Peter Kiang, Director of the Asian American Studies Program at UMB and co-president of CHSNE, try to maintain and clean the Chinese Immigrant Memorial. In addition, since the tombstones are privately owned by the descendants of the Chinese setters, it is considered private property. Currently, efforts are being made to contact these descendants. However, if efforts has been made but failed, these tombstones could be replaced. For more information or if you would like to volunteer, please contact CHSNE: (617)338-4339 or email@example.com. This post is also available in: Chinese

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Indigenous Rights and Reconciliation

Lier Psychiatric Hospital (Lier Psykiatriske Sykehus or Lier Asyl in Norweigan) in Norway, has a long history as an institution. The sickest people in the society was stowed away here and went from being people to be test subjects in the pharmaceutical industry’s search for new and better drugs. The massive buildings house the memory of a grim chapter in Norwegian psychiatric history the authorities would rather forget. UPDATE: When you have read this post you might be interested in reading my report one year later! The buildings welcome you Many of the patients never came out again alive and many died as a result of the reprehensible treatment. It was said that the treatment was carried out voluntarily, but in reality the patients had no self-determination and the opportunity to make their own decisions. Must be creepy at night There is little available information about the former activities at Lier Hospital. On this page (In Norwegian) you can read more about the experiments that were carried out on this Norwegian mental hospital in the postwar period from 1945 to 1975. It’s about the use of LSD, electroshock, brain research funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and drug research sponsored by major pharmaceutical companies. It is perhaps not surprising that they try to forget this place and the events taking place here. Chair in room One of many rooms Things that is left behind including bath tub It was also performed lobotomy here. That’s a procedure that involves knocking a needle-like object into the eye socket and into the patients head to cut the connection between the anterior brain lobes and the rest of the brain. Lobotomy was primarily used to treat schizophrenia but also as a soothing treatment for other disorders. The patients who survived were often quiet, but generally this surgery made the patients worse. Today lobotomy is considered barbaric and it is not practiced in Norway. From a window Lier Psyciatric Hospital, or Lier Asylum as it was called originally, was built in 1926 and had room for nearly 700 patients at the most. In 1986, many of the buildings were closed and abandoned and they still stand empty to this day. Some of the buildings are still in operation today for psychiatric patients. Exterior of the A building Desinfection bath tub These photos are from my visit there as a curios photographer. The place was clearly ravaged by the youths, the homeless and drug addicts who have infiltrated the buildings during its 23 years of abandonment. On net forums people has written up and down about ghost stories and the creepy atmosphere. I was curious how I would experience the place myself. But I found it was pretty quiet and peaceful. I went there during the day so I understand that during nighttime, one should look far for a more sinister place. The floor consisted of a lot of broken glass and other debris. View through window A pile with electrical boxes or something These days, there has been provided money to demolish the. 15 million NOKs is the price. Neighbors cheer but the historic, photographers and ghost hunting kids think it’s sad. This is the most visited, and just about the only and largest urban exploration site in Norway. I have read and recommend Ingvar Ambjørnsen first novel, “23-Salen”, which is about when he worked as a nurse at Lier Psychiatric Hospital for one year. The book provides insight into how life for patients and nurses turned out in one of the worst wards. The famous motorized wheelchair Doorways and peeling paint Top floor, view to the roof and empty windows Disused stairs outside

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Historical Events and Figures

Seven miles to the south west of Sheffield there's a piece of wild moorland surrounded by roads. It's called Big Moor. I estimate that if you circumnavigated it on foot by the boundary roads it would take you over seven hours. In spite of its wild appearance, Big Moor was once home to generations of neolithic people. They built at least three significant stone circles, several cairns, dwelling houses and field systems. This was in days when there were still wolves in the British Isles, long before the Romans introduced rabbits and horse chestnut trees and in a time when there were no horses or wheat or potatoes. Life must have been very hard. By the middle ages, the stone circle builders had gone but the country had very few roads and most travel was still on foot. Trading tracks began to criss-cross the land and on Big Moor several stone posts or stoops were erected to guide travellers and traders across the difficult terrain with its bogs and dips, rivulets and hardy moorland vegetation. Mick Jagger's surname harks back to the jaggers of yesteryear - hardy men who carried heavy packs - they were pedlars and hawkers. The verb "to jag" meant to pack or to carry. When good roads were built and roadworthy coaches developed, the jaggers disappeared but their paths and their guideposts were left behind. In the nineteenth century, as the importance of clean, reliable water supplies became more obvious, many reservoirs were constructed across England and on Big Moor you can see the location of Barbrook Reservoir which is now disused. |Barbrook II stone circle| |Highland cattle avoiding the hot British sunshine| |One of the remote guideposts on Big Moor| |Another one - taller, more weathered| |Perhaps an old cross in the middle of the moor - not marked on maps|

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History and Geography Topics

The unity between a man and a woman in marriage is an expression of the spiritual relationship that God desires His creation to realize with Him. The first marriage occurred nearly 6,000 years ago in the Garden of Eden, in the area of the world that we now know as the Middle East. The first couple was Adam and Eve, and the Lord Jesus specified that it was male and female that God joined together in marriage for life. (Matthew 19:4-6) Marriage has been practised as such in most cultures across geography and time. Marriage is a life-long commitment, and typically this involves a public ceremony (a wedding) in which vows are exchanged by the parties and before God. Approximately half of all traditional marriages in America end in divorce, many due to Facebook and other liberal activities. Dinesh D'Souza wrote: - Marriage requires a) two people who are b) of legal age and c) not closely related to each other who are d) one male and one female. Note that this definition excludes people who want to marry children, or guys who want to marry their sisters, or Muslims who want to take four wives, or that strange guy who wants to marry his dog. Bill Bennett wrote: - Based as it is on the principle of complementarity, marriage is also about a great deal more than love. That "great deal" encompasses, above all, procreation. The timeless function of marriage is childbearing and child-rearing, and the best arrangement ever developed to that end is the marital union between one man and one woman ... What Bennett's words ultimately imply is that, in terms of the value of marriage to anything which stands outside of it, marriage is most principally for the production of additional marriages, and, thus, is a progressive type of scale-invariance such as the Mandelbrot fractal. So, marriage is the most glorious kind of relation between human individuals because it alone is what most essentially defines humanity. The good of humanity is defined as an integration of all naturally enduring mutual benefits between all free individuals. But, all those benefits are created-and-sustained by the existence of marriage as that one relation for the preservation of which is invoked the most special legal recognition, because... ...Marriage not only historically is the very first form of human society, it is logically the most beautiful, perfect, simple, and potentially productive human institution possible. Biblical marriage advice 1 Corinthians 7:1-16: |“||Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But this I say by way of concession, not of command. Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife. But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?||”| Modern marriage licenses In the present-day United States, "getting married" typically involves a marriage license issued by the state government or a subdivision thereof (e.g., a county). However, marriage licenses are nowhere mentioned in Scripture; in fact, they are a relatively recent innovation and originally applied only to marriages that were otherwise forbidden. Definition of marriage For Christians, marriage has traditionally been seen as "a union that takes its distinctive character from being founded, unlike other friendships, on bodily unity of the kind that sometimes generates new life." As such, marriage is the one and only form of companionship from which all other forms spring: it is the single irreducible core of society. Modern history of marriage law - 1724 - blacks, with permission of their slave owner, given the right to marry (formerly, under British law, only whites could legally marry) - 1769 - women no longer considered property of their husbands - 1899 - polygamy outlawed in the US - 1967 - interracial marriage legalized in all states - 1981 - rise of community property laws as men no longer seen as the sole owner of all marital assets Attacks on the institution of marriage Any society which has lessened the sanctity of marriage has perished, whereas those that have upheld the sanctity of marriage have endured. It has been argued that Ancient Rome's decline and its eventual fall in A.D. 476 were due in no small part to a growing tolerance of extramarital sex, particularly of homosexual acts, beginning in the Late Republic period ending in 27 B.C. Since the middle of the 20th century, Liberalism has sought to dismantle the societal pressures that dissuade people from engaging in extramarital and premarital sex. Removing the stigma from these behaviors, creating no-fault divorce laws, exalting adultery as liberating, rejuvenating, and "stimulating", and especially the de-stigmatizing of homosexuality all weaken the institution of marriage. A recent Newsweek article complained that Biblical figures have not provided good historical examples of marriage, noting that Abraham begat Ishmael by a maidservant and Jacob had two wives and had sons with both of their servants. The article also criticizes Jesus and St. Paul for remaining single. - ↑ Marriage between the sexes is a covenant, not a contract. Since time immemorial, some men disposed of a wife (woman) after her childbearing years to pursue a younger female consort. God, being a defender of women, ordained marriage by his perfect will to protect women's rights and not allow a man (male) to abandon them to homelessness and poverty with no marketable job skills other than homemaking or child rearing. This however, is not the only reason the covenant of marriage evolved between the sexes. - ↑ See also Perfect will of God vs Permissive will of God. - ↑ Article 7, "The sacrament of matrimony" - ↑ "Basic Beliefs," Southern Baptist Convention - ↑ "Marriage" - ↑ Albert Barnes, Matthew 19 - ↑ Matthew Henry, Matthew 19 - ↑ "Because there is a natural complementarity between men and women - sexual, emotional, temperamental, spiritual - marriage allows for a wholeness and a completeness that cannot be won in any other way. (Bill Bennett, The Broken Hearth, Page 197) - ↑ Divorce is within the permissive will of God, Deut. 22:13; divorce however, is due to sin entering the world, which God is willing to redeem. God himself in fact is divorced from Israel (Jer. 3:8-14; see also Is. 54:5), or for that matter, all unredeemed sinners. - ↑ Gay Rights vs. Democracy - ↑ The Broken Hearth, Page 197) - ↑ Scale-invariance as a unifying psychological principle; 1999 - ↑ Information on marriage licenses from Mercy Seat Christian Church - ↑ Gay Marriage, Democracy, and the Courts - ↑ Is there anyone left to defend traditional marriage? - ↑ http://www.newsweek.com/id/172653/page/1 - Form of Solemnization of Matrimony, an example of a traditional marriage service - Civil marriage - Marriage in the Unification Church - Essay: The Irreducible Core of Politics

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Criminal Justice and Law

Juvenile striped bass spawned in the Chesapeake Bay were at a record low at the end of the summer. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources recently completed its annual young of the year survey and found far fewer juvenile fish than a year ago. Scientists believe the factors are more tied to unusually warm weather conditions in the Chesapeake than to the number of adult fish spawning in the bay. The annual survey of fish spawned in the summer is called the young of the year index, and is used to gauge the health of stocks born in that year. The annual index, collected over more than 50 years, has had many highs and lows. This year’s index, the lowest recorded, was .89. Last year’s index of 11.9 was the fourth highest. Nearly all striped bass found in Vineyard waters come from the Chesapeake. It can take from four to six years for a female striped bass to reach sexual maturity. Dan McKiernan, deputy director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, called the low index troubling and said it may be tied to environmental factors, since the water temperature in Chesapeake Bay was especially high this summer. Mr. McKiernan said the number of adults spawning in the bay didn’t change that much from last year. He said the index shows how well those juvenile fish survived by the end of the summer, not how many fish were spawned. “What it tells you is that there is high variability. You see a swinging pendulum. I am not a climatologist, but it would seem that the wild swings are tied to the environment,” Mr. McKiernan said. “Whether you look at the temperature of the water or the amount of rainfall, you’ve got dramatic swings . . . the Chesapeake Bay had one of the hottest years,” he added. Mike Armstrong, a fisheries biologist and assistant director of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, underscored the significance of the striped bass fishery. “It is the recreational fishery in Massachusetts,” he said. “We live and die by the health of striped bass, so we are watching the stocks like hawks.” The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a regional government agency, has been monitoring the striped bass fishery closely since stocks collapsed 30 years ago. Recently, the commission decided to take steps to tighten controls on management of the fishery. The abundance of striped bass is not determined by a single year class, Mr. Armstrong said, but by watching larger trends. “We are not pushing the panic button. But if we have three years in a row like this, then we push the panic button,” the fisheries biologist said. Also, new trends were observed this summer. Mr. Armstrong said fishermen saw many more schoolie-sized striped bass in Massachusetts waters than would normally be expected. He said scientists are wondering whether the large 2011 year class still swimming in the Chesapeake Bay had something to do with the change by pushing the larger juvenile fish out into the Atlantic. Janet Messineo of Vineyard Haven, an avid fisherman and past president of the Martha’s Vineyard Surfcasters Association, confirmed the trend from her experience fishing the derby this fall. “There were more small fish out there,” she said. “We should be concerned [about the low index] but I think we really need to make sure that the fish are in a healthy ecosystem,” she added. “Right from the get-go, we should be thinking of the bait, from microorgansims to bunker [menhaden, a valuable bait fish that has been characterized as overfished and in need of restoration]. We cannot go crazy over just one species. We have to look at the whole picture if we want a healthy fishery.” She continued: “The good thing I saw [this year] was that there were bunker. I haven’t seen bunker in a lot of years. One of the problems with striped bass we’ve seen in the past is that they were skinny and emaciated. This year we saw healthier fish. My concern isn’t that there be a large number of fish out there. I think we should be concerned that they have food to eat.”

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Marine Life Studies

Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is an uncommon condition characterized by frequent, persistent, and severe vomiting and nausea during pregnancy. As a result, you may be unable to take in a sufficient amount of food and fluids. It can cause a weight loss of more than 5% of your pre-pregnancy body weight. This can also cause dehydration and vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Treatment may require hospitalization. HG is a more severe form of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP), also called morning sickness. Morning sickness affects anywhere between 50% to 90% of pregnant women. HG is estimated to occur in 0.5%-2% of pregnancies. There are many theories about the causes of HG, but none have been confirmed. HG is a complex disease that is likely caused by many factors. Some of these include: The Brain May Be Cause of Nausea Copyright © Nucleus Medical Media, Inc. Some researchers have found that the following factors increase your chance of developing HG. If you have any of these risk factors, tell your doctor: The following list of symptoms are general and may be caused by other, less serious health conditions. However, if you experience any one of them, call your physician to discuss your condition. Symptoms may include: Your doctor will ask about your symptoms and medical history. A physical exam will be done. Tests may include the following: Treating HG symptoms early in pregnancy can make you less sick in the long run and can decrease recovery time. Because HG is caused by many factors that vary among women, it is difficult to find a treatment that works for everyone. Talk with your doctor about the best treatment plan for you. Treatment options include the following: Try to eat frequent, small meals, bland or dry foods, high-protein choices. Reducing nausea, and thus allowing eating and drinking, will hasten recovery. Due to the risk of stating that a drug is safe for use during pregnancy, very few pharmaceutical manufacturers will say that their drugs are intended for a pregnancy condition like HG (examples: promethazine or prochlorperazine). However, doctors often recommend that women with HG take certain anti-nausea medicines, balancing the potential benefits and risks. Talk to your doctor about the right medicines for you. A common and safe remedy is to take supplemental vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), to a maximum of 100 mg/day. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that first-line treatment of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy should start with pyridoxine with or without doxylamine. Pyridoxine has been found to be effective in significantly reducing severe vomiting. In urgent visit situations, HG can be managed by IV fluids and vitamins. This can sometimes be done without hospitalization. Very rarely, some people require IV fluids throughout the entire pregnancy. If you are unable to tolerate food by mouth, you may need to receive nutrition by vein. This is called parenteral nutrition. A special kind of catheter is placed in a large vein and liquid nutrition is given. This can sometimes be done without hospitalization. In extreme cases, induced abortion may be considered. If you are diagnosed with HG, follow your doctor's instructions. Many of the conditions that lead to HG are not preventable. It is unknown why some women without those conditions develop HG. You can try to reduce your nausea during pregnancy by: The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation National Organization for Rare Diseases The Canadian Women's Health Network The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) ACOG issues guidance on the treatment of morning sickness during pregnancy. American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology website. Available at: http://www.acog.org/About_ACOG/News_Room/News_Releases/2004/ACOG_Issues_Guidance_on_Treatment_of_Morning_Sickness_During_Pregnancy. Accessed August 20, 2011. Acupuncture. EBSCO Natural and Alternative Treatments website. Available at: http://www.ebscohost.com/healthLibrary. Updated January 2009. Accessed January 19, 2009. Beers MH, Berkow R, eds. The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy. 17th ed. Whitehouse Station, NJ: Merck Research Laboratories; 1999. Burrow GN, Duffy TP, eds. Medical Complications During Pregnancy. 5th ed. Philadelphia, PA: WB Saunders Company; 1999. Cunningham FG, Gilstrap LC, Gant NF, Hauth JC, Leveno KJ, Wenstrom KD, eds. Williams Obstetrics. 21st ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2001. Ferri, Fred, ed. Ferri’s Clinical Advisor 2010. 1st ed. Philadelphia: Mosby Elsevier, 2009. Gabbe SG, Niebyl JR, Simpson JL. Obstetrics: Normal and Problem Pregnancies. 5th ed. United Kingdom: Churchill Livingstone; 2007. Gastroenterology Clinics of North America. Philadelphia, PA: WB Saunders. Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation website. Available at: http://www.helpher.org. Kasper DL, Braunwald E, Fauci AS, Hauser SL, Longo DL, Jameson JL, eds. Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. 16th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc; 2005. Mahan LK, Escott-Stump S, eds. Krause’s Food, Nutrition, and Diet Therapy. 10th ed. Philadelphia, PA: WB Saunders Company; 2000. Marx J, et al. Rosen's Emergency Medicine. 7th ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby, Inc., 2009. National Organization for Rare Diseases website. Available at: http://www.rarediseases.org Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. EBSCO DynaMed website. Available at: https://dynamed.ebscohost.com. Updated October 2010. Accessed October 25, 2010. Quinlan JD, Hill DA. Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy. Am Fam Physician. 2003;68:121-128. American Family Physician website. Available at: http://www.aafp.org/afp/20030701/121.html. Accessed August 12, 2005. Sadock BJ, Sadock VA, eds. Kaplan and Sadock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry. 9th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins; 2003. Wise MG, Rundell JR, eds. The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry: Psychiatry in the Medically Ill. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.; 2002. Last reviewed September 2012 by Andrea Chisholm Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Copyright © 2012 EBSCO Publishing All rights reserved. What can we help you find?close ×

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Diabetes Management and Awareness

Three-dimensional printing is being used to make metal parts for aircraft and space vehicles, as well as industrial uses. Now NASA is building engine parts with this technique for its next-generation heavy-lift rocket. The agency says that its Space Launch System (SLS) will deliver new abilities for science and human exploration outside Earth's orbit by carrying the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew vehicle, plus cargo, equipment, and instruments for science experiments. It will also supply backup transportation to the International Space Station, and it will even go to Mars. NASA is using 3D printing to build engine parts for its next-generation Space Launch System. Shown here is the first test piece produced on the M2 Cusing Machine at the Marshall Space Flight Center. (Source: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center/Andy Hardin) NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is using a selective laser melting (SLM) process to produce intricate metal parts for the SLS rocket engines with powdered metals and the M2 Cusing machine, built by Concept Laser of Germany. NASA expects to save millions in manufacturing costs and reduce manufacturing time. SLM, a version of selective laser sintering, is known for its ability to create metal parts with complex geometries and precise mechanical properties. The SLS will weigh 5.5 million pounds, stand 321 feet tall, and provide 8.4 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. Its propulsion system will include liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Its mission will launch Orion without a crew in 2017; the second will launch Orion with up to four astronauts in 2021. NASA's goal is to use SLM to manufacture parts that will be used on the first mission. The rocket's development and operations costs will be reduced using tooling and manufacturing technology from programs such as the space shuttle. For example, the J-2X engine, an advanced version of J-2 Saturn engines, will be used as the SLS upper stage engine. Some SLM-produced engine parts will be structurally tested this year and used in J-2X hot-fire tests. In a NASA video, Andy Hardin, engine integration hardware lead for the Marshall Space Flight Center SLS engines office, discusses the initial testing and building stages: We do a lot of engineering builds first to make sure we have the process [worked] out. There's always weld problems that you have to deal with, and there's going to be problems with this that we will have to work out, too. But this has the potential to eliminate a lot of those problems, and it will have the potential to reduce the cost by as much as half in some cases on a lot of parts. Since final parts won't be welded, they are structurally stronger and more reliable, which also makes for a safer vehicle. Ken Cooper, advanced manufacturing team lead at the Marshall Space Flight Center, says in the video that the technique is especially useful for making very complex shapes that can't be built in other ways, or for simplifying the building of complex shapes. But geometry is not the deciding factor; whether the machine can do it or not is decided by the size of the part.

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Space Exploration and Astronomy

Tim the Plumber wrote: The idea that you can predict the climate based on it's temperature behaviour between 1970 and 1998 is silly. Just as the statement that the absence of warming since 1998 and 2011 cannot utterly disproove AGW the rise between 1970 and 1998 cannot 100% proove the theory that CO2 is a significant greenhouse gas at the levels we have today. Nobody is trying to predict temperatures based on historically temperatures over the last 40 or so. The predictions are based on our understanding of earth's climate over hundreds of millions of years and particularly the last 4 million years of recurring ice ages. The climate while complicated has to obey some very simple basic physical rules that is the energy coming in has over time to equal the energy going out. Change that simple relationship in some way and the temperature will change change until such time as the equation is back in balance. It is certain that greenhouse gases reduce the amount of energy that leaves the earth. Northern Europe is having a wet and cool summer, it's just America which is having a long, hot and dry one. No my original statement is correct According to NOAA:-http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2012/6 The Northern Hemisphere land and ocean average surface temperature for June 2012 was the all-time warmest June on record, at 1.30°C (2.34°F) above average. The Northern Hemisphere average land temperature, where the majority of Earth's land is located, was record warmest for June. This makes three months in a row — April, May, and June — in which record-high monthly land temperature records were set. Most areas experienced much higher-than-average monthly temperatures, including most of North America and Eurasia, and northern Africa. Only northern and western Europe, and the northwestern United States were notably cooler than average. Tim the Plumber wrote: When thinking about such climatic events it is vital to have a sense of proportion and not see a tiny change over 3 decades as a reason to think that there will be a drastic "exponential" continuation of this. The temperatures changes over the last 3 decades simply confirms our basic understanding of the climate. It is akin to having a graph of the speed of your car traveling along a highway. When the speed is 55mph your pasenger is happy, when the graph plots up to 57 mph the pasenger panics because the car is about to accelerate untill the machine disintergrates at the sound barrier. When the graph shows a slowing to 53mph the panic is of the sudden stopping of the car and the trafic behind slamming into the back of the car. No it is more being in a car where the cruise control is stuck and the speed just keeps increasing. Climate varies about quiote a lot. Because we live fairly short lives we do not rember the droughts of the dust bowl. We do not rember the medevil warm period. We do not rember the frost fairs on the frozen Thames. This is why we maintain weather data which shows that the current conditions are both worst and different. We should take these dire warnings with a big pinch of salt. Dire warnings should be assessed on the merits and action taken if necessary but never ignored The sea level rose by 18cm last centuary, how many cities flooded because of this? This centuary looks like it could be twice as bad, maybe. So as long as we split the sea level rises into 18 cm chunks it will be no problem ? I am reminded of camels transporting straw.

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Climate and Weather Events

by Frederick B. Reitz, Ph.C. University of Washington Seattle, Washington Illustrations by Marian Parry I report here the first evidence that domestic cats exhibit quantum tunneling. Subatomic particles can make seemingly impossible, instantaneous "jumps" from one place to another. This has been known in theory for well over half a century. Numerous examples of it have been observed and meticulously documented. Known as "quantum tunneling," this strange phenomenon had previously been thought to occur only on very small scales. In this paper I report instances of the spontaneous relocation of entire cats. Though cats are arguably quantal to the extent that they tend to exist as discrete entities, the appreciable magnitude of some of the cats in question constitutes a novel aspect of the tunneling phenomenon. The physical literature contains many reports of electrons and similar particles spontaneously jumping or "tunneling" from one place to another via so-called "forbidden" routes. This phenomenon has enjoyed much attention since the advent of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). In all reports to date, the particles in question have ranged in size from extremely small to very, very small, with rare cases involving particles that are merely quite small. House pets have also frequently been observed to exhibit unusual behavior. Dogs circle many times before sitting down. Cats forget to retract their tongues after bathing, and hamsters sleep in their food dishes. Non-Newtonian House Pets Pets are rarely attributed with exotic, non-Newtonian physical behavior. However, cats and dogs that are especially long-haired can exhibit a wavelike appearance. Furthermore, animals clearly interfere with each other, sometimes destructively (as with cats and dogs, or with cats and humans that are attempting to read a newspaper), sometimes constructively (as with rabbits and rabbits). Erwin Schr?dinger alluded, in a famous thought experiment, to the general question of the quantum behavior of cats. However, I believe that my report presents the first documented instances of the spontaneous tunneling of cats, and also the first documented reports of related quasi-electromagnetic cat phenomena. Cat Tunneling: Case 1 In my own residence, I and several other party guests personally observed the case of Chloe, a large black Himalayan. Though the extent of the cat's fur decreased the certainty with which one could specify the cat's position and momentum (c.f., the Himalyan Uncertainty Principle), and our garage door is only a few inches thick, the tunneling event was no less remarkable in light of her prodigious girth (she weighed 15 pounds, frequently intimidating our German Shepherd into sharing his dinner). The cat was initially observed sleeping in the driveway. When next observed several minutes later, the cat was nowhere to be seen. We opened the garage door, at which point Chloe left the garage, obviously having tunneled through the closed door. We marveled at this phenomenon, and, as we closed the side door to the garage, discussed plans for further study. Cat Tunneling: Case 2 The next such instance brought to my attention was one Snuggles Jr. of Lansing, Michigan, who was found on June 10, 1995, at 10:31 AM resting comfortably amidst a fresh batch of clothing, inside an automatic clothes dryer. As the dryer door was closed, and the owners did not remember having let the cat in, the transition was judged to be spontaneous. Discussion with the owners, regarding house policies pertaining to where the cat was and was not allowed to go, established the forbidden nature of this transition. Given that the cat was not even allowed in the laundry room, the span of the forbidden transition of the 6 pound cat was at least than 7 linear feet-clearly this constitutes tunneling on an unprecedented scale. Cat Tunneling: Case 3 Finally, there is the case of "Giggles," a largish calico of uncertain dimensions who was remarkable for his repeated and unsuccessful attempts to violate the Pauli Exclusion Principle with the neighbor's tabby (who in turn might have been more cooperative had she not been spayed). Though arguably the tunneling that Giggles did to get under the fence between his yard and the neighbor's was of a conventional sort, his consistent failure to include any other similar cat in his proximity and same state of excitation is compellingly consistent with previous results found on smaller scales. Given these data, I am led to the following conclusions: - Cats do exhibit the sort of tunneling behavior previously attributed only to subatomic particles, car keys, and socks; - Despite the finite probability of a cat tunneling spontaneously through a door, the probability of this event is low enough that leaving the cat closed in one's bedroom for a prolonged period of time is inadvisable; and - One's cat should indeed be blamed for the majority of stools found in inappropriate locations. Copyright © 1998 The Annals of Improbable Research (AIR). All rights reserved. _____________________This article is republished with permission from the March-April 1998 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. You can download or purchase back issues of the magazine, or subscribe to receive future issues. Or get a subscription for someone as a gift! Visit their website for more research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.

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Pets and Veterinary Care

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition - n. The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events; fortune: They met one day out of pure luck. - n. Good fortune or prosperity; success: We wish you luck. - n. One's personal fate or lot: It was just my luck to win a trip I couldn't take. - v. Informal To gain success or something desirable by chance: lucked into a good apartment; lucked out in finding that rare book. - idiom. as luck would have it As it turned out; as it happened: As luck would have it, it rained the day of the picnic. - idiom. in luck Enjoying success; fortunate. - idiom. out of luck Lacking good fortune. - idiom. press To risk one's good fortune, often by acting overconfidently. - idiom. try (one's) luck To attempt something without knowing if one will be successful. Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia - n. Fortune; hap; that which happens to a person by chance, conceived as having a real tendency to be favorable or unfavorable, or as if there were an inward connection between a succes sion of fortuitous occurrences having the same character as favorable or unfavorable. Thus, gamesters say that one ought to continue to play while the luck is in one's favor and leave off when the luck turns against one. - n. Good fortune; favorable hap; a supposed something, pertaining to a person, at least for a time, giving to fortuitous events a favorable character; also, in a weakened sense, a fortuitous combination of favorable occurrences. - n. An object with which good fortune is thought to be connected; especially, a vessel for holding liquid, as a drinking-cup. There are several such vessels surviving in England, as the Luck of Edenhall, preserved in a manor-house in the county of Cumberland. - n. Synonyms See happy. - To be lucky. - To make lucky. - n. A lock of wool twisted on the finger of a spinner. - n. Something that happens to someone by chance, a chance occurrence. - n. A superstitious feeling that brings fortune or success. - n. success - v. intransitive To succeed by chance. - v. intransitive To rely on luck. - v. transitive To carry out relying on luck. GNU Webster's 1913 - n. That which happens to a person; an event, good or ill, affecting one's interests or happiness, and which is deemed casual; a course or series of such events regarded as occurring by chance; chance; hap; fate; fortune; often, one's habitual or characteristic fortune. Luckis often used by itself to mean good luck. - n. your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you) - n. an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another - n. an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that leads to a favorable outcome - From Middle English luk, lukke, related to Old Frisian luk ("luck"), West Frisian gelok ("luck"), Dutch geluk ("luck"), Low German luk ("luck"), German Glück ("luck, good fortune, happiness"), Danish lykke ("luck"), Swedish lycka ("luck"), Icelandic lukka ("luck"). (Wiktionary) - Middle English lucke, from Middle Dutch luc, short for gheluc. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition) “While the romantic side of me would like to believe in "luck" - the karmic, cosmic smiling-upon-me type of luck, the scientific side of me completely agrees with Lena West.” “And then, turning to leave him, 'An' will ye say a mass if the luck is against me? ” “Well, your luck is about to change with a little assistance from Lavish Lifestyles, LLC.” “MAATHAI: They say that what we call luck is opportunity that meets preparedness.” “I sometimes wonder if what we call luck is merely the will of God, " Otero observed sadly, -and that therefore Cochrane has been sent to scourge Spain for a reason.” “Whenever you hear any one expatiating upon what he calls the luck of some one else, you may be sure that he is a person entirely deficient in those qualities which could attract what he calls luck, but what is really, in the majority of cases, merely the result of hard work based upon a reasoned poise.” “Well, this is what I call luck!" exclaimed Ferd Stowing.” “Well, this is what I call luck -- pure, unadulterated luck, with sugar on it," drawled Ham as he surveyed the house.” “Ephraim, my son!" said the old gambler, with a cunning smile, "I'll tell you something -- There are persons whose whole powers are devoted to one object -- how to win a fortune; in the same way as there are some who study to become doctors, and the like, so these study what we call luck ... and from them I've learned it.” “This is certainly what I call luck," cried Allen excitedly, as he gazed at the scrap of paper Levine had passed over.” These user-created lists contain the word ‘luck’. all sorts of ... Very basic words for ESL students. short, sweet, epic, catchy, sassy, sexy & sizzling. ( personal list, randomness ) Much of my life has had healthy doses of this, so I pay homage. Looking for tweets for luck.

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Linguistic explanations

One of the most frequently asked questions here at Jacob Lake Inn is, “Where is the lake?” Many people who visit this area from wetter climates may not consider our lake to be a lake, but this small accumulation of water, supplied by rain and snow melt, is one of the only permanent water sources on top of the Kaibab Plateau. Known as the “waterless mountain”, meaning there are no streams or running water, the Kaibab Plateau contains several small lakes comparable to Jacob Lake. Many of these lakes are formed in the beds of sink holes, plugged up by organic material, and filled with rain and melted snow. These lakes, and in particular, Jacob Lake, as small as it may be, were often the difference between life and death for Native, immigrant and traveler. The Piute Indians who inhabited the Kaibab Plateau told Jacob Hamblin, Mormon pioneer and explorer, about this little known water supply, and he in turn told other pioneers traveling through the area. The Honeymoon Trail, a route traveled by settlers and couples from settlements in southern Arizona on their way to the Mormon temple in St. George, snaked around the base of the plateau. The new route over the plateau, with the stop at Jacob Lake, cut off a significant portion of their journey, thus establishing the trail and Jacob Lake as a valuable resource. The Piutes held Jacob Hamblin in high regard, due to his honest trading practices and peacemaking abilities with the local tribes and white pioneers, and named the lake after him. The concept of land ownership was absent from the Piute culture. They did not give Hamblin the lake, but rather they honored him by giving this priceless body of water his name. The size of Jacob Lake has changed over the years. In the past, especially in a wet year it could nearly reach the fence that surrounds it, but due to recent droughts and mild winters the lake has decreased in size. Jacob Lake stands as an example of the value placed on water in this dry region and though this water source no longer supplies water to thirsty travelers; it does provide wildlife with a dependable water supply throughout the year. When Harold and Nina N. Bowman established Jacob Lake Inn in 1923, their families had been involved in the exploration and settling of much of southern Utah and the Arizona Strip. Nina's grandfather, Franklin B. Woolley, wrote the 1866 cavalry exploration report of the territory from St. George to the Kaibab Plateau to the mouth of the Green River. The report included the first official descriptions and map of the area. Harold's father, Henry E. Bowman, engineered and supplied the cable tram that crossed the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Henry also built (with a lot of help from the people of Kanab, Glendale, and Orderville) the first road from Kanab, Utah to Mt. Carmel. This made the area more accessible to travelers and tourists. Franklin B.'s brother, Edwin D. Woolley Jr was one of the first white men to see the Grand Canyon from the North Rim. Upon seeing it he almost fell off his horse and exclaimed "This is one of the wonders of the world! People will come from all corners of the globe and pay large sums of money to gaze at what we now behold." As a local community leader and a man of wonderful vision, Woolley saw the importance of tourism in the growth of Southern Utah and the Grand Canyon area. Due to the lack of water for large scale agriculture, this region had limited economic potential. Edwin D. continually sought to plan and develop ways to open Southern Utah and the North Rim area to people from around the world. He organized many expeditions to the North Rim, bring- ing groups of dignitaries, important businessmen and important politicians to the area. Some of his more illustrious guests included Buffalo Bill Cody and Zane Grey. In 1890 Edwin D. convinced a group of English noblemen accompanied by Buffalo Bill to invest in developing this prime hunting ground. However, the lack of adequate roads spoiled the deal. After riding in an automobile for the first time in 1908, Edwin D. planned and guided the first automobile trip in 1913 to the North Rim. This incredible feat was accomplished by building the road as they went. This also required gas to be shipped 320 miles from the closest gas station which was in Salt Lake City. President Teddy Roosevelt also frequented the Kaibab. In 1903, Roosevelt, with his two older sons and nephew, made an expedition from the South Rim to the North Rim. Roosevelt's impressions of the Grand Canyon, together with his hunting experiences on the Kaibab, led him to push for a change in the status of the Grand Canyon. In 1908 this national forest and game reserve became a national monument, which led to its eventual designation as a National Park in 1919. In 1923, Harold and Nina Bowman, realizing the improved mobility the automobile afforded travelers, started a business selling gas from a fifty-gallon barrel in the back of a truck. This venture, originally located on the "shores" of Jacob Lake, began a short two years after their marriage. They each had a heritage of pioneering men and women and neither was daunted by this enterprise. The first lodge was built a year later on the ridge above the lake (across from what is now the Kaibab Kamper Village) at the head of Jacob Canyon. As Harold stated in his personal history "Jacob Lake Inn was quite an experiment at first. We built a two room cabin, and Nina moved out there and just used quilts for doors. She took care of the place and her brother Ezra Nixon ran the service station. If we could sell a barrel of gas in one day, we thought we had had good business." As described before, the first lodge had two rooms, a main room in which root beer and Native American crafts were sold and a kitchen where meals were prepared for visitors, family and staff. This lodge remained by Jacob Lake unti11929 when the highway, which had come up through the narrow Jacob Canyon, was moved. This old road was an enlargement of the original trail used by Jacob Hamblin and the Piutes as they trekked the shortest distance to water at Jacob Lake. With the increase in travel, thanks to the automobile, a highway was engineered and constructed to allow safe travel up the spine of the mountain. With this new highway changing the route of travel, the Bowmans built the new Jacob Lake Inn at its present location, what is now the junction of Highway 89a and Highway 67. When Harold learned that the location of the new highway junction was positioned at the base of a large hill, and that it would be an inconvenient location for travelers headed to the Grand Canyon, Harold borrowed a BPR grader and built a better road. This shifted the junction of the road from the base of the hill to the flatter land right in front of the Jacob Lake Inn. Harold's road became the more traveled route, and when the highway was paved In the mid thirties, it became the official highway. Effie Dean Bowman (Rich) was born in 1923, the same year as Jacob Lake Inn, so to speak. Harold Jr. was born in 1927. In 1929, Effie Dean and Harold began the lifestyle of spending summers at Jacob Lake and winters in Salt Lake City when Effie Dean entered the first grade. On the Kaibab they had dogs, squirrels and porcupines for pets and each other for friends as they watched their parents work hard. Nina would start the day doing laundry, then move to baking and cooking, then working in the gift shop. Harold Sr. was always building onto the lodge, greeting customers (if a car stopped out in the road, he would go out and give directions and invite the guests in), and helped to keep things running smoothly. Effie Dean and Harold Jr. started working at a young age. Effie Dean, at age seven, started the very important job of emptying slop jars in the rooms. Harold Jr. started at age four taking firewood to all the cabins. They washed dishes, cleaned rooms, emptied slop jars, gathered firewood, and moved on to other jobs. Effie Dean began waitressing at thirteen, and Harold started in the service station at eight. As more people traveled to see the Grand Canyon North Rim, Jacob Lake Inn's reputation for hospitality and good food began to grow. The Prince of Siam and his entourage stopped on their way to the Canyon and even though he was a reluctant subject, Nina captured his likeness for posterity. The lodge also expanded with the growing number of tourists, adding a dining room, new motel units, and even relocating the gas station twice. The staff kept growing too, and soon it grew beyond the scope of family and friends. Annual pilgrimages to regional colleges and universities or any place they could find good employees began bringing bright, friendly young people to the Inn to help care for their children and serve their guests. Effie Dean and Harold Jr. continued working with the family after pursuing an education, military service, and their respective marriages (Effie Dean married John P. Rich and Harold married Afton Kunz). Soon the third generation began. John Jr. and Bonnie, Nina, Steve, Harold III, Chris, Kent, Kim, Genene, Mary Lynne, and Matt all helped keep the business going. They started out by showing guests to their cabins, washing headlights (they couldn't reach the windshields), bussing tables, crushing and bagging ice, slicing bread, washing dishes, hauling trash, chopping wood, herding cattle, fixing fences, and any number of jobs that needed doing. During these summers they worked alongside the young people, explored the Kaibab Forest roads on their days off, and traveled back home to Salt Lake for the fall and winter to attend school. Harold Jr. once stated he was neither a country hick nor a city slicker, he had the best of both, and now the fourth generation of the Bowman family has experienced this fortunate life as well. As time went on, Harold Jr.'s wife and children pursued other interests and professions, while Effie Dean, her children, their spouses, and grandchildren, continue the seasonal trek to the Kaibab.They manage the lodge, hire personnel, and perform the tasks regular employees won't do. As Jacob Lake's founding generations pass on, (Nina N. in 1959, Harold Jr. in 1961, Harold Sr. in 1974, and John Rich Sr. in 1995), those that remain acknowledge the heritage that their pioneering ancestors set forth. This legacy of hard work, friendly knowledgeable service, excellent products, and a love for the Kaibab, the Grand Canyon, and the red rock deserts they call home.

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Historic Places and Events

50 years ago, President John F. Kennedy told the United States that man would go to the moon. Soon, another American president may announce that the same celestial body will serve as a waypoint for manned space exploration. The Verge has learned that NASA intends to deploy a robotic lunar rover on the Moon in 2017 to search for water and other resources necessary for space travel, and that NASA may have secured support from the White House for an actual manned outpost — a space station — floating above the far side of the moon. We spoke to Logsdon as well, and he said that the administration is planning a shift in policy that could make the Moon and its surrounding space a more important part of the equation. And our source tells us that part of that plan is deploying RESOLVE on the lunar surface in 2017. It’s a payload designed to be mounted on a robotic rover and driven across the moon to find water and other useful materials for space travel, “Cheaper than lifting water off the Earth” such that spaceships won’t have the tremendous expense of lifting them from Earth in order to bring them along. They could theoretically travel from Earth to the lunar waypoint and find resources waiting for them before undertaking a journey further abroad. 2017 also happens to be the target date for the first unmanned mission for NASA’s new Space Launch System and Orion capsule, which will make a loop around the moon, but our source wasn’t sure whether that craft would be the one to drop the lunar rover. In fact, they suggested that instead, the rover would be deployed as part of a commercial partnership, and that the mission would “lay the groundwork for commercial lunar transport.” Private firms have been working on commercial space travel for a while, with the SpaceX Dragon capsule successfully completing its first resupply mission to the International Space Station just last month, but recently there’s been some interest in space mining as well: Planetary Resources, a company backed by James Cameron, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, plans to launch a spaceship within two years and begin mining asteroids by 2022. When we asked NASA about the possibilities of a moon base, a representative wouldn’t confirm or deny the plans. “We are pursuing a range of possible destinations on route to an eventual trip to Mars,” they explained, but admitted that a lunar waypoint would be “in the range of possibilities that have been discussed” and could be “a potential stepping stone to Mars.” At present, NASA could only confirm that the Space Launch System’s first unmanned mission (Exploration Mission 1) is still slated for 2017 and a second manned mission (Exploration Mission 2) with a crew of four would likely occur in 2021, that astronauts would attempt to land on an asteroid by 2025, and arrive at Mars sometime in the 2030s. NASA did caution, however, that there’s no current plan to land people on the Moon itself. “Neither EM1 nor EM2 would put boots on the surface of the Moon,” NASA told us. Rumors of such a deep-space outpost surfaced as early as February of this year, when a leaked memo from a NASA administrator detailed an idea to build a “human-tended waypoint” at Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 2 (EML-2): a point in space where balanced gravitational forces allow an object to remain in stationary orbit relative to both the Earth and the Moon. From there, NASA could launch missions deeper into space — say, to Mars, or a near-Earth asteroid — using the base as a stepping stone. In September, the Orlando Sentinel revealed that the “gateway spacecraft” wasn’t just a crazy idea. The publication reported that the White House had been pitched on a plan to begin construction as early as 2019, possibly defraying the to-be-determined expense by using parts left over from the International Space Station and components from international partners, including Russia — which has committed to a moon base of its own — and Italy. At the time, the Sentinel reported that it was unclear whether the Obama Administration would support the move. Now, space policy expert John Logsdon told Space.com that the White House is indeed interested in the idea, and had merely been “holding off announcing that until after the election.” In 2010, President Obama told the nation that we would send men to an asteroid for the first time, and then on to Mars by the mid-2030s, but suggested that the Moon itself wasn’t part of the plan:

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Space Exploration and Astronomy

Translates words or phrases from French, German or Spanish to English and English to Spanish, French, German, Italian, or Portuguese using machine translation technology. Allows the user to get the "gist" of the message. The Internet Acronym Server This site can be used to look up the meaning of an acronym (abbreviations constructed from the first letters of several words, such as ADA for American Dental Association). You can also type in a word to get a list of acronyms that are associated with it. Sponsored by University College, Cork in Ireland. Explorers Picture Dictionary with Links Enchanted Learning, a producer of children’s educational websites, provides this picture dictionary of more than 1,800 illustrated dictionary entries. Most entries have links to additional information, activities, and child-friendly, related websites. There are links to English-French, English-German, English-Portuguese, or the English-Spanish versions. Merriam-Webster has put their Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus online, along with word games, contests, and other features. Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary Sponsored by the National Library of Medicine, this site includes links to encyclopedias, glossaries, and dictionaries of medical terms in English as well as eight European languages. For those times when you can remember the meaning of a word but not the word itself, the OneLook Reverse Dictionary can help. The site indexes hundreds of online dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference sites for words that have definitions similar to the words you search for. Developed in 1996 by Robert K. Ware, president of Study Technologies. Oxford English Dictionary | Definitions, pronunciations, and word histories. Usage of modern and historical words traced through 2.5 million quotations. Enter any word and this site, using published reference books, provides rhymes, synonyms, antonyms, definitions, related words and more for virtually every word. Even includes examples of how the word was used in Shakespeare’s works. Wordsmyth: The Educational Dictionary-Thesaurus Wordsmyth is an American English Dictionary with an integrated thesaurus. It includes 50,000 headwords along with interactive, hyperlinked synonyms. Many additional features are included such as crossword solvers, anagram solvers, and vocabulary quiz makers. Return to top Snap Shots enhances links with visual previews. Learn More February 13, 2012

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Linguistic explanations

What is Encryption? Encryption is a process by which we use software to scramble sensitive information while it is in transit to Dell. Please take a moment to read about the steps that we have taken to help protect your information and make your online transmissions safer. We also invite you to review the steps you can take to help protect yourself further. How Does Encryption Work? Encryption is based on a key that has two different parts. The public part and the private part. The public part of the key is distributed to those you want to communicate with. The private part is for the recipient's use only. When you send personal information to dell.com, you use Dell's public key to encrypt your personal information. That means, if at any point during the transmission your information is intercepted, it is scrambled and very difficult to decrypt. Once Dell receives your encrypted personal information, we use the private part of our key to decode it. What Kind of Encryption Software Does Dell Use? Dell currently uses the industry-standard SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption. But we continue to keep up with the current technologies in an effort to protect the security of your information. What Information Does Dell Encrypt? Dell encrypts all personal information you give us when you place an order online. Remember, if you feel uncomfortable providing any of this information online, please feel free to call one of our representatives at 1-800-WWW-DELL. How Safe is Encryption Really? Providing encrypted information online is as safe as doing it over the phone.

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Cybersecurity and Information Protection

At left, undated handout image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) shows a clump of Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria (green) in the extracellular matrix, which connects cells and tissue, taken with a scanning electron microscope, showing. At right, undated handout image provided by the Agriculture Department showing the bacterium, Enterococcus faecalis, which lives in the human gut, is just one type of microbe that will be studied as part of NIH's Human Microbiome Project. They live on your skin, up your nose, in your gut _ enough bacteria, fungi and other microbes that collected together could weigh, amazingly, a few pounds. Now scientists have mapped just which critters normally live in or on us and where, calculating that healthy people can share their bodies with more than 10,000 species of microbes. (AP Photo/NIAID, Agriculture Department) Seven scientists have won prestigious medical awards for their contributions to biomedicine, including the development of liver transplants. The awards were announced Monday by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. Each prize is worth $250,000. The award for clinical medical research goes to Dr. Thomas Starzl of the University of Pittsburgh and Dr. Roy Calne, an emeritus professor at Cambridge University, for developing liver transplantation. An award for basic medical research is split among three scientists for discoveries about biological machines that make muscles contract and carry out other jobs within cells. A third award is shared by two scientists for their genetic discoveries and efforts to promote research in biomedicine.

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Infectious Disease Information

Skip to Main Content Physics Boot Camp & Interactive Lecture Demonstrations - A Professional Development Recipe for Success Feature Summary Physics Boot Camp & Interactive Lecture Demonstrations - This workshop was presented at the 2011 PhysTEC conference. Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs) provide a pedagogical tool that has been shown to improve college and pre-college student's conceptual understanding of ideas in classical physics. Teachers in this PD showed fractional gains in concept understanding ranging from .44 to .75 with participants in every comparison group showing strong gains. Just as encouraging, these gains showed no decay over time. In this highly interactive presentation findings were presented along with a model of how the Interactive Lecture Demonstration 8-step methodology is used as a tool to both engage and prepare teachers. - June 9, 2011 - July 9, 2014

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Education Programs and Extracurriculars

It’s a big enough feat to ship much-needed vaccines to rural areas of the developing world. Finding a way to keep those vaccines refrigerated in places that have spotty access to electricity? An even bigger accomplishment. Rogers Feng, a mechanical engineering student at Northwestern University, has come up with a way to make the latter issue a bit easier to deal with. His invention, the Human-Powered Refrigeration System for Developing Nation Vaccine Field Distribution, was announced this month as the U.S. winner of the James Dyson Award. Feng attributes his idea to a friend who heard about the problem of keeping vaccines refrigerated in developing nations. The friend didn’t have time to pursue a project, so Feng ran with it. His creation: a refrigerator that can be charged with a hand crank. The crank powers a DC generator that in turn juices up a nine-volt rechargeable lithium ion battery. The battery then powers a Peltier unit to generate thermoelectric cooling. According to Feng, there are three big advantages to the refrigerator over its developing-world competitors: It has circuitry to prevent sudden drops in temperature (these can destroy vaccines), it lacks toxic refrigerant fluids, and it’s relatively cheap--Feng tells us that he spent $150 on the unit, but that it would cost approximately $50 with scaled-up production. Feng doesn’t have any immediate plans to commercialize the device, but he does plan to talk to companies that work at the intersection of health care and design. "Right now my main focus is graduating a quarter early and finding a job," says the rising college senior. Armed with a $1,400 prize for winning the U.S. competition, Feng is now a competitor in the international James Dyson competition. The winner will be announced in November.

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Infectious Disease Reports

Nanocrystals May Provide Boost for Solar Cells, Solar Hydrogen Production 5 January 2006 Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have discovered that a phenomenon called carrier multiplication, in which the absorption of a single photon by a nanocrystal quantum dot can generate multiple electrons, is applicable to a broader array of materials that previously thought. The discovery increases the potential for the use of nanoscrystals as solar cell materials to produce higher electrical outputs than current solar cells, as well as possible application for the photocatalytic production of hydrogen. In papers published recently in the journals Nature Physics and Applied Physics Letters, the scientists demonstrate that carrier multiplication is not unique to lead selenide nanocrystals, but also occurs with very high efficiency in nanocrystals of other compositions, such as cadmium selenide. These new results also shed light on the mechanism for carrier multiplication, which likely occurs via the instantaneous photoexcitation of multiple electrons. Such a process has never been observed in macroscopic materials and it explicitly relies on the unique physics of the nanoscale size regime. Carrier multiplication actually relies upon very strong interactions between electrons squeezed within the tiny volume of a nanoscale semiconductor particle. That is why it is the particle size, not its composition that mostly determines the efficiency of the effect. In nanosize crystals, strong electron-electron interactions make a high-energy electron unstable. This electron only exists in its so-called 'virtual state' for an instant before rapidly transforming into a more stable state comprising two or more electrons.—Lead project scientist Victor Klimov The Los Alamos findings point toward practical photovoltaic technologies that may utilize such traditional solar cell materials as cadmium telluride, which is very similar to cadmium selenide. Other interesting opportunities may also be associated with the use of carrier multiplication in solar-fuel technologies and specifically, the production of hydrogen by photo-catalytic water splitting. The latter process requires four electrons per water molecule and its efficiency can be dramatically enhanced if these multiple electrons can be produced via a single-photon absorption event. Research on carrier multiplication at Los Alamos is funded by the DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences and by Los Alamos’ Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program. "High-efficiency carrier multiplication through direct photogeneration of multi-excitons via virtual single-exciton states; Richard D. Schaller, Vladimir M. Agranovich and Victor I. Klimov; Nature Physics 1, 189-194 (2005) doi:10.1038/nphys151 "Effect of electronic structure on carrier multiplication efficiency: Comparative study of PbSe and CdSe nanocrystals"; Richard D. Schaller, Melissa A. Petruska, and Victor I. Klimov; Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 253102 (2005) LANL Quantum Dot Research website TrackBack URL for this entry: Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Nanocrystals May Provide Boost for Solar Cells, Solar Hydrogen Production:

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Nanotechnology And Chemistry

OAKLAND OUTDOORS: Oakland County residents can visit the ‘Arctic Circle’ right in Royal Oak The date of the winter solstice on Dec. 21 draws near. What better time than now to plan an adventuresome trek into the Arctic — a journey to the cryosphere, a land of ice, snow and frozen sea water. The Arctic is a landscape of mountains, fjords, tundra and beautiful glaciers that spawn crystal-colored icebergs. It is the land of Inuit hunters, polar bears and seals and is rich with mysteries that science is still working to unravel. Those wishing to reach the Arctic must travel north of the Arctic Circle. And just where is the Arctic Circle? The climatologists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center define the Arctic Circle as the imaginary line that marks the latitude at which the sun does not set on the day of the summer solstice and fails to rise on the day of the winter solstice, a day that is just around the corner. Arctic researchers describe the circle as the northern limit of tree growth. The circle is also defined as the 10 Degree Celsius Isotherm, the zone at which the average daily summer temperature fails to rise above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Polar bears are hungry in this foreboding landscape where the mercury can plunge quickly to 60 degrees below zero and winds are ferocious. Perhaps it is time to stop reading my words, bundle up the kids and hike into the Arctic. Why not today! Children will almost certainly see seals just yards away and, if the timing is right, go nose to nose with a mighty polar bear that may swim their way and give a glance that could be interpreted as a one-word question: “Tasty?” And here is the rest of the story, a special trail tale that takes visitors to a one-of-a-kind place. I am amazed at how many residents of Oakland County have yet to hike through an acrylic tunnel known as the Polar Passage — a public portal to the watery world beneath the land above the Arctic Circle. The 70-foot long tunnel is the highlight of a 4.2-acre living exhibit at the Detroit Zoo, the Arctic Ring of Life. And a hike through that exhibit and underwater viewing tunnel brings encounters with three polar bears, a gray seal, two harbor seals, one harp seal and three arctic fox. A visit to the Arctic Ring of Life is more than a fun hike. It opens our eyes to the life of the Inuit people and introduces visitors to a fragile world in danger from events that can no longer be denied — climate change, global warming and rising sea waters. Continued... Upon entering the park, check a map for the location. It’s easy to find and is rich with historical, cultural and natural information of the Inuit, the Arctic people. Before Europeans arrived, they had never even heard the word, “Eskimo.” The arrival of Europeans in the early 1800s was not good news for the pale-skinned strangers. They carried foreign diseases, and missionaries followed that sadly enticed the trusting Intuits to give up their own religion and become Christians. The native people were encouraged, and sometimes forced, to abandon their traditional lifestyles and live in the village. The jury may still be out, but some historians claimed that the Inuit were eager to embrace the new ways to forgo the harsh reality of nomadic life. Today, the Arctic Ring of Life’s Nunavut Gallery gives visitors a glimpse of a disappearing culture torn between the old and the new, but still rich with tradition, folk art, spirituality and creativity. The Inuit once existed almost exclusively on meat and fat with only limited availability of seasonal plants. The Inuits hunted for survival and considered it disrespectful to hunt for sport. And as I dug deeper into their history to prepare for my tunnel trek, I discovered that metal for their early tools were chipped flake by flake from large meteorites and then pounded into tools like harpoon points. The fascinating relationship between the Inuit, their environment and creatures that dwell above the Arctic Circle is more deeply understood when visitors trek through the highlight of the exhibit, the polar passage tunnel. A polar bear on a tundra hill, built high to afford the bears a wide range of smells, may be sniffing the air for zoo visitors. The tunnel has acrylic walls four inches thick, is 12 feet wide, eight feet high and offers great views when a seal or polar bear swims. About 294,000 gallons of saltwater surround visitors. Some wonder why the polar bears do not eat the seals. They can’t. A Lexan wall separates the species. Be sure to take the time to explore the Exploration Station of the Arctic Ring of Life. It contains many of the accoutrements of a working research station complete with telemetry equipment, computers and displays of snowshoes and parkas from the arctic. Portholes provide views of the seals and bears. Visitors may want to do what I did — enter through the tunnel a second time and then read all the well placed interpretive signs above ground. Stories of the hunters and the hunted await and include myth-busting facts on mass suicides of lemmings that have been alleged to jump off cliffs into the sea. And be sure to let a child put his or her foot in the imprint of the polar bear track on the pathway. And, of course, save time to hike the rest of the zoo. Cold weather is a perfect time to explore minus the summer crowds. Jonathan Schechter’s column appears on Sundays. Look for his Earth’s Almanac blog at www.earthsalmanac.blogspot.com Twitter: OaklandNature E-mail:email@example.com. For more information about the Detroit Zoo’s hours, exhibits and special events, visit detroitzoo.org. The zoo is located at 8450 West 10 Mile Road in Royal Oak. No additional fee to visit Arctic Ring of Life. See wrong or incorrect information in a story. Tell us here Location, ST | website.com National Life Videos - Fire destroys home, damages business in Waterford (1825) - Long lines to see Stan Lee, Norman Reedus plague Motor City Comic Con on Saturday WITH VIDEO (1063) - PAT CAPUTO: Detroit Red Wings show why they are Stanley Cup contenders (805) - Nearby neighbors concerned after man convicted of murder paroled, moves to Pontiac group home (788) - PAT CAPUTO: Detroit Red Wings show why Stanley Cup dream not far fetched (785) - Pontiac council votes against Schimmel’s plan to eliminate health care for retirees (686) - Fall Out Boy wants to "Save Rock and Roll" with new CD (4) - New backcourt leads Lathrup over Dragons (4) - Oakland County Sheriff’s Office veteran — Michigan's first black police captain — honored in retirement WITH VIDEO (3) - Fire destroys home, damages business in Waterford (3) - Despite Angelina Jolie, breast cancer treatment has a long way to go - COLUMN (2) - PITTS: Woman ran to Key West, where else? (2) - Bloomfield Hills mother graduates college with daughter, stepson (2) Recent Activity on Facebook Caren Gittleman likes talking cats. She'll discuss everything about them, from acquiring a cat, differences in breeds, behaviors, health concerns, inside versus outside lifestyles, toys, food, accessories, and sharing cat stories. Share your stories and ask her questions about your favorite feline. Roger Beukema shares news from Lansing that impacts sportsmen (this means ladies as well) and talks about things he finds when he goes overseas to visit my children, and adding your comments into the mix. Join Jonathan Schechter as he shares thoughts on our natural world in Oakland County and beyond.

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Polar and Climate Topics

The etymology of the term 'gurdwara' is from the words 'Gur (ਗੁਰ)' (a reference to the Sikh Gurus) and 'Dwara (ਦੁਆਰਾ)' (gateway in Gurmukhi), together meaning 'the gateway through which the Guru could be reached'. Thereafter, all Sikh places of worship came to be known as gurdwaras. All About Sikhs AllAboutSikhs.com is a comprehensive web site on sikhism, sikh history and philosophy, customs and rituals,sikh way of life, social and religious movements, art and architecture, sikh scriptures,sikh gurudwaras. Based on the belief in One God, the Sikh religion recognizes the equality of all human beings, and is marked by rejection of idolatry, ritualism, caste and asceticism. This website serves to heighten the awareness of Sikhism and hopefully can be of some use to seekers of knowledge.

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India Cultural Highlights

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of diseases marked by abnormal production of blood cells by the bone marrow. Healthy bone marrow produces immature blood cells—called blasts—that then develop into red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. MDS disrupts this normal process so that the bone marrow is overactive, producing many immature cells. These blasts, however, do not fully develop into mature blood cells. As a result, patients with MDS have fewer mature blood cells, and those they do have may be abnormal and not function properly. Any or all blood cell types may be affected by MDS, which is different from leukemia in which only white blood cells are overproduced. The direct effects of MDS may include: - Anemia and fatigue if red blood cells counts are low - Increased risk of infection if white blood cell counts are low - Compromised ability to control bleeding if platelets counts are low Failure of the bone marrow to produce normal cells is a gradual process. As such, MDS is primarily a disease of the aging and most patients are over 65 years of age. Some patients may survive with MDS while approximately one-third will have their disease progress to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). AML that develops from MDS is a difficult disease to treat. The possible treatments for MDS, which may be used alone or in combination, include the following: - Supportive care through administration of growth factors to stimulate immature cells to development into mature blood cells - Destruction of abnormal cells through administration of chemotherapy, at either low, conventional, or high doses, depending on the condition of the patient and the aggressiveness of their disease - Replacement of damaged bone marrow with healthy cells that develop into blood cells, a procedure called stem cell transplantation Targeted therapy that may include the new drug Revlimid® (lenalidomide), which is thought to work by regulating the immune system About this MDS Treatment Information The information contained on this site is a general overview of treatment for MDS. Treatment may consist of growth factors, chemotherapy with or without stem cell transplantation, targeted therapy, or a combination of these treatment techniques. Multi-modality treatment, which utilizes two or more treatment techniques, is increasingly recognized as an important approach for improving a patient’s chance of cure or prolonging survival. In some cases, participation in a clinical trial utilizing new, innovative therapies may provide the most promising treatment. Information about treatments for MDS that are being evaluated in clinical trials is discussed under Strategies to Improve Treatment. Circumstances unique to each patient’s situation may influence how these general treatment principles are applied. The potential benefits of multi-modality care, participation in a clinical trial, or standard treatment must be carefully balanced with the potential risks. The information on this website is intended to help educate patients about their treatment options and to facilitate a mutual or shared decision-making process with their treating cancer physician. MDS Treatment Sections: Background: Normal Blood Cell Production In order to better understand MDS and its treatment, a basic understanding of normal blood cell production is useful. Normal blood is made up of fluid called plasma and three main types of blood cells–white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. Each type of blood cell has a specific function: - White blood cells, also called leukocytes, help the body fight infections and other diseases. - Red blood cells, also called erythrocytes, make up half of the blood’s total volume and are filled with hemoglobin, which picks up oxygen from the lungs and carries it to the body’s organs. - Platelets, or thrombocytes, help form blood clots to control bleeding. Blood cells are produced inside the bones in a spongy space called the bone marrow. The process of blood cell formation is called hematopoiesis. All blood cells develop from one common cell type, called a stem cell. Stem cells become mature blood cells by a process called differentiation. Immature blood cells are called blasts. Blasts grow or differentiate into mature red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Once they are fully developed, these cells are released into the blood where they circulate throughout the body and perform their respective functions. In healthy individuals, there are adequate stem cells to continuously produce new blood cells and mature blood cells are produced in a continuous and orderly fashion. MDS disrupts this normal process resulting in many blasts and few mature, healthy blood cells. In order to diagnose MDS and plan treatment, a physician must evaluate the patient’s bone marrow cells to determine the specific type of MDS. The cells are removed through a technique called a bone marrow biopsy, which uses a large needle to withdraw cells directly from the bone marrow. A special laboratory test is conducted on the sample cells, called a cytogenetic analysis. The purpose of this test is to determine whether there are abnormalities in the DNA of the blood cells. DNA contains the genetic code for the cell, which can be thought of as the instructions for what the cell looks like, what it does, and how it grows. Most forms of MDS and leukemias are characterized by specific abnormalities. Identifying these provides useful information about the patient’s prognosis, or duration of survival. Types of MDS There are several different types of MDS, which are classified by how the abnormal cells that were removed from the bone marrow appear under the microscope and how many blasts can be identified. At the time of bone marrow evaluation, cells are also removed for cytogenetic analysis. MDS is classified into five different diseases characterized by ineffective blood cell production in the bone marrow and varying rates of progression to acute leukemia. Following is a description of the five classifications: Refractory Anemia (RA): Patients have low blood counts, bone marrow blasts are less than 5%, and sideroblasts (iron containing cells) are less than 15%. The average survival is approximately 43 months, but can be influenced by specific chromosomal abnormalities. Refractory Anemia with Ringed Sideroblasts (RARS): Patients have low blood counts, bone marrow blasts are less than 5%, and sideroblasts are greater than 15%. The average survival is 55 months, but can be influenced by specific chromosomal abnormalities. Refractory Anemia with Excess Blasts (RAEB): Patients have low blood counts, 1-5% blasts in the blood, and bone marrow blasts between 5 and 20%. The average survival is 12 months, but can be influenced by specific chromosomal abnormalities. Refractory Anemia with Excess Blasts in Transition (RAEBt): Patients have low blood counts, over 5% blasts in the blood or cells in the blood containing an abnormality referred to as Auer rods, and bone marrow blasts between 20 and 30%. The average survival is 5 months, but can be influenced by specific chromosomal abnormalities. Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML): Blood cells called monocytes make up more than 1,000 ml in the blood and patients have less than 5% blasts. Bone marrow blasts are less than 20% and the average survival is 30 months, but can be influenced by specific chromosomal abnormalities. Planning Treatment for MDS Since a stem cell transplant utilizing cells from a donor—called an allogeneic stem cell transplant—holds the most hope for cure, a major decision faced by patients with MDS is not whether to undergo transplantation, but when. Patients with MDS that is likely to progress to leukemia early—which results in shorter survival—may be willing to accept higher risks of treatment and proceed quickly to a stem cell transplant. Patients with MDS that progresses more slowly are likely to live longer and may wish to pursue a more conservative treatment approach, opting to use supportive care and wait a longer period before undergoing a stem cell transplant. However, patients who choose conservative treatment approaches should always be prepared to receive more aggressive treatment in case their disease progresses more rapidly than anticipated. To prepare for a possible stem cell transplant, patients should consider arranging for a stem cell donor and/or having their own stem cells collected and stored shortly after diagnosis. This is important because as MDS progresses and treatment is initiated, it becomes increasingly difficult to collect stem cells. In order to better plan treatment, doctors try to identify how quickly patients are likely to progress to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). A score is assigned that reflects this tendency to progress, and is based on a system called the International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS). A higher score is associated with a type of MDS that is likely to progress to leukemia more quickly. The IPSS score takes into account three important factors in MDS: - The percent of bone marrow blasts—more blasts contributes to a higher score - Genetic abnormalities—more abnormalities contribute to a higher score - Severity of low white blood cell counts—lower counts of white blood cells, platelets, and red blood cells contribute to a higher score Relationship between a patient’s risk of progressing to leukemia and timing of stem cell transplant: Research shows that knowing a patient’s risk of progressing to leukemia is important for determining optimal timing of stem cell transplantation. Based on information about 1,000 patients who had been diagnosed with MDS, researchers from several U.S. cancer centers have determined that patients with a low or low-intermediate risk of progression to leukemia have better outcomes if their transplant was not performed at the time of diagnosis, but was delayed. Patients with a high or high-intermediate risk experienced optimal survival if they underwent an allogeneic transplant at the time of diagnosis, without delay. Furthermore, the patients with lower risk achieved optimal outcomes if their transplant was administered prior to progression of their disease to acute myeloid leukemia compared to after progression. Overview of Treatment of MDS The objective of treatment is to control the growth of the abnormal cells so that more normal cells can grow and improve blood cell production. Some treatments are designed to manage the complications associated with ineffective blood cell production, while others extend survival or even cure the disease. Treatment of MDS is individualized and depends on two main factors: - The severity of low blood counts - The risk of progression to acute myeloid leukemia Other factors that influence treatment decisions include patient’s age, other medical conditions, and the severity of the myelodysplastic syndrome. The potential treatment options for MDS include the following: Currently, only stem cell transplant utilizing cells from a donor—called an allogeneic transplant—can consistently cure patients with MDS. Other therapies are directed at prolonging survival and decreasing the symptoms from these diseases. Cutler C, Lee S, Greenberg P, et al. A decision analysis of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for the myelodysplastic syndromes: delayed transplantation for low-risk myelodysplasia is associated with improved outcome. Blood. 2004;104:579-585. Copyright © 2013 Omni Health Media Myelodysplastic Syndrome Information Center. All Rights Reserved.

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Medical Topics

Fundamentals of Business Finance Durée de l'évènement: Page d'accueil du programme: Event focal point email: Autres infos sur l'évènement: This course is designed for both officials and businessmen who are interested in learning the basics of investments and finance as needed in a modern environment. It represents a departure from available academic courses as it is directly centred on the typical challenges that are faced every day by officials involved with trade promotion and business development as well as young entrepreneurs. It covers, in intuitive plain language, basic concepts needed to understand modern finance for enterprises in a normal and efficient business environment. From modern and practical perspectives, it covers notions of finance and accounting sufficient to understand balance sheets, short and long-term credit, equity and investments, cash as well as sustainable profits, return to shareholders, areas of financial risks and available insurances. It also provides an idea where to look for sources of funds, what to ask and finally understand offers and contracts. This practical course on the fundamentals of business finance will allow participants to face all those business situations in which finance plays a role, let it be for starting a business, acquiring a production tool or contributing to the promotion of a country business environment. It also helps participants to understand and act at present times when the global finance is going through critical times. At the end of the course, the participants should be able to: - Explain with accuracy the main issues relating to modern business finance such as but not limited to, starting a business, acquiring a production tool, or contributing to the promotion of a country business environment; - Identify the essential accounting needs including the preparation of cash flow, profit and loss, balance sheets, and the basics of forecasting, target and ratios; - Interpret financial, economic, and social results; - Analyze existing financial needs - short vs. long-term credit, equity, investments, cash as well as sustainable profits, return to shareholders, areas of financial risks and available insurances, financing tools, and banking products; and - Analyze a presentation and business plan with strategies on how to deal with banks, or develop a plan on how to renegotiate existing contracts. Contenu et structure The course consists of the following modules: Module 1: Understanding and planning a business and its financial implications Module 2: Examining financial options and identifying sources of finance Module 3: Dealing with financial institutions Module 4: Financial results, economic, social Results: protective measures to weather the crisis In order to ensure the best possible outreach, the course will be delivered through e-learning. Through a multiple-instructional setting, the goal is to achieve the learning objectives by means of learning technologies that match personal learning styles and by the inclusion of non-linear learning that aims at the development of just-in-time skills of adult learners. At the same time, in order to allow participants maximum flexibility of scheduling , the learning will be conducted in an asynchronous manner. Using a state-of-the-art training architecture, UNITAR will combine self-learning with assessments and online discussions. The pedagogy - adapted specifically to professionals in full-time work - will help train participants through various experiences: absorb (read); do (activity); interact (socialize); reflect (relate to one’s own reality). This course is designed for private sector managers and entrepreneurs in industrial as well developing countries, government officials, typically at ministry of trade, finance, economy and/or planning levels, diplomats and trade representatives, and national and international experts involved in trade and finance negotiations. A certificate of completion will be issued by UNITAR to all participants who complete the course-related assignments and assessments successfully. Course schedule is subject to change. Course fee is non-refundable but transferrable to another course or participant and subject to change as per UNITAR's policy on pricing. - Public - Sur Inscription - Public - Candidature - Privé - sur Invitation - Open to register/apply - Face à face

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Finance Education

Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas A Spanish historian; born at Cuellar, in the province of Segovia, in 1559; died at Madrid, 27 March, 1625. He was a great-grandson of the Tordesillas who was put to death by the Comuneros at Seville. He studied in Spain and Italy, and became secretary to Vespasiano Gonzaga, a brother of the Duke of Mantua, who was afterwards Viceroy of Navarre and Valencia, and who recommended him to Philip II in the last year of that monarch's reign. Philip appointed him grand historiographer ( cronista mayor ) of America and Castile, and he filled that office during part of his royal patron's reign, the whole reign of Philip III, and the beginning of that of Philip IV. At his death his body was conveyed to Cuellar, and interred in the church of Santa Marina, where his tomb is still to be seen. His most famous work is the "Historia General de los Hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas y Tierra Firme del Mar Océano" (General History of the deeds of the Castilians on the Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea), divided into eight periods of ten years each, and comprising all the years from 1472 to 1554. This work was printed at Madrid in 1601; reprinted by Juan de la Cuesta in 1615; revised and augmented by Andrés González and published at Madrid by Nicolas Rodríguez in 1726, and at Antwerp, by Juan Bautista Verdussen, in 1728. Worthy of note is the "Description of the West Indies", in the first volume of his work, which was translated into Latin and published at Amsterdam, by Gaspar Barleo, in 1622, a French version being published at Paris in the same year. In 1660 there appeared a French translation of the first three decades of his "Historia" by Nicolás de la Corte. In writing his great work Tordesillas made use of all the public archives, having access to documents of every kind. It is evident in his writings that he had to deal with a large number of historical manuscripts, and contented himself with relating events as he found them recorded. A great part of his work is more or less a transcript of the History of the Indies left by the famous Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas , though expurgated of wellnigh everything unfavourable to the settlers. A painstaking and conscientious investigator for the most part, his style does not correspond to his other admirable qualifications. He was a learned and judicious man, though, particularly in the later decades, somewhat prone to overpraise the conquerors and their exploits. In addition to that already mentioned, his most important works are: "A General History of the World during the time of Philip II from the year 1559 to the King's death"; "Events in Scotland and England during the forty-four years of the lifetime of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland" (Historia de lo sucedido en Escocia é Inglaterra en los cuarenta y cuatro años que vivió Maria Estuardo Reina de Escocia); Five books of the history of Portugal and the conquests of the Azores in the years 1582, 1583; "History of events in France from 1585 to 1594" (a work published in Madrid in 1598, but suppressed by command of the king); "A Treatise, Relation, and Historical Discourse on the Disturbances in Aragon in the years 1591 and 1592" (Tratado, relación y discurso histórico de los movimientos en Aragon en los años de 1591 y 1592); "Commentary on the deeds of the Spaniards, French, and Venetians in Italy, and of other Republics, Potentates, famous Italian Princes and Captains, from 1281 to 1559"; "Chronicle of the Turks, following chiefly that written by Juan Maria Vicentino, chronicler to Mahomet, Bajazet, and Suleiman, their lords" (unpublished); various works translated from the French and Italian, preserved in the National Library at Madrid. More Catholic Encyclopedia Browse Encyclopedia by Alphabet The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes. Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration. No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny. Browse the Catholic Encyclopedia by Topic Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912 Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online

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Native American Studies

Are Black & White Colors? Is Black a Color? Is White a Color? The answer to the question - "Are black and white colors?" - is one of the most debated issues about color. Ask a scientist and you'll get a reply based on physics: “Black is not a color, white is a color.” Ask an artist or a child with crayons and you'll get another: “Black is a color, white is not a color.” (Maybe!) There are four sections on this page that present the best answers. # 1 - The First Answer: Color Theory #1 - Color as Light Black is not a color. White is a color. # 2 - The Second Answer: Color Theory #2 - Color as Pigment or Molecular Coloring Agents Black is a color. White is not a color Comments from color pros: More about black & white How Colors Exist A basic understanding of how colors are created is the first step in providing correct answers. Here are two examples: The color of a tangible object is the result of pigments or molecular coloring agents. For example, the color of a red apple (in the illustration at the left) is the result of molecular coloring agents on the surface of the apple. Also, a painting of a red apple is the result of red pigments used to create the image. The colors of objects viewed on a television set or on a computer monitor are the result of colored light (in the illustration at the right). If you're not familiar with how colors are created by light, look at your monitor or television screen close up. Put your eye right up against the screen. A small magnifying glass might help. This is what you will see: A simplified way to explain it is that the color of a red apple on a computer or television is created by photons of red light that are transmitted within the electronic system. It's also important to understand the concept of "primary" colors. The fundamental rule is that there are three colors that cannot be made by mixing other colors together. These three, red, blue, and yellow, are known as the primary colors. Now that we've described two different categories of colors (pigment and light-generated) and have a definition of primary colors, the answer to whether black and white are colors can be answered. (Additive Color Theory) Red, Green, and Blue (The primary colors of light) Are black and white colors when generated as light? Black and white cats generated on a television. These colors are created by light. 1. Black is the absence of color (and is therefore not a color) When there is no light, everything is black. Test this out by going into a photographic dark room. There are no photons of light. In other words, there are no photons of colors. 2. White is the blending of all colors and is a color. Light appears colorless or white. Sunlight is white light that is composed of all the colors of the spectrum. A rainbow is proof. You can't see the colors of sunlight except when atmospheric conditions bend the light rays and create a rainbow. You can also use a prism to demonstrate this. Fact: The sum of all the colors of light add up to white. This is additive color theory. When you're finished with black & white, explore some real colors at Color Matters: The Meanings of Color Color Theory 2 - Color as Pigment or Molecular Coloring Agents (Subtractive Color Theory) |Red, Yellow, and Blue| (The primary colors of pigments in the art world) |Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow| (The primary colors of inks in the printing industry) * Are black and white colors when they exist as pigments or as molecular coloring agents? Black and white cats created by colored crayons. This is color generated by pigments. Black and white cats. The colors of the fur is the result of molecules. 1. Black is a color. (Chemists will confirm this!) Here's a simple way to show how black is made: Combine all three primary colors (red yellow and blue) using a liquid paint or you even food coloring. You won't get a jet black, but the point will be clear. The history of black pigments includes charcoal, iron metals, and other chemicals as the source of black paints. Resource: History of Pigments Therefore, if someone argues that black is the absence of color, you can reply, “What is in a tube of black paint?” However, you must add the fact that black is a color when you are referring to the color of pigments and the coloring agents of tangible objects. 2. White is not a color. ... but .... in some cases you could say that white is a color. The grey area: However, when you examine the pigment chemistry of white, ground-up substances (such as chalk and bone) or chemicals (such as titanium and zinc) are used to create the many nuances of white in paint, chalk, crayons - and even products such as Noxema. It's worth noting that white paper is made by bleaching tree bark (paper pulp). Therefore, you could say that white is a color in the context of pigment chemistry. More Information about CMYK primary colors: In theory, mixing equal amounts of three primary colors should produce shades of grey or black when all three are fully saturated. In the print industry, cyan, magenta and yellow tend to produce muddy brown colors. For this reason, a fourth "primary" pigment, black, is often used in addition to the cyan, magenta, and yellow colors. There's more to color than black and white! When you're finished with this article, discover the 3 most important things about color at Color Matters. See Basic Color Theory Vision and Reflection The final answer to whether black and white are colors takes other factors into consideration. Colors exist in the larger context of human vision. Consider the fact that there are three parts to the process of the perception of color. 1. The medium - The color as it exists as a pigment/colorant (such as the color of a tangible object) or as light (such as the color of an image on a television screen). 2. The sender - How the color is transmitted. 3. The receiver - How humans see color. In other words, how we receive information about color. (If a tree falls in the forest and there is nobody around does it make a sound? Does a color exist if there is no one to see it?) Are black and white colors? The best answer combines both of the theories described in Part 1 and Part 2. Pigments and coloring agents (as described in Part 1) are only half of the answer. Here's how we see color: The color of a tangible object originates as a molecular coloring agent on the surface of the apple. We see the color of an object because that object reflects “a color” to the eye. Every color is the effect of a specific wavelength. Link to ElecroMagnetic Color at Color Matters. In the case of the apple, we see the color red because the red apple reflects the specific wavelength of red (640nm is red). The same theory applies to black and white. Are black and white colors? 1. Black is not a color; a black object absorbs all the colors of the visible spectrum and reflects none of them to the eyes. The grey area about black: - A black object may look black, but, technically, it may still be reflecting some light. For example, a black pigment results from a combination of several pigments that collectively absorb most colors. If appropriate proportions of three primary pigments are mixed, the result reflects so little light as to be called "black." In reality, what appears to be black may be reflecting some light. - In physics, a black body is a perfect absorber of light. 2. White is a color. White reflects all the colors of the visible light spectrum to the eyes. Explore some real colors at Color Matters: The Meanings of Color The colors we see are simply a degree of how much of this color present in light is reflected. To be completely accurate, a color reflects the wavelengths in the NM range that our retinal cones respond to. The medium is the process of reflection of the wavelength of the color. The receiver is our eyes which receive the wavelength of the color. Comments from colors pros: More about black & white More about color vision: How the Eye Sees Color

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Engineering, Color Theory, Photography, Printing

FISHING FORECAST TAKES GUESS WORK OUT OF WHERE TO FISH Feb. 14, 2013 Anglers use fishing forecast to find hidden opportunities PRATT – The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) 2013 Fishing Forecast features the ins and outs of fish populations in public waters around the state, helping anglers to better decide where to cast their lines. Comprised of sampling efforts conducted during annual lake monitoring, the fishing forecast gives anglers detailed information on the best bodies of water to fish for their specific fishing needs. The data collected is divided into three categories based on the size of the body of water sampled. Reservoirs are defined as bodies of water larger than 1,200 acres, lakes are defined as bodies of water from 10 to 1,200 acres, and bodies of water smaller than 10 acres are defined as ponds. Since not every lake is sampled each year, the forecast provides a three-year average of each location to provide anglers with the best available information. In addition to what species of fish can be caught at any given body of water, the fishing forecast also includes tables with a Density Rating, Preferred Rating, Lunker Rating, Biggest Fish (the largest fish sampled), Biologist’s Rating and the previously-mentioned Three-Year Average of popular species. The Density Rating is the number of fish that were high-quality size or larger sampled per unit of sampling effort. High-quality size, listed in parentheses at the top of the Density Rating column, is the length of fish considered acceptable to most anglers and is different for each species. The higher the Density Rating, the more high-quality-sized or larger fish per surface acre in the lake. Theoretically, a lake with a Density Rating of 30 has twice as many high-quality-sized fish per acre as a lake with a Density Rating of 15. The Preferred Rating identifies how many above-average-sized fish a water contains. For example, a lake may have a good density of crappie, but few fish over 10 inches. The Preferred Rating tells an angler where to go to for a chance to catch bigger fish. The Lunker Rating is similar to the Density Rating, but it tells you the relative density of lunker-sized fish in the lake. A lunker is a certain length of fish considered a trophy by most anglers. It also differs with each species and is listed in parentheses at the top of the Lunker Rating column. For example, most anglers consider a channel catfish longer than 28 inches a lunker. Many lakes may have a lunker rating of 0, but this does not mean there are no big fish in that lake. It just means that no lunker fish were caught during sampling, and they may be less abundant than in lakes with positive Lunker Ratings. You can use the Density Rating and Lunker Rating together. If you want numbers, go with the highest Density Rating. If you want only big fish, go with the Lunker Rating. Somewhere in the middle might be a better choice. A lake with a respectable rating in all three categories will provide the best overall fishing opportunities. The Biggest Fish column lists the weight of the largest fish caught during sampling. A heavy fish listed here can give the lunker fishermen confidence that truly big fish are present. The Biologist’s Rating adds a human touch to the forecast. Each district fisheries biologist reviews the data from annual sampling of their assigned lakes. This review considers environmental conditions that may have affected the sampling. They also consider previous years’ data. A rating of P (poor), F (fair), G (good), or E (excellent) will be in the last column. Sometimes the Density Rating may not agree with the Biologist’s Rating. This will happen occasionally and means the Density Rating may not accurately reflect the biologist’s opinion of the fishery. The Three-Year Average rating refers to the averaging of the Density Rating over the previous three years of sampling to help show a trend for a particular lake. Whether anglers are simply looking for a new spot to cast, or are searching for that elusive trophy fish, the 2013 Fishing Forecast is an invaluable tool for any fisherman. A copy of this year’s forecast can be found in the March/April issue of Kansas Wildlife and Parks magazine, any KDWPT office or license vendor.

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Marine Life Studies

Multilateral Trade Negotiations: Tips and Techniques (2013) Duration of event: Event focal point email: Other events details: Prior to the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, which were concluded in December 1993, multilateral trade negotiations were seen as a preserve of the developed countries and the developing countries have only a marginal role to play in the negotiation process; they were primarily the recipients of preferential market access and other special differential treatment. Since the Uruguay Round, although the developing countries have been actively involved in the negotiation process, they face serious challenges in keeping pace with the growing area of international trade law. Their role in the negotiation process is limited due to certain imbalances in their negotiation preparedness, structures and outcomes. Negotiators from developing countries face serious challenges to catch up and keep pace with, and even to influence the scope and outcome of negotiations that serve the best interests of their countries. This course aims to assist the negotiators and government officials of developing and least-developed countries in their preparations for future multilateral trade negotiations. The course will enhance their knowledge and disseminate information about various trade negotiation skills and techniques, which will enable them to better prepare for future multilateral trade negotiations, become ‘well-informed’ and fully benefit from their participation by becoming equal partners in the negotiating process. The course will provide a comprehensive overview of the concept of negotiations, background and special characteristics of multilateral trade negotiations in the WTO and how to strategically prepare and plan in conducting successful negotiations. It will also help participants gain greater insight into various negotiation issues currently involved in different WTO Agreements. At the end of the course, the participants should be able to: • Differentiate between bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations; • Illustrate how multilateral trade negotiations in the WTO are done; • Examine the problems faced by both the developing and the least developed countries as regards multilateral negotiations; • Formulate a sound negotiation strategy; • Analyze the significance of data required for a multilateral trade negotiation; and • Assess various issues that may arise during negotiation processes related to WTO Agreements such as agriculture, sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), technical barriers to trade (TBT), trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS), and trade in services. Content and Structure The course consists of the following modules: • Module I – The Concept of Trade Negotiations: An Overview • Module II – General Introduction to WTO Negotiations • Module III – Multilateral Trade Negotiations: Strategic Planning and Preparation • Module IV – Information Requirements in a Negotiation Process • Module V – Negotiating Issues in Different WTO Agreements In order to ensure the best possible outreach, the course will be delivered through e-learning. Through a multiple-instructional setting, the goal is to achieve the learning objectives by means of learning technologies that match personal learning styles and by the inclusion of non-linear learning that aims at the development of just-in-time skills of adult learners. At the same time, in order to allow participants maximum flexibility of scheduling , the learning will be conducted in an asynchronous manner. Using a state-of-the-art training architecture, UNITAR will combine self-learning with assessments and online discussions. The pedagogy - adapted specifically to professionals in full-time work - will help train participants through various experiences: absorb (read); do (activity); interact (socialize); reflect (relate to one’s own reality). This foundation course is designed for government officials, trade experts, government lawyers and negotiators who serve their government in regional or international trade negotiations. The course is beneficial for all other participants including policy advocates, academics, researchers, and the members from the wider public, who are interested in learning about the structuring and negotiating of multilateral trade agreements. A certificate of completion will be issued by UNITAR to all participants who complete the course-related assignments and assessments successfully. Course schedule is subject to change. Course fee is non-refundable but transferrable to another course or participant and subject to change as per UNITAR's policy on pricing. - Public - by registration - Public - by application - Private - by invitation - Open to register/apply Mode of Delivery

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Migration and Citizenship Topics

Nicaraguan Pottery Designs by David Sequeira - Dates: December 1, 1939 through February 4, 1940 - Collections: Arts of the Americas December 1, 1939: Eighty large color drawings by David Sequeira from Chorotegan pottery excavated by him in Nicaragua will be shown at the Brooklyn Museum from December 1 through February 4 in an exhibition arranged by Fr. Herbert J. Spinden, Curator of American Indian Art and Primitive Cultures. Sequira is of Nicaraguan birth and primarily a musican whose interest in musical themes of the Indians induced him to study and reproduce the brilliant designs on the pre-Colombian pottery of Nicaragua identified by Dr. Spinden as superb examples of Chorotegan art. The drawings are circular and rectangular and will be shown in panels. The designs are in strong, warm colors, brick red, reddish brown, black and white, The artist has, in effect, transferred the patterns from concave and convex pottery surfaces to flat surfaces The patterns incorporate motives of conventionalized jaguars, crab, serpents, crocodiles, monkeys and birds, the last including the famous Quetzal which Dr. Spinden states is unusual to find represented in a culture as far south as Nicaragua. Human figures and geometrical or abstract designs both showing a strong Maya influence are also used in the patterns. The drawings are shown more for their interest as sound designs than for their scientific interest, which is nevertheless important, as part of the Museum’s policy of making available basic creative designs of old cultures that can he adapted to today’s needs or inspire new efforts. The circumstances of the preparation of these drawings are important. In the first place, they were made only a short time after the pottery was excavated while the colors were still at their full strength. The tones tend to fade when they come in contact with the air after their long burial. Secondly, the artist, to carry out the preservation of the designs as faithfully as possible, mixed his own watercolors from the kinds of materials that were probably used in coloring the pottery, usually earth colors. According to Dr. Spinden, in his paper presented at the 21st International Congress of Arnericanists in Goteborg in 1924, the Chorotegan Culture Area from which these designs come "is a strip of territory beginning on the humid north coast of Honduras near Ceiba, widening with the wet lands and extending southward across Nicaragua and Costa Rica to about the limits of Panama. The word Chorotegan…is of Mexican origin with some such meaning as the Driven-out People. “The culture in this area was built historically on Mayan ideas of the First Empire ending A.D. 630, yet the Chorotegas reached the height of their productivity on the Toltec horizon (1150-1350) and were intermediaries in trade between Mexico and Colombia.” He further states that the present tribes in this area are not of the same stock as the Chorotegans who produced the high culture. In the region of Northern Costa Rica and southern Nicaragua “……the culture was intensively developed, especially in pottery….. The designs are painted and modelled, with the crocodile, the monkey, the jaguar, the fish, etc. serving as motives. One peculiar type of pottery shows the use of a purplish black luster paint made from manganese ore.” It is probable that the pieces of pottery from which the exhibited designs were taken fall in this category.

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Indigenous Rights and Reconciliation

A lumbar puncture is a procedure in which a needle is inserted into the spinal canal to measure the pressure and obtain a sample of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the colorless fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. The procedure may also be used to inject anesthetics, medicine, or a contrast dye (for spinal X-rays) into the spinal fluid or to drain fluids that accumulate as a result of certain medical conditions. Fluid samples obtained from a lumbar puncture can be analyzed for signs of infection (such as meningitis), inflammation, cancer, or bleeding in the area around the brain or spinal cord. A lumbar puncture is also sometimes called a spinal tap. eMedicineHealth Medical Reference from Healthwise To learn more visit Healthwise.org © 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. Find out what women really need. Most Popular Topics Pill Identifier on RxList - quick, easy, Find a Local Pharmacy - including 24 hour, pharmacies

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Bone and Joint Conditions

Carbon Monoxide Detector Placement - Carbon Monoxide - Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Proper placement of a carbon monoxide (CO) detector is important. If you are installing only one carbon monoxide detector, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recommends it be located near the sleeping area, where it can wake you if you are asleep. Additional detectors on every level and in every bedroom of a home provides extra protection against carbon monoxide poisoning. Homeowners should remember not to install carbon monoxide detectors directly above or beside fuel-burning appliances, as appliances may emit a small amount of carbon monoxide upon start-up. A detector should not be placed within fifteen feet of heating or cooking appliances or in or near very humid areas such as bathrooms. When considering where to place a carbon monoxide detector, keep in mind that although carbon monoxide is roughly the same weight as air (carbon monoxide's specific gravity is 0.9657, as stated by the EPA; the National Resource Council lists the specific gravity of air as one), it may be contained in warm air coming from combustion appliances such as home heating equipment. If this is the case, carbon monoxide will rise with the warmer air. Installation locations vary by manufacturer. Manufacturers' recommendations differ to a certain degree based on research conducted with each one's specific detector. Therefore, make sure to read the provided installation manual for each detector before installing. CO detectors do not serve as smoke detectors and vice versa. However, dual smoke/CO detectors are also sold. Smoke detectors detect the smoke generated by flaming or smoldering fires, whereas CO detectors can alarm people about faulty fuel burning devices to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is produced from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. In the home CO can be formed, for example, by open flames, space heaters, water heaters, blocked chimneys or running a car inside a garage. Since CO is colorless, tasteless and odorless (unlike smoke from a fire), detection and prevention of carbon monoxide poisoning in a home environment is impossible without such a warning device. In North America, some state, provincial and municipal governments require installation of CO detectors in new units - among them, the U.S. states of Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Vermont, the Canadian province of Ontario, and New York City. According to the 2005 edition of the carbon monoxide guidelines, NFPA 720, published by the National Fire Protection Association, sections 184.108.40.206 and 220.127.116.11, all CO detectors 'shall be centrally located outside of each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms,' and each detector 'shall be located on the wall, ceiling or other location as specified in the installation instructions that accompany the unit.' When carbon monoxide detectors were introduced into the market, they had a limited lifespan of 2 years. However technology developments have increased this and many now advertise 5 or even 6 years. Newer models are designed to signal a need to be replaced after that timespan although there are many instances of detectors operating far beyond this point. Although all home detectors use an audible alarm signal as the primary indicator, some versions also offer a digital readout of the CO concentration [see side-bar], in parts per million. Typically, they can display both the current reading and a peak reading from memory of the highest level measured over a period of time. The digital models offer the advantage of being able to observe levels that are below the alarm threshold, learn about levels that may have occurred during an absence, and assess the degree of hazard if the alarm sounds. They may also aid emergency responders in evaluating the level of past or ongoing exposure or danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. Battery-only carbon monoxide detectors tend to go thru batteries more frequently than expected. Plug-in detectors with a battery backup (for use if the power is interrupted) provide less battery-changing maintenance. Some CO detectors are available as system-connected, monitored devices. System-connected detectors, which can be wired to either a security or fire panel, are monitored by a central station. In case the residence is empty, the residents are sleeping or occupants are already suffering from the effects of CO, the central station can be alerted to the high concentrations of CO gas and can send the proper authorities to investigate possible carbon monoxide poisoning. Page 1 of 3: Next Page » Carbon Monoxide Detectors w/ PPM Displays and Battery Backup Although all home carbon monoxide detectors use an audible alarm signal as the primary indicator, some versions also offer a digital readout of the CO concentration, in parts per million. Typically, they can display both the current reading and a peak reading from memory of the highest level measured over a period of time. The digital models offer the advantage of being able to observe levels that are below the alarm threshold, learn about levels that may have occurred during an absence, and assess the degree of hazard if the alarm sounds. They may also aid emergency responders in evaluating the level of past or ongoing exposure or danger.

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Industrial Chemical Hazards

Swine flu, these days, may not be as rampant as last year when over 787 cases were detected in the State and nearly 55 persons died because of complications arising out of it. However, sporadic cases continue to get reported from districts and there is always a possibility of the virus making a comeback next winter, physicians maintain. To be prepared for this eventuality, authorities on Thursday launched swine flu vaccination drive among healthcare workers, who are, when it comes to fighting H1N1 virus, the first line of defence. All government hospitals including those in the districts have been given sufficient doses of the vaccine for inoculation of healthcare workers. This is the first phase of swine flu vaccination drive and, according to authorities, the second phase covering high risk groups among general public will be taken up after an indigenous vaccine is developed. The present vaccine being administered to health workers, has been imported by noted pharma giant Sanofi Pasteur. Health care workers from private hospitals, who are willing to get inoculated, can also get themselves administered with the vaccine at any of the Government hospitals, authorities said. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has supplied close to 80,000 doses of swine flu vaccine for inoculation of health workers in the State. In all, the Centre has procured nearly 15 lakh doses of swine flu vaccine for distribution all over the country. The swine flu vaccine will provide immunity for only one year because of the possibility of the virus changing its ‘nature' and turning into a more virulent form in the next few years. “In the second phase of vaccination, which could start in three to four months, pregnant women and children will be our prime targets. Because of their compromised immunity, they are susceptible to this virus and hence they will be given the indigenous vaccine,” said state swine flu coordinator Dr. K. Subhakar. Keywords: Medical facilities

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Infectious Disease Reports

THE NEW FOUNDE LAND Volume 18 Number 1 Farley Mowat draws from his own authoritative works on Newfoundland to create a fascinating eulogy for traditional life on the Rock. He captures the character of the seafolk, whose chosen life-style remained the same from one generation to the next until they were pushed unwillingly into the twentieth century by the political machinations of Joey Smallwood. From the unification with Canada in 1949 to the present, the government has continued purposefully to dislodge the people from their outport homes and seagoing livelihoods into larger mining and industrial communities, systematically destroying both the natural and human environment in the name of progress.Mowat brings both Newfoundland's past and present to life, taking the reader through the Norse sagas, the first European visits, and the establishment of permanent settlements based on cod fishing and seal hunting. Interspersed with this historical account are Mowat's own experiences while living on the south coast of Newfoundland for several years. With seeming ease he distils the essence of these kind, hardworking, insular people and simultaneously arouses the reader's anger at the destructive excesses wrought by the present technological age. Michael Freeman, Bathurst Heights Secondary School, North York, ON. 1971-1979 | 1980-1985 | 1986-1990 | 1991-1995 The materials in this archive are copyright © The Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission Copyright information for reviewers Young Canada Works

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Historical Descriptions

Joined: 16 Mar 2004 |Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:50 pm Post subject: New Holographic Method for Lab-on-a-Chip Technologies These images were taken from a video illustrating a new technique that uses a laser and holograms to precisely position clusters of numerous tiny particles within seconds, representing a potential new tool to analyze biological samples or create devices using "nanoassembly." The red dots are individual particles. (Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University) Researchers at Purdue University have developed a technique that uses a laser and holograms to precisely position numerous tiny particles within seconds, representing a potential new tool to analyze biological samples or create devices using nanoassembly. The technique, called rapid electrokinetic patterning, is a potential alternative to existing technologies because the patterns can be more quickly and easily changed, said mechanical engineering doctoral student Stuart J. Williams. "It's potentially a very versatile tool," said Williams, who is working with doctoral student Aloke Kumar and Steven T. Wereley, an associate professor of mechanical engineering. The research is based at the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue's Discovery Park . The students won a research award for their work in October during the 12th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences in San Diego . Four young researcher poster awards were selected out of more than 220 posters judged in the contest. Findings also have been recently published in two peer-reviewed journals, Lab on a Chip and Microfluidics and Nanofluidics. The experimental device consists of two parallel electrodes made of indium tin oxide, a transparent and electrically conductive material. The parallel plates were spaced 50 micrometers, or millionths of a meter, apart, equivalent to two-thousandths of an inch or about the diameter of a human hair. A liquid sample containing fluorescent beads was injected between the two electrodes, a laser in the near infrared range of the spectrum was shined through one of the transparent electrodes and a small electrical voltage was applied between the two electrodes. "We send holograms of various patterns through this and, because they are holograms, we can create different shapes, such as straight lines or L patterns," Kumar said. The particles in the liquid sample automatically move to the location of the light and assume the shape of the hologram, meaning the method could be used to not only move particles and molecules to specific locations but also to create tiny electronic or mechanical features. "It's a very dynamic system, so we can change this pattern quickly," Kumar said. The light heats up the liquid sample slightly, changing its density and electrical properties. The electric field applied to the plates acts on these altered properties, causing the heated sample to circulate, much like heated air causes convection currents in the atmosphere, producing a donut-shaped "microfluidic vortex" of circulating liquid between the two plates. This vortex enables the researchers to position the particles in the circulating liquid by moving the laser light. "You could take one particle, a hundred particles or a thousand particles and move them anywhere you want in any shape that you want," Williams said. "If you have particles of two different types, you can sort one group out and keep the other behind. It's a versatile tool." Separating particles is important for analyzing medical and environmental samples. The system could allow researchers to design sensor technologies that move particles to specific regions on an electronic chip for detection or analysis. The technique overcomes limitations inherent in two existing methods for manipulating particles measured on the scale of nanometers, or billionths of a meter. One of those techniques, called optical trapping, uses a highly focused beam of light to capture and precisely position particles. That technique, however, is able to move only a small number of particles at a time. The other technique, known as dielectrophoresis, uses electric fields generated from metallic circuits to move many particles at a time. Those circuit patterns, however, cannot be changed once they are created. The new method is able to simultaneously position numerous particles and be changed at a moment's notice simply by changing the shape of the hologram or the position of the light. "If you want to pattern individual particles on a massive scale using electrokinetic methods as precisely as we are doing it, it could take hours to days, where we are doing it in seconds," Williams said. The method offers promise for future "lab-on-a-chip" technology, or using electronic chips to analyze biological samples for medical and environmental applications. Researchers are trying to develop such chips that have a "high throughput," or the ability to quickly detect numerous particles or molecules, such as proteins, using the smallest sample possible. "For example, a single drop of blood contains millions of red blood cells and countless molecules," Williams said. "You always want to have the smallest sample possible so you don't generate waste and you don't have to use as many chemicals for processing the sample. You want to have a very efficient high throughput type of device." So-called "optical tweezers" use light to position objects such as cells or molecules. "You can't use mechanical tweezers to move things like molecules because they are too delicate and will be damaged by conventional tweezers," Kumar said. "That is why techniques like optical tweezing and dielectrophoresis are very popular." The students also have designed an experiment containing one indium tin oxide plate and one gold plate, an important development because gold is often used in biomedical applications. "It's a technique that you would likely use in sensors, but we also see definite potential ways in which you could use it to manufacture devices with nanoassembly," Wereley said. "But it's really too soon to talk about scaling this up in a manufacturing setting. We're just beginning to develop this technique." The researchers recorded videos of the circulating particles to document the effect. A video showing the effect was selected as an outstanding entry during a meeting of the American Physical Society in November. The video can be accessed at http://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/11399 . "This technique has not been done before," Williams said. "We can pattern light, we can pattern particles, we can pattern the vortex. No other tool can do all of these." The researchers demonstrated how the method could be used to cause particles to stick permanently to a surface in a single crystalline layer, a structure that could be used in manufacturing. They used their technique to move fluorescent-dyed beads of polystyrene, latex and glass in sizes ranging from 50 nanometers to 3 micrometers. Future work may involve using a less expensive light source, such as a common laser pointer, which could not be used to create intricate patterns but might be practical for manufacturing. Source: Emil Venere http://www.purdue.edu/dp/Nanotechnology/news.php

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Electrical Components and Phenomena

Student Health Checklist Being a college student warrants a quick health check in order for you to remain healthy all school year. By following a few simple strategies, you can “rock on” in school, work and your social life. Get involved in regular cardio exercise for 30 minutes five times a week such as walking, swimming, running or any other activity that increases your heart rate. De-stress by deep breathing and stretching exercises two to three times a week. Spring for a DVD of yoga or get involved in a yoga class. Get plenty of sleep! This is very important in every aspect of your life!! As a college student, it is recommended that you log six to eight hours per night. Take time out every half hour to stretch, walk around, or deep breathe if you are working at a computer. Drink plenty of water. Dehydration can make you more vulnerable to illness and infections, therefore, it is important that you down plenty of non-alcoholic fluids. And if water isn’t your thing, juice, tea, and other beverages will work as well. Utilizing your BFFs. Having the right friends and someone to talk to and count on is extremely important for your mental health. Seek out groups and activities that will attract new friends who will be supportive of you and vice versa Eat your fruits and veggies. A good rule of thumb is to make sure that half of your plate is filled with fruits and vegetables as these foods are bursting with nutrients that help keep infection and diseases at bay. Fight the flu. Get a flu shot to avoid being laid up this year for a week with fever and sickness. This vaccine is made available to each residential student and all Gallia County students in mid- October here at URG. Being a college student, you often are in close quarters with roomies and classmates, so make sure you get that flu shot!! Back off the alcohol. Alcohol has empty calories and is a risk factor for accidents, injuries and regrettable risky behaviors. Once you turn 21, try sticking to the recommended daily limit of no more than two beers or glasses of wine for men and one for women. Kick the bad habits! Rub snuff, smoke cigarettes or do other drugs? STOP!! All these can impose serious health threats so start kicking those bad habits today. Talk with your healthcare provider for assistance or check out your local health department

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Healthy Eating and Obesity Strategies

Molecular Imaging: Seeing Cancer in Action Inside the Body Oct. 8, 2009 – Molecular imaging can reveal how cancer cells communicate, how they move, what they need to survive and where they are vulnerable to attack. In this edition of Breakthroughs in Cancer Research, David Piwnica-Worms, MD, PhD, professor of developmental biology and radiology at Washington University School of Medicine, explains how molecular imaging is different from more traditional radiology techniques and discusses new discoveries coming out of the medical school’s Molecular Imaging Center. Other Siteman web resources. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO FILE On this edition of Breakthroughs in Cancer Research, we’ll talk about how scientists are making it possible to see cancer in action inside the body. That’s providing new information on how to destroy cancer cells. Host: Thanks for downloading this podcast from the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis. I’m Gwen Ericson. With techniques collectively called molecular imaging, scientists are finding new ways to detect cancer early, monitor cancer treatment and develop better cancer drugs. Molecular imaging can reveal cancer’s secrets, showing how cancer cells communicate, how they move, what they need to survive and where they are vulnerable to attack. To tell us more is David Piwnica-Worms. He is director of the Molecular Imaging Center at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology and the Siteman Cancer Center. Dr. Piwnica-Worms, thank you for joining us. Piwnica-Worms: Well thank you, Gwen. I’m happy to talk with you today. Host: Most of us have had experience with traditional kinds of medical imaging – things like X-rays, PET scans and ultrasound scans. But we’ve probably never encountered molecular imaging. Tell us about the distinction between traditional medical imaging and molecular imaging. Piwnica-Worms: In most of the traditional medical imaging that we may have experienced as patients or with family members, the focus of the imaging is on the anatomy and, in the context of cancer, on the mass or the size of the mass. But in molecular imaging, we’re actually interested in the details of the molecules that are inside the cancer. That is the biology or the biochemistry or metabolism of the cancer. We’re actually trying to image changes in those molecules and biochemistry that may even precede changes in the anatomy. Host: Give me an example of a molecular imaging technique. Piwnica-Worms: One strategy is in the general area that we call genetically encoded reporters. And that means we may take some genetic material from one organism and transfer it into another that may have favorable imaging properties. One such example that we make common use of is firefly luciferase. That is the same firefly that we see flying around in our backyards on a July day in St Louis. And the gene that actually makes the fireflies glow is called luciferase. We can actually use standard molecular biology and cloning techniques to transfer that luciferase gene from fireflies into a cancer cell, and we can watch the cancer glow and move around the body. Or it may tell us how it glows in response to different genes being expressed, or maybe how a protein, one of the building blocks, is processed. And those signals can tell us something about the metabolism and the gene expression inside those cancer cells using noninvasive imaging cameras. Host: Tell me more about what techniques like that reveal about cancer. Piwnica-Worms: One way to think of this is that cancer is like a baseball game where we don’t understand the rules. And you can imagine if you were taking a snapshot of Pujols at bat in the first inning, and then sometime later in the third inning you had a snapshot of Holliday running around a base path. And then at some other time, you had a snapshot of Ankiel making a long throw to third base from the outfield. What are the underlying rules that allow that to happen? If you knew nothing about the game of baseball and you had to try to put these together, dynamic views, continuous videos and movie loops would allow you to begin understanding those rules of why sequential events occur in a more dynamic and easy way than a series of random snapshots. And we hope that analogy sort of lets you know how we can look dynamically, continuously, over time with these noninvasive molecular imaging strategies at the baseball game of cancer that’s going on inside the cells. Host: In medical terms, what can molecular imaging do for us? Piwnica-Worms: A lot of the activities do relate to preclinical and basic type of cancer biology work. These help us better understand the cancer pathways, the rules that guide the metabolism of the cancer cell. These represent the new targets of tomorrow, where new drugs and combinations of drugs can actually help patients. And in some special cases, maybe even in a human, we can tag the drug and understand, is it actually hitting the cancer? Is it binding to its molecular target? And we can image that noninvasively and repetitively over time. And in another area that relates more directly to patients, there are some techniques like fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET. And this is a special subset of molecular imaging that is available today that does look at sugar metabolism in cancer. It can help us detect cancer at early stages or help guide therapeutic choices. That’s one area of molecular imaging that’s actually in the clinics today. Host: What are some of the latest discoveries to come out of the Molecular Imaging Center? Piwnica-Worms: We have a lot of activities going on both within our core groups and collaborators. Two areas of interest that have recently been published and explored involve one of these special pathways. It’s known scientifically as the beta-catenin pathway. It’s very, very important in colon cancer, and it also affects how cells grow and metastasize. And by using one of these luciferase strategies, we can now follow the time course of the regulation of the beta-catenin protein inside colon cancer cells. Another area that’s been very interesting for us is we developed a new optical technique to look directly at inflammation in living animals. In inflammation that occurs around cancer, there is an enzyme known as myeloperoxidase. And it ends up that a small molecule that many people are familiar with known as luminal – which is the same small molecule that you see on CSI Miami that’s sprayed on blood – has a very highly sensitive response to the enzyme myeloperoxidase, which is one of the key enzymes in inflammation. We’ve developed some techniques now using that luminal where we can now look at this myeloperoxidase-mediated inflammation in mouse models, and maybe someday we might be able to look at that in humans and help us follow inflammatory processes related to cancer. Host: Tell me about what the Molecular Imaging Center itself is like. Piwnica-Worms: Well, the Molecular Imaging Center itself is really two main components – a physical center, if you will, and a virtual center. The physical center is the founding faculty investigators who are physically in our laboratory space, all interacting on a daily basis with our laboratories, ourselves and the imaging cores that are in my lab and the investigators’ labs around. And then in addition, we’re tied together by a National Institutes of Health Molecular Imaging Center grant that helps support the cores and the broad array of investigators. We have projects that are ongoing with collaborators in cancer biology and immunology and pharmacology and biochemistry – all interested in studying biology noninvasively through these molecular imaging strategies so that we can try to pry basic biology done with traditional reductionist approaches together with these new dynamic strategies in living cells and live animals and ultimately patients. Host: Dr. Piwnica-Worms, thank you for joining us. Piwnica-Worms: You’re welcome. Host: If you are interested in learning more about the Molecular Imaging Center, please visit its Web site at mic.wustl.edu.

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Medical Topics

BSA Supply No. 35940 If you have ever wanted to go back in time or wished you could visit the future, if you are curious about the world, or if you are interested in how things work or like to learn new things, these are all reasons why you should want to read. Reading is fascinating. It's full of surprises. And it will take you places you can't get to in any other way. - Do EACH of the following: - Learn how to search your library's card catalog or computerized catalog by author, title, and subject. - With the assistance of your merit badge counselor or a librarian, select six books of four different types (such as poetry, drama/plays, fiction, nonfiction, biographies, etc.). Ask your librarian or counselor about award-winning books that are recommended for readers your age and include at least one of those titles. - Find the books in the library catalog. With your counselor's or a librarian's assistance, locate the books on the shelves. - Read each book. Keep a log of your reading that includes the title of the book, the pages or chapters read, the date you completed them, and your thoughts about what you have read so far. Discuss your reading with your counselor. Using your log as a reference, explain why you chose each book and tell whether you enjoyed it and what it meant to you. - Read about the world around you from any two sources--books, magazines, newspapers, the Internet (with your parent's permission), field manuals, etc. Topics may include sports, environmental problems, politics, social issues, current events, nature, religion, etc. Discuss what you have learned with your counselor. - Do ONE of the following: - From a catalog of your choice, fill out an order form for merchandise as if you intended to place an order. Share the completed form with your counselor and discuss - With your parent's permission, locate at least five Web sites that are helpful for your Scouting or other activities. Write the Internet addresses of these sites in your log. Talk with your counselor or a librarian about safety rules for using the - With your counselor's and your parent's permission, choose ONE of the following activities and devote at least four hours of service to that activity. Discuss your participation with your counselor. - Read to a sick, blind, or homebound person in a hospital or in an extended-care - Perform volunteer work at your school library or a public library. - Read stories to younger children, in a group or individually. - Best Books for Young Adults - http://www.ala.org/ yalsa/booklists/bbya - BookSpot: Young Adult Books - http://www.bookspot.com/ youngadult.htm - Choices Booklists - http://www.reading.org/ choices - National Book Awards for Young People's Literature - http://www.literature-awards. com/national_book_awards.html - Newbery Medal Winners and Honor Books - http://www.ala.org/alsc/ newbpast.html - 100 Best Books for Children - http://www.teachersfirst.com/ 100books.htm - Summer Reading Lists - http://www.educationworld. com/summer_reading - Teenreads.com - http://www.teenreads.com - U.S. Children's Book Awards - http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/ usawards.html - The Online Books Page - http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books - Project Gutenberg - http://gutenberg.net P.O. Box 152350 Irving, TX 75015-2350 Web site: http://www.boyslife.org 30 Grove St., Suite C Peterborough, NH 03458 Toll-free telephone: 800-821-0115 Web site: http://www.cobblestonepub. com/pages/callmain.htm Cicada and Cricket P.O. Box 7434 Red Oak, IA 51591-0433 Toll-free telephone: 800-821-0115 Web site: http://www.cricketmag.com 149 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10010 Web site: http://www.kidsdiscover.com SAS Campus Drive Cary, NC 27513 Web site: http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink National Geographic Kids P.O. Box 63002 Tampa, FL 33663-3002 Toll-free telephone: 800-647-5463 Web site: http://www.nationalgeographic. com/ngkids P.O. Box 3939 Eugene, OR 97403 Web site: http://www.skippingstones.org Sports Illustrated for Kids P.O. Box 60001 Tampa, FL 33660-0001 Toll-free telephone: 800-992-0196 Web site: http://www.sikids.com P.O. Box 83 Santa Cruz, CA 95063 Toll-free telephone: 800-447-4569 Web site: http://www.stonesoup.com - Internet Public Library - http://www.ipl.org/div/news - Refdesk.com - http://www.refdesk.com/paper.html - Barron's Profiles of American Colleges. Barron's Educational Series, annual. - Books in Print. Bowker, annual. - Contemporary Authors. Gale, annual. - Current Biography. H. W. Wilson, annual. - Guinness World Records. Bantam Books, annual. - Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. H. W. Wilson, annual. - Subject Guide to Books in Print. Bowker, annual. - Subject Guide to Children's Books in Print. Bowker, annual. Web Directories, Search Engines, and Web Guides - The Alphabet Superhighway - http://www.ash.udel.edu/ash - Cool Sites for Kids - http://www.ala.org/alsc/children_links.html - Internet Search Engines for Kids - http://www.ivyjoy.com/rayne/kidssearch.html - Kids and Teens: Directories - http://dmoz.org/Kids_and_ Teens/Directories - Kids Pick - http://www.ala.org/kidspick - KidSpace - http://www.ipl.org/div/ kidspace - Great Web Sites for Kids - http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/amazing.html - Teen Hoopla- http://www.ala.org/ teenhoopla/sitemap.html - TeenSpace - http://www.ipl.org/div/teen America's Literacy Directory Web site: http://www.literacydirectory.org American Federation for the Blind 11 Penn Plaza, Suite 300 New York, NY 10001 Toll-free telephone: 800-232-5463 Web site: http://www.afb.org The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy 1201 15th St. NW, Suite 420 Washington, DC 20005 Web site: http://www.barbarabushfoundation.com National Literacy Hotline Toll-free telephone: 800-228-8813 Read Across America National Education Association 1201 16th St., NW Washington, DC 20036 Web site: http://www.nea.org/readacross Reading Is Fundamental Inc. 1825 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20009 Toll-free telephone: 877-RIF-READ Web site: http://www.rif.org

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Literacy and Reading Activities

Green buildings are designed, constructed and operated for the purpose of providing the occupants with a space that is both healthy and productive, while also being energy efficient and sustainable. Unfortunately, current approaches to green building design and construction don’t always meet occupants’ indoor environmental quality (IEQ) needs for “acoustic comfort.” Acoustic comfort refers to an indoor environment that is conducive to providing speech intelligibility, speech privacy, low distractions and annoyance, and sound quality. And, according to ongoing research at the Center for the Built Environment (CBE), it is the lowest performing IEQ factor in green buildings. Moreover, in all buildings surveyed, the level of acoustic satisfaction was rated as the lowest performance IEQ factor, and the only negative (dissatisfaction) factor overall. There is no need, however, to sacrifice good acoustics when selecting products for green buildings. Architects and interior designers do not have to choose between sustainability, design and acoustic needs—they can have all three. Outlined below are a number of acoustic considerations for green buildings in three market segments: healthcare facilities, commercial offices and educational facilities. Acoustics are a key element in the IEQ of healthcare facilities because they play an important role in supporting the safety, health and well-being of patients and staff alike. In general, ambient noise levels in hospitals are high, and have been shown to be a source of annoyance and stress to both patients and staff. They can also interfere with the staff’s ability to work effectively. Because of this, both the FGI 2010 Guidelines and LEED for Healthcare address the issue. One reason healthcare facilities are so noisy is the predominance of hard, sound-reflecting surfaces that cause speech and activity sounds to persist much too long. When acoustic conditions are characterized by long reverberation, spoken words are perceived to overlap, resulting in reduced speech intelligibility. To reduce reverberation and noise levels, acoustical ceiling panels should have a noise reduction coefficient (NRC) of 0.70 or greater. (The NRC indicates the average percentage of sound a material absorbs; an NRC of 0.70 means the material absorbs about 70 percent of the sound that strikes it.) They should also meet healthcare standards for washability, mold and microbial resistance, and fire safety. Ceiling panels with these characteristics are ideal for patient rooms, treatment rooms and other spaces that require a balance of cleanliness and quiet. Ceiling panels with a NRC of 0.95 are recommended for areas that require even higher levels of sound absorption to ensure patient privacy and meet HIPAA regulations. These include open plan spaces such as waiting areas, pharmacies, nurses’ stations and closed plan spaces where walls extend up to the deck above. Whether for a space with cubicles and teaming areas or private offices and conference rooms, there are acoustic options that also address sustainable needs. For example, a wide range of continuous and wall-to-wall acoustical ceilings are available that not only enhance the acoustic environment, but also contain high recycled content and can be recycled at the end of their service life. There are also a variety of “free-floating” ceiling treatments including acoustical clouds, canopies and baffles that are ideal for open plenum or exposed structure spaces—a design trend in green buildings that continues to grow. Unfortunately, this “warehouse look” can often cause acoustical problems due to sound reflecting off the deck, resulting in excessive reverberation. Any large space of this type will usually need some sound-absorbing elements to help control noise and reverberation within it. In addition, if the exposed deck is less than 15 feet high, reflections between open plan cubicles can cause distractions for nearby occupants. Designed for use in either new construction or retrofit applications, acoustical clouds, canopies and baffles can add sound absorption in open spaces, provide visual interest and make a design statement, all without sacrificing that exposed look. Available in a myriad of shapes, acoustical ceiling clouds suspended above work areas provide a type of interrupted ceiling plane. As such, they help control both distant reverberations and reflections, reducing occupant annoyance and distractions. Acoustical clouds actually provide greater sound absorption than a continuous ceiling of the same surface area because they absorb sound on both their front and back surfaces. In fact, reverberation time can be reduced nearly 50 percent with only 20 percent coverage. Acoustical canopies also help reduce reverberation in the space below them, but are much different in size and look compared to acoustical clouds. For example, cloud systems are available in standard sizes up to 14 by 14 feet, while canopies are usually 3 by 3 or 4 by 6 feet in size. Visually, acoustical clouds are flat, while canopies are curved and can be installed as hills or valleys. Currently, there is no standard credit in the IEQ section of LEED for acoustic performance. However, an innovation credit can be applied for by demonstrating that the acoustics of a building are superior to what would normally be considered typical, thereby improving the quality of the indoor environment. The LEED v4 proposal (in a fifth public comment at the time of this writing) does, however, include a requirement for acoustic performance as part of the IEQ section. Considering that the primary mode of teaching involves speech and listening, the quality of the acoustic environment in a classroom is crucial. LEED for Schools recognized the unique nature of the design and use of K-12 schools, and was the first of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) rating systems to include acoustics as an integral and important element of IEQ. To provide classrooms that enhance learning, LEED for Schools includes a minimum acoustical performance prerequisite. To meet it, two requirements must be achieved: - Classrooms and other core learning spaces must include sufficient sound-absorptive finishes to comply with a maximum reverberation time of 0.60 seconds (classrooms less than 20,000 cubic feet). - Classrooms and other core learning spaces must meet a maximum background noise level from HVAC systems of 45 decibels A-weighted (dBA). Compliance with the first requirement is accomplished in one of two ways: - By confirming that 100 percent of all ceiling areas (excluding lights, diffusers and grilles) are finished with a material that has a NRC of 0.70 or higher. - By confirming that the total area of acoustical wall panels, ceiling finishes and other sound-absorbent finishes equals or exceeds the total ceiling area of the room (excluding lights, diffusers and grilles). All materials in the calculation must have an NRC of 0.70 or higher. The proper use of sound-absorbing materials will significantly reduce reverberation, however, the location of acoustic treatments is a vital consideration. In classrooms where there is no fixed position for the teacher and ceiling heights are about 10 feet, the best and most cost-effective option is to place most, if not all, of the sound-absorbing material on the ceiling, in the form of a suspended acoustical ceiling. If ceiling heights are greater than 12 feet, an increasing amount of sound-absorbing material should be placed on the walls. If there is no possibility for wall treatment, consider placing three-dimensional furnishings such as bookshelves along the walls to ensure sound waves are scattered, thereby reducing the possibility of distant echoes. Kenneth P. Roy, Ph.D., FASA, is a senior principal research scientist for acoustic technologies for Armstrong Building Products in Lancaster, Pa. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.

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Industrial Chemical Hazards

Young children have very short attention spans, which is not surprising given that the optimum study time for an adult is 40 to 45 minutes. So it's quite normal for your students' attention to stray. Also teaching young children is very different to working with adults, you just need to make a few adjustments to how you go about the classes. You need to think about lots of short activities when you are planning your lessons. At the beginning, this will be very time-consuming as you will need to think through each activity when planning. As time goes by, you will build up a bank of short activities (eg a song, a chant, a nursery rhyme, games such as I spy) that the children are familiar with and that you can introduce when you feel a change is needed. As children get used to your style of teaching, the classroom rules and the types of activity, it will be easier to introduce these short activities into the lesson. You should also think about pace and variety when you are planning. Some activities should involve whole class focus on the teacher, some should include individual work requiring reflection, some should involve group work and some should include physical movement. The changing focus will also stimulate children, re-focus their attention or calm them down. You should also insist on having full attention when you are working with or addressing the whole class, for example when telling a story. Children need to understand that when you are talking they should stop what they are doing and listen to you. You could use a signal to indicate when this is necessay, for example clapping your hands. I'm sure that with time you will get used to teaching children and it will seem less tiring the more you do it.

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Child-Focused Learning Techniques

Behaviour-driven development is an “outside-in” methodology. It starts at the outside by identifying business outcomes, and then drills down into the feature set that will achieve those outcomes. Each feature is captured as a “story”, which defines the scope of the feature along with its acceptance criteria. This article introduces the BDD approach to defining and identifying stories and their acceptance criteria. Software delivery is about writing software to achieve business outcomes. It sounds obvious, but often political or environmental factors distract us from remembering this. Sometimes software delivery can appear to be about producing optimistic reports to keep senior management happy, or just creating “busy work” to keep people in paid employment, but that’s a topic for another day. Usually, the business outcomes are too coarse-grained to be used to directly write software (where do you start coding when the outcome is “save 5% of my operating costs”?) so we need to define requirements at some intermediate level in order to get work done. Behaviour-driven development (BDD) takes the position that you can turn an idea for a requirement into implemented, tested, production-ready code simply and effectively, as long as the requirement is specific enough that everyone knows what’s going on. To do this, we need a way to describe the requirement such that everyone – the business folks, the analyst, the developer and the tester – have a common understanding of the scope of the work. From this they can agree a common definiton of “done”, and we escape the dual gumption traps of “that’s not what I asked for” or “I forgot to tell you about this other thing”. This, then, is the role of a Story. It has to be a description of a requirement and its business benefit, and a set of criteria by which we all agree that it is “done”. This is a more rigorous definition than in other agile methodologies, where it is variously described as a “promise of a conversation” or a “description of a feature”. (A BDD story can just as easily describe a non-functional requirement, as long as the work can be scoped, estimated and agreed on.) The structure of a story BDD provides a structure for a story. This is not mandatory – you can use a different story format and still be doing BDD – but I am presenting it here because it has been proven to work on many projects of all shapes and sizes. At the very least, your story should contain all of the elements described in the template. The story template looks like this: Title (one line describing the story) Narrative: As a [role] I want [feature] So that [benefit] Acceptance Criteria: (presented as Scenarios) Scenario 1: Title Given [context] And [some more context]... When [event] Then [outcome] And [another outcome]... Scenario 2: ... Telling the story A story should be the product of a conversation involving several people. A business analyst talks to a business stakeholder1 about the feature or requirement, and helps them to frame it as a story narrative. Then a tester helps define the scope of the story – in the form of acceptance criteria – by determining which scenarios matter and which are less useful. A technical representitive will provide a ballpark estimate of the amount of work involved in the story, and to propose alternative approaches. Many great ideas for systems come from the people developing them as well as the people who asked for them in the first place. This will likely be an iterative process. The stakeholder will have an idea of what they want but will usually not know how much work will be involved, or how that work will be allocated. With the help of the technical and testing experts, they will understand the cost/benefit trade-off of each scenario and can make a judgement about whether they want it. Of course this is also balanced up against the other requirements: is it better to cover more edge cases in this story, or to move on to another story? Sometimes the development team will simply not know enough to be able to make even a ballpark estimate. In this case they may choose to carry out some investigative work, known as a “spike”, in order to understand more about the requirement. (I will cover planning in more detail in a future article.) The characteristics of a good story Using the example from the article Introducing BDD, let’s look at the requirements for withdrawing cash from an ATM: Story: Account Holder withdraws cash As an Account Holder I want to withdraw cash from an ATM So that I can get money when the bank is closed Scenario 1: Account has sufficient funds Given the account balance is \$100 And the card is valid And the machine contains enough money When the Account Holder requests \$20 Then the ATM should dispense \$20 And the account balance should be \$80 And the card should be returned Scenario 2: Account has insufficient funds Given the account balance is \$10 And the card is valid And the machine contains enough money When the Account Holder requests \$20 Then the ATM should not dispense any money And the ATM should say there are insufficient funds And the account balance should be \$20 And the card should be returned Scenario 3: Card has been disabled Given the card is disabled When the Account Holder requests \$20 Then the ATM should retain the card And the ATM should say the card has been retained Scenario 4: The ATM has insufficient funds ... As you can see, there are a number of scenarios to consider, some related to the account balance, others about the card and yet others about the ATM itself. Let’s dissect the story to determine whether it is any good. The title should describe an activity The title of the story, “Account Holder withdraws cash”, describes an activity that the account holder wants to carry out. Until we implement this feature, the account holder won’t be able to withdraw money from the ATM. Once we have delivered it, they will. That gives us an obvious starting point for determining what “done” looks like. If we had a title like “Account management” or “ATM behaviour”, we would have to look harder to understand when we were finished, and the edges would be a lot more fuzzy. For instance, “account management” might incorporate applying for a loan, and “ATM behaviour” might encompass changing the PIN number on my cash card. The story title should always describe actual behaviour by a user of the system. The narrative should include a role, a feature and a benefit The template “As a [role] I want [feature] so that [benefit]“ has a number of advantages. By specifying the role within the narrative, you know who to talk to about the feature. By specifying the benefit, you cause the story writer to consider why they want a feature. It gets interesting if you find the feature won’t actually deliver the benefit attributed to it. This usually means you have a missing story. There is one story with the current feature, which delivers a different benefit (and is therefore still useful), and a hidden story whereby you will need a different feature to deliver the benefit described. The example story tells us there is an Account Holder who cares about the feature being delivered, so we know where to start exploring what it should do. The scenario title should say what’s different You should be able to line up the scenarios side by side, and describe how they differ using only the title. In our example, we can see that the scenario descriptions say only what’s different between each scenario. You don’t need to say “an account holder withdraws money from an account with insufficient funds and is told they are unable to fulfull the transaction”. It’s obvious from the title whether this is the scenario you care about, compared to the others. The scenario should be described in terms of Givens, Events and Outcomes This is the single most powerful behavioural shift I have seen in teams adopting BDD. Simply by getting the business users, the analysts, the testers and the developers to adopt this vocabulary of “given/when/then”, they discover that a world of ambiguity falls away. Not all scenarios are this simple. Some are best represented as a sequence of events, described as: given [some context] when [I do something] then [this happens] when [I do another thing] then [this new thing happens] and so on. An example is a wizard-style website, where you step through a sequence of screens to build up a complex data model. It is perfectly appropriate to intermingle sequences of events and outcomes, as long as you get into the habit of thinking in these terms. One interesting emergent behaviour is that the quality of the conversation changes. You will quickly discover that you have missed out an assumed given (“well of course the account is overdrawn”), or forgotten to verify an outcome (“well naturally the account holder gets their card back”). I observed this on one particular project where the lead developer told me he could sense the analysts and developers were talking at cross purposes, but couldn’t see a way to demonstrate this to them. Within a few days of introducing the given/when/then vocabulary, he could see a dramatic improvement in the quality of their interactions. The givens should define all of, and no more than, the required context Any additional givens are distracting, which makes it hard for someone looking at the story for the first time – whether from the technical or business side – to understand what they need to know. Similarly any missing givens are really assumptions. If you can get a different outcome from the givens provided, then there must be something missing. In the example, the first scenario says something about the account balance, the card and the ATM itself. All of these are required to fully define the scenario. In the third scenario, we don’t say anything about the account balance or whether the ATM has any money. This implies that the machine will retain the card whatever the account balance, and whatever the state of the ATM. The event should describe the feature The event itself should be very simple, typically only a single call into the production code. As discussed above, some scenarios are more complicated than this, but mostly the scenarios for a story will revolve around a single event. They will differ only in the context (the givens) and the corresponding expected outcomes. The story should be small enough to fit in an iteration There are no hard and fast rules about how you do this, as long as you break it down into demonstrable chunks. In general if there are more than about five or six scenarios, a story can probably be broken down by grouping similar scenarios together. We can’t tell from the ATM example how many more scenarios there are for this story, but I am suspicious that there may be several more. Essentially we have three “moving parts” in this story, namely the account balance, the status of the cash card and the state of the ATM. We could get into more detail with the cash card: what if it is out of date, so I can’t use it to withdraw cash but the ATM still returns it to me? What if the ATM breaks partway through the transaction? What if my account has an overdraft facility? It might be better to break the story out into several smaller stories: - Account Holder withdraws cash (assumptions: ATM is working and card is valid) - Account Holder withdraws cash with invalid card (assumptions: ATM is working) - Account Holder withdraws cash from flaky ATM (assumptions: card is valid) Although this may seem artificial, it allows you to demonstrate progress in business terms and gives you more data points to track with. The important thing is always to break the story out along business lines by scenarios (and making the assumptions explicit) rather than along technical lines (e.g. doing the database stuff in this iteration and the GUI stuff in the next iteration). This is so the business can see demonstrable progress on their own terms rather than just taking your word for it. So how is this different from Use Cases? There are use cases and there are use cases. I’m a huge fan of the way Alistair Cockburn describes use cases (as opposed to the over-engineered versions I have encountered on RUP-as-waterfall projects). Given that I don’t have much experience on use case-driven projects, I’ll leave it to others to draw the comparisons. Certainly I agree with his process of starting at the lower precision (of an outcome, or goal) and working towards higher precisions, taking in more exception scenarios as you go. In BDD, this means starting with the business outcome, and working through high level functional areas to drill into specific stories with acceptance criteria. In reality, it doesn’t matter what your process is to identify and elaborate requirements. It’s fine for you to write requirements documents if that helps you organise your thoughts. It’s not fine, however, to pass those documents along as if they actually encapsulated all your thoughts, because they don’t. Instead, you should put the requirements document, or stack of use cases, to one side and start over defining stories from business outcomes, safe in the knowledge that your hard work has meant that you have all the answers in your head – or at least a good enough understanding to outline the work as you currently see it. Behaviour-driven development uses a story as the basic unit of functionality, and therefore of delivery. The acceptance criteria are an intrinsic part of the story – in effect they define the scope of its behaviour, and give us a shared definition of “done”. They are also used as the basis for estimation when we come to do our planning. Most importantly, the stories are the result of conversations between the project stakeholders, business analysts, testers and developers. BDD is as much about the interactions between the various people in the project as it is about the outputs of the development process. 1. Actually it should be the person who actually cares about the feature, so it may equally be an operational, legal or security person depending on the story.

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GNU Project Tools

Battle of Caporetto The Battle of Caporetto (also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo or the Battle of Karfreit as it was known by the Central Powers), took place from 24 October to 19 November 1917, near the town of Kobarid (now in Slovenia), on the Austro-Italian front of World War I. The battle was named after the Italian name of the town of Kobarid (known as Karfreit in German). Austro-Hungarian forces, reinforced by German units, were able to break into the Italian front line and rout the Italian army, which had practically no mobile reserves. The battle was a demonstration of the effectiveness of the use of stormtroopers and the infiltration tactics developed in part by Oskar von Hutier. The use of poison gas by the Germans played a key role in the collapse of the Italian Second Army. ||This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2012)| The Austrian offensive began at approximately 02:00 on 24 October 1917. Due to the inclement weather that morning, particularly the mist, the Italians were caught by complete surprise. The battle opened with a German artillery barrage, poison gas, and smoke, and was followed by an all-out assault against the Italian lines. The Italians had outdated gas masks, gave no counter fire and had given the Germans all the weather information they needed over their radio. The defensive line of the Italian Second Army was breached between the IV and XXVII Corps almost immediately. The German forces made extensive use of flamethrowers and hand grenades as a part of their infiltration tactics, and were able to tear gaping holes in the Italian line, especially in the Italian strongholds on Mount Matajur and the Kolovrat Range. By the end of the first night, von Below's men had advanced a remarkable 25 km (16 mi). German and Austro-Hungarian attacks from either side of von Below's central column were less effective, however. The Italian Army had been able to repel the majority of these attacks, but the success of von Below's central thrust threw the entire Italian Army into disarray. Forces had to be moved along the Italian front in an attempt to stem von Below's breakout, but this only weakened other points along the line and invited further attacks. At this point, the entire Italian position on the Tagliamento River was under threat. 2nd army commander Luigi Capello was Italy's best general but was bedridden with fever while still retaining command. Realizing his forces were ill-prepared for this attack and were being routed, Capello requested permission to withdraw back to the Tagliamento. He was overruled by Cadorna, however, who believed that the Italian force could regroup and hold out against the attackers. Finally, on 30 October, Cadorna ordered the majority of the Italian force to retreat to the other side of the river. It took the Italians four full days to cross the river, and by this time the German and Austro-Hungarian armies were on their heels. By 2 November, a German division had established a bridgehead on the Tagliamento. About this time, however, the rapid success of the attack caught up with them. The German and Austro-Hungarian supply lines were stretched to breaking point, and as a result, they were not able to launch another concerted attack. Cadorna took advantage of this to retreat further, and by 10 November had established a position on the Piave River. Failures of German Logistics Even before the battle, Germany was struggling to feed and supply its armies in the field. Erwin Rommel, who, as a junior officer, won the Pour le Mérite for his exploits in the battle, often bemoaned the demands placed upon his "poorly fed troops". The Allied blockade of the German Empire, which the Kaiserliche Marine had been unable to break, was responsible for food shortages and widespread malnutrition in Germany and the Central Powers in general. When inadequate provisioning was combined with the gruelling night marches preceding the battle of Caporetto (Kobarid), a heavy toll was extracted from the German and Austro-Hungarian forces. Despite these logistical problems, the initial assault was extremely successful. However, as the area controlled by the combined Central Powers forces expanded, an already limited logistical capacity was overstrained. By the time the attack reached the Piave, the soldiers of the Central Powers were running low on supplies and were feeling the physical effects of exhaustion. As the Italians began to counter the pressure put on them by the Central Powers, the German forces lost all momentum and were once again caught up in another round of attrition warfare. Italian losses were enormous: 10,000 were killed, 30,000 wounded and 265,000 were taken prisoner – morale was so low among the Italian troops, mainly due to Cadorna's harsh disciplinary regime, that most of these surrendered willingly. Furthermore, roughly 3,000 guns, 3,000 machine guns and 2,000 mortars were captured, along with an untold amount of stores and equipment. Rommel, then an Oberleutnant, captured 1,500 men and 43 officers with just 3 riflemen and 2 officers to help. Austro-Hungarian and German forces advanced more than 100 km (62 mi) in the direction of Venice, but they were not able to cross the Piave River. Although to this point the Italians had been left to fight on their own, after Kobarid (Caporetto) they were reinforced by six French infantry divisions and five British infantry divisions as well as sizeable air contingents. However, these troops played no role in stemming the advancing Germans and Austro-Hungarians, because they were deployed on the Mincio River, some 60 miles behind the Piave, as the British and French strategists did not believe the Piave line could be held. The Piave served as a natural barrier where the Italians could establish a new defensive line, which was held during the subsequent Battle of the Piave River and later served as springboard for the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, where the Austro-Hungarian army was finally defeated after four days of stiff resistance. Luigi Cadorna was forced to resign after the defeat. The defeat alone was not the sole cause, but rather the breaking point for an accumulation of failures, as perceived by the Italian Prime Minister, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando. Throughout much of his command, including at Kobarid (Caporetto), Cadorna was known to have maintained poor relations with the other generals on his staff. By the start of the battle he had sacked 217 generals, 255 colonels and 355 battalion commanders. In addition, he was detested by his troops as being too harsh. He was replaced by Armando Diaz and Pietro Badoglio. He had already been directing the battle 20 miles behind before fleeing another 100 miles to Padua. This led governments to the realization that fear alone could not adequately motivate a modern army. After the defeat at Caporetto, Italian propaganda offices were established, promising land and social justice to soldiers. Italy also accepted a more cautious military strategy from this point on. General Diaz concentrated his efforts on rebuilding his shattered forces while taking advantage of the national rejuvenation that had been spurred by invasion and defeat. After this battle, the term "Caporetto" gained a particular resonance in Italy. It is used to denote a terrible defeat – the failed General Strike of 1922 by the socialists was referred to by Mussolini as the "Caporetto of Italian Socialism". Many years after the war, Caporetto was still being used to destroy the credibility of the liberal state. Popular culture The Battle of Caporetto has been the subject of a number of books. The Swedish author F.J. Nordstedt (i.e. Christian Braw) wrote about the battle in his novel Caporetto. The bloody aftermath of Caporetto was vividly described by Ernest Hemingway in his novel A Farewell to Arms. Curzio Malaparte wrote an excoriation of the battle in his first book, Viva Caporetto, published in 1921. It was censored by the state and suppressed; it was finally published in 1980. - Tucker, Spencer C. (11 November 2010). Battles That Changed History: An Encyclopedia of World Conflict. United States: ABC-CLIO. p. 430. ISBN 978-1-59884-429-0. Retrieved 16 September 2012. - Tucker, Spencer C.; Roberts, Priscilla Mary (25 October 2005). World War I: A Student Encyclopedia. United States: ABC-CLIO. p. 431. ISBN 1-85109-879-8. Retrieved 5 August 2012. "By 10 November Italian losses were 10,000 dead, 30,000 wounded, and 265,000 prisoners (about 350,000 stragglers from the Second Army did manage to reach the Piave line). The army had also lost 3,152 artillery pieces of a preoffensive total of 6,918. An additional 1,712 heavy trench mortars and 3,000 machine guns had been captured or abandoned in the retreat, along with vast amounts of other military equipment, especially as the rapid withdrawal had prevented the removal of heavy weapons and equipment across the Isonzo River. In contrast, the attackers had sustained about 70,000 casualties." - Seth, Ronald (1965). Caporetto: The Scapegoat Battle. Macdonald. p. 147 - Stearns, Peter; Langer, William (2001). The Encyclopedia of World History (6th ed.). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 669. ISBN 0-395-65237-5. - Dupuy & Dupuy (1970), p. 971 - Geoffrey Regan, More Military Blunders, page 161 - Macksey, Kenneth (1997). Rommel: Battles and Campaigns. Da Capo Press. p. 224. ISBN 0-306-80786-6. - Simkins, Peter; Jukes, Geoffrey; Hickey, Michael (2003). The First World War. Osprey Publishing. p. 352. ISBN 1-84176-738-7. - Townley, Edward (2002). Collier, Martin, ed. Mussolini and Italy. Heinemann. p. 16. ISBN 0-435-32725-9. - Geoffrey Regan, More Military Blunders, page 160 - Morselli, Mario (2001). Caporetto, 1917: Victory Or Defeat?. Routledge. p. 133. ISBN 0-7146-5073-0. Further reading - Connelly, O. On War and Leadership: The Words of Combat Commanders from Frederick the Great to Norman Schwarzkopf, 2002 ISBN 0-691-03186-X - Dupuy R. E., &, Dupuy, T. N., The Encyclopedia of Military History, (revised edition), Jane's Publishing Company, 1970, SBN 356 02998 0 - Morselli, M. Caporetto 1917: Victory or Defeat?, 2001 ISBN 0-7146-5073-0 - Reuth, R. G. Rommel: The End of a Legend, 2005 ISBN 1-904950-20-5 - Seth, Ronald: Caporetto: The Scapegoat Battle. Macdonald, 1965 - Cavallaro, G. V. Futility Ending in Disaster. Xlibris, 2009 |Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Battle of Caporetto| - Walks of Peace in the Soea Region Foundation: The Battles of the Isonzo, 1915–17 - Pro Hereditate: The Isonzo Front - (Italian) La Grande Guerra: Novant'anni fa la Battaglia di Caporetto - The Battle of Caporetto, 1917

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European History Narratives

The Racial Geography of the Federal Death Penalty Scholars have devoted substantial attention to both the overrepresentation of black defendants on federal death row and the disproportionate number of federal defendants charged capitally for the murder of white victims. This attention has not explained (much less resolved) these disquieting racial disparities. Little research has addressed the unusual geography of the federal death penalty, in which a small number of jurisdictions are responsible for the vast majority of federal death sentences. By addressing the unique geography, we identify a possible explanation for the racial distortions in the federal death penalty: that federal death sentences are sought disproportionately where the expansion of the venire from the county to the district level has a dramatic demographic impact on the racial make-up of the jury. This inquiry demonstrates that the conversation concerning who should make up the jury of twelve neighbors and peers - a discussion begun well before the founding of our Constitution - continues to have relevance today. This Article documents the historical and racial relationships between place and the ability to seat an impartial jury. We then discuss the unique impact demographic shifts in the jury pool have on death penalty decision making. Finally, we propose three possible solutions: (1) a simple, democracyenhancing fix through a return to the historical conception of the county as the place of vicinage in federal capital trials; (2) a Batson-type three-step process for rooting out the influence of race on the decision to prosecute federally; and/or (3) voluntary measures by the Attorney General to mask demographic and location identifiers when deciding whether to provide federal death-authorization. We explain why a return to county-level jury pools in federal capital cases (whether through statutory construction, legislative change, or through the authority of a fair-minded Attorney General) prospectively limits the impact of race on the operation of the federal death penalty, without establishing the intractability of the federal death penalty as a whole. Finally, we observe that any effort to study the federal death penalty cannot merely address those federal cases in which the Attorney General has considered whether to approve an effort to seek the death penalty, but must also include an assessment of the cases prosecuted in state court that could be prosecuted federally and the prosecutorial decision concerning when and whether to prosecute in federal court. Robert J. Smith and G. Ben Cohen. "The Racial Geography of the Federal Death Penalty" Washington Law Review (2010).

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Two well-preserved sections of the Antonine Wall are located at Hillfoot Cemetery, about a mile from the Roman bath at Bearsden, located in in southwestern Scotland near Glasgow. The exposed sections, within easy walking distance of each other, are stone footings which lay at the base of the Wall. They provide vivid examples of the massive size and careful construction methods used in the Wall. (Figs.1,2: Exposed footings of Antonine Wall in Hillfoot (Photos: Athena Review).] These portions of the ancient wall were exposed in 1903 and 1922, during expansion of the cemetery. The Antonine Wall at this location was originally 4.3 meters wide, but portions found at Hillfoot were later widened to 5 meters. Each of the exposed basal sections has outside rows of large dressed curbstones and a drainage system. This drainage culvert crosses a basal section of the Antonine Wall at Hillfoot Cemetery in Bearsden, near Glasgow, Scotland. The Wall was built and maintained between 142 and 165 AD. [Fig.3: Drainage culvert in Antonine Wall at Hillfoot (Photo: Athena Review).] [References: Keppie, Lawrence. Scotland's Roman Remains. Glasgow, 1986, 1990.] return to index for Antonine Wall. Review Image Archive | and Publishing Index | Main index of Athena Review | Subject Index | Travel Pages | Galleries and Museums | Free Issue Copyright © 1996-9 Athena Publications, Inc. (All Rights Reserved).

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History and Geography Topics

Name ID 1199 The first professional hunters came in 1913. They found the wildlife plentiful, especially the lions, but saw no elephants. Seven years later, an American arrived in a strange new contraption known as a Ford motor-car and news of the wonders of the Serengeti had reached the outside world. Because the Hunting of lions made them so scarse (they were considered 'vermin'), it was decided to make a partial Game Reserve in the area in 1921 and a full one in 1929. With the growing awareness of the need for conservation, it was expanded and upgraded to a National Park in 1951. Eight years later the Ngorongoro Conservation Area was established in the south-east as a separate unit. Arusha: A Brochure of the Northern Province and its Capital Town Page Number: 13-15-17 Extract Date: 1929 It is safe to say that Tanganyika holds a front place among our East African Colonies for the number and variety of its game animals. The belt from Tanga through to Lake Victoria is where game is most numerous. There is an abundance of the commoner antelope, and in certain parts the rarer species such as the Greater and Lesser Kudu, Gerenuk, etc., are still fairly plentiful. Big game like the Elephant, Rhinocerous, Lion and Buffalo, all of which hold for the hunter a new thrill and experience, are to be found in this area in such a variety of country and cover that the Hunting of no two animals is ever alike. Here the hunter passes through most interesting country; Kilimanjaro with its snow-capped dome, running streams and dense forests, across the plains to the Natron Lakes and the Great Rift Wall with its volcanic formation and on to the great Crater, Ngorongoro. In his travels he will come into contact with some of the most interesting and picturesque tribes that inhabit Africa such as the Masai, Wambulu, etc., each with their own quaint customs and histories. The Ngorongoro Crater, the greatest crater in the world, measuring approximately 12 miles in diameter, seen from the Mbulu side, is a delight to the eye with its teeming herds of game ; Wildebeest alone running into tens of thousands. This scene conveys to one the idea of a great National Park. Nature has provided the crater with a precipitous rock fence for tns most part and with lakes and streams to slake the thirst of the great game herds which inhabit it. The unalienated part of the crater is now a complete game reserve in which a great variety of game is to be found such as Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Lion, and all the smaller fry. The Elephant although not in the crater is to be found in the forests nearby. The Serengetti Plains lying away to the northwest of the crater holds its full share of animal life and here the sportsman has the widest possible choice of trophies. The Lion in this area holds full sway and is still to be seen in troops of from ten to twenty. Recently, Serengetti and Lion pictures have become synonymous. The commoner species of game are here in abundance and the plains are second only to the crater for game concentration. The country lying between the Grumeti River - Orangi River and the Mbalangeti from Lake Victoria to the Mou-Kilimafetha Road has recently been declared a game reserve. Game animals that inhabit the northern area are well protected an'd their existence is assured to posterity by the great game sanctuaries and regulations which govern the Hunting or photographing of game. In the Northern area there are six complete reserves and two closed areas. These are as follows: (2) Mount Meru. (3) Lake Natron (4) Northern Railway. The closed areas are : Pienaar's Heights, near Babati and Sangessa Steppe in the Kondoa district. The boundaries for these are laid down in the Game Preservation Ordinance No. 41 of 1921. There are, however, vast areas open to the hunter and the abovementioned sanctuaries do not in any way detract from the available sport which the Northern Tanganyika has to offer. The following game licences are now in force (Shillings) :Visitor's Full Licence - 1500 Visitor's Temporary Licence (14 days) - 200 Resident's Full Licence - 300 Resident's Temporary Licence (14 days) - 60 Resident's Minor Licence - 80 Giraffe Licence - 150 Elephant Licence 1st. - 400 2nd. - 600 To hunt the Black Rhinoceros in the Northern Province it is now necessary to hold a Governor's Licence, the fee for which is 150/-. This entitles the holder to hunt one male Rhinoceros. Elephant, Giraffe, and Rhinoceros Licences may only be issued to holders of full game licences. Now that the Railway is through to Arusha it is not too much to hope that with the assistance of a healthy public opinion the Sanya Plains may become restocked with game which would be a great source of interest and an attraction to the traveller visiting these parts. Extract Date: 1931 Herne, Brian White Hunters: The golden age of African Safaris Page Number: 375 Extract Date: 1965 Safari Hunting in East Africa was forever changed by the masterly blueprint of Brian Nicholson, a former white hunter turned game warden. The disciple and successor of C.I. P. Ionides, the "Father of the Selous game reserve," Nicholson conceived a plan for administering Tanzania's expansive wildlife regions. In 1965 he changed most of the vast former controlled Hunting areas, or CHAs, into Hunting concessions that could be leased by outfitters from the government for two or more years at a time. Nicholson also demarcated the Selous game reserve's 20,000 square miles of uninhabited country into 47 separate concessions. Concessions were given a limited quota of each game species, and outfitters were expected to utilize quotas as fully as possible, but not exceed them. Nicholson's plan gave outfitters exclusive rights over Hunting lands, providing powerful incentives for concession holders to police their areas, develop tracks, airfields, and camps, and, most importantly, preserve the wild game. When the system was put into effect, it was the larger outfitting organizations - safari outfitters who could muster the resources to bid and who had a clientele sufficient to fulfill the trophy quotas Nicholson had set (done in order to provide government revenue by way of fees for anti-poaching operations, development, and research) - that moved quickly to buy up the leases on the most desirable blocks of land. Smaller safari companies who could not compete on their own banded together and formed alliances so that they, too, could obtain Hunting territories. Herne, Brian White Hunters: The golden age of African Safaris Page Number: 389 Extract Date: 1973 Sep 7 By the end of 1973 Kenya was the sole remaining tourist destination in East Africa. While the neighboring country of Uganda was still in the throes of military anarchy, Tanzania surprised the world on September 7 by issuing an overnight ban on all Hunting and photographic safaris within its territory. Government authorities moved quickly to seize and impound foreign-registered Land Cruisers, supply trucks, minibuses, aircraft, and equipment. The stunned collection of safari clients as well as sundry mountain climbers, bird-watchers, and beachcombers who had been visiting the country at the time of the inexplicable edict were summarily escorted to Kilimanjaro airport outside of Arusha to await deportation. The residue of tourists stranded without flights were trucked to the northern town of Namanga where they were left on the dusty roadside to cross into Kenya on foot. All tourist businesses, including the government-owned Tanzania Wildlife Safaris, were closed down. No government refunds were ever made to tourists or to foreign or local safari outfitters Africa News Online Extract Date: 2000 June 5 Panafrican News Agency Frequent acrimony, currently depicting the relationship between game Hunting companies and rural communities in Tanzania, will be a thing of the past after the government adopts a new wildlife policy. Designated as wildlife management areas, the communities will benefit from the spoils of game Hunting, presently paid to local authorities by companies operating in those areas. The proposed policy seeks to amend Tanzania's obsolete Wildlife Act of 1975, and, according to the natural resources and tourism minister, Zakia Meghji, 'it is of utmost priority and should be tabled before parliament for debate soon'. She said the government would repossess all Hunting blocks allocated to professional hunters and hand them over to respective local authorities. In turn local governments, together with the communities, would be empowered to allocate the Hunting blocks to whichever company they prefer to do business with. 'Guidelines of the policy are ready and are just being fine-tuned,' she said. Communities set to benefit from this policy are chiefly those bordering rich game controlled areas and parks. They include the Maasai, Ndorobo, Hadzabe, Bahi, Sianzu and Kimbu in northeastern Tanzania. Members of these communities are often arrested by game wardens and fined for trespassing on game conservation areas. As a result, they have been extremely bitter about being denied access to wildlife resources, which they believe, naturally, belong to them. Under the new policy, Meghji said, the government will ensure that people undertake increased wildlife management responsibilities and get benefits to motivate them in the conservation of wildlife resources. The East African Extract Author: John Mbaria Extract Date: February 4, 2002 KENYA COULD end up losing 80 per cent of its wildlife species in protected areas bordering Tanzania to hunters licensed by the Tanzanian government. The hunters have been operating for about a decade in a section of the migratory route south from Kenya to Tanzania's Serengeti National Park. They shoot large numbers of animals as they move into the park during the big zebra and wildebeest migration between July and December. There are fears that the Maasai Mara National Park and most of Kenya's wildlife areas bordering Tanzania could lose much of their wildlife population, threatening the country's Ksh20 billion ($256 million) a year tourism industry. Kenya banned Hunting in 1977 but the sport is legal in Tanzania, where it is sold as "Safari Hunting." "The product sold is really the experience of tracking and killing animals, the services that go with this and the prestige of taking home the trophies," says a policy document from the Tanzania Wildlife Corporation (Tawico). Tanzania wildlife officials said wild animals that cross over from Kenya are hunted along their migratory routes in the Loliondo Game Controlled Area in Ngorongoro district of Arusha region, 400 km northwest of Arusha. The area was designated by the British colonial power as a sports Hunting region for European royalty. The officials said the area is now utilised by a top defence official from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), trading as Ortelo Business Company (OBC), through a licence issued in 1992 by former Tanzania President Ali Hassan Mwinyi. The permit allows the company to hunt wild game and trap and take some live animals back to the UAE. Safari Hunting earns big money for the Tanzanian government, which charges each hunter $1,600 a day to enter the controlled area. A hunter is also required to pay fees for each kill, with an elephant costing $4,000, a lion and a leopard $2,000 each and a buffalo $600. The document has no quotation for rhinos. The sport is organised in expeditions lasting between one and three weeks in the five Hunting blocks of Lake Natron Game Controlled Area, Rungwa Game Reserve, Selous Mai, Selous U3 and Selous LU4. For the period the hunters stay in each of the Hunting blocks, they pay between $7,270 and $13,170 each. Part of this money is shared out among the many Ujamaa villages, the local district councils and the central government. Although Tawico restricts the number of animals to be culled by species, poor monitoring of the activities has meant indiscriminate killing of game. "Some of the animals are snared and either exported alive or as meat and skins to the United Arab Emirates and other destinations," local community members told The EastAfrican during a recent trip to the area. They claimed the hunters were provided with "blank Hunting permits," giving them discretion over the number of animals to be hunted down. Kenya wildlife conservation bodies are concerned that big game Hunting in the Ngorongoro area is depleting the wildlife that crosses the border from Kenya. "Kenya is losing much of its wildlife to hunters licensed by the Tanzanian government," the chairman of the Maasai Environmental and Resource Coalition (MERC), Mr Andrew ole Nainguran, said. MERC was set up in 1999 to sensitise members of the Maasai community in Kenya and Tanzania to the benefits of wildlife conservation. Kenya and Tanzania wildlife authorities have regularly discussed the problem of security and poaching in Arusha. However, the KWS acting director, Mr Joe Kioko, said legalised Hunting has never been discussed in any of the meetings. The hunters are said to fly directly from the UAE to the area using huge cargo and passenger planes which land on an all-weather airstrip inside the OBC camp. The planes are loaded with sophisticated Hunting equipment, including four-wheel drive vehicles, weapons and communication gadgets. On their way back, the planes carry a variety of live animals, game trophies and meat. Employees at the camp said the hunters are sometimes accompanied by young Pakistani and Filipino women. The International Fund for Animal Welfare regional director, Mr Michael Wamithi, said Kenya and Tanzania should discuss the negative impact of the sport Hunting on Kenya's conservation efforts. "The two neighbours have a Cross-Border Law Enforcement Memorandum of Understanding where such issues could be dealt with." Kenya seems to be alone in adhering to strict protection of wildlife, a policy famously demonstrated by President Daniel arap Moi's torching of ivory worth $760,000 in 1989. Although the country has made significant progress in securing parks from poachers, it is yet to embrace a policy on "consumptive utilisation" of animals advocated by Kenyan game ranchers and Zimbabwe, which wants the international trade ban on ivory lifted. The animals in the Hunting block have been reduced to such an extent that the OBC camp management has been spreading salt and pumping water at strategic places to attract animals from Serengeti and the outlying areas. "We will not have any animals left in the vicinity unless the Hunting is checked," a local community leader, Mr Oloomo Samantai ole Nairoti, said, arguing that the area's tourism economy was being jeopardised. Mysterious fires in the area to the south of Serengeti have also forced animals to seek refuge in the Hunting blocks. Locals said the camp is exclusively patronised by Arab visitors. The camp is usually under tight security by Tanzanian police. The permit granted by Mr Mwinyi has raised controversy in Tanzania and was at one stage the subject of a parliamentary probe committee because members of UAE's royal family were not entitled to the Hunting rights in the country. "Only presidents or monarchs are entitled to hunt in the area," an official said, adding that the UAE royal family had abused their permit by killing animals outside their given quotas or specified species. The government revoked the licence in 1999 after realising that OBC was airlifting many wild animals to the Middle East, only to renew the permit in 2000. The current permit runs until 2005. The withdrawal of the permit followed the recommendations of a 1994 parliamentary probe commission set up to "investigate the Hunting behaviour" of the UAE company. Sources said permanent Hunting is prohibited in the Loliondo Game Controlled Area for fear of depleting animals from the four parks, which host the bulk of the region's tourist resorts. The area is in a natural corridor where wild animals cross while roaming between the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and Maasai Mara Game Reserve and Amboseli National Park in Kenya. The late founding president of Tanzania, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, took to himself the powers to issue Hunting permits for Loliondo when Tanzania became independent in 1961, but he never granted any. After obtaining the permit, the UAE hunters created Hunting blocks in the area covering over 4,000 sq km. No other Hunting companies have been granted permits, the source said. The UAE royal family has donated passenger aircraft to the Tanzania army and a number of vehicles to the Wildlife Division. The 1974 Wildlife Act set up five categories of wildlife conservation areas. These are national parks, game reserves, partial game reserve, open areas and Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Hunting is prohibited in the national parks and Ngorongoro Conservation Area, but allowed in other areas during the seasonal Hunting period from July to December. Additional reporting by Apolinari Tairo in Dar es Salaam Tomlinson, Chris Big game hunting threatening Africa Extract Author: Chris Tomlinson Extract Date: 2002 03 20 Loliondo GAME CONTROL AREA, Tanzania - At a dirt airstrip in rural Tanzania, a desert camouflaged cargo plane from the United Arab Emirates air force taxis up to pallets stacked with large coolers full of game meat, the harvest of a successful Hunting season. As Tanzanian immigration and customs officials fill out documents under a thatched shelter, brand-new, four-wheel-drive trucks and dune buggies drive to and from a nearby luxury campsite, the base for one of Tanzania's most expensive - and secretive - game Hunting operations, Otterlo Business Corp. Hundreds of members of Arab royalty and high-flying businessmen spend weeks in the Loliondo Game Control Area each year Hunting antelope, lion, leopard and other wild animals. The area is leased under the Otterlo name by a member of an emirate royal family who is a senior officer in the UAE defense ministry. While neighboring Kenya outlawed big game Hunting in 1978, the Tanzanian government says Hunting is the best use of the land and wildlife. But villagers and herders say big money has led government officials to break all the Hunting rules, resulting in the destruction of most of the area's non-migratory animals and putting East Africa's most famous national parks under threat. Loliondo is on the main migratory route for wildlife north of Ngorongoro Crater, east of Serengeti National Park and south of Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve. The summer Hunting season coincides with the migration of wildebeest and zebra through the area, where they eventually cross into the Serengeti and the Masai Mara. Predatory animals follow the migration. During the colonial era, Loliondo was set aside for European royalty as a Hunting area. Since independence, Loliondo has remained a Hunting reserve, but it is supposed to be managed by area residents for their benefit. Local leaders, who refuse to speak publicly because they fear retribution, say they have not been consulted about the lease that was granted in 1995 by national officials in Tanzania's political capital, Dodoma. They say government officials have tried to silence criticism. "The lease was given by the government and the Maasai landowners were not involved," said one Maasai leader. "All the resident animals have been killed ... (now) they carry out Hunting raids in the Serengeti National Park, but the government closes its eyes." Maasai warriors told The Associated Press that hunters give cash to anyone who can lead them to big game, especially leopards. They also said that Otterlo officials have begun pumping water into some areas to attract more animals and that what the warriors call suspicious fires in the Serengeti have caused animals to move into Loliondo. An Otterlo manager, who gave his name only as Khamis, initially agreed to an interview with AP but later did not return repeated phone calls. In an interview with the newspaper, The East African, Otterlo managing director Juma Akida Zodikheri said his company adheres to Tanzanian law, and he denied hunters killed animals indiscriminately. He said the owner of the company is Maj. Gen. Mohammed Abdulrahim al Ali, deputy defense minister of the UAE. While Tanzania has strict rules on game Hunting, Maasai who have worked at the lodge say guests are never told of the limits and hunt as much as they want. Tanzanian officials deny that. Col. A.G.N. Msangi, district commissioner for Ngorongoro District, said all applicable rules are enforced. He accused the Maasai of rumor-mongering in an effort to discredit Otterlo. The company "is following the system the government wants," Msangi said. "OBC has invested more money here than any other company in the district." Msangi said Hunting companies request permission to kill a certain number of animals. Once the request is approved by wildlife experts at the Ministry of the Environment, the company pays a fee based on that number whether they actually kill the animals or not, he said. "We have police and ministry people making sure they don't exceed what they have paid for," Msangi said. The tourists are also required to employ professional hunters to ensure no female or young animals are killed, he added. Compared to the numbers in Serengeti National Park, very few large animals were seen during a three-hour drive through Loliondo. But without any independent survey of the animal population, it is impossible to know whether Msangi's conservation efforts are working. Msangi described his main duty as balancing the needs of people, animals and conservation. He said not only does Hunting revenue finance wildlife conservation, but Otterlo, like most tourism companies, also makes charitable donations to help pay for schools and development projects and it provides badly need jobs. Also appeared in http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020801-22110374.htm 1 Aug 2002 Internet Web Pages Extract Author: Lifer Extract Date: April 16 2002 Posted - April 16 2002 : 20:53:22 The East African Newspaper of 4-10 February 2002 carried an article titled "Game Carnage in Tanzania Alarms Kenya", written by John Mbaria with supplement information from Apolinari Tairo of Dar es Salaam. The article was on The Ortello Business Hunting Company, which started to hunt in the Loliondo Game Controlled Area in 1992. The following are issues raised in the article: a) Hunting activities carried out in Liliondo Game Controlled Area near the Tanzania / Kenyan border causes loses of 80% of the Kenyan wildlife. b) Hunting is conducted in the migratory route in the south between Kenya and Serengeti National Park. The animals are hunted during the migratory period as they move to Kenya and on their way back to Tanzania in July to December. c) Hunting is threatening the Kenyan tourism industry, which earns the country USD 256.0 annually. d) The Hunting kills animals haphazardly, without proper guidance and monitoring of actual number of animals killed and exported outside the country. e) Airplanes belonging to Ortello Business Corporation (OBC) carry unspecified type of live animals and birds from Loliondo on their way back to UAE. Further more, the air planes fly directly in and out of Loliondo without stopping at Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA). The following are responses to the issues raised: 2.0 Conservation of wildlife in Tanzania Tanzania is among the top ten countries in the world rich in biodiversity. Tanzania is also leading in wildlife conservation in Africa. It has 12 National Parks, including the famous Serengeti National Park, 34 Game Reserves and 38 Game Controlled Areas. The wildlife –protected areas cover 28% of the land surface area of Tanzania. In recognition of the good conservation works, Tanzania was awarded a conservation medal in 1995 by the Safari Club International whose headquarters is in the United States of America. Tanzania has a number of important endangered animal species in the world. Such animal species are: Black Rhino, Wild Dog, Chimpanzee, Elephant and Crocodile (Slender Snorted Crocodile). In 1998, the Government of Tanzania adopted a Wildlife Policy, which gives direction on conservation and advocate sustainable use of wildlife resources for the benefit of the present and future generations. 3.0 Tourist Hunting Regulated tourist Hunting or any other type of Hunting that observes conservation ethics does not negatively affect wild animal populations. This is because Hunting ethics is based on selective Hunting and not random shooting of animals. Hunting was banned in Tanzania from 1972 to 1978. The resultant effect was increased poaching and reduced government revenue from wildlife conservation. Low revenue caused low budgetary allocations to wildlife conservation activities and the lack of working gear and equipment. When the tourist Hunting resumed Elephant population increased from 44,000 (in 1989) to 45,000 (in 1994). Elephant is a keystone species in the Hunting industry and is a good indicator in showing population status of other animal species in their habitat. In 1989 to 1993 the government revenue from the Hunting industry increased from USD 2,422,500.00 to USD 7,377,430.00. The government earned a total of USD 9.3 Million from tourist Hunting in the year 2002. Increased revenue and keystone species such as Elephant are the results of efficient implementation of good plans and policies in conservation and sustainable use of wildlife resources. 4.0 Response to the issues raised in the article 4.1 Hunting against the law by OBC OBC is one of the 40 Hunting companies operating in Tanzania. The Company belongs to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Different from other Hunting companies, OBC does not conduct tourist Hunting business. The Kingdom of UAE has been the client Hunting in the Loliondo Game Controlled Area since 1992. In conducting Hunting in Loliondo Game Controlled Area, the Company adhere to the law and regulations governing the tourist Hunting industry, namely: 4.1.1 Payment of concession fee amounting to USD 7,500.00 per Hunting block per year. 4.1.2 Requesting for a Hunting quota from the Director of Wildlife, before issuance of Hunting permit. 4.1.3 Payment of game fees as stipulated by the Government. 4.1.4 Hunting only those animals shown in the Hunting permit. 4.1.5 Contributing to the development of the Hunting block, local communities’ development projects and anti-poaching activities. The following is what OBC has done so far: · Contribution towards the development of the Ngorongoro District of USD 46,000.00 · Construction of Waso Primary and Secondary Schools, six bore holes and cattle dips and has purchased two buses to enhance/local transportation. Furthermore, OBC contributed TSh. 30.0M to six villages in the Hunting area, for providing secondary school education to 21 children. · Purchased a generator and water pump worth TSh. 11.0M for provision of water to six villages. It has also constructed all weather roads and an airstrip within Loliondo area. 4.1.6. Different from the rest of the Hunting companies OBC Hunting period is very short. Normally the Hunting season lasts for six months, but OBC hunts for a maximum of four months. Few animals are shot from the Hunting permit. 4.2 Animals hunted in migratory routes. The Government of Tanzania has permitted Hunting in the Loliondo Game Controlled Area and not in the migratory route between Masai Mara and Serengeti National Park. The Loliondo Game Controlled Area is a plain bordering the Serengeti National Park to the east. 4.3 The right for Tanzania to use wildlife in the Loliondo Game Controlled Area The wildlife found in Tanzania is the property of the Government of Tanzania. The notion that these animals belong to Kenya is not correct. The wild animals in Loliondo Game Controlled Area do not have dual citizenship . Since some animal species move back and forth between Tanzania and Kenya it is better understood that these animals would be recognised to belong to either party during the time they are in that particular country. Animals in Masai Mara, Serengeti, Loliondo and Ngorongoro belong to one ecosystem namely, Serengeti ecosystem. However, Tanzania being a sovereign State with her own policies has the right by law to implement them. The same applies to Kenya, which has the right to implement its no-Hunting policy basing on the administration of her laws. Tanzania has therefore, not done anything wrong to undertake Hunting on her territory. 4.4 Hunting is threatening Kenyan tourism Migratory animals move into Kenya during the rainy season. After the rainy season they move back to Tanzania. Animals that are hunted in Liliondo Game Controlled Area during this time of the year are very few. In the year 2000, only 150 animals were hunted, and in the year 2001 only 139 animals were hunted. It is therefore, not true that 80% of the animals in the border area were hunted. Based on this argument, it is also not true that Hunting conducted by OBC is threatening the Kenyan tourism industry. Tanzania does not allow Hunting of elephants 10 kilometres from the Tanzania/Kenya international boundary. (CITES meeting held at the Secretariat Offices in Geneva in 1993). This is an example of the measures taken to control what was erroneously referred to by the East African Paper as “haphazard Hunting of animals of Kenya”. Furthermore, it is not true that the Wildlife Division does not know the number of animals that are killed. Control of Hunting is done by the Wildlife Division, District Council and other Law Enforcement agencies. The OBC does not capture and export live animals since it does not possess valid licence to do so. 4.5 OBC airplances export assorted number of live animals from Loliondo to UAE Capture and export of live animals and birds is conducted in accordance with the Wildlife Conservation Act No. 12 of 1974 and resolutions of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The live animal trade is also conducted in accordance with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) regulations, with regard to the size of the boxes/containers allowed to transport specific animal species in order to avoid injuries or death of the same. The principle behind the live animal trade is sustainability. CITES may prohibit exportation of animals whose trade is not sustainable. On these grounds it is obvious that CITES and therefore, its 150 members recognise that the Tanzanian live animal trade is sustainable. Live animal traders who exports animals, birds and other live specimens are obliged to adhere to the following procedure: i) Must hold valid licence to trade on live animals. ii) Must hold a capture permit and thereafter an ownership permit./certificate. The number of animals possessed and the number of animals listed on the ownership permit must be consistent with the number of animals that were listed in the capture permit and actually captured and certified. iii) Must obtain an export permit for animals listed on the ownership permit/certificate. iv) The Officer at the point of exit must certify that the animals exported are those listed on the certificate of export. The number of animals to be exported must tally with the number listed on the certificate of export. Verification of exported animals is conducted in collaboration with the police and customs officials. v) The plane that will carry live animals is inspected by the Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro Handling Companies’ Officials. vi) For animals listed under CITES, appropriate export and import certificates are used to export the said specimens. If there is any anomaly in exporting CITES species, the importing country notifies CITES Secretariat, which in turn notifies the exporting country, and the animals in question are immediately returned to the country of export. 4.6 Other specific isues 4.6.1 Hunters are given blank permits Companies are issued Hunting quotas before they commence Hunting activities. Each hunter is given a permit, which shows the animals that he/she is allowed to hunt depending on the quota issued and the type of safari. There are four types of safari Hunting as follows: 7, 14, 16 and 21 days safari. Each Hunting safari indicates species and numbers of animals to be hunted. When an animal is killed or wounded the officer in-charge overseeing Hunting activities signs to certify that the respective animal has been killed. If the animal has been wounded, the animal is tracked down and killed to ensure that no other animal is killed to replace the wounded animal at large. This procedure is a measure of monitoring of animals killed by hunters. 4.6.2 Good Neighbourhood Meetings between Tanzania and Kenya There are three platforms on which Tanzania and Kenya meet to discuss conservation issues as follows: a) The Environment and Tourism Committee of the EAC. b) The Lusaka Agreement. In the Lusaka Agreement Meeting conservation and anti-poaching matters amongst member countries are discussed. The HQ of the Lusaka Agreement is in Nairobi. c) Neighbourhood meeting. Experts in the contiguous conservation areas meet to discuss areas of cooperation between them, for example, in joint anti-poaching operations. Based on the regulations that govern the Hunting industry animals are not threatened by extinction since the animals that are hunted are old males for the purpose of obtaining good trophies. Trophies are attractions in this Hunting business. It is on this basis that tourist Hunting is not discussed in the said meetings, because is not an issue for both countries. 4.6.3 OBC airplanes flies directly to and from Loliondo without passing through KIA The Tanzania Air Traffic Law requires that all airplanes land at KIA before they depart to protected areas. When the airplanes are at KIA and DIA the respective authorities conduct their duties according. The same applies when airplanes fly to UAE. They are required to land at KIA in order to go through immigration and customs checks. The allegation that OBC airplane does not land in KIA is therefore false. Furthermore, Tanzania Air Traffic Control regulates all airplanes includingly, OBC airplane at entry points. 4.6.4 OBC sprays salt in some parts of the Loliondo Game Controlled Area in order to attract animals from Serengeti National Park. These allegations are baseless since the Tourist Hunting Regulations (2000) prohibit distribution of water and salt at the Hunting site in order to attract animals for Hunting. Besides the Game Scouts who supervise Hunting had never reported this episode. Furthermore, there are no reports that OBC is responsible for wild fires that gutters the south of the Serengeti National Park. 4.6.5 Cancellation of OBC block permit in 1999 since it was involved in the exportation of live animals. This allegation is not true. The truth is that Hunting blocks are allocated to Hunting companies after every five years. The allocation that was done in 1995 expired in 1999. The next allocation was done in year 2000 and the companies will use the allocated blocks until 2004. 4.6.6 The UAE Royal Family contributions to the Wildlife Division This is true. The Wildlife Division had received support from the UAE including: vehicles, transceivers and field gear in 1996. This was part of the fulfilment of the obligation by all Hunting companies to contribute towards conservation and anti-poaching activities. Records in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism show that there is no other District in Tanzania with Hunting area, other than Ngorongoro District, that receives enormous funds from Hunting business for community development. OBC contributes up to TSh. 354,967,000.00 annually for community development in Loliondo. The Government of Tanzania has no reasons to stop the Hunting activities in Loliondo Game Controlled Area. The government sees that local communities and the Ngorongoro District Council benefit from the Hunting industry. Edited by - lifer on 04/16/2002 20:57:41 Extract Author: Yannick Ndoinyo Extract Date: 17 august 2002 ISSN 0856-9135; No. 00233 A rejoinder to the Ministry’s press release on Loliondo and OBC We are replying in a critical analysis to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism Press Release in the East African paper of April 1-7 2002 regarding the "Game Carnage in Tanzania Alarms Kenya" in the same paper (East Africa February 4-10 2002). Special reference was given to Hunting activities by OBC and our analysis base to same Company. As it appears in the Press Release, OBC is the property of the UAE, but in reality some top influential people in Tanzania have some shares in the company. The OBC has been in Loliondo since 1992, even though ever since the whole local community in Loliondo refused to accept its presence and goes to the present day. OBC, to us, is not a normal Hunting company. It seems as if the Company has the right of ownership over land and other natural resources like water and wildlife. OBC has constructed expensive and luxurious houses, airstrip and big godowns on water source without the local people’s authority while they depend on such water for dry season grazing. Our surprise is that the government has always denied this fact and defended the Company. Why? The Company may be adhering to regulations and laws governing the tourist Hunting business in the books only and not practically. There are no monitoring schemes to make sure that the Company adheres to the said regulations. It is true that OBC contributes 30 million to six villages, which is 5 million per village, and it was initially 2.5 million per village. The amount was raised two years ago. The issue here is that the amount was determined by OBC alone and therefore paid when they feel like doing, no binding mechanisms to endure payment on regular basis. The former OBC director was once quoted as saying, "I am paying this money as this money as a goodwill only because the government does not wish me to do so". The amount however does not compensate or match the resources extracted from the land of six villages. The implication is that OBC has entered into agreement with the government only and not with the villages. The provision of education to 21 children as indicated the Press release, is basically not true or correct. The 30 million is the annual goodwill contribution from OBC to the six villages and not purposely meant for education only. The plan to utilize this money is upon the villages themselves. It is also true that OBC has constructed Wasso secondary school but not Wasso primary school. The secondary school, which was built for the six villages in which OBC operated and the whole of Ngorongoro district has been taken by the government thus limiting the number of children hailing from these villages and Ngorongoro district an opportunity to obtain education from the same school. In regard to bore holes, there are only four known boreholes and all these are built in Wasso and Loliondo townships. There are no any boreholes existing in any of the six villages, except only that a water pump machine, which currently does not work, was purchased for Mondorosi hamlet (Kitongoji) of Soit-Sambu village. Again, there is no virtually any cattle dip that OBC did dig or rehabilitated in six villages as mentioned in the Press Release from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. The information that OBC purchased a generator and water pump worth 11million is to six villages for water provision is false and misleading. Most villages in Loliondo have water problems and it is impossible for a generator to sustain a single village leave alone six villages. No single village has received such service from OBC. In regard to transport, the two buses were either bought or just brought as second hand vehicles. These buses are expensive to run and spares are not easily obtained. At present they are just grounded at Ngorongoro district workshop/garage. There was a time the councilors debated whether or not to sell because of difficult management. At present the people of Loliondo use an extremely old SM bus for transport. Again in the aspect of transport, there are no all weather roads in Loliondo that OBC constructed as it was said the Press release. Roads in most parts of Loliondo are murramed roads and mostly were constructed by Ngongoro district council using money from TANROADS and not OBC. It is indeed true that OBC Hunting period is very short. There is a lot that can happen in short period especially if the team of hunters is composed of professional hunters. Our concern here is the interference and interruptions that OBC causes to the life systems of the people in Loliondo. The Maasai cannot resume their grazing patterns and often are forced to move by OBC. Where should we graze our cattle while our grazing land is occupied and by the Hunting company and protected by the gun? In six villages of Loliondo, five operate non-consumptive tourism that gives them more earnings except one which is dominated by OBC. The villages can now send children to school, construct basic infrastructure like health centers, classrooms, teacher houses water supply and food security ultimately eradicating poverty. This is all done using the money from the non-consumptive tourism. The OBC constantly interrupts this system and agreement between in the villages saying that the villages have no right to operate such tourism on ‘his land’. Is it his or our land? The other major problem besides the Arabs is the constant reprimand from the government, as it discourages this kind of tourism business that benefits the local people in the villages more. We favour this kind of tourism because it does not disturb our normal pattern of life system. At the same time it does not kill wild animals, they just camp and go to the Serengeti Park. The allegations that OBC airplanes fly directly from Loliondo to UAE without passing KIA and whether it exports live animals have existed and many people have spoken and written about it. However, we cannot confirm anything about without much scrutiny. We do not know much now. Also in the Press Release the spray of salt to attract animals was referred to. The distribution of water in a certain site to attract animals was applied sometime ago. We are sure of this as it happened some years ago. What we are not exact is whether the practice continues to the present day. In the Press Release, the records in the Ministry show that OBC pays annually 354,967,000/= for community development in Loliondo? We have some reservations in regard to such records. First of all they are just records and anything can be written. Secondly, how is it that the Ministry has such records while we in Loliondo, the base of OBC operation, do not have? Thirdly, where is the provision in the agreement that forces OBC to annually pay to the district such amount of money? It may be that the amount is used to be paid annually but to individuals only and not to the district as it said. In its conclusion the Ministry sees no reason to stop Hunting activities in Loliondo simply because the local community and Ngorongoro district council benefit from the Hunting business. We strongly feel that there is every reason to stop the Hunting activities in Loliondo for several reasons. First, the local community did not consent to the granting of their land to the Hunting company to the present day. Secondly, the local community and Ngorongoro district council do not benefit in a way it should be from this Hunting business in Loliondo. Thirdly, the presence of OBC has interrupted and interfered with our life systems including grazing, culture and other alternative means of business to the local community. In our conclusion we feel that even though the government operates under the law set in Dar es Salaam and Dodoma without the involvement of the local people, it is very important to respect the localpeople. Someone in the ministry who has never been to Loliondo, we firmly conclude, either wrote the Press Release, or the story was made. We suggest that the villagers or OBC people be contacted for more definite facts. Please feel free to contact us for any queries you might have regarding this article. Tel: 0744 390 626 Extract Author: Arusha times Reporters Extract Date: Aug 17 2002 ISSN 0856-9135; No. 00233 The Hunting plot controversy reigning within the Longido Game Controlled Area in Monduli district two weeks ago threatened the life of the American ambassador to Tanzania, Robert Royall who was Hunting in the block . Riding in a Toyota Land Cruiser Station Wagon with registration numbers TZP 9016, owned by Bush Buck Safaris Limited, Ambassador Royall found himself being confronted by 16 armed men. The incident took place on Saturday the 27th of July this year, at about 13.00 hours, in the Hunting block which is under the authority of Northern Hunting Enterprises Limited. It is reported that, while Royall and his family were driving in the area, another vehicle, Land Cruiser with registration numbers TZP 3867, drove toward them and blocked them off. Sixteen men, armed with traditional weapons including spears, machetes, doubled edged swords (simis) and clubs jumped out, ready for an attack. However, both the ambassador, his team and driver Carlous Chalamila happened to be fully equipped and likewise drew their weapons. Seeing modern weapons, the mob got frightened and decided to flee. But the ambassador’s driver, Chalamila followed them to find out what they wanted. Contacts were subsequently made with the wildlife department of the Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources. Some wildlife officers were dispatched to the scene from Arusha and when they arrived, they found the attackers already gone. Regional Police Commander for Arusha, James Kombe admitted that the incident did take place but declined comments on the issue. However, already five people have been arrested in connection with the incident, these are: Omar Mussa, David Bernard, Salimba Lekasaine, Kiruriti Ndaga and the only lady in the team, Nuria Panito Kennedy. This week, Arusha Times learned that, the five suspects are out on bail. Speaking by phone from Monduli, the Monduli District Commissioner (DC), Anthony Malle said there was indeed some controversy regarding the Hunting bloc of Longido Game Controlled Area (LGCA) in which two Hunting companies of Kibo Safaris and Northern Hunting Enterprises (T) Limited, were at logger heads. Captain Malle added that, even the residents of the Singa village in the area, have been divided into two groups each supporting either companies. The District Commissioner however, pointed out that only the Ministry will decide which of the two parties have the right to the 1,500 square kilometre Hunting bloc. DC Malle also said that he and other district officials have already held various meetings to address the issue and together have signed an official letter which was sent to the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources in order for the office to settle the matter once and for all. Efforts to contact both Kibo Safaris and Northern Hunting Enterprises ended in vain. The East African Extract Author: John Mbaria Extract Date: December 2, 2002 The East African (Nairobi) Posted to the web December 4, 2002 .. .. .. Unlike in Kenya, the law in Tanzania promotes commercial wildlife utilisation activities such as safari Hunting and actually prohibits photographic tourism in areas declared as Hunting zones. Under the WCA of 1974, the wildlife division can only regulate the capture, Hunting and commercial photography of wildlife. The report adds that the director of wildlife can issue Hunting licences on village land, but he "does not have the power to give a hunter or Hunting company authority to hunt on village land without the permission of the village government." On their part, the licensed persons are expected to seek the permission of the village government before engaging in any Hunting. However, reports indicate that the practice of safari Hunting has so far ignored this law. The report says that most Hunting companies put up facilities on village lands without the permission of the village government and the respective village assemblies. The report gives the example of the Loliondo GCA, in Loliondo division of Ngorongoro district, where a Hunting company associated with a United Arab Emirates minister, "has built an airstrip and several large houses without the permission of the relevant village governments." "Such actions are contrary to the VLA which, under section 17, requires any non-village organisation that intends to use any portion of the village land to apply for that land to the village council, which will then forward that application and its recommendation for approval or rejection to the Commissioner for Land." In January, The EastAfrican published an exclusive story on the manner with which the Hunting company conducts Hunting activities in Loliondo. .. .. .. Extract Author: Indigenous Rights for Survival International Page Number: b Extract Date: 2/1/03 [click on the link to see the original MS Word document] Indigenous Rights for Survival International P.O. Box 13357 Dar Es Salaam. Alternative E-mail: email@example.com The United Republic of Tanzania P.O. Box 9120 Dar Es Salaam. If it pleases the Honourable President Benjamin Mkapa Re: Stop the killing fields of Loliondo I am a Tanzanian citizen, a strong believer in social justice. Under the same spirit I am the Co-coordinator of an informal group called Indigenous Rights for Survival International (IRSI). IRSI is a loose network of young people with an interest in public policy issues in Africa. We mainly discuss policy issues through emails communications and ultimately write articles in the press. IRSI as an entity takes no position on any of the discussed issues instead it simply stimulates, steers, and co-ordinates discussions and debates on public policy issues of members’ interest. Mr. President, I have all along believed that you can stop the crime against humanity being inflicted upon the people of Loliondo, Ngorongoro District of Arusha Region by a no less authority than the Government of Tanzania. Mr. President, Loliondo Division is located in Maasai ancestral lands in the northern part of Tanzania along the common border with Kenya. It borders the Ngorongoro highlands to the south, Serengeti National Park to the west, and the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya to the north. The Loliondo Game Controlled Area (LCGA) encompasses an estimated 4,000 sq km. There is no physical barrier separating the LGCA from other protected areas. It is a continuous ecosystem. LGCA was initially established in 1959 as a Game Reserve by the British colonialists under the then Fauna Conservation Ordinance, Section 302, a legal instrument the colonial authorities used to set aside portions of land for wildlife conservation. The legal status of the reserve was later changed to that of a Game Controlled Area to allow for commercial Hunting, a status that defines LGCA today and haunts its wildlife. Mr. President, Loliondo forms an important part of the semi-annual migratory route of millions of wildebeests and other ungulates northward into the Maasai Mara Game Reserve and Amboseli National Park in Kenya between April and June, and returning southward later in the year. The survival of the Ngorongoro-Serengeti-Maasai Mara ecosystem and the wildlife it supports is linked to the existence of Loliondo and other surrounding communal Maasai lands in Tanzania and Kenya. Similarly, the survival of the Maasai people is dependent entirely upon the protection of their ancestral land for economic viability and cultural reproduction. Land to the Maasai is the foundation for their spirituality and the base for identity. Mr. President, the people of Ngorongoro District in general and Loliondo Division in particular have suffered for a long time various established pains such as irrational grabbing of their ancestral land for “development”, tourism (consumptive and non-consumptive) and cultivation. While the people of Loliondo have lost much of their ancestral land to cultivation, the Government is evidently supporting private investors to further put Maasai pastoralists of Loliondo at a very awkward corner. In 1992, the administration of the former president Ali Hassan Mwinyi granted the entire Loliondo Game Controlled Area (LGCA) as a Hunting concession to the Otterlo Business Corporation Ltd (OBC), a game-Hunting firm based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Government issued a 10-year Hunting permit, under the controversial agreement, to the Brigadier Mohammed Abdulrahim Al-Ali, believed to be a member of the royal family of the UAE, of Abu Dhabi in the UAE who owns (OBC). The grabbed land is a birthright land of thousands of villagers of Arash, Soitsambu, Oloipiri, Ololosokwan, Loosoito and Oloirien villages of Loliondo. Mr. President, a Parliamentary Committee was formed to probe the Loliondo Gate saga. It revoked the dirty agreement. Strangely, a similar agreement was established. In January 2000, OBC was granted another 5-year Hunting permit in the said area. As usual, without the villagers’ consent. OBC constructed an airstrip. The villagers have been witnessing live animals being exported through the airstrip. OBC constructed structures near water sources. Hearing of the new permit, the Maasai sent a 13-men protest delegation to Dar Es Salaam in April 2000. The intention was to sort out the matter with you Mr. President. Unfortunately, they did not see you. However, the delegation managed to hold a press conference at MAELEZO, National Information Corporation Centre. The Maasai contemplated a number of actions to be taken against both your Government and the Arab in connection with the plunder of the resources. The Maasai said that before a mass exodus of the Maasai to Kenya the first thing was to eliminate wild animals. Thereafter, the delegation retreated to Loliondo, as gravely frustrated as before. The general election was scheduled for 2000, so the saga had to be explained away. The official statement was that power hungry opposition politicians were pushing the elders and that all the claims by the Maasai were “unfounded” and “baseless.” To its credit, The Guardian went to Loliondo. It reported the following: Maasai elders in Loliondo, Arusha Region, who recently declared a land dispute against OBC Ltd, a foreign game-Hunting firm, have accused some top Government officials of corrupt practices, saying the conflict is not political. The Arusha Regional Commissioner, Daniel ole Njoolay, recently described the simmering land dispute between the Maasai pastoralists and OBC, as a political issue. Francis Shomet [the former Chairman for Ngorongoro District Council] claimed that Njoolay had misled Tanzanians to believe that the allegations recently raised by Maasai elders were unfounded and baseless. Fidelis Kashe, Ngorongoro District Council Chairman maintained, “We cannot stand idle to see our land being taken away by Arabs. We will kill all the animals in the area as these are the ones attracting the Arabs into our land” (The Guardian May 30, 2000). The next morning Government officials were reported to have said the following: The Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Zakia Meghji, yesterday assured Ngorongoro residents that no land has been sold or grabbed by Arabs in Loliondo. Flanked by the Arusha Regional Commissioner, Daniel ole Njoolay and the Director of Wildlife, Emanuel Severre, Meghji commented, “There is no clause on the sale of land in the contract signed between OBC and the six villages of Ololosokwan, Arash, Maaloni, Oloirien, Oloipiri and Soitsambu.” However an inquiry conducted by The Guardian in Loliondo last week established that the Maasai elders were not involved in the re-lease of the Hunting block to the company. According to Megji, her probe established that the building has been constructed about 400 metres from the water source, 200 metres more than the distance recommended by law. But The Guardian investigation shows that the structures are less than 50 metres from a spring. And another spring has dried up (The Guardian May 31, 2000). Mr. President, underline two points. First, the Minister said the building has been constructed 400 metres from the water source. Second, “The Guardian investigation shows that the structures are less than 50 metres from a spring.” Now unless one’s mathematics teacher at school was daft, there is a huge different between 50 and 400! When did 50 metric metres turn to mean 400 metric metres? Can it be claimed that the Maasai were party to this so-called agreement? I am at a loss why this-well known-Minister has not been made to face the full force of the law. In the proposal, Brigadier Al Ali outlined the benefits of his operations in Loliondo to the Government, local communities, and wildlife conservation in the Serengeti-Maasai Mara-Ngorongoro ecosystem. Among its important objectives were: • To conserve an area contiguous to the Serengeti National Park, which is essential to the long-term survival of the ecosystem and its migration. • To develop a new role and image for the Arab world as regards wildlife conservation, management, and human development. • To improve locals’ revenue, development facilities, and create employment. • To generate revenues for the Central and District Governments. The OBC now stands accused of self-contradiction and violation of legal and moral obligations in virtually all the above areas, resulting instead in environmental destruction; unfulfilled promises and exploitation of the local communities; and direct undermining of the stability of the region’s wildlife and natural habitats. It has become evident that OBC had a long-term agenda for exploiting the high concentration of wildlife in Loliondo. Its Hunting operations are guaranteed by the continuous flow of wildlife from the Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Maasai Mara, and other areas. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, OBC "was taking advantage of migratory patterns of wildlife coming out of Serengeti." Mr. President, be informed that the villages in and adjacent to protected areas in Tanzania have no Government-supported infrastructures. Take Ngorongoro District for instance. There is no Government hospital in Ngorongoro. It may take a week to travel from Arusha to Loliondo, just less than 400 km, depending on weather, for there is no road. There is no even a single Government advanced level secondary education school in six (repeat six) Districts in the Greater Serengeti Region. This situation brings to question the legitimacy of wildlife conservation vis-à-vis the right of rural people to lead a decent life given nature endowment in their localities. Mr. President, the Maasai of Loliondo have for a long time accused OBC of grave human rights abuses. They have described acts of intimidation, harassment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and even torture by OBC staff, Tanzanian police and military in the name of OBC; brazen violations of grazing and land rights; and wanton environmental destruction and imminent extermination of wildlife. They have seen leaders who once opposed OBC’s practices corrupted and bought-off. The OBC operates like a separate arm of the Government. Many people in Loliondo believe that OBC is even more powerful than the Government. The Maa word for "the Arab", Olarrabui, is often used to refer Brigadier Al Ali, and by extension OBC. The word Olarrabui has become synonymous with power, authority, brutality, fear, and entities larger than life. Mr. President, you do not need to be a rocket scientist to comprehend that this is the clearest case of abuse of office. It is suggested, for those willing to avert disaster, the Tanzania Government included, that immediate steps be taken to put to an end the violation of fundamental human rights in Ngorongoro. As to lands lost in Loliondo, the Government is advised to return this to its owners. Land should not be grabbed senselessly. The Government, should at once, re-look into the whole matter. Navaya ole Ndaskoi. - The International Court of Justice - The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights - The United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations - Human Rights Groups around the World - Faculty of Law of the University of Dar Es Salaam - Local and International Conservation Agencies - Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources - The Attorney General - The Chief Justice - The Speaker of the United Republic of Tanzania Parliament - The Press, print and electronic - Political parties in Tanzania - Tanganyika Law Society - Other interested parties. Navaya ole Ndaskoi see also Extract 3734 The Maasai protest delegation holding a press conference in Dar Es Salaam in 2000

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Mammals and Conservation

Journal Issue: Juvenile Justice Volume 18 Number 2 Fall 2008 The Prevalence of Mental Disorders among Adolescent Offenders Two kinds of studies address questions about the social consequences of the links between mental disorders and delinquency. One type examines the degree of "overlap" between a community's population of youth with mental disorders and its population of youthful offenders. Knowing this overlap gives some notion of the risk of official delinquency for youth with mental disorders and the degree to which mental disorders of youth contribute to a community's overall delinquency. The second type of study examines the proportion of youth with mental disorders within juvenile justice facilities or programs. These studies provide information with which to formulate policy about treating and managing youth with mental disorders in juvenile justice custody. It is important to recognize that these two types of research begin with very different populations, even though they both address the relation between mental disorder and delinquency. The first typically focuses on all delinquent youth in the community, while the second examines only delinquent youth placed in juvenile pretrial detention centers when they are arrested or in juvenile correctional facilities when they are adjudicated. This distinction is further complicated, as discussed later, by the fact that not all youth in juvenile justice facilities are necessarily delinquent. Epidemiologic Studies of Mental Disorder and Delinquency Some studies have identified a significant overlap between the populations of youth served by community mental health agencies and youth in contact with the community's juvenile court.23 These studies are few in number, but they have found that the risk of juvenile court involvement among a community's young mental health clients is substantial. For example, a study in one city found that adolescents in contact with the community's mental health system during a nine-month period were two to three times more likely to have a referral to the juvenile justice system during that period than were youth in the city's general population.24 Youth in contact with a mental health system's services, however, are not the sum of a community's youth with mental health needs because many receive no services. The results of the study above probably represent the proportion of more seriously disturbed youth who have juvenile justice contact. Even so, merely knowing that youth "have contact" with the juvenile justice system tells us little about their offenses or even whether they offended at all. Very few studies have used samples that make it possible to identify both the proportion of delinquent youth in a community who have mental disorders and the proportion of youth with mental disorders who have been delinquent. The few that have, however, are large studies with careful designs. One examined a community population (drawn from several cities) that identified youth with persistent serious delinquency (repeat offending) and youth with persistent mental health problems (manifested multiple times).25 About 30 percent of youth with persistent mental health problems were persistently delinquent. But among all persistently delinquent youth, only about 15 percent had persistent mental health problems. Another recent study examined the relation between mental disorders during adolescence and criminal behavior when those youth became adults.26 Delinquencies and adult criminal arrests were recorded for a sample of youth in a large geographic region aged nine through twenty-one. The youth were also assessed for mental disorders three times between the ages of nine and sixteen. A diagnosis at any one of these three points identified the youth as having a mental disorder "sometime during childhood or adolescence." In this study, youth who were arrested between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one included a considerably greater share of youth who had had mental disorders in adolescence than those who were not arrested—for males, 51 percent as against 33 percent. This finding does not mean that 51 percent of the arrested group had mental disorders at the time of their arrest, but that they had had a mental disorder sometime in adolescence. It also does not mean that the majority of youth who had mental disorders in adolescence were arrested in adulthood. A different statistical procedure in this study, called "population attributable risk," addressed that question. It showed that the risk of adult arrest among individuals who had mental disorders at some time during adolescence was about 21 percent for women and 15 percent for men. These few studies suggest the following conclusions, all of which need further confirmation. First, consistent with the clinical research reviewed earlier, youth who have mental disorders are at greater risk of engaging in offenses than youth without mental disorders. It is possible that treating their disorders would reduce that risk. But most youth with mental disorders do not engage in offenses that involve them in juvenile or criminal justice systems. Second, youth with mental disorders represent only a minority of all youth who engage in delinquent behavior, although the share is somewhat disproportionately greater than their prevalence in the general community. If those youth received treatment that reduced their delinquency, it is possible that overall rates of delinquency in the community would fall somewhat, but the majority of delinquencies are not related to mental disorders. Third, rates of delinquency are higher among youth with certain types of emotional disorders— for example, depression or anxiety co-morbid with substance use disorders— and among youth with chronic and multiple disorders (seriously emotionally disturbed youth). Finally, a few studies have suggested that youth with mental disorders make up a somewhat greater proportion (although still a minority) of youth who were arrested for more serious and violent delinquencies or crimes.27 Mental Disorder in Juvenile Justice Settings Research on the subset of delinquent youth who enter juvenile pretrial detention centers and correctional programs cannot tell us the relation between mental disorder and delinquency, because most youth who engage in delinquencies are not placed in secure juvenile justice programs. Such studies, however, are extremely important for public policy, because they identify the scope and nature of mental disorder among youth for whom the juvenile justice system has custodial responsibility. Until recently the precise prevalence of mental disorders among youth in juvenile justice custody was unknown. Estimates varied widely from study to study, largely because of inadequate research methods or differences from one study site to another.28 In the past decade, however, well-designed studies executed in a variety of sites have provided a reliable and consistent picture. Those studies have found that among youth in various types of juvenile justice settings—for example, pretrial detention centers where youth are taken soon after arrest—about one-half to two-thirds meet criteria for one or more mental disorders.29 The prevalence of mental disorders is much higher in juvenile justice settings than it is among youth in the U.S. general population, which is about 15 to 25 percent.30 Across these studies, the rate is higher for girls than for boys.31 The overall prevalence rate does not vary greatly between younger and older adolescents or for youth with various ethnic and racial characteristics, although age and race differences are sometimes found for specific types of disorders and symptoms.32 As described in the earlier clinical review, about two-thirds of youth in juvenile justice custody who meet criteria for a mental disorder (that is, about one-third to one-half of youth in custody) meet criteria for more than one disorder.33 I will focus later on the implications of these statistics for the juvenile justice system's best response to mental disorders among youth in its custody. The high prevalence of mental disorder in juvenile justice facilities does not necessarily define the need for treatment. Some youth who meet criteria for mental disorders are experiencing their disorders temporarily and need only emergency services, while a smaller share—about one in ten—represents a core group of youth with chronic mental illness who can be expected to continue to need clinical services into adulthood.34 Some are functioning fairly well despite their symptoms, while others are barely able to function at all. And some have mental health needs, such as learning disabilities, that were not even included in the recent studies of prevalence among youth in juvenile justice settings. Reasons for the High Prevalence of Mental Disorders in Juvenile Justice Programs Why are mental disorders so prevalent among adolescent offenders in juvenile justice settings? Three perspectives—clinical, socio-legal, and inter-systemic—help to explain. They are not competing explanations. All probably play a role, and no evidence suggests that one is more important than the others. From a clinical perspective, it is likely that the same symptoms of mental disorder that increase the risk of aggression also increase the likelihood that youth will be placed in secure juvenile justice facilities for any significant period of time. When police officers arrest youth, usually those youth are not placed in pretrial detention. Nor is detention reserved for the most serious offenders—in fact, youth arrested for very violent offenses typically do not make up the majority of youth in detention. Those youth who are detained more than a few hours are those who have been more unruly or unmanageable at the time of their arrest, which satisfies detention criteria regarding a risk that they will be endangered, or might endanger others, if not detained. Youth with mental disorders frequently have symptoms involving impulsiveness, anger, and cognitive confusion that can make them less manageable and a greater risk to themselves or others, especially under the stress associated with their offense and arrest. Thus, among youth who are detained, a significant share is likely to have mental disorders that create unmanageable behavior—more so than for youth without mental disorders and more so than their peers with less severe mental disorders. This likelihood makes it no surprise that youth with mental disorders contribute disproportionately to detention populations. From a socio-legal perspective, recent changes in laws applied to youths' delinquencies may have increased the likelihood that youth with mental disorders will enter the juvenile justice system. Before the 1990s, law enforcement officers, juvenile probation departments, prosecutors, and judges typically had some discretion regarding whether they would arrest or prosecute youth with mental disorders when they engaged in illegal behaviors, especially if those behaviors involved minor offenses committed by younger adolescents without offense histories. But a wave of serious juvenile violence during the late 1980s caused virtually all states to revise their juvenile justice statutes during the 1990s to rein in this discretion.35 Under the new laws, certain charges or offenses required legal responses based on the nature of the offense alone, not the characteristics or needs of the individual youth. Penalties more often involved custody in secure juvenile facilities, thus reducing the likelihood that youth could receive mental health services in the community after their adjudication. An unintended consequence of these changes in law, therefore, was an increase in the share of youth with mental disorders coming into the system rather than being diverted on the basis of the juvenile court's discretion. A final, inter-systemic, explanation involves the dynamic relation between systems that serve youth. During the 1990s, most states saw a reduction in the availability of public mental health services for children, especially inpatient services.36 It is possible that less adequate treatment contributed to increased delinquencies among youth with mental disorders. But it is certain that many communities began using the juvenile justice system to try to fill the gap caused by decreased availability of mental health services. This phenomenon was documented in media articles, the observations of juvenile justice personnel, and government reports beginning in the mid-1990s and continuing into the early 2000s.37 Some parents of children with serious mental disorders began urging police to arrest their children, knowing that courts could "order" mental health services that were becoming nearly impossible for parents to get on their own. Soon the local juvenile pretrial detention center was becoming the community's de facto mental health center that provided emergency mental health services or simply acted as a holding place for seriously disturbed youth who had nowhere to go. In summary, these three factors—clinical, socio-legal, and inter-systemic—may together produce a prevalence of mental disorder in juvenile justice settings that does not represent the actual relation between adolescent mental disorder and delinquency. That high prevalence does, however, represent a demand on the juvenile justice system to respond to youth in custody who have mental disorders, and the demand is almost overwhelming. Some of those youth are in secure custody because they have committed serious crimes, others because the legal system has widened the door to juvenile justice processing, and many because their symptoms make them difficult to handle and they have no place else to go. The problem requires a solution, and the multiple causes of the problem as well as the various types of youth involved suggest that the solution will be complex. What have clinicians and researchers learned that can help us determine the appropriate response?38

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Psychological Topics and Issues

Note: This lesson was originally published on an older version of The Learning Network; the link to the related Times article will take you to a page on the old site. Teaching ideas based on New York Times content. Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students evaluate current search procedures implemented to fight terrorism and examine constitutional rights to privacy. They then share and defend their opinions about domestic security and civil liberties in an age of terrorism. Kristen Tepfenhardt, The New York Times Learning Network Yasmin Chin Eisenhauer, The Bank Street College of Education in New York City Suggested Time Allowance: 1 hour 1. Participate in a “random search” simulation; evaluate current search procedures implemented to fight terrorism. 2. Consider the New York area mass transit’s response to the terror attacks in London by reading and discussing the article “In New York, It’s Open Bag or Find Exits.” 3. Discuss constitutional amendments that relate to rights to privacy. 4. Share individual opinions on domestic security and civil liberties in an age of terrorism. 5. Justify their stances on this topic in letters to state legislators. Resources / Materials: -five index cards with instructions, as described in Warm-Up activity -copies of the article “In New York, It’s Open Bag or Find Exits,” found online at http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20050725monday.html (one per student) -four large pieces of paper or poster board, each with one of the following statements written in large letters: “Strongly Agree,” “Agree Somewhat,” “Disagree Somewhat,” “Strongly Disagree” Activities / Procedures: 1. WARM-UP/DO-NOW: Prior to class, write the words Security Check on the classroom board, place a desk underneath it, and write the following five instructions each on its own index card: -Please proceed to the Security Check area and list all of the items in your possession on the back of this card. -Please proceed to the Security Check area, list all of the items in your possession on the back of this card, and take out proper photo identification. -Please proceed to the Security Check area, remove your shoes and empty all of your pockets on the desk. -Please proceed to the Security Check area and write your social security number, full name, home address and phone number on the back of this card, and await a search of your personal belongings. -Please proceed to the Security Check area and await the K-9 Dog Unit, which will search your belongings. As students enter the classroom, randomly hand an index card to students until all five index cards are distributed. (Based on your class size, you might want to give a card to every fourth or fifth student.) Each student who receives a card reports to the front of the room to the Safety Check area and follows the instructions as indicated on his or her index card. After a few minutes, ask each student to read his or her card aloud, and have each student share his or her thoughts about being selected for this process. Did all students fully comply with the security check? Why or why not? Did they feel that their privacy was being invaded in any way? Now, facilitate a class discussion: How do other students in the class feel about these types of security checks? Would they feel comfortable with this search procedure if it were applied to them in school? On public transportation? In an airport? While entering a mall? Do students think this type of search procedure is effective in stopping potential terrorists? Do students feel that these types of procedures are a violation of their privacy? 2. As a class, read and discuss “In New York, It’s Open Bag or Find Exits” (found online at http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20050725monday.html), focusing on the following questions: a. What “new era” has entered New York City’s subways? b. What new element was added to subway riders’ commuting routines, and why? c. Where did the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey state it would conduct its searches? d. Where did the Metropolitan Transportation state its searches were conducted? e. Who is Michael Chertoff, and according to him, how long will the nation’s mass transit agencies remain on high alert? f. What did the New York Police Department refuse to disclose after its first day of searches? g. According to officials, how will the searches be conducted on the weekends? h. How many subway stations were involved in the initial searches? i. What was the consequence for commuters who did not agree to inspection? j. During what hours are the searches focused, and why? k. How were officers ordered by commanders to stop riders for searches? l. What did Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg acknowledge on the morning that the searches were announced? m. What does Mayor Bloomberg hope he has established, as he indicated on his weekly program on WABC-AM? n. What did Mayor Bloomberg pledge? o. What has Mayor Bloomberg learned? p. What has the New York Civil Liberties Union called the searches? q. What did Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly indicate for officers in the guideline issued on July 21, 2005, to top police commanders? r. What different types of packages were searched? s. According to Shauna Murray, how long did the search process take at Woodlawn-Jerome Avenue in the Bronx? t. When did the “every fifth person” search break down? u. In addition to searching bags, what steps were taken at Sutphin Boulevard-Archer Avenue by officers? v. What was the search procedure at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan? w. By what were selected riders met at Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene, Brooklyn? x. What was Amy Lisogorsky’s reaction the second time she was searched? y. How did the search situation in the suburbs compare to that in the city? z. What is James Murphy’s view regarding the searches’ ability to prevent a bombing? aa. According to the Port Authority’s chairman, Anthony R. Coscia, what did the announcement of these searches prompt him to do? 3. Refer back to the statement in the article made by Acting New Jersey Gov. Richard J. Codey: “The two bomb attacks this month on subways and buses in London made it ‘necessary to bring a new level of vigilance to our mass transit system.’” Then, explain to students that privacy is not mentioned specifically in the Constitution, but the Supreme Court has ruled that several amendments do establish our constitutional right to privacy. Review and discuss the following amendments, focusing on how they relate to privacy: -First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” -Fourth Amendment: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” -Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” 4. Explain to students that they will be expressing their views on different statements that you will be reading to them regarding domestic security and civil liberties in an age of terrorism. Hang the four “statement” posters in different corners of the room. Because students will be moving around to stand beneath the statements with which they most agree for different questions related to democracy, be sure that students have clear paths in the room to reach the four corners. For each of the statements below, read the statement aloud and allow students to move to the corners of the room that best express their views on the statement. As students take their places, write the statement on the board. Then, ask at least one student in each group to share his or her choice. Encourage students to support their opinions with reasons, facts, and examples, and allow students to challenge one another’s ideas. -Sometimes personal rights must be given up in order to protect people from those who could be a danger to all of us. -Searches should be conducted at the discretion of police officers based only if they have probable cause to suspect someone of a crime. -The phrase “it is better to be safe than sorry” applies when it comes to fighting terrorism. -The American government should have the right to investigate to the fullest extent of the law any suspicious person and his or her activities. -Civil liberties have been granted in the United States Constitution and should be preserved at all costs. 5. WRAP-UP/HOMEWORK: Students respond to the following prompt, written on the board for students to copy prior to leaving the classroom: “As quoted in the article read in class, Port Authority’s chairman Anthony R. Coscia stated that ‘people are willing to endure some level of inconvenience to have a higher level of safety.’ Considering the content of the article and today’s class discussions, write a letter to a senator or representative from our state. What balance can be struck between providing domestic security against terrorism and preserving the civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution? What potential terror targets exist in your state, how are they protected in this age of terrorism, and how successful do you think those measures are?” Students can peer-edit their letters and send them to your state legislators. (You can find the addresses of your legislators at http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/.) Further Questions for Discussion: -Public mass transit systems are currently using a random search method. What other systems might also be subject to searches? -If current search methods begin to produce fear in the American people and deter them from using mass transit, how can the government restore faith in this system? -Is it fair to compare mass transit search procedures to those used in airports if these modes of transportation do not follow the same protocol? Is one method more effective than the other? Evaluation / Assessment: Students will be evaluated based on participation in class discussions and clear presentation and defense of opinions, in both spoken and written forms. widespread, yielding, random, conduct, endure, networks, vigilance, alertness, disclose, intrusive, violating, turnstile, profiling, unconstitutional, precedents, checkpoints, intoxication, guideline, retained, probable cause, diverse, notation, detained, emigrated, overzealous, substantial, submitted, optimistic 1. Examine other times in history when the United States government has implemented policies that some would consider to be invasions of privacy or threats to individuals’ civil liberties. Create a political cartoon for your school newspaper comparing that historic situation to the current situation discussed in the article read in class. 2. Research the United States Homeland Security Advisory System. Why was it developed? When and how was it developed? How does it work? What do different people think of this system’s effectiveness? Write a newspaper article sharing your findings, or an editorial piece offering your views. 3. What is the American Civil Liberties Union? What is their mission? What are their goals? What have they done to attain these goals? In what recent situations were they involved, and to what extent did their involvement impact the outcome? Create an informational poster or illustrated timeline with your findings. Economics/Mathematics- How much has the United States spent on homeland security since September 11, 2001? Create a series of graphs illustrating various angles of answers to this question (e.g., one graph focusing only on New York, another focusing on airline security, another on costs incurred in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, etc.) Then, write an evaluative piece reflecting on your findings. Media Studies- Identify an issue of privacy related to the news media. Prepare a chart that lists the consequences of maintaining privacy in the situation, and identify these consequences as benefits or costs. Be prepared to explain the issue to your class. Is there a need for legislation related to this issue? What laws currently exist? Teaching with The Times- Search for headlines in The New York Times that discuss to the London bombings and terrorism in general. What anti-terrorism methods are other countries taking in response to the London attacks? Then, create a chart to compare and contrast methods being used abroad with those being implemented in the United States. To order The New York Times for your classroom, click here. Other Information on the Web: The American Civil Liberties Union, or A.C.L.U. (http://www.aclu.org), is an advocate of individual rights. Center for Civic Education (http://www.civiced.org) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan corporation which provides K-12 programs and curriculum which foster the development of informed, responsible participation in civic life. Justice Learning: Civic Education in the Real World (http://www.justicelearning.org) is a collaboration between NPR’s Justice Talking and The New York Times Learning Network, with features on various constitutional issues affecting the world today. Academic Content Standards: Civics Standard 18- Understands the role and importance of law in the American constitutional system and issues regarding the judicial protection of individual rights. Benchmarks: Understands the importance of the rule of law in establishing limits on both those who govern and the governed, protecting individual rights, and promoting the common good; Knows historical and contemporary examples of the rule of law; Understands criteria for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of a rule or law by determining if it is understandable, possible to follow, fair, well designed to achieve its purposes, and designed to protect individual rights and to promote the common good; Understands the basic concept of due process of law; Understands the importance to individuals and to society of major due process protections; Understands why due process rights in administrative and legislative procedures are essential for the protection of individual rights and the maintenance of limited government; Understands current issues regarding judicial protection of the rights of individuals Civics Standard 26- Understands issues regarding the proper scope and limits of rights and the relationships among personal, political, and economic rights. Benchmarks: Understands what is meant by the “scope and limits” of a right; Understands different positions on a contemporary conflict between rights; Understands different positions on a contemporary conflict between rights and other social values and interests Civics Standard 29- Understands the importance of political leadership, public service, and a knowledgeable citizenry in American constitutional democracy. Benchmarks: Understands why becoming knowledgeable about public affairs and the values and principles of American constitutional democracy and communicating that knowledge to others is an important form of participation, and understands the argument that constitutional democracy requires the participation of an attentive, knowledgeable, and competent citizenry; Understands how awareness of the nature of American constitutional change gives citizens the ability to reaffirm or change fundamental constitutional values Language Arts Standard 7- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts. Benchmarks: Applies reading skills and strategies to a variety of informational texts; Knows the defining characteristics of a variety of informational texts; Uses new information to adjust and extend personal knowledge base; Identifies techniques used to convey viewpoint; Draws conclusions and makes inferences based on explicit and implicit information in texts; Differentiates between fact and opinion in informational texts Language Arts Standard 8- Demonstrates competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning. Benchmarks: Plays a variety of roles in group discussions; conveys a clear main point when speaking to others and stays on the topic being discussed Civics Standard 18- Understands the role and importance of law in the American constitutional system and issues regarding the judicial protection of individual rights. Benchmarks: Understands how the rule of law makes possible a system of ordered liberty that protects the basic rights of citizens; Knows historical and contemporary practices that illustrate the central place of the rule of law; Knows historical and contemporary instances in which judicial protections have not been extended to all persons and instances in which judicial protections have been extended to those deprived of them in the past; Understands why due process rights in administrative and legislative procedures are essential for protecting individual rights and maintaining limited government Civics Standard 26- Understands issues regarding the proper scope and limits of rights and the relationships among personal, political, and economic rights. Benchmarks: Knows how to distinguish among personal, political, and economic rights; Understands different positions on a contemporary conflict between rights such as one person’s right to free speech versus another person’s right to be heard Civics Standard 29- Understands the importance of political leadership, public service, and a knowledgeable citizenry in American constitutional democracy. Benchmarks: Understands why becoming knowledgeable about public affairs and the values and principles of American constitutional democracy, and communicating that knowledge to others are important forms of participation, and understands the argument that constitutional democracy requires the participation of an attentive, knowledgeable, and competent citizenry; Understands how awareness of the nature of American constitutional change gives citizens the ability to reaffirm or change fundamental constitutional values Language Arts Standard 7- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts. Benchmarks: Applies reading skills and strategies to a variety of informational texts; Knows the defining characteristics of a variety of informational texts; Determines the effectiveness of techniques used to convey viewpoint Language Arts Standard 8- Demonstrates competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning. Benchmarks: Asks questions as a way to broaden and enrich classroom discussions

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Criminal Justice and Law

INTEGRATED THEME UNIT: CRUISING THE CARIBBEAN - PART 4 - HONDURAS (ELEM/MIDDLE) This fun unit features the adventures of Melvin and Morris as they visit Honduras while cruising the Caribbean includes a realistic fiction reading selection, comprehension questions and map reading skills. 6 pages including answer key Already an abcteach Member? LOG IN TO ACCESS THIS DOCUMENT...

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Indigenous Rights and Reconciliation

Deep in a desiccated, Utah desert, surrounded by mountains and fringed with scorched sage and saltbush, stand the surreal remains of German Village. Out of bounds, out of place, out of time and 90 miles from Salt Lake City, it is surely the most bizarre feature of Dugway Proving Ground, a test site created by the Allied military during the second world war to develop weapons of mass destruction for use against civilian targets in Germany and Japan. All that survives of German Village is a single block of high-gabled, prewar Berlin working-class housing. It is accurate in every respect. And it should be: commissioned by the chemical warfare corps of the US army, it was designed by Erich Mendelsohn (1887-1953), the German architect who settled in the US in 1941 after a spell in England. I was alerted to the story of German Village by Mike Davis, who features it in his provocative book Dead Cities: A Natural History, a study of the vulnerability of modern cities from New York to Tokyo to destruction by man and nature. Mendelsohn's involvement in this deathly project, seemed, at first, bizarre. A Jew from Allenstein in East Prussia (today, Olsztyn in Poland), Mendelsohn settled in Berlin, where he trained as an architect after studying economics in Munich. From the trenches of the great war he sent home visionary sketches of extraordinary streamlined, or expressionist, buildings. In 1919, during the great flu epidemic, he began work on the Einstein Tower, an astrophysics laboratory for the German mathematician and scientist, at Potsdam on the edge of Berlin. Over the next 10 or 12 years, Mendelsohn developed beautiful, sweeping, clean-lined, light-filled architecture - much of it in Berlin - that appeared to catch the spirit of the old German Enlightenment and represent it afresh in the uncertain days of the Weimar Republic. These included the Metal Workers Union building, the Universum Cinema on Kurfürstendamm, the Columbushaus (Galeries Lafayette) and several villas, including his own. Outside Berlin, the streamlined department stores he built for Schocken at Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Chemnitz were hugely influential worldwide. Mendelsohn left for England when Hitler was voted into power in 1933. Here, with the Russian-born dandy Serge Chermayeff, he built, among a number of fine houses, the De la Warr Pavilion at Bexhill-on-Sea. How can this Erich Mendelsohn be the architect of the dark and deathly German Village in the Utah desert? Mendelsohn left no correspondence or notebooks relating to the Dugway Proving Ground project, where napalm and poison gases were developed and tested. He had been under gas attack in the trenches, yet it is hard not to think that his primary motivation in the desert of Utah was revenge on the Nazis. If this seems fair enough, what remains disturbing is the fact that this work was expressly designed to destroy working-class districts of Berlin, including Wedding and Pankow. These had been communist strongholds, virulently anti-Hitler, before the Gestapo and SS all but destroyed opposition to the Nazi regime. A concerted Allied attack, by the British and US air force on working-class districts of German and Japanese cities had, however, become more or less official policy by 1943. Churchill wanted to gas them. Killed and mutilated in sufficient numbers, the German working class would, he argued, rise up against Hitler and bring a quick end to the war. "It is absurd to consider morality on this topic," he told RAF planners when the first German V1 rockets fell on London. "I want the matter studied in cold blood by sensible people, and not by psalm-singing uniformed defeatists." Sensible people included the prime minister's favourite scientific adviser, Professor Frederick Lindemann (Lord Cherwell), who insisted that "the bombing must be directed essentially against working-class houses. Middle-class houses have too much space around them, and so are bound to waste bombs." Psalm-singing uniformed defeatists included the US's air force's celebrated commander Jimmy Doolittle, who took against Churchill's proposed Operation Thunderclap that aimed to kill 275,000 Berliners in a single 2,000-plane raid scheduled for August 1944. It did not take place. Washington's war secretary Henry Stimson said he did not want "the United States to get the reputation of outdoing Hitler in atrocities". His less diplomatic deputy, Robert Lovett, pleading the case for adopting anti-personnel bombs loaded with napalm and white phosphorous, said: "If we are going to have a total war, we might as well make it as horrible as possible." Churchill trumped Lovett by calling on US president Franklin D Roosevelt to speed up production of a promised 500,000 top-secret "N-bombs" - filled with anthrax, developed at Dugway - to be dropped on Berlin and five other German cities. As the debate raged in political and military circles, Mendelsohn, with scientists from Standard Oil and German-emigre set designers from Hollywood's RKO studio, set to work on German Village. RKO expertise contributed the design of proletarian Berlin interiors down to the last detail. Using forced labour (inmates from Utah state prison), German Village and its six "mietskasernen" (rent barracks) apartment blocks were completed in 44 days, in time for experiments scheduled from May 1943. Mendelsohn and his team had done a good job. Their designs were far superior to the German housing built in England for test destruction by the RAF at Harmondsworth, near Heathrow airport. Assaulted by napalm, gas, anthrax and incendiary bombs, German Village was rebuilt several times during 1943. Nearby, the Japanese Village (long since vanished), designed by the Czech-educated architect Antonin Raymond (1888-1976), paved the way for incendiary attacks on working-class districts of Tokyo. On March 9 1945, 334 US air force B-29 superfortress bombers dropped 2,000 tons of napalm and magnesium incendiaries on the timber and paper houses of Asakusa. Officially, 83,793 Japanese were killed, 40,918 injured and 265,171 buildings destroyed. The same month, German Village aided the fire raids on Dresden. By the time Germany surrendered in May 1945, US and British raids had destroyed 45% of German housing. And, as Davis wryly observes: "Allied bombers pounded into rubble more 1920s socialist and modernist utopias than Nazi villas."Mendelsohn was the architect of some of the very best of these white, concrete dreams. Dugway, Davis argues, "led the way to the deaths of, say, two million Axis civilians", and German Village remains "a monument to the self-righteousness of punishing 'bad places' by bombing them". There is no doubt that Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan had to be defeated; but did the Allies really need German Village, Japanese Village and the refined architectural efforts of Mendelsohn and Raymond? At the fiery dawn of the 20th century, beneath the civilised, enlightened facades of Britain and the US, as well as Germany and Japan, was a desire for expansion, destruction and terrible revenge. Sitting on the sun-deck of Mendelsohn's pavilion at Bexhill-on-Sea, this axis of modern evil seems so very far removed, as far away, in fact, as the sole surviving "rent barrack" of German Village, Utah. · Dead Cities: A Natural History by Mike Davis, The New Press, £16.95.

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European History Narratives

Internet shopping cart is a software program that acts as an online shopping store. It is when integrated on company website enables the customers to choose items from the web store and then help in purchasing those items particularly with the help of few steps. In real world shopping cart is a metal basket where items are physically held together by the walls of the basket. Whereas, online shopping cart is an interface between company website and its infrastructure, allowing consumers to review what all they have selected and make necessary modifications, if required. It works as a web store on a website presenting its own set of unique changes and challenges. Further, the product offering needs to be kept current with statistics, pricing, information on availability and order needs to be fulfilled. Why Is A Shopping Cart Required? Online shopping is a fast means and growing consumer trends. Today most of the consumer’s assume that company offers Internet purchasing. In order to meet the demands of the customer company needs to have a secure, reliable and fast shopping cart system in place. Uses of a Shopping Cart Shopping cart software allows online shopping customers to "place" items in the cart. Upon "checkout" the software typically calculates a total for the order including shipping and handling (i.e. postage and packing) and taxes. It typically provides a means of capturing a client's payment information, but in the case of a credit card payment there is a payment gateway, a secure payment gateway is conducted in order to prefer for a secure transaction. Benefits of a Shopping Cart - Easily Accept Online Payments: Shopping Cart accepts credit card payments by simple payment gateway. - Transactions Are Very Secure: Financial information is securely stored on their servers. There is always a 100% protection against unauthorized payments. - Easy set up: There is no complex computer programming it’s simply a product display and sells by payment gateway. - Product Details: Product details are mentioned for each item like the shipping charges, price, handling fees, item number which helps in customizing the product for the buyer. - Multiple Options: There are multiple options for the customers to make changes or select the product as required by them before making purchases. How Do Shopping Carts Work? There are different types of shopping carts in the market along with its different ways of working. But normally a shopping cart includes a basic structure: - A database to store information such as product detail, customer data, order information etc. - A storefront that displays this information to store visitors (e.g. product detail pages, checkout pages, etc.) - An administration area that allows the store administrator to manage the store. (Like where you add products, set up shipping & payment options, process order etc.) Storing the database allows the web owners to see the existing shopping carts at any time, with their amount of purchases. This information is valuable allowing the web owners to get through the basic needs and belongings of a customer who did not proceed to check out process on last visit and who have processed the shopping from the site. Using cookies a virtual shopping cart can be stored in the customer web browser. How Do Shopping Carts Work? Web shopping requires a lot of security for online customers. Customer information should be kept confidential and secure in an online transaction. Working should be done more than the customer’s expectations, without any service disruptions. The most important aspect is to secure the website from any fraud and mismanagement by the user.

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Technology and AI Trends

|Home :: Building Database :: Extras :: Search :: Map||You are here Architecture Edinburgh Queensferry KY11| Scroll down for more pictures Firth of Forth Bridge |Also known as:||Forth Rail Bridge| This structure is a great undulating steel monster rising out of the estuary that is formed by the Forth river as it slowly spreads out toward the North Sea. "Monster" is an appropriate word, because this bridge has the looks of a beast, and the strength to back it up. It is considered one of the strongest, most stable, and most expensive bridges in history. That came out of necessity. The bridge was built after the span across the Firth of Tay collapsed, killing 75 people on a train in the middle of the night. Engineers and planners needed to cross the Forth, but had to do it in a way that would be acceptable to a public still shocked by what was then the worst bridge disaster in history. What they came up with wasn't merely another cantilever-truss bridge. What they put together was a marvel of Victorian engineering, and a span so overbuilt that it barely moves in even the heaviest wind, even though a certain amount of sway is expected in most large structures. This is achieved by using steel plate tubes with internal braces. The most stout of these building members are 12-feet in diameter. Its nearly exclusive use of steel, combined with its latticework appearance have made some people refer to it as the "Eiffel Tower of Scotland." >1890 - The then-Prince of Wales drives the last rivet into place. It was gold plated and is inscribed. He would later go on to become King Edward VII. >57 people lost their lives building the Forth of Firth bridge. >The bridge is held together by nearly 7,000,000 rivets. >The bridge is made from 54,000 tons of steel. >The bridge is made from 194,000 cubic yards of granite. >The bridge is made from 21,000 tons of cement. >The bridge rests on three piers, 70-feet in diameter. >Each of these piers descends up to 90 feet into the earth before resting on bedrock. >The bridge is designed to stand up to wind forces as high as 56 pounds per square foot. Rate This Bridge method='post' action='/Building.php?ID=307#Rate'>Current rating: 70% name='Rating' id='Rating' value='Praise' class='Plain'> name='Rating' id='Rating' value='Raze' class='Plain'> There are eight comments. I am from the County of Fifeand have gone over the bridge many times on the steam trains.On the middle span we through a penny into the water or good luck.I have been in Australia for 37 years but stll consider the Forth Railway Bridge the milestone in engineering and the best in the world. James A Taylor - Saturday, October 10th, 2009 @ 2:28am I have riden across the bridge 5 times. If I am lucky enough to get to my favorite overseas city, Edinburgh. I would love to visit it from the shore in North Queensferry and visit Inchgarvie if possible. In my opinion the two most impressive bridges in the world are the Great Forth Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. James Anderson - Saturday, February 21st, 2009 @ 7:38am I visited the bridge in 1970 and i'm still fascinated by the vast of it....excellent achievement robert ledger - Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 @ 10:20am My brothers and I were born in a little cottage underneath the Forth Bridge on the North side. We think of this Bridge as the Best in the World. It is magic!! Avril Hylton - Sunday, January 1st, 2006 @ 12:57pm india - Thursday, July 7th, 2005 @ 5:24am To view this bridge in the mist with just the tops rising above in the sunshine is a dream. Mal Walker - Sunday, March 13th, 2005 @ 1:51am |LACU Community||LACU Extras||LACU Tools||LACU Sister Sites|

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Military History Events

SAVINGS ACTION 59: Lower the temperature on your water heater In a typical household, the water heater thermostat is set to around 140 degrees Fahrenheit. But did you know that setting it to 120 is usually fine? Each 10-degree reduction saves 3 to 5 percent on your energy costs and 600 pounds of CO2 per year for an electric water heater, or 440 pounds for a gas heater. Reducing your water temperature to 120 also slows mineral buildup and corrosion in your water heater and pipes. This helps your water heater last longer and operate at its maximum efficiency. Here's another interesting tidbit from the folks at Power ScoreCard: "If every household turned its water heater thermostat down 20 degrees, we could prevent more than 45 million tons of annual CO2 emissions — the same amount emitted by the entire nations of Kuwait or Libya." Savings: 3-5 percent on your monthly energy costs Environmental Impact: 440-600 pounds of CO2 emissions reduced annually TAKE THE CHALLENGE and LEARN MORE about SAVING ENERGY! Visit: www.SouthCoastEnergyChallenge.org

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Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

(CNN) — For parents in Somalia, giving their children immunizations is not a choice. In a country enduring more than 20 years of conflict, Somalia is home to one of the highest child mortality rates in the world, with one in five Somali children dying before their 5th birthday, aid agencies say — in many instances, from diseases that could be prevented by vaccines. Yet for some equally loving parents in the developed world, the messages surrounding childhood vaccination have become muddied. Some communities in areas previously considered disease-free are now falling below the levels of “herd immunity” required to protect against diseases such as measles, whooping cough and mumps. This week, in Swansea, Wales, the local public health agency announced that 886 people have been diagnosed with measles in an epidemic that started in November. The outbreak has been attributed to low measles, mumps and rubella immunization rates. One man’s death has been linked to the measles virus, while 80 people have been hospitalized. In 2011, six people in France died as a result of a measles epidemic that neared 15,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization. Teens not getting vaccinated PFCs’ impact on vaccine effectiveness Study: 10% of kids improperly vaccinated Vaccine schedules for children In 2010, a whooping cough outbreak, resulting from pockets of under-vaccinated people in California, resulted in 10 deaths, according to the California Department of Public Health. Nine of these were infants were too young to be vaccinated. “We are extremely concerned about what’s happening in some parts of the developed world,” said Jos Vandelaer, chief of immunization at UNICEF, one of the groups helping vaccination efforts in Somalia. “In the developing world, many people don’t even get the chance to be immunized. Health systems are not strong enough to take the vaccine to every child despite the fact that their parents want it.” Parents with real fears Measles, whooping cough and Hib (haemophilus influenzae type B), along with many other childhood diseases, can be deadly, but they are vaccine-preventable. Measles alone killed more than 150,000 people globally in 2011, according to WHO. Measles is also highly infectious, with one carrier likely to pass on the virus to between 14 and 18 other susceptible people, said Dr. Matthew Snape of the Oxford Vaccine Group in the pediatrics department at the University of Oxford, England. Despite the severity of these diseases, some parents in the developed world choose not to immunize their children and accept the risks. “Studies show that it is the upper middle class, well-educated Caucasian parents who are shunning vaccines,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “They have generally gone to graduate school, are in positions of management and are used to being in control.” A study released this month by the National Health Performance Authority in Australia reflected this trend. A number of affluent Sydney suburbs were identified as regions where low levels of immunity have put entire communities at risk from these diseases. The reasons behind parents’ decisions are complex. Part of the problem is lingering doubts around vaccine safety that were compounded by a retracted 1998 study linking the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine with autism. Although declared an “elaborate fraud” by the British Medical Journal, it raised questions about the safety of immunization in the minds of many parents. These doubts then were spread worldwide on the Internet and in the media by anti-vaccination groups and some celebrities. “If you want to scare yourself about vaccines, it’s not that hard,” Offit said. “Just turn on your computer.” For such parents, the perceived risks of vaccination outweigh the risks they associate with disease. In Australia, where vaccination is not mandatory, the anti-vaccination Australian Vaccination Network website says parents need to make an informed choice. The site offers links to articles and parental accounts of the potential side effects of many vaccines. A UNICEF working paper released this week to coincide with World Vaccination Week has tracked the rise of anti-vaccination sentiment in Eastern and Central Europe and concludes that poorly managed immunization campaigns in some countries have also contributed to the problem. Concerned parents in the affected countries are taking to blogs and Facebook, discussing their mistrust of vaccines and government programs, questioning the involvement of pharmaceutical companies and often recommending alternative medicine. A March survey conducted by the U.S. organization Public Policy Polling showed that 20% of Americans believe there is a link between childhood vaccines and autism, and a further 34% were not sure. Diseases long forgotten in the developed world While there are some risks associated with vaccines, they are mostly minor, such as pain at the vaccine site or low-grade fever, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A serious allergic reaction is rare and usually reported in less than one out of 1 million doses, the agency reported. “Hundreds of millions of children every year are vaccinated, and the number of side effects we see is minimal,” UNICEF’s Vandelaer said. “The anti-vaccine groups focus on the potential side effects, not on the real side effects.” On the question of autism, numerous studies conducted over the past decade have all demonstrated there is no scientific link between vaccines and autism. With so much conflicting information readily available to parents, Dr. Dina Pfeifer, program manager for vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization for WHO’s Europe office, said she believes the decision of whether to immunize children has become so fraught that many parents choose to do nothing at all. “They have a difficulty dealing with the amount of information for and against (vaccination) on the Internet, and out of this confusion they are failing to recognize the risks of the disease,” she said. Another factor driving parents’ decision not to vaccinate is the security that comes with herd vaccination, as rates of immunization for many diseases remain above 92% for the population. But Europe’s recent battle with measles demonstrates the problems under-vaccinated populations can pose, especially with older children. “Europe had 100,000 cases of measles from 2009 to 2012, and that shows how prevalent the pockets of un-immunized populations are in that area,” Pfeifer said. “Almost 50% of those cases were older than 10 years of age, and the older you are when you contract measles, the more severe the course of the disease.” Another factor of these pockets is their affluence; these parents tend to be the ones able to afford overseas travel. In 2008, a 7-year-old U.S. boy whose parents chose not to immunize him against measles traveled with his family to Switzerland. He caught the virus and returned to San Diego, unknowingly exposing 839 people to the disease and infecting 11 unvaccinated children, according to the journal Pediatrics. In Europe and the United States, parents and most people under 45 have never seen the effects of diseases such as measles, diphtheria or polio. “The fear factor (among parents in the developed world) is missing now — the knowledge of what’s on the other side if you don’t have vaccinations,” said Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, known as GAVI Alliance. The lack of knowledge of these diseases is also a problem among younger doctors and pediatricians, who may not be able to identify the signs, resulting in misdiagnoses. “There is a lot of value in case-based learning, but it is difficult to learn how to recognize these diseases if you haven’t seen them before,” said WHO’s Pfeifer. In contrast, most parents in the developing world, in places such as Somalia, have seen family members suffer, be maimed or die from such diseases, health advocates said. Education and motivation To address the problem, Berkley prescribes localized programs in countries to supplement the already high overall levels of immunization. Other physicians are supporters of parental education and want to ensure parents feel free to ask as many questions of their doctors and health care workers. Dr. Steve Hambleton of the Australian Medical Association said further motivation may be necessary. “When you incentivize the parents in a meaningful way, whether it be financial or with other incentives, you can make an enormous difference in vaccination uptake,” he said. Berkley, a doctor who specializes in epidemiology and global health, said he has seen the devastating effects of vaccine-preventable diseases in war-torn countries and refugee camps. Berkley said he wished he could take some parents in the developed world “on a tour, show them how horrible it is. Show them the illness that occurs out of these viruses.” “We’ve brought down child mortality dramatically with these vaccination campaigns and we are making dramatic progress, but the challenge is getting people to understand what the world was like before this.”

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Infectious Disease Reports

Some numbers mean things, and some numbers do things. Making--and breaking--that distinction was central to renowned mathematician John von Neumannâs implementation of Alan Turingâs Universal Machine in 1945-56. In this lecture, you will learn about the unlikeliest place on earth to build such a device and how this vital 5-kilobyte step in the digital revolution was sparked by a collision of ideas between mathematicians and engineers. Combining soldering guns with science, Von Neumann and his Electronic Computing Instrument tackled previously intractable problems ranging from thermonuclear explosions, stellar evolution, and long-range weather forecasting to cellular automata, network optimization, and the origins of life. In this highly visual and informative presentation, George Dyson will impart the full story - from the people to their processors - and where our digital directions through history may lead us next.

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Technology and AI Trends

Food Safety: Serving You can help prevent food poisoning by taking precautions when serving food. When you eat out, be sure that meat is cooked thoroughly and that foods that should be refrigerated, such as puddings and cold cuts, are served cold. Also pay attention to the restaurant environment. If the tables, dinnerware, and restrooms look dirty, the kitchen may be too. eMedicineHealth Medical Reference from Healthwise To learn more visit Healthwise.org © 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. Find out what women really need. Most Popular Topics Pill Identifier on RxList - quick, easy, Find a Local Pharmacy - including 24 hour, pharmacies

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Food Science and Safety

Look up in the sky - It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a ... hummingbird! Those fragile-looking little flecks of light and noise that flit to and fro are not nearly as delicate as they might seem. Looking like dainty little fairies in their plumage of sparkly feathers, hummingbirds are really tough old birds that will fight fiercely to defend a territory or fly thousands of miles solo on their annual migration. Don't let their small size mislead you, for these miniature flyers are really little super heroes in disguise. Just imagine all you could accomplish if you could move your arms as fast as the wings of the hummingbird. Actual wing speed varies with species, but the hummingbirds that frequent our valley move their wings at an average speed of 40 to 50 beats per second. This incredible speed is achieved from a combination of features. The hummingbird's average weight is only about 0.13 ounces, 25 percent to 30 percent of which is pure muscle. Additionally, its shoulder joints have a unique design, allowing them to rotate nearly 180 degrees. This permits the hummingbird to move its wings in a figure-eight pattern, generating power on the upstroke as well as the downstroke. This is what enables the hummingbird to hover and fly in all directions - straight up or down, sideways and even backwards. Hummingbird migration is legendary, and the eastern ruby-throated hummingbird is famous for its solo flights as far south as Panama. For years, researchers have sought to understand how such a small creature could make such a long journey, particularly because it entails crossing the Gulf of Mexico without stopping. Stories told by generations past rationalized this feat by explaining that the tiny birds must hitch rides on the backs of more legendary migrators, such as the Canada goose. This story, while still told in some places, is completely untrue for so many reasons, starting with the fact that the geese don't go anywhere close to the Gulf of Mexico in their migrations. Since our valley is home to lots of visitors and transplants from the East Coast, it's common to hear the local hummingbirds called ruby-throats, since the males share the same red gorget as their East Coast cousins. The predominant species of hummingbirds in our valley, though, is the broad-tail. These birds look similar to the ruby-throats but are slightly larger and hardier and are differentiated primarily by their range. The broad-tailed hummingbirds are primarily a Western species, with occasional sightings as far north as British Columbia. These hardy birds typically migrate down to Mexico, or sometimes as far south as Guatemala, where some populations remain all year long. The larger, rusty-colored Rufous hummingbird usually arrives later in summer, stopping in Colorado on its way from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico to breeding grounds as far north as Alaska. Very tiny animals don't typically fare well in really cold places. These hardy avian champions, though, have developed the ability to enter torpor, or a period of slowed metabolic rate similar to hibernation, during cold spells. During this time, they can lower their heart rate from a typical speed of 500 beats per minute to approximately 50. Body temperatures also decrease dramatically, from a daytime norm of 105 degrees to a nightly average of 50 degrees or so. Additionally, the male broad-tailed hummingbird, free from the obligations of caring for young, typically travels upslope at night, avoiding the cold air trapped in the valleys by thermal inversions. This reduces its overall energy costs by close to 15 percent, which can sometimes mean the difference between life and death. Despite these adaptations, really cold frosts can and do sometimes kill these hardy marvels of nature. The mighty little hummingbird, smallest of all the vertebrate species, continues to amaze and astound. Recent high-tech, super-slow-motion video of these miniature flyers shows that they fight savagely to defend their territories, even body-slamming one another in order to make their point clear. These miniature birds are also champion migrators, with some species traveling more than 12,000 miles round trip each year. The hummingbird, while small in stature, stands as a testament to the tenacity and brilliance of nature's work, reminding us that there is beauty, strength and resilience in a world where appearances don't always tell the whole story. Jaymee Squires is the director of graduate programs at Walking Mountains Science Center. She enjoys watching the hummingbirds buzz to and fro, but she has given up trying to feed them for this summer.

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Bird Species Profiles

VLADNIC, Romania (AP) -- Their origins are a mystery. The most widely accepted theory is that the Csango people of Romania's remote eastern Carpathian mountains began settling around the 13th Century, dispatched by Hungarian rulers to defend the kingdom's easternmost frontier. Of Roman Catholic faith and speaking a medieval Hungarian dialect, they still live in relative isolation, harvesting vegetables and nuts, some of which they exchange for oil, rice and other necessities brought in by village-to-village Romanian salesmen. The Csangos fear that their culture and language are eroding. Since Romania joined the European Union in 2007, an entire generation of adults has been lured away by the prospect of jobs in countries like Italy and Spain. In some homes, grandparents are looking after as many as 14 grandchildren. A group of doctors from a Hungarian Catholic charity recently visited Vladnic and the nearby Csango villages of Ciucan and Tuta to give eye and dental tests. For 14-year-old Tuta resident Annamaria Laura Lupo, the eye exam was long overdue. She said she's been having headaches and it was affecting her studies at school. Now, she and her mother are awaiting glasses that will be sent from Budapest. Dentist Renata Jaky said there was a near total lack of oral hygiene. "When I ask the kids how many times they brush their teeth, the most usual answer is 'never,'" she said. Children are key to the villages' survival and many start work before sunrise. "I get up at five in the morning and start the day by milking the goat and taking the animals out to pasture. Only after that do I go to school," said Gyorgy Radavoi, a 14-year-old boy. "My mother died and my father works abroad all year. I'm happy when my granddad isn't drunk, we have food to eat and it's warm at home."

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European History Narratives

Moderating your food consumption is the most important component of a healthy, balanced diet. Incorporating concepts such as food combining and food rotation can also be beneficial when addressing poor digestion or food allergies. Following these simple guidelines below will help support your digestion and a strong immune system. Eat Whole Natural Foods: Whole natural foods that come direct from gardens, farms and orchards are the best choices for optimal nutrients, energy and vitality. Fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains and legumes should ideally constitute 60-70% of your diet. Although processed food has an undeniable convenience factor and longer shelf life, they typically contain unnecessary additives and chemicals that can be detrimental to your health in the long run. While not always the budget-friendly option, there are many benefits to eating organic whenever possible. Many believe that organically grown foods have a higher nutrient value than commercially grown produce, while others disagree. There are many studies to prove either side. What cannot be disputed is the undeniable benefit associated with the minimization of chemicals sprayed on organically grown produce, and therefore the reduced toxic load our bodies have to deal with. Eat Naturally-Raised Meats (Fish, Seafood, Poultry, Beef, Lamb and Eggs): Protein is an important component in diets, as it is the building block of all of our cells – and therefore our muscles, tissues and organs. And it is a tremendous source of vitamin B12 and iron. Due to its high fat content, it is important to consider only lean sources of protein. And to minimize our chemical and hormone exposure, look for naturally raised sources of protein. Eat Raw or Lightly Steamed Vegetables: Fruits and vegetables are best eaten as fresh as possible, though many can be stored well for several weeks. To maximize the nutrient value of fruits and vegetables, it’s best to eat them raw or lightly steamed. When cooked, many of the vitamins, some minerals and certainly the enzymes in fruits and vegetables are lost, thereby reducing their nutrient value. Eat in Moderation: As a general guideline, every meal and snack should have 40% lean protein, 20% fat and 40% complex carbohydrates for optimum nutrition and satisfaction. One of the best things you can do is to always eat a healthy balanced breakfast, setting up your metabolism properly for the day. If you have time constraints, consider options such as protein smoothies, healthy muffins, hardboiled eggs or granola with fruit, nuts and seeds. Eliminate or Minimize Caffeine: Caffeine is a stimulant that helps us feel temporarily energized, but it has many negative effects to the body. It has a laxative effect that may cover up sluggish bowels; it’s also a diuretic that causes frequent urination and dehydration, which can lead to many physical symptoms if taken in excess, including insomnia, high blood pressure and headaches. Use Natural Sweeteners in Moderation: Generally, it’s best to minimize sugar due to its well-documented impact on health, including hypoglycemia, weight gain, cravings, high cholesterol and dental cavities to name a few. When a sweetener is required, consider natural sources such as raw honey and maple syrup instead. Eliminate or Limit Alcohol: The negative effects of excessive alcohol use are well documented. Even in moderate amounts, alcohol is a diuretic and also uses up B vitamins as it is processed from the body, so it’s best to eliminate or strictly limit consumption. Get Plenty of Sleep: The importance of sleep is often overlooked. During sleep, our muscles and tissues are repaired and revitalized, and our minds process experiences and things we have learned during the day. Although we all have different sleep patterns and needs, the average person requires a minimum of seven to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep per night. To achieve optimal sleep, avoid consumption of caffeine, heavy meals, exercise or alcohol within a few hours before bed. Before bed, consider reading, journaling or meditation to relax, as the day’s anxieties and an overactive mind can also impact your ability to sleep. And finally, ensure that your sleeping environment is set up for the best quality of sleep – minimize noise and keep the bedroom as dark as possible. Exercise – Move your Body!: Many feel that exercise only includes weekly classes, trips to the gym or running. The reality is that any form of exercise is beneficial, including morning or evening walks, or even taking the stairs whenever possible. Ideally, find an activity you enjoy doing and do it as frequently as possible. If finding the time becomes a challenge, use simple methods such as parking your car farther away from your destination and even taking business meetings outdoors and making them “walking meetings”. The key is to find every opportunity in a day to get your body moving.

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Healthy Eating and Obesity Strategies

Project management typically has five stages. Some project managers make mistakes during one or more of those stages, which can sabotage the chance of a successful outcome and have disastrous results for everyone involved. Here are two of the most common mistakes — and ways to avoid them — during each of the five stages. Which ones have you made? Stage #1: Initiating: 1. Mistake: The project manager “assumes” he knows what the project sponsor (the high-level person who wants the project done and will support the project) considers to be an acceptable project outcome. How to Avoid the Mistake: You must have a detailed conversation with the project sponsor that establishes specific and realistic measurable objectives for the project. This includes the outcome (expected objectives), a defined timeline (when does it start and when is it supposed to end?) and the cost of the project (how much money, labor, and stuff is required and where the resources will come from?) 2. Mistake: The project manager fails to identify all the stakeholders (those people who will benefit from or be affected by the project and those people who need to be involved in the project at some time during the project). How to Avoid the Mistake: Ask the project sponsor to identify the primary and secondary stakeholders. Who will be directly and indirectly affected by the project’s outcome? Which stakeholders’ support will be needed to provide the required resources for the project? Include additional stakeholders as the progression of the project reveals them. Stage #2- Planning: 1. Mistake: The project manager fails to include the team when planning how the outcome is going to be achieved. How to Avoid the Mistake: It is essential to get the team’s ownership of the project and their commitment to produce agreed-upon results on time and within budget. Let the team help create a written project action plan by involving them in: - Deciding roles and responsibilities of team members - Creating a project schedule - Determining the resources needed (personnel, time, material, other resources, etc.) - Creating a communication plan for the project (see Planning - Mistake #2) - Identifying the risks to the completion of the project, and creating a risk response plan if necessary 2. Mistake: The project manager fails to keep everyone informed. How to Avoid the Mistake: You and the team should create a communication plan that addresses how and when the team will communicate with each other, with the sponsor, with each stakeholder, and with each team member who is not actively involved in the project. This is often done with status reports (where the project is now), progress reports (how it got there) and change reports (major changes and how they affect the project). Stage #3- Executing: 1. Mistake: The project manager does not hold enough team meetings. How to Avoid the Mistake: Start every large project with a kickoff meeting to review the project action plan with the team and generate excitement, and then hold weekly team meetings to discuss progress. Were all activities completed on time and within budget? Did the team exceed, miss or meet targets for the week? Use this time to discuss and reconcile problems, conflicts, disputes and potential issues. 2. Mistake: The project manager does not celebrate success with the team. How to Avoid the Mistake: Celebration provides momentum for the team, so don’t wait until you achieve the “overall” success identified in the project action plan. Celebrate small milestones, perhaps on a weekly basis, by recognizing team and individual achievements. Stage #4- Monitoring: 1. Mistake: The project manager is not constantly looking for trouble. How to Avoid the Mistake: This fix is easy: constantly look for trouble! This means being aware of and managing any issue that might affect the outcome, time frame, or cost of the project. Examples include time slippage (keeping the project on schedule by tracking project activities), scope creep (prohibiting others from enlarging the project by saying “no”) and project changes (knowing how every change may impact — or jeopardize — the project’s success). 2. Mistake: The project manager loses track of the project’s outcome, time frame and cost by not using an appropriate tracking system. How to Avoid the Mistake: Use tracking systems (i.e.,Microsoft Project, QuickBooks, Excel) that will reveal any issues or problems so timely corrective action can be taken. Stage #5- Completing: 1. Mistake: The project manager attempts to complete or “hand off” the project without tying up all the loose ends. How to Avoid the Mistake: When 90 percent of the project has been completed, meet with the sponsor and primary stakeholders and develop a closing checklist and punch list to identify any remaining uncompleted tasks. Those items must be done before handing the project off or declaring the project completed. 2. Mistake: The project manager fails to debrief and, if warranted, celebrate with the team. How to Avoid the Mistake: Upon completion, a critical step is to hold a debriefing session about the project with the team using an after action review to share lessons learned, mistakes made and overcome, and successes achieved. You and the team can discuss what went right and what went wrong, and evaluate individual and team performance. If the project’s objectives were met, celebrate and recognize the individual and team efforts and accomplishments. While project management is replete with the opportunity to make mistakes, avoid the common ones during each phase, and virtually all of your projects will end in success.

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Educational Tools and Guides

web page http://www.amperefitz.com Ampere's 1824 Laws Theserelative motion laws greatly simply all of science: These laws are essentially Ampere's simple 1824 long wire laws with a frequency modification. .These are universal laws that unify all the forces by seeing all forces as space-time creations similar to the way it's done in general relativity. . These laws, though, visualize different space-time intervals (different gauges) being created at various different spin/orbit frequencies. Despite the fact that quantum theory does not see our type of spin causing angular momentum in the microcosm, these laws show it is there nevertheless but at a different space-time interval (different gauge - - different spin/orbit frequency level). The "A" Laws [The reason these "A" Laws work relates to the superposition principle that there is no repulsive force with in phase waves but a repulsive force (space) is always generated by out of phase waves]. You must also understand Dr. Milo Wolff's concept that particles (andtime) are manufactured by Spinning, Scalar, Standing Wave, Resonances with an immense, finite number of similar surrounding SSSWRs (Mach's principle). Force (space) exists not DIRECTLY via scalar resonances but because of individual vector spin and orbital resonances between two similar Spinning, Scalar Standing Wave Resonances. Remember, these"A" Laws (Ampere or Aufbau) have unified ALL the forces so these are now the NEW laws for everything, from the smallest spinning particle to the largest spinning super cluster of galaxies even where high relativistic speeds and mass are encountered. For simplicity, we must return to the Bohr concept of the electron. I have shown why in numerous other papers. *The 1st. "A" Law shows us where all SSSWRs in relative motion produce the least space-time between themselves: The space time interval is created theleast between any two SSSWRs, the closest sides of which "see" themselves spinning or moving on parallel paths in the same direction at the same frequency (like gears meshing) or a close harmonic thereof. You can also say these two objects will attract each other. *The 2nd. "A" Law shows us where all SSSWRs in relative motion produce the most space-time between themselves: Both space and time are created themost between any two SSSWRs, the closest sides of which "see" themselves spinning or moving on parallel paths in opposite directions at the same frequency (like gears clashing) or a close harmonic thereof. You can also say these two objects will repel each other. I use the quoted word "see" to emphasize the particular spacetime realm in which these entities actually find themselves although this will NOT be the way it is seen from our particular spacetime reference frame realm. Of great importance, in the two preceding laws, is that these laws arefrequency laws and they work separately for each separate spin/orbit frequency level which means these individual wave-particles must "see" themselves doing these things from their viewpoint in their local gauge environment. It does not matter how some other spin/orbit frequency level views these things because space and time and indeed the average space time interval is entirely different for each different spin/orbit frequency level (gauge). These two laws look equal and opposite but they are not: The 1st"A" law "locks on" while its opposite 2nd sister law never does. This is because the total force is generally centralized and you can feel this 1st "A" law "lock on" when two magnets come together. These two laws result in limits of aggregation being established all throughout this universe: This is why there are limits to the size of atoms and limits to the size of stars as well. *The Aufbau or Ampere Corollary The aforementioned forces, or space-time intervals, between two SSSWRs will vary proportionally with the cosine of the angle of their paths. And they will have a torque that will tend to make the paths parallel and to become oriented so that SSSWRs on both paths will be traveling in the same direction. All SSSWRs that "see" themselves traveling in the same direction on parallel paths at the same frequency will attract and/or space and time, at that frequency, between them is created the least. All SSSWRs that "see" themselves traveling in opposite directions on parallel paths at the same frequency will repel and/or space and time between them, at that frequency, increases or is created the most. And please don't forget this: Why electrons, stars & galaxies repel each other Remember, we have completely chucked out all those invisible forces you are familiar with and all we have now are these two"A" Laws. Please remember, in thisnew "big picture" of everything, ALL FORCES ARE NOW UNIFIED so there are no such things as gravity, magnetic lines of force or plus and minus charges or for that matter even the strong force. Pleasepay particular attention to the following. Electrons can exhibit either an attraction or repulsion when they are "locked" spin up or spin down on orbitals such as like or unlike charges; like or unlike poles OR they may even display a gyroscopic type repulsive behavior when they are "free". Our"A" Laws show us why this is so and in the next 6 paragraphs you have the best explanation of why electrons and even stars & galaxies repel each other. Lets look at these free electrons first: They spin and hence they have inertial qualities and this includes gyroscopic inertia which always provides this force 90 degrees to any external force acting on such a spinning item. Completely forget about charge now and only look at our new"A" Laws and what they say. The 1st "A" Law tells us that there is a possibility that two free electrons can attract each other providing that any portion of their closest sides are spinning in the same direction at the same frequency. This means either their sides can be spinning in the same directions or they can be lined up so that both of their poles can be spinning in the same directions: Any such two electrons will attract each other (magnetism also sigma and pi bonding). Then we see that there is something else: This torque twisting force - on BOTH free items - depends on the cosine of the angle of their respective spin planes. As this force begins to act, it in turn causes this 90-degree gyroscopic torque to twist both of those totally free electrons away from this initial attracting position, doesn't it? So because of this gyro torque, two free electrons can never remain in a full attracting position and they will therefore be forced to stay more in arepelling position. Therefore free electrons will always end up repelling each other and this repelling is not explained by using this thing called charge: it is explained only by simply using global inertial qualities and our new global "A" Laws. The above6 paragraphs explain not only why electrons repel each other but they also explain why any two perfectly free similar spinning SSSWRs of the same size must repel each other. So now you know why both electrons and galaxies stay well away from each other. Thisis Einstein's cosmological constant. Something somewhere has to be"locked" in place and synchronized in frequency (such as the electron's spin with another electron's spin) or a close subharmonic to get any kind of attracting force: Yes, the proton attracts an electron but instead of charge please see it this way: When two up quarks combine with one down quark to form a proton then the two up quarks are able to synchronize in with the electron's spin frequency and This is why aggregations come together(gravity) and larger aggregations come together and accumulate because as these things grow in size there are more things "locked" in place strengthening the attractive force of the 1st "A" Law. Once we knew about quarks then we should have realized how those two 'up quarks' in the proton are set up spin up-spin down (The 'up quark' does not signify orientation). Those two spin up--spin down 'up quarks' are spinning - in the same equatorial plane - at a higher frequency but all 'up quarks' spin at a harmonic of the electron's spin frequency allowing a spin up and spin down electron to be attracted to them in the same equatorial plane. We will soon know even more about theattractive quark strong force binding functions. Attraction is always a synchronized frequency attraction and it is not simply the old idea of plus and minus charges. Allattractions in this theory must be synchronized frequency attractions. Both light and inertial mass are caused by these synchronized frequency attractions. As quantum theory shows us, the orbital of an electron on a distant star goes down a certain amount while the orbital of the electron receiving this quantum of energy---in your eye---goes up the exact same amount. But what quantum mechanics does not tell you is that these two energy-exchanging orbitals must be in the same exact plane. Not only that but each orbital must be a mirror image of the other with the electrons in each rotating and revolving in the exact opposite directions so that at the time the energy exchange takes place the closest sides of both electrons are going in the same direction. You can see from this that this energy change is merely a MOMENTARY DIRECT PULL from the electron, on the star, to the electron in your eye. These electrons will make many revolutions, rotations and wobbling oscillations during each change of those orbitals giving you the light that you see. If two distant quarks are lined up so that their closest sides are in the same directions as the two aforementioned electrons then they too will momentarily bind with each other---even from a vast distance---and cause what we see as inertial mass. But since the quarks in the proton and neutron tri-quark entities do not oscillate and wobble quite like the electron then this pull of the two quarks is a steady momentary binding pull where BOTH quarks are pulled away from the other two quarks but NO PERMANENTEnergy CHANGE is made in either tri-quark entity (neutron or proton). When you spin a flywheel and notice the gyroscopic inertia, you should also notice that the gyroscopic torque that is always 90 degrees to the axis of rotationcan also be seen as a linkage with the rim of the rapidly spinning flywheel to a path projected in the sky (macrocosm surroundings). The rim tries to stay in this path. This is showing you that you do have an absolute reference frame, which is Mach's principle. Billions of quarks in BOTH the flywheel and in the macrocosm are both being momentarily extended more than normal thus giving you this added gyroscopic inertia. You might have to read the long TOE athttp://www.rbduncan.com/TOEbyFitzpatrick.htm to get the full picture of what happens when you crank up a gyroscope or a flywheel or ride a bicycle and produce gyroscopic inertia. It's similar to the reason you need cyclic pitch on a helicopter. When a helicopter moves forward then the blades on one side travel through the air faster than the blades on the other side and this tries to tip the helicopter over. (Igor Sikorsky had to invent cyclic pitch to prevent this). The same thing happens to certain quarks whose rims line up with the rim of the gyroscope, flywheel or bicycle wheels. The speed that these items are turning---in respect to the macrocosm---now adds to portions of the quark rim speed which before was close to the speed of light and now gets even closer to the speed of light (becoming more massive hence at a higher frequency). So you are moving up an asymptotic curve close to that unsurpassable speed of c. And this---even with a miniscule number of quarks involved---gives us this gyroscopic inertia. It does this because the mass of these few quarks increase tremendously as portions of their rim speed approach the speed of light. As Einstein has shown us, mass increases with speed and especially increases when on that asymptotic portion of the curve. Of available electrons, only the smallest fraction link with others a distance away to transfer light and heat. The same with the spinning quark that causes gyroscopic inertia. All spinning quarks link to cause inertial mass. All these binding linkages are momentary with the electron's oscillations causing a permanent transfer of energy and the various momentary quark bindings causing inertial mass. This could be seen---in gyroscopic inertia---as only a temporary transfer of inertial mass. But if you could increase our surroundings---as will be the case when our Milky Way galaxy finally collides with the Andromeda galaxy---then anyone here on earth will find both inertial mass, gyroscopic inertia and centrifugal force have all become stronger with the more crowded surroundings. Now let's go to the stars and you will see the same"A" Laws apply there as well and, as you can see, these too will always have to remain in a repelling position with each other. Recently Perlmutter discovered this acceleration and showed we must have Einstein'scosmological constant---a repulsive force---between all the stars and galaxies. Scientists have been recently wracking their brains to figure out why we have Perlmutter's acceleration because nothing in our present science has even predicted such a thing. But read those preceding blue sentences again! Now I hope you can finally see that our "A" Laws tell you exactly why we have Einstein's "cosmological constant" not only in the sky but in the microcosm as well. And they tell you why we have gravity too. Your present science doesn't even do this. The reason these "A" Laws work is that this universe is built on an extraordinarily simple principle via an endless supply of vector wave resonances producing lower frequency spherical standing wave, scalar wave resonances that, in turn, produce space-time by spinning, orbiting and precessing. Aminimum of space (at that particular frequency) is produced between the closest sides of spinning entities that are in the same scalar phase. Scalar phaseis more like a movie frame than voltage phase, which pertains to a waveform. These "A" Laws show us the production of the most important vector forces between the closest sides of such spinning spherical resonances and in the direction of the axis of each spin. There are also vector forces via orbits and spin and orbital and spin precessions. This universe equalizes the energy vector force input to vector force output of these scalar wave resonances by balancing them on specific spin and orbital geodesics. These vector forces, in turn, combine to produce lower frequency, hence lower energy, scalar resonances, which in turn, spin, precess and orbit producing still lower frequency space-time and its related vector forces and this goes on and on: Thus is our universe built from the microcosm to the macrocosm and may continue indefinitely because higher frequency waves would always be producing lower frequency, lower energy scalar wave resonances and they, in turn, would be producing even lower energy, lower frequency resonances. This seems to be an infinite frequency universe with each spin/orbit frequency having inertial and gyroscopic qualities but yet with each spin/orbit frequency having its own distinct symmetry laws. Daniel P. Fitzpatrick Jr. Over 4 Decades of Fitzpatrick's Books, Papers & Thoughts: And here's this page duplicated in Adobe.pdf: Over 4 Decades of Fitzpatrick's Books, Papers & Thoughts:http://www.amperefitz.com/4.decades.htm Fitzpatrick's website is athttp://www.amperefitz.com Another older website carrying Fitzpatrick's works FREE is:http://www.rbduncan.com Thank you, World Scientist Database - - Daniel P. Fitzpatrick Jr. Have a good day & visit my site at goodreads: Click ANY of these links to get what you want Read my latest book FREE:(these two links below) http://www.amperefitz.com/ua_20071020_ck_ds_jm_ds.pdf (This is the book in Adobe) http://www.amperefitz.com/unvasleep.htm (This book link opens faster if you have dial up.) While all the links on this page are OK and presently working, unfortunately only about two thirds(2/3) of the links I gave, years ago, as proof (click & see: http://www.amperefitz.com/presskit.html) for statements in this latest book, published in the year MMVl, are now still working BUT your search engine will probably take you to a similar area where you should be able to read similar proof material.

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Physics Concepts and Discoveries

The specter of chemical weapons has been hanging over war-torn Syria for months. Although viewed with skepticism by U.S. officials, the latest claims and counterclaims by the Syrian government and opposition forces over their alleged use in Aleppo province and a Damascus suburb have intensified concerns and prompted the United Nations to promise an investigation. Syria's government insists it doesn't have chemical weapons, and wouldn't use them against its own people if it did, while the Syrian opposition says it neither has such munitions nor the means to make them. Whatever the truth of the latest allegations, military analysts say they believe Syria may have one of the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons in the world. Specifically, the supply could include sarin and VX gases -- both nerve agents -- and mustard gas, which are banned under international law. The prospect that these could potentially be deployed by an increasingly beleaguered regime has made many observers anxious -- and has been cited as a "red line" for robust action by the United States. So why would Syria have such armaments? Few munitions evoke as much fear as chemical weapons. And unlike nuclear weapons, they are relatively inexpensive to develop and stockpile. This lends them a disproportionate importance for Syria and the region, analysts say. "In the Middle East, chemical weapons have been seen as a possible counter to Israel's nuclear weapons," said Dr. Susan B. Martin, of the Department of War Studies at King's College London. "They are seen as a possible strategic deterrent," she said, "and they are cheaper and easier to have than nuclear weapons."

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Middle East History & Politics

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition - n. A soft, silvery, easily oxidized metallic element that ignites spontaneously in air when finely divided. Strontium is used in pyrotechnic compounds and various alloys. Atomic number 38; atomic weight 87.62; melting point 769°C; boiling point 1,384°C; specific gravity 2.54; valence 2. See Table at element. Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia - n. Chemical symbol, Sr; atomic weight, 87.37; specific gravity, 2.54. A dark-yellow metal, less lustrous than barium, malleable, and fusible at a red heat. When heated in air, it burns with a bright flame to the oxid. It decomposes water at ordinary temperatures, evolving hydrogen, and uniting with the oxygen of the water to form the oxid strontia. It does not occur native. The chief strontium minerals are the carbonate (strontianite) and the sulphate (celestine). Strontium also occurs as a silicate in the mineral brewsterite. It has been detected in the waters of various mineral springs, as well as in sea-water, and in the ashes of some marine plants. Salts of strontium are chiefly used in pyrotechny, imparting an intense red color to flames. - n. A metallic chemical element (symbol Sr) with an atomic number of 38. GNU Webster's 1913 - n. (Chem.) A metallic element of the calcium group, always naturally occurring combined, as in the minerals strontianite, celestite, etc. It is isolated as a yellowish metal, somewhat malleable but harder than calcium. It is chiefly employed (as in the nitrate) to color pyrotechnic flames red. Symbol Sr. Atomic weight 87.3. - n. a soft silver-white or yellowish metallic element of the alkali metal group; turns yellow in air; occurs in celestite and strontianite - Named in a pseudo-Latin manner for the name of the Scottish town Strontian. (Wiktionary) - From New Latin strontia, strontium oxide, from English strontian; see strontianite. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition) “But the water may contain other harmful substances, such as beta-ray emitting strontium, which is known for causing bone cancers.” “The strontium is the secret," said Li - although exactly what it is doing is unclear.” “One of the procedures is called strontium isotope analysis, a technique that measures the ratio of strontium isotopes in a person's tooth enamel to determine where they grew up.” “Answer: A drug called strontium ranelate is commonly prescribed in several European countries.” “Recent health department tests on National Gypsum board found it lacked a compound called strontium sulfide - something found in all of the Chinese drywall samples.” “When a POS is attacked, when it hits the end of its shields, it goes into 'reinforced mode', and becomes invunerable for a period of time depending on how much 'strontium' it is fueled up with.” “Other hazards such as strontium are insignificant.” “A: The non-patentable forms of strontium supplements, such as strontium citrate, should dissolve and deliver strontium to the bones just as efficiently as strontium ranelate.” These user-created lists contain the word ‘strontium’. A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up. includes words of the "Prodcom list" A list of chemical elements I'm wading through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels one by one, and someday, I'll wade through them again and list all the words I learned while reading them. Edit: I started ma... Looking for tweets for strontium.

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Materials and Energy Technologies

Establishing awareness of intellectual property amongst staff of your company is essential for early maximizing the value of your intellectual property and the wealth of your business and reducing the possibilities of accidental non-confidential disclosures, that could prejudice successful patent applications and negatively affect the value of your intellectual property and ultimately the wealth of your business. Regular training sessions of staff on intellectual property are key and should include the following: how to identify and protect intellectual property; how to use patents to improvements of technology; understanding Patent Process; how to deal with confidential information (see some examples in the scenarios below); record keeping of intellectual property, including laboratory notebooks and policy on intellectual property; and who to contact in case of need. The record keeping procedures and manuals will address the following questions: has the inventor kept the idea confidential? is there a written description of the idea and has been kept safe and confidential? how the idea has been generated? If during a collaborative programme, then was it agreed beforehand who owns what? is the idea a new product, a new material, a new process for making something? If so, is it patentable or protectable in any other way? is the idea a variation in a product or material or process? If so, it is still likely to be patentable or protectable in any other way? who generated the idea? The answer to this question is very important in the event self-employed or other third party consultants are involved in any research and development or collaborative project. The main object of this record keeping is to track, protect and maintain all relevant intellectual property rights of the business so that intellectual property can be licensed, assigned or exploited to the fullest extent and benefit of the company. The record keeping procedures should also include a form upon which, potential inventions should be recorded identifying the following: Who: department and research area; Named individuals: inventors and authors; What: technical description; Why: perceived novelty; How to use the information: potential applications/markets; What else is needed: background or third party intellectual property and information. The correct use of laboratory notebooks by staff is also essential. In the event of a dispute laboratory notebooks may be required to be presented as legal evidence. It is therefore recommended that: permanent bindings are used on notebooks (loose leaf books should be avoided to prevent possible removal or substitution of pages); pages should be numbered and any additional drawings cards or computer printouts should be permanently attached to the notebook clearly identified and have reference made to them in the notebook; all projects related and other activities, such as breaks in research due to secondment or holiday should be recorded factually; and the notebook should be reviewed regularly by someone who understands the technology involved, each page should ideally be signed by a witness and again the choice of the witness is important and should not be someone who may be nominated as core inventor. The witness should also sign and date and graphs, chart, printouts, which are inserted into the laboratory notebook. In addition, to the use of appropriate record keeping procedures and notebooks, an evaluation of IPR policy should be adopted. Such an evaluation should include factors, such as potential market, market, impact, competitive products, timing, intellectual property protection available and experience in the field concerned. Finally, once relevant intellectual property rights have been identified, protected, exploited and enforced, it is advisable that, regular audit of such rights is undertaken to ensure that, the intellectual property rights reflect the current needs of the business and that expenditure is limited accordingly. How to take care of confidential information: Scenario 1 – Have you been asked to sign a confidentiality undertaking? If so, please check that it is only confidentiality restriction and not a transfer of intellectual rights. Obtain express confirmation from the discloser, that the information is not confidential, where possible, before disclosure. Make a written record of what was disclosed, by whom and when. Please remember that, an obligation, to keep information confidential, includes the obligation of not disclosure or not use of the information, without the permission of the person to whom the obligation is owned. Scenario 2 – Put in writing or some other permanent form. Mark any documents with appropriate confidentiality and IPR disclaimers. Keep a copy of what is disclosed and a record of when and to whom. If an oral disclosure is made in confidence, confirm in writing what was disclosed and what was given in confidence. Have the recipient sign a confidentiality undertaking of the disclosure. Scenario 3 – Consider whether anything in the paper describes a new device, chemical compound or manufacturing process or a significant improvement or modification to any such matters. Do not disclose anything, without first considering the possibility of the content of the papers being patentable in whole or in part. Consider whether there are any restrains, under any relevant agreements (including research and development or collaboration agreements). Keep an eye on any relevant timetable for confirming publication. Request that, the publisher confirms confidentiality on receipt of paper pending decision on publication. Please, always remember that, any document exchanged, should be clearly marked as being confidential. Scenario 4 – Consider what background IPR, if any, are free from obligations of confidentiality and may be introduced to the project. Prior to disclosing any information to third parties, have a confidentiality agreement signed. Such agreements, may take many forms and the terms should be adjusted in accordance with the particular circumstances. You should always include the following: - identification of parties; - what information is to be kept secret; and - for how long. If in any doubt, consult your legal adviser. The World Intellectual Property Rights Organization, WIPO has organized a three day workshop to educate the public on intellectual property rights. The initiative started today at the Coco palm hotel. The drive which is aimed at sensitizing St. Lucians to intellectual property rights issues will also include a public forum for persons interested in learning more about the issue. Video Rating: 0 / 5 The expression, ‘intellectual property’ has come to be internationally recognized as covering mainly two branches, namely; ‘industrial property’ and ‘copyright’. Patents, industrial designs and trade marks used to be considered as different kinds of industrial property. In Bangladesh (during the time of the then British regime), the first legislation of its kind, on copyright was introduced in 1914, which was mainly based on the British Copyright law of 1911. After the independence from Britain new law on copyright was promulgated in 1962. The Copyright Ordinance 1962 has been replaced by the new copyright act of 2000. Now in our country, Copyright law is regulated by the Copyright Act 2000. This is done because of the prevailing situation in Bangladesh and around the world. In case of patent and designs we have law which we inherited from our Colonial ruler. Patent rights are created by statute and governed by the Patent and Designs Act 1911. We have also law related to trademarks and it is regulated by the Trademarks Act 1940. Intellectual property has acquired an internationally recognized character. Now it is regarded as “one of the most important sectors” of international law, having its source in various international conventions. At present, each and every country is trying to shape or reshape their legislature, relating to intellectual property; in the light of those international conventions. The convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), concluded in Stockholm on July 14th, 1967, provides that, ‘intellectual property’ shall include rights relating to: 1. literary, artistic and scientific works, 2. performances of performing artists, phonograms and broadcasts, 3. inventions in all fields of human endeavor, 4. scientific discoveries, 5. industrial designs, 6. trade marks, service marks and commercial names and designations, 7. protection against unfair competition, And all other rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields. (Article 2/VIII) 1 Intellectual property protects application of ideas and information that are of commercial value.2 By virtue of a number of international conventions such as the, Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention, copyright acquired in one country extends to other countries which are member of these conventions. Other intellectual properties are beginning to acquire the same nature as well. The principles of intellectual property law are substantially the same in all countries with little variation to meet the national requirements of each of the countries. Bangladesh, as a least developed country, has also enacted intellectual property law in its national legislature. The Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property rights (TRIPs) were included as integral part of World Trade Organization (WTO) due to pressure and interest of basically transnational companies and developed countries to ensure maximum profit or interest out of intellectual property in international trade.3 The TRIPs Agreement has been called the most ambitious international intellectual property convention ever attempted. TRIPs agreement has established the protection of intellectual property as a major part of the multinational trading system embodied in the WTO. As one commentator observer, intellectual property is now a key component of this trading system, “the protection of intellectual property is one of the three pillars of the WTO”.4 Bangladesh is now enjoying the transitional period that has been fixed by WTO under the light of TRIPs. So, we do not have a clear idea about the relation between intellectual property rights and economical development. But, it is certain that after the expiration of transitional period, Bangladesh will have to face a serious and severe situation because of the weak legal framework relating to intellectual property. Now, in brief, the main features of intellectual property laws are given below: 1. The Patents and Designs Acts, 1911:- (Act no. 11 of 1911) The salient features of our existing Act are as follows; Part-1; of the Patents and Designs Act, 1911; is about of patent. This part starts from section-1 and extends to section-42. Section 2(8) contains the definition of invention; it proceeds as – invention means any manner of new manufacture and includes an improvement and all alleged invention. In sub-section (10) of the same section, provides the explanation of manufacture, “manufacture includes any art, process or manner or producing, preparing or making any article and also any article prepared or produced by manufacturer.” Section-3 of the Act provides about the manner and mode of an application for patent. According to section-3(1); a patent application can be made by any person, whether he is a citizen of Bangladesh or not. An application can be made, alone or jointly with any other person. According to section-4 of the Act; there are some provisions about specification. Wection-4(2) states that, a complete specification must particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the invention and the manner in which the invention is to be performed. Section-10 of the Act, discusses about the topic, “grant and sealing of patent”. According to section-10(1); if there is no opposition of the patent application or, in case of opposition, if the determination is in favor of the grant of a patent, a patent shall, on payment of the prescribed fee, be granted, subject to such conditions if any as the Government thinks expedient, to the applicant, or in the case of a joint application to the applicants jointly, and the Controller shall cause the patent to be sealed with the seal of the Patent Office. Term of patent, is laid down in section-14(1) of the Act. The duration of patent is sixteen years from its date. Section 15 of the Act; also provides rules regarding extension of the term of patent. If any patent has been ceased, owing to the failure of patentee to pay any prescribed fee within the prescribed time, the patentee may apply to the controller in the prescribed manner for an order for the restoration of the patent. Section-16 of the Act deals with the matter, restoration of lapsed patent. Section-22 of the Act contains provisions of “Compulsory Licenses and Revocation”. Both the Govt. and High Court Division are empowered to grant compulsory license or revocation of patent. Any person interested may present a petition to the Govt., alleging that the demand for a patented article in Bangladesh is not being met to an adequate extent and on reasonable terms and praying for the grant of a compulsory license, or in the alternative, for the revocation of the patent. According to section-25 of the Act, if any patented invention or the mode which it is exercised; is mischievous to the state or prejudicial to the public; Govt. can declare the patent, revoked, by notification in the official Gazette. Section-26 of the Act; provides the grounds, on which; a patent can be revoked by the High Court Division. Section-26(2) also provides, who can present a petition for revocation of a patent. Section-30 of the Act; declares that; an innocent infringer of a patent; is exempted from liability or damages for infringement. Part-II of the Act; describes all about ‘Designs’ or industrial designs. According to section-43(1); any person claiming to be the proprietor of any new or original design not previously published in Bangladesh, can apply to the Controller for the registration of that particular design. According to section-47(1); the proprietor of a registered design, shall subject to the provisions of this Act, have copyright in the design during five years from the date of registration. Section-51(A) of the Act; narrates that, any person interested may present a petition for the cancellation of the registration of a design. Such petition should be presented to the High Court Division. Part-III of the Act; is about, Patent Office and proceedings there at. According to section-59 of the Act; every register kept under this Act shall at any convenient times be open to the inspection of the public, subject to provisions of this Act. Section-65 of the Act; states that, in any proceeding under this Act, the Controller shall have the powers of a Civil Court for the purpose of receiving evidence, administrating oaths, enforcing the attendance of witness compelling the discovery and production of documents, issuing commissions, for the examining of witnesses and awarding costs and such award shall be executable in any Court having jurisdiction as if it were a decree of that Court.5 2. The Trade Marks Act; 1940: (Act No. V of 1940) The basic principles of the Trade marks Act are described below: Section-2 of the Trade marks Act contains definitions that are related to this Act. As to, section-2(k); trade mark means a mark used or proposed to be used in relation to goods for the purpose of indicating or so as to indicate a connection in the course of trade between the goods and some person having the right, either as proprietor or as registered user, to use the mark whether with or without any indication of that identity of that person. The establishment of Trade marks Registry at Dhaka, appointment of the Registrar and Deputy Registrar are laid down in section-4 of the Act. According to section-5 of the Act; the registration of a trade mark, requires distinctiveness. Purpose of such distinctiveness is to distinguish those particular goods from the others, which have similarity in nature. Any mark, containing scandalous design; or be likely to hurt the religious susceptibilities of any class of the citizens, or to be contrary to any law for the time being in force or morality is prohibited for registration of that mark. Section-8 of the Act, say so. Section-16 of the Act; provides that; when an application for registration of a trade mark has been accepted and either has not been opposed or having been opposed, has been decided in favor of the applicant, the Registrar shall, registers the said trade mark. Section-18 of the Act, says that; the registration of a trade mark shall be a period of seven years, and may be renewed from time to time in accordance with the provisions of this section. According to section-20 of the Act; no person shall be entitled to institute any proceedings to prevent, or recover damages for the infringement of an unregistered trade mark. According to section-46 of the Act; any person aggrieved can apply to the High Court Division or the Registrar, for the cancellation or verification of the registration of a trade mark on the ground of any contravention of, or failure to observe a condition entered on the register in relation there to. Chapter-IX of the Act; is specially written down for textile goods. Chapter-X of the Act, states the provisions regarding offences and restriction of use of Royal Arms and state emblems. According to section-73 of the Act, any suit for the infringement of a trade mark or otherwise relating to any right in the trade mark; shall be instituted to a District Court having jurisdiction to try the suit.6 3. THE COPYRIGHT ACT; 2000: (Act No. 28 of 2000) A short overview:- Section-2 of the Copyright Act; provides all the definitions related to copyright and so on. According to Chapter II; section -9, 10 and 11; Copyright Board will consist and the post of Register has made. The board is a quasi-judicial body; while working, it would be deemed as a Civil Court. Definition of copyright is laid down in Chapter III; section 14 of the Act. Section 14(2) includes, ‘computer programs’ as a subject to this Act. Chapter IV; deals with the ownership of copyright and the rights of the copyright owner. This Chapter starts from section-17; ends to section-23. Chapter V of the Act; describes all about the term of different types of copyright. Generally the term extends from the lifetime of the author until sixty years from the beginning of the calendar year next following the year in which the author dies; is at section-22. The section also provides that, copyright shall subsist in any literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work (other than a photograph). Section-25 to section-32 of the Act narrates the duration of copyright for different types. For instance, posthumous work, cinematograph films, sound recordings, photograph, anonymous and pseudonymous works, Govt. works, work of any local body, work of international organizations. Section-50 of the Act; deals with compulsory licenses in works withheld from public. Chapter X of the Act is about, registration of copyright. Chapter XII; section-71, describes about infringement of copyright and section-72 of the Act; provides acts not to be infringement of copyright. Chapter XIV; is about Civil remedies, that are available against infringement of copyright. Exclusively, section-76 of the Act; provides, remedies against such infringement. According to section-81 if the Act; the Court of District Judge, is the Court of first instance of such proceedings. Chapter XV of this Act; describes offences and punishment. According to section-82 of the Act; any person who knowingly infringes or abets the infringement of copyright; shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months. But, which may extend to four years and fine which shall not be less than fifty thousand taka but which may extend to Taka two lacks. But; where the infringement has not been made for gain in the course of trade or business; the Court may, adequate and special reasons to be mentioned in the judgment, impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term of less than six months or a fine of less than fifty thousand taka. According to section-95 of the Act; an order made by the Registrar is a subject to appeal to Copyright Board. According to section-96; against any order; made by the Board; any aggrieved person, within thirty days of such order can file a petition of appeal to the High Court Division.7 PROBLEMES AND INSUFFICIENCY OF THE EXISTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS: PATENTS AND DESIGNS ACT:- The defects are;- Like any other national patent system, novelty is an essential requirement of an invention to be patentable under the existing law of our country. But it is clear from the definition of ‘invention’ in section-2(8) of the 1911 Act; the invention to be patentable need not have a commercial pecuniary success. In other words, utility of an invention is not required by this definition. Although lack of utility is a ground for revocation of a patent under section-26(f) of the Act, till now this has not been included in the definition of invention. The 1911 Act makes no difference between patentable and non patentable inventions. Considering the public interest certain items should be kept outside the domain of patent protection. Since under the existing law no item has been excluded from the domain of patent protection, any type of new invention may obtain patent protection although it should not be patentable for the greater interest of the public at large. Under the existing law, the application for a patent must contain a declaration that the applicant is the true and first inventor or the assignor or legal representative of such inventor. But the term, “true and first inventor” is left undefined. Thus any person importing an invention for the first time into Bangladesh or any person to whom an invention is first communicated from outside Bangladesh can claim to be the “true and first inventor” of that invention and thus, can take the advantage of the vagueness of the term. Here; a fact should be added that, such practice already has begun. Some pharmaceutical companies don’t having any research and develop cell, importing some drugs, and by claiming patent, under the ambiguity of the Act, getting patent. A statistic says that, at the 1st and 2nd week of March, 2006; on an average, 40 patents were granted by the patent office, in each week. Thus, the local producers are forced to remain non productive on that particular patented items. The standard of examination varies from country to country. In some countries like Netherlands, Germany, U.S.A. and Japan it is rigorously involving an extensive search for both novelty and obviousness among documents published in many countries, over a period of many years. But according to our existing patent law; examination is less rigorous involving for novelty only, and the extent of search is restricted. Term of patent protection shall, as laid down in section-14, be sixteen years from its date. But the term is not sufficient enough for the exploitation of the patent right. What constitutes infringement of patent isn’t defined in the Patents and Designs Act, 1911. Section-29(1) of the Act only says that, the patentee has a right to sue against the infringer during the continuance of the patent acquired by him. Section-30 of the Act says that, a patentee shall not be entitled to damages against an innocent infringer. But, ignorance of law is no defense. The infringer should pay for the project as compensation of damages. Under the existing law any process or manner of producing, preparing or making an article in patentable as appears from section-2 (8) read with section-2(16). But, the 1911 Act does not confer upon the patentee the exclusive right to exercise the process. The 1911 Act contains provisions regarding compulsory licenses of patent rights but the terms and conditions of conditions of compulsory licenses are not detailed in the Act. TRADE MARKS ACT:- 1. Section-22(3) of Trade Marks Act defined infringement in a very narrow sense though the act has provisions against infringement. 2. Although Chapter X of the Act, describes about offences and restrictions of use of Royal Arms and state emblems but this chapter does not extends to the infringement of any registered trademark. Any deceptive use of any registered trademark; is not also included in this chapter. 3. There is no provision for protection of internationally recognized trademark in our existing Trademark Act 1940. Our existing copyright law has been enacted in line with the copyright law of India. It has been enacted to cope with the prevailing international set up of copyright system. So, preventive measures have been adopted to tackle the future complications in copyright sector. NECESSARY PROPOSAL FOR REFORMATIONS: The term ‘intellectual property’ is still at its nascent stage in our country and people are not aware of the concept and importance of intellectual property. But, in international arena, the concept and coverage of intellectual property is growing so fast than any other brunches of law. We have intellectual property laws but these laws are not sufficient to tackle the challenges that are imminent and threatening us. Keeping in mind the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement and other relevant conventions the following reformation proposals can be made: Reformations of the Patents and Designs act: ü The Patent and Designs Act, 1911 should be revised thoroughly. ü Essential requirements of patentable invention should be described clearly and there must be a clear distinction between patentable and non patentable inventions. ü The standard of examining a patent application should be made more effective. ü Term of patent protection shall, as laid down in section 14, be 16 years from its date. But the term should be extended to 20 years for patent and the term of a design, according to sec – 47(1) is 5 years from the date of registration, should be extended to 10 years. ü Existing Act does not have any definition of infringement, it should be included. ü The part of “designs;” have some confusing words, as in that part the term, “copyright” has frequently used. But it may create confusion. Such confusion should be effaced. ü The Act does not have anything to do about the protection “Geographical indication” which could result a huge loss of losing our culture & heritage. So, it should be included. ü Provisions relevant to PARIS convention should be incorporated. ü The administrative provisions and complications should be avoided. The complications should be made more subject to judicial decision. ü The provisions of offences and penalties should be revised and reformed with the need of the time. Proposal for reformations of The Trademarks Act: After studying present Trademark Act and different conventions, it is clear that our existing Trademarks Act 1940 should be amended as well. The following suggestions can be made: ü The reformed trademark law should have a wide view about the marks which can be registerable and which marks cannot be. ü Infringement of trademark should be defined more accurately. Besides, punishment for infringement should be made stricter. ü How will we protect our renowned trademarks in international market and reciprocally how other countries trade marks can enjoy protection in our local market, should be defined in our trademarks act, with an assertive view. ü Offences and penalties, in respect of violation of any provisions of this act, should be made more effective and harder. ü If any complication or confusion arises in practicing of the act, the judicial body should be involved with more vigilance. Proposed reformations to the copyright law: The Copyright Act 2000 has been enacted to cover the rules and to cope with the international copyright system. Our existing copyright law has been enacted in line with the copyright law of India. It has been enacted to cope with the prevailing international set up of copyright system. So, preventive measures have been adopted to tackle the future complications in copyright sector. From the face of the Copyright Act 2000, it seems that our copyright law has fulfilled the need of the time. Though computer programs, tables complications including data base are recognized to have the copyright protection, there is no legal recognition for transaction carried out by means of electronic data or other means ‘e-commerce’ which involves the use of alternativeness to paper based method of communication and storage of information to facilitate filing of documents with government agencies . The growing global importance of the cyber law is posing new challenges and in view of the peculiarity involved in the fields, the understanding between the nations of the world by treaties or covenants, may be of considerable importance in the absence of which the implementation of the legislation would be near to impossibility. Our present act should be amended to fulfill the shortage. Finally we can hope that a stronger protection system of the intellectual property rights, a qualified commission to observe the protection and thus policy making options to bring civil remedies for the violation of the rights and finally a complete law regulation in all sectors of intellectual property rights will surely lead us to a better future. Notes and References: Background reading materials on intellectual property: WIPO (Pp-3, 4). P.Narayanan.(pp-1). TRIPs agreement. John Madely hungry for trudeyzed books UK (2000) pp-96-97. The Patents and Designs Act 1911 The Trade Marks Act 1940 The Copyright Act 2000 Most people are attentive of the numerous benefits of owning a trademark registration. Trademark registration in India becoming familiar with complete customer satisfaction. Trademark registration is the protection agreed by the government to the business entities as to reduce the possibility of getting the advantage of the business by others by the way of misuse and to raise the opportunities keeping the mark exclusive under the eye of law. Generally, brand registration refers to the trade mark used to discriminate the goods or services among the consumers. The business group sells their services or goods under the precise name or brand that is called trade mark. Therefore, the brand is registered in order to evade the repetition or use the same mark by others. In vision of this, the brand registration referred to as trademark registration. Trademark brand was initially developed as a name, term, design, and symbol. Powerful brand can bring success in bloodthirsty and financial markets and thus become the markets worthless assets. Trademark brand equity dealings the value of brand to the trademark owner. The brand name is used interchangeably with brand to designate written or spoken linguistic rudiments of the brand. Brand name is a form of trademark which identifies the brand owner as the money-making source of products or services. The brand owner may ask for to protect the proprietary rights in relation to a brand name during . Trademark brand is a appliance to create monopoly so that the brand owner can obtain some of the reimbursement to those related to decline price competition. There is legal magnitude as it is essential that the brand names and trademarks are protected by all means. An existing brand name can be used as a vehicle for new and modified products. Individual brand names allow greater suppleness by permitting different products to be sold without puzzling the consumer. The trademark is registered for the business name, brand name and logo as to discriminate, popularize, create the goodwill and put aside the mark from competitors and fraudulent. The trademark office is an organization to provide protection to the inventors and dealing for their inventions and trademark registration in India provide protection and intellectual property recognition. In addition, if some business entity desires to extend its dealing in more than one or several countries, it can ensue with International Trade mark registration. The titled name International Brand Registration is the usual form of the International Trade mark registration. It is meant, when the registration is done through any International pact, that gives the protection in all the countries allied with the treaty. The is an agency, which provides protection to the inventors and business for their inventions and trademark registration for the product and intellectual property identification. The office is provided with funds by the fees, which are charged for processing the patents and trademark. The applications to trademark registration are examined by the trademark office. Master sf Business Administratration Banking and Finance (MBF): Integrative Courses: MS-94 Technology Mangement Video Rating: 0 / 5 - the various types of merchandising rights including intellectual property rights and monopoly in commonplace articles - use of well-know images and features in advertising and unfair competition - use of registered trade marks and service marks - use of copyright and design law - the civil remedies available - international framework for the protection of merchandising rights Find More Intellectual Property Rights Products The service industry is a tricky landscape, due to the fact that, often times, no tangible property is transferred back and forth. Sure, you may purchase a software program that comes on a disk, but in reality, you are merely purchasing the right to use that program, not the rights to the program itself. The service industry is a world dominated by intellectual property, and protecting yours should be your utmost goal. First you must define if intellectual property is yours or not. Let’s say you hire an employee to create a software program for you. He creates it, puts his name on it, and hands it over to you. If left unchecked, both of you could walk away thinking that you own the rights to the software, but in reality, only the employer does. Other items may fall under the umbrella of “intellectual property” including trade secrets, client information, and more. Your employees might have access to that information, but in order to legally prevent them from using that information to their own benefit, you must first get them to sign an employment contract informing them that they are not allowed to distribute any information gathered while under your employ. As an employer, you should take pride in the knowledge, contacts, and experience you have accumulated over your years of doing business. Don’t risk letting that information out by avoiding employment contracts or other intellectual property agreements. Furthermore, don’t let subcontractors walk away with information you paid for, just because they created it. Understanding your rights as an employer is the first step towards protecting them. The final step is having the foresight to create contracts which will legally protect you should the situation ever call for it. As part of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation’s video project, we sponsored a contest for students at the University of South Florida. The winning entry discusses the role of intellectual property rights. Video Rating: 2 / 5 The relevant legal norms from the above point of view, although they involved Intellectual property rights The exercise of acts done some direct or indirect restrictions, but these provisions are very fragmented, incomplete, unclear, not specifically from the perspective of preventing the abuse of intellectual property rights to make rules; the majority of existing legal norms applicable to the foreign economic Trading Activities, and not generally applicable to the Chinese market, the exercise of acts of intellectual property, so its very limited scope; from the content point of view, it also needs to be common practice in the world at present updated and perfect. Present, China has no clear regulation of the exercise of acts of intellectual property ” Antitrust Law “, Also led to the present does not exist in China, the corresponding administrative law enforcement and judicial practice, similar Microsoft , Cisco And DVD Alliance patentee of intellectual property rights abuse in China still can not be effective monopoly regulation. Order to achieve Competition Request on behalf of the wider interests of society more important, China has continued to strengthen intellectual property protection, but also abuse of intellectual property should be to rule them. But now, people are more concerned about the previous problems, while the latter issue also seriously enough. Based on this, the urgent need to promptly establish and improve regulation of intellectual property rights abuse in China antitrust law system, give full play to intellectual property rights in the legal system to encourage innovation and promote scientific and technological progress of the positive role of the city and to prevent the abuse of intellectual property rights to maintain a free and fair economic competition order. The “anti-monopoly law,” the exercise of intellectual property regulation act to protect the interests of Chinese enterprises is significant. Trend of economic globalization is bound to be more Chinese enterprises to the market, they may encounter in the domestic market monopoly of multinational enterprises do nothing, and their behavior in foreign markets are subject to strict Competition Law problems. For example, earlier this year, some U.S. Pharmacy Enterprises in China 4 pharmaceutical companies in the United States filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing the Chinese companies in the U.S. market on price cartel. Can be expected, as more and more Chinese enterprises enter the international market, Chinese enterprises in foreign countries have been accused of anti-monopoly situation will be more. Therefore, whether for the maintenance of domestic order, or free and fair competition in international economic exchanges in safeguarding their own interests, China should be established as soon as possible “anti-monopoly law.” The core is to balance and handle competition in intellectual property protection and maintenance of the conflict between the ultimate goal of full respect for and protection of intellectual property rights, encourage innovation and play Excitation The role of competition, but also effectively prevent illegal monopoly by improper use (ie abuse), so on behalf of the interests of society as a whole will not be free and fair competition order of destruction; both the full protection of market competition, but also realistic and reasonable for the time being take care to limit competition business needs, a reasonable balance of intellectual property transactions, the parties (developers, producers, consumers, etc.) interests, in order to promote China’s scientific and cultural innovation and the parallel development of economic competition. Specialized intellectual property law in the regulation of intellectual property rights abuse in the sound system, to further clarify, refine the terms of the abuse of intellectual property, which makes the related intellectual property rights infringement proceedings for the alleged infringer to provide a clear defense based on, or to the right people can be counter-claim, or even be prosecuted separately. This also requires our country, “Patent Law,” “Trademark Law”, “Copyright Law” and other specialized intellectual property law further modified, or other supporting measures. For example, should further improve our procedures for intellectual property litigation related to the legal system, clear that abuse complaint against compensation; in intellectual property cases should be taken provisional measures before litigation, scrutiny, careful decisions; improve the institute confirmed that the provisions of such non-infringement lawsuit . In addition, to effectively safeguard the authority of our laws, to be taken seriously TNC Intellectual property dispute resolution and political trend. As intellectual property rights are private rights, in essence, is a civil right, then the intellectual property dispute resolution, like other civil rights, are primarily to the court through the trial process carried out. Related Intellectual Property Rights in China Laws and regulations After recent amendments, has been full compliance with WTO rules, the minimum requirements, in some ways even more than that can provide effective intellectual property legal relief channel. However, some multinational companies and Chinese enterprises in intellectual property disputes occur, often by virtue of its strong bargaining power directly to the Chinese government or by their home governments to pressure the Chinese government to meet their special benefit The purpose of treatment, so that would could also go through legal channels, in accordance with strict legal procedures to resolve political. The Chinese Government has always considered positive for a variety of administrative resources to address the use of foreign-related intellectual property disputes. Tasted the sweetness of the multinational corporations, the more value this way, and attract more multinational companies to make the same choice. Moreover, under WTO rules, the MFN principle, a country our government to give preferential treatment for enterprises in this regard should also be automatically and unconditionally to other WTO Organization Members of the business. This is both an expression of some multinational companies in China to protect intellectual property rights and the rule of law framework for the establishment of disrespect and distrust, often the interests of the enterprises in China causing undue damage. Is therefore recommended that our government should be treated with a number of multinational corporations will solve the political disputes of intellectual property rights of the tendency to be guided in accordance with our existing law, to follow strict legal procedures to solve problems, in particular, be careful not to as being a political Pressure The expense of the legitimate interests of Chinese enterprises. Access to the judicial process for foreign-related intellectual property disputes, our courts must strictly in accordance with Chinese laws and relevant international rules, rule out all kinds of interference imposed by foreign parties, according to a just ruling, effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises. Which claims the rights for the source of the right to conduct a strict review of the situation, to prevent the use of intellectual property claims on behalf of persons engaged in unfair competition.

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Intellectual Property Topics

The intent of this work is five fold: 1) To spatially characterize and monitor the distribution, abundance, and size of both reef fishes and macro-invertebrates (conch, lobster, Diadema); 2) To relate this information to in-situ data collected on associated benthic composition parameters; 3) To use this information to establish the knowledge base necessary for enacting management decisions in a spatial setting; 4) To establish the efficacy of those management decisions; and 5) To work with the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program to develop data collection standards and easily implemented methodologies for transference to other agencies and to work toward standardizing data collection throughout the US states and territories. Toward this end, the Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment's Biogeography Branch (BB) has been conducting research in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands since 2000 and 2001, respectively. It is critical, with recent changes in management at both locations (e.g. implementation of MPAs) as well as proposed changes (e.g. zoning to manage multiple human uses) that action is taken now to accurately describe and characterize the fish/macro-invertebrate populations in these areas. It is also important that BB work closely with the individuals responsible for recommending and implementing these management strategies. Recognizing this, BB has been collaborating with partners at the University of Puerto Rico, National Park Service, US Geological Survey and the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources. To quantify patterns of spatial distribution and make meaningful interpretations, we must first have knowledge of the underlying variables determining species distribution. The basis for this work therefore, is the nearshore benthic habitats maps (less than 100 ft depth) created by NOAA's Biogeography Program in 2001 and NOS' bathymetry models. Using ArcView GIS software, the digitized habitat maps are stratified to select sampling stations. Sites are randomly selected within these strata to ensure coverage of the entire study region and not just a particular reef or seagrass area. At each site, fish, macro-invertebrates, and benthic composition information is then quantified following standardized protocols. By relating the data collected in the field back to the habitat maps and bathymetric models, BB is able to model and map species level and community level information. These protocols are standardized throughout the US Caribbean to enable quantification and comparison of reef fish abundance and distribution trends between locations. Armed with the knowledge of where "hot spots" of species richness and diversity are likely to occur in the seascape, the BB is in a unique position to answer questions about the efficacy of marine zoning strategies (e.g. placement of no fishing, anchoring, or snorkeling locations), and what locations are most suitable for establishing MPAs. Knowledge of the current status of fish/macro-invertebrate communities coupled with longer term monitoring will enable evaluation of management efficacy, thus it is essential to future management actions. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA)/National Ocean Service (NOS)/National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)/Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA)/Biogeography Branch, 20101216, St. Croix, USVI Habitat Assessment and Monitoring Data (2001 - Present): NOAA's Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Silver Spring, MD. Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.00001. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.00001. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal Degrees. This is a cooperative effort between NOAA's Biogeography Branch, the National Park Service and the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources. 1) To spatially characterize and monitor the distribution, abundance, and size of both reef fishes and macro-invertebrates (conch, lobster, Diadema); 2) To relate this information to in-situ data collected on associated benthic composition parameters; 3) To use this information to establish the knowledge base necessary for enacting management decisions in a spatial setting; 4) To establish the efficacy of those management decisions; and 5) To work with the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program to develop data collection standards and easily implemented methodologies for transference to other agencies and to work toward standardizing data collection throughout the US states and territories. Data are collected on the following: 1) Logistic information - diver name, dive buddy, date, time of survey, site code, and meter numbers at which the quadrat is placed. 2) Habitat structure - to characterize the benthic habitats of the dive site, the habitat diver first categorizes the habitat structure of the site: hard, soft or mangrove. 3) Proximity of structure - on seagrass and sand sites, the habitat diver records the absence or presence of reef or hard structure within 3m of the belt transect. A score of zero (0) indicates that no reef or other hard structure is present; one (1) indicates that a reef or hard structure smaller than 4m2 is present; and (2) indicates that a reef or hard structure larger than 4m2 is present within 3m of the diver. The point-count diver also uses this scoring system to record the absence, presence, and proximity of reef or hard structures within their cylinder. 4) Transect depth profile - the depth at each quadrat position. Depth is measured with a digital depth gauge to the nearest 1ft. 5) Abiotic footprint - defined as the percent cover (to the nearest 1 percent) of sand, rubble, hard bottom, and fine sediments within each quadrat position. Rubble refers to rocks and coral fragments that are moveable; immovable rocks are considered hard bottom. The percent cover given as a part of the abiotic footprint should total 100 percent. In a seagrass area for example, despite the fact that seagrass may provide 50 percent cover, the underlying substrate is 100 percent sand so this is what is recorded. To estimate percent cover, the habitat diver first positions the quadrat at the chosen meter mark along the transect tape. If the meter mark is an odd number, then the quadrat is placed on the left side of the tape; if even, it is placed on the right. Next, the habitat diver lays the quadrat along the substrate (regardless of the slope) and estimates percent cover based on a two-dimensional (planar) view (e.g. if bottom is sloping, the quadrat is not held horizontally). Also, the diver should try to use the same planar view for all estimates of percent cover. The habitat diver then estimates, for each quadrat, the height (in cm) of the hardbottom from the substrate to get a sense of bottom relief. Note: Height is collected for all hardbottom substrates, excluding rubble; height is not collected for softbottom substrate. 6) Biotic footprint - defined as the percent cover (to the nearest 0.1 percent) of algae, seagrass, live corals, sponges, gorgonians, and other biota (tunicates, anemones, zooanthids, and hydroids) within each quadrat position. The remaining cover is recorded as bare substrate to bring the total to 100 percent. Again, the diver must use a planar view to estimate percent cover of the biota. Seagrasses and gorgonians should not be stacked upright. For example, if a single seagrass blade crosses 10 squares, then total seagrass coverage should be the sum of the area taken up by that blade in all 10 squares instead of the area covered if the blade was held upright. Species covering less than 0.1 percent of the area are not recorded. Taxa are identified to the following levels: stony coral-species, algae-morphological group (macro, turf, crustose, rhodolith, filamentous, cyanobacteria), sponge-morphological group, and gorgonians-morphological group. When estimating percent cover, it is important to realize there is a balance between precision and time. For stony corals, the approximate area covered by living coral tissue is recorded. Coral skeleton (without living tissue) is usually categorized as turf algae or uncolonized substrate. Data on the condition of coral colonies are also recorded. When coral is noticeably bleached, the entire colony is considered affected and is recorded to the nearest 0.1 percent. Coral colonies are reported as entirely bleached if they contain any portion of white, blotchy, mottled, or pale tissue. This protocol assumes stress throughout the colony and estimates maximum bleaching impact. Diseased/dead coral refers to coral skeleton that has recently lost living tissue because of disease or damage that is still visible, and has not yet been colonized by turf algae. Turf algae include a mix of short (less than 1cm high) algae that colonize dead coral substrate. 7) Maximum canopy height - for each soft biota type (e.g., gorgonians, seagrass, algae), structure is recorded to the nearest 1cm at the quadrat level. 8) Number of individuals - for sponges, gorgonians and "other" biota type (non-encrusting anemones and non-encrusting hydroids) the number of individuals at the quadrat level is recorded. 9) Rugosity - measured by placing a 6-m chain at two randomly selected positions along the 25m belt transect. The chain is placed such that it follows the substrate's relief along the centerline of the belt transect. Two divers measure the straight-line horizontal distance covered by the chain. The chain is placed on top of any hard substrate encountered, but not on top of soft corals or sponges since we are measuring hard bottom rugosity. Data on rugosity are collected for reef sites only. Rugosity measurements typically are made by the point-count and belt-transect divers while awaiting the completion of other benthic habitat measurements by the habitat diver. Upon completion of the dive, the rugosity data are transferred from the fish data sheet to the habitat data sheet by the habitat diver. 10) Abundance and maturity of queen conchs (Strombus gigas) - a count of the total number of conch encountered within the 25 x 4m belt transect are enumerated. The maturity of each conch is determined by the presence or absence of a flared lip and labeled mature or immature, respectively. If conch abundance is counted by a fish diver, the data are then reported to the habitat diver. The decision of who will collect conch data should be made prior to entering the water. 11) Abundance of spiny lobsters (Panilaurus argus) - a count of the total number of lobsters encountered within the 25 x 4m belt transect. No measurements are taken. If lobster abundance is counted by a fish diver, the data are then reported to the habitat diver. The decision of who will collect lobster data should be made prior to entering the water. 12) Abundance of long-spined urchin (Diadema antillarum) - a count of the total number of urchins encountered within the 25 x 4m belt transect. No measurements are taken. If urchin abundance is counted by a fish diver, the data are then reported to the habitat diver. The decision of who will collect urchin data should be made prior to entering the water. NOTE: If rugosity, conch, lobster or urchin data are collected by a fish diver, data must be transferred to the habitat data sheet. The habitat diver is responsible for transferring the data to their data sheet; however, the fish diver should assist the habitat diver with this task by reporting the data once the dive concludes. 13) Marine debris - type of marine debris within the transect is noted. The size of the marine debris and the area of affected habitat is also recorded along with a note identifying any flora or fauna that has colonized the debris. 14) Photography - the point count or habitat diver will take at least two photos in different directions at each site to maintain an anecdotal and permanent visual description of the sites that were sampled. Proper care and maintenance is necessary for all camera and camera housings. It is important to maintain the cameras and housings before, after and in between dives. Data Caveats: Overtime, some changes were made to the stratified random site selection process as follows: 1) Habitat strata initially consisted of hard bottom, sand, and seagrass. Sand and seagrass strata were subsequently combined into one soft bottom strata at all three locations (Puerto Rico, St. Croix, and St. John). This action was taken after the February 2002 mission to Puerto Rico. 2) A small subset of sites were resampled during each mission through June 2002 in Puerto Rico and October 2002 in St. Croix. These station names contain the letter 'P' indicating they are permanent stations. 3) The sample area in St. Croix has increased over time. Initially, samples were collected within historic Buck Island National Monument boundaries as well as outside up to a distance of 0.5 km from those boundaries. In February 2002 the sampling effort was increased to include the entire expanded monument boundaries. Finally in April 2003 the effort was increased again to include areas outside of the Monument for control sites. This area is now almost entirely enclosed within the East End Marine Park of St. Croix. 4) The habitat map utilized to stratify the samples in St. Croix was changed from the original habitat map created with a 1 acre minimum mapping unit to one with a 100m2 minimum mapping unit beginning with the April 2003 mission. 5) In 2007, algae data collection changed from identification of each alga to the genus level to grouping algae into six morphological groups: macro, turf, crustose, filamentous, rhodolith, and cyanobacteria for more efficient data collection. 6) Shelter characteristics ceased being recorded at the end of 2006. 7) Marine debris data collection began in 2007. 8) The spring St. Croix mission was cancelled in 2007, therefore only one mission was conducted that year. 9) Beginning in 2010, missions to St. Croix was reduced from twice per year (March/April and October) to once per year (October only). Although the 1m-square-quadrat remained the basic method of choice for habitat data collection, overtime, changes in data collection methods were made for some habitat variables and several additional variables were added. These changes were deemed necessary to capture more precise information and as many variables as possible to explain better the observed variability in reef fish assemblage metrics. Detailed information on all changes to the protocols for collecting habitat data in St. Croix can be found at: <http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/ecosystems/corealreef/reef_fish/protocols.html> Process Date: 200102 - Present These data consists of multiple fish community surveys across all nearshore marine habitats around St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. Sites were randomly selected and stratified across by habitat types using NOAA's benthic habitat maps of St. Croix, USVI. Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data? - Access_Constraints: None - Please reference NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCMA/Biogeography Branch when utilizing these data in a report or peer reviewed publication. Additionally, knowledge of how this dataset has been of use and which organizations are utilizing it is of great benefit for ensuring this information continues to meet the needs of the management and research communities. Therefore, it is requested but not mandatory, that any user of this data supply this information to the Program Manager: Kimberly Roberson (email: Kimberly.email@example.com). These data were prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Any views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Although all data have been used by NOAA, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by NOAA as to the accuracy of the data and/or related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by NOAA in the use of these data or related materials. |Data format:||tab delimited text file|

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Marine Life Studies

TamarinsTamarins live in the rainforests of South America. They are endangered because of deforestation, that is an indicator showing that tamarins are endangered because of the same reason pygmy marmosets are threatened. Pygmy marmosets could be endangered easily. Tamarins have the same diet of sap, fruit, small insects and small buds. Tamarins usually have twins and the father and siblings assist in caring for the babies. Slightly smaller than squirrels, tamarins are commonly called kings of the jungle because manes around their neck make them look like lions. The lion tamarins are related to pygmy marmosets. They are 12 inches tall not including their tail which can reach up to 17 inches long, and weigh up to 2 pounds. Tamarins jump through trees using their fingers to hold onto branches. Tamarins live in family groups. Parents mate once a year producing 2 offspring per birth. Tamarins live in the eastern forests of Brazil. Tamarins are diurnal. They are sensitive to sunlight so in the day they stay in the dense forests. Tamarins are omnivores. They spend most of their day looking for food like fruits, insects, small lizards, and snakes. Golden Lion Tamarin Golden lion Tamarins are about 8-13 inches long not including the tail. If you include the tail they are about 21-26 inches long. The golden lion tamarin lives for 10-15 years Cotton Top tamarin Cotton Top tamarins are about 6-12 inches long, with tail being almost 16 inches! Their fur is dark brown and they have white tuft of hair on the top of their heads. Cotton Top Tamarins live for about 16 years.

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Mammals and Conservation

Earthquake off the Coast of Venezuela A strong earthquake struck off the Venezuelan coast on September 12, 2009. The magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurred underneath the Caribbean Sea near the city of Puerto Cabello. According to reports from Reuters some buildings in the Venezuelan countryside were damaged, but there were few injuries. The United States Geological Survey indicated that the earthquake epicenter was in the region of the San Sebastián and El Pilar faults, both of which are seismically active. The fault zone is near the boundary of the South American and Caribbean tectonic plates. The Caribbean plate is moving 20 millimeters (0.8 inches) per year with respect to the South American Plate. Previous earthquakes in the region occurred in 1989 and 1967. This image originally appeared on the Earth Observatory. Click here to view the full, original record.

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Geological Hazards and Studies

Publisher Council on Foreign Relations Release Date Last Updated: May 21, 2013 Scope of the Challenge Oceans are the source of life on earth. They shape the climate, feed the world, and cleanse the air we breathe. They are vital to our economic well being, ferrying roughly 90 percent of global commerce, housing submarine cables, and providing one-third of traditional hydrocarbon resources (as well as new forms of energy such as wave, wind, and tidal power). But the oceans are increasingly threatened by a dizzying array of dangers, from piracy to climate change. To be good stewards of the oceans, nations around the world need to embrace more effective multilateral governance in the economic, security, and environmental realms. The world's seas have always been farmed from top to bottom. New technologies, however, are making old practices unsustainable. When commercial trawlers scrape the sea floor, they bulldoze entire ecosystems. Commercial ships keep to the surface but produce carbon-based emissions. And recent developments like offshore drilling and deep seabed mining are helping humans extract resources from unprecedented depths, albeit with questionable environmental impact. And as new transit routes open in the melting Arctic, this once-forgotten pole is emerging as a promising frontier for entrepreneurial businesses and governments. But oceans are more than just sources of profit—they also serve as settings for transnational crime. Piracy, drug smuggling, and illegal immigration all occur in waters around the world. Even the most sophisticated ports struggle to screen cargo, containers, and crews without creating regulatory friction or choking legitimate commerce. In recent history, the United States has policed the global commons, but growing Indian and Chinese blue-water navies raise new questions about how an established security guarantor should accommodate rising—and increasingly assertive—naval powers. And the oceans themselves are in danger of environmental catastrophe. They have become the world's garbage dump—if you travel to the heart of the Pacific Ocean, you'll find the North Pacific Gyre, where particles of plastic outweigh plankton six to one. Eighty percent of the world's fish stocks are depleted or on the verge of extinction, and when carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, much of it is absorbed by the world's oceans. The water, in response, warms and acidifies, destroying habitats like wetlands and coral reefs. Glacial melting in the polar regions raises global sea levels, which threatens not only marine ecosystems but also humans who live on or near a coast. Meanwhile, port-based megacities dump pollution in the ocean, exacerbating the degradation of the marine environment and the effects of climate change. Threats to the ocean are inherently transnational, touching the shores of every part of the world. So far, the most comprehensive attempt to govern international waters produced the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). But U.S. refusal to join the convention, despite widespread bipartisan support, continues to limit its strength, creating a leadership vacuum in the maritime regime. Other states that have joined the treaty often ignore its guidelines or fail to coordinate policies across sovereign jurisdictions. Even if it were perfectly implemented, UNCLOS is now thirty years old and increasingly outdated. Important initiatives—such as local fishery arrangements and the United Nations Environment Program Regional Seas Program—form a disjointed landscape that lacks legally-binding instruments to legitimize or enforce their work. The recent UN Conference on Sustainable Development ("Rio+20") in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, convened over one hundred heads of state to assess progress and outline goals for a more sustainable "blue-green economy." However, the opportunity to set actionable targets to improve oceans security and biodiversity produced few concrete outcomes. As threats to the oceans become more pressing, nations around the world need to rally to create and implement an updated form of oceans governance. Oceans Governance: Strengths and Weaknesses Overall assessment: A fragmented system In 1982, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) established the fundamental legal principles for ocean governance. This convention, arguably the largest and most complex treaty ever negotiated, entered into force in 1994. Enshrined as a widely accepted corpus of international common law, UNCLOS clearly enumerates the rights, responsibilities, and jurisdictions of states in their use and management of the world's oceans. The treaty defines "exclusive economic zones" (EEZs), which is the coastal water and seabed—extending two hundred nautical miles from shore—over which a state has special rights over the use of marine resources; establishes the limits of a country's "territorial sea," or the sovereign territory of a state that extends twelve nautical miles from shore; and clarifies rules for transit through "international straits." It also addresses—with varying degrees of effectiveness—resource division, maritime traffic, and pollution regulation, as well as serves as the principal forum for dispute resolution on ocean-related issues. To date, 162 countries and the European Union have ratified UNCLOS. UNCLOS is a remarkable achievement, but its resulting oceans governance regime suffers several serious limitations. First, the world's leading naval power, the United States, is not party to the convention, which presents obvious challenges to its effectiveness—as well as undermines U.S. sovereignty, national interests, and ability to exercise leadership over resource management and dispute resolution. Despite the myriad military, economic, and political benefits offered by UNCLOS, a small but vocal minority in the United States continues to block congressional ratification. Second, UNCLOS is now thirty years old and, as a result, does not adequately address a number of emerging and increasingly important international issues, such as fishing on the high seas—a classic case of the tragedy of the commons—widespread maritime pollution, and transnational crime committed at sea. Third, both UNCLOS and subsequent multilateral measures have weak surveillance, capacity-building, and enforcement mechanisms. Although various UN bodies support the instruments created by UNCLOS, they have no direct role in their implementation. Individual states are responsible for ensuring that the convention's rules are enforced, which presents obvious challenges in areas of overlapping or contested sovereignty, or effectively stateless parts of the world. The UN General Assembly plays a role in advancing the oceans agenda at the international level, but its recommendations are weak and further constrained by its lack of enforcement capability. Organizations that operate in conjunction with UNCLOS—such as the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), and the International Seabed Authority (ISA)—play an important role to protect the oceans and strengthen oceans governance. The IMO has helped reduce ship pollution to historically low levels, although it can be slow to enact new policy on issues such as invasive species, which are dispersed around the world in ballast water. Furthermore, ITLOS only functions if member states are willing to submit their differences to its judgment, while the ISA labors in relative obscurity and operates under intense pressure from massive commercial entities. Fourth, coastal states struggle to craft domestic policies that incorporate the many interconnected challenges faced by oceans, from transnational drug smuggling to protecting ravaged fish stocks to establishing proper regulatory measures for offshore oil and gas drilling. UNCLOS forms a solid platform on which to build additional policy architecture, but requires coastal states to first make comprehensive oceans strategy a priority—a goal that has remained elusive thus far. Fifth, the system is horizontally fragmented and fails to harmonize domestic, regional, and international policies. Domestically, local, state, and federal maritime actors rarely coordinate their agendas and priorities. Among the handful of countries and regional organizations that have comprehensive ocean policies—including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, the European Union, and most recently the United States—few synchronize their activities with other countries. The international community, however, is attempting to organize the cluttered oceans governance landscape. The UN Environmental Programme Regional Seas Program works to promote interstate cooperation for marine and coastal management, albeit with varying degrees of success and formal codification. Likewise, in 2007 the European Union instituted a regional Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) that addresses a range of environmental, social, and economic issues related to oceans, as well as promotes surveillance and information sharing. The IMP also works with neighboring partners to create an integrated oceans policy in places such as the Arctic, the Baltic, and the Mediterranean. Lastly, there is no global evaluation framework to assess progress. No single institution is charged with monitoring and collecting national, regional, and global data on the full range of oceans-related issues, particularly on cross-cutting efforts. Periodic data collecting does take place in specific sectors, such as biodiversity conservation, fisheries issues, and marine pollution, but critical gaps remain. The Global Ocean Observing System is a promising portal for tracking marine and ocean developments, but it is significantly underfunded. Without concrete and reliable data, it is difficult to craft effective policies that address and mitigate emerging threats. Despite efforts, oceans continue to deteriorate and a global leadership vacuum persists. Much work remains to modernize existing institutions and conventions to respond effectively to emerging threats, as well as to coordinate national actions within and across regions. The June 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development , also known as Rio+20, identified oceans (or the "blue economy") as one of the seven priority areas for sustainable development. Although experts and activists hoped for a new agreement to strengthen the sustainable management and protection of oceans and address modern maritime challenges such as conflicting sovereignty claims, international trade, and access to resources, Rio+20 produced few concrete results. Maintaining freedom of the seas: Guaranteed by U.S. power, increasingly contested by emerging states The United States polices every ocean throughout the world. The U.S. navy is unmatched in its ability to provide strategic stability on, under, and above the world's waters. With almost three hundred active naval ships and almost four thousand aircraft, its battle fleet tonnage is greater than the next thirteen largest navies combined. Despite recently proposed budget cuts to aircraft carriers, U.S. naval power continues to reign supreme. The United States leverages its naval capabilities to ensure peace, stability, and freedom of access. As Great Britain ensured a Pax Britannicain the nineteenth century, the United States presides over relatively tranquil seas where global commerce is allowed to thrive. In 2007, the U.S. Navy released a strategy report that called for "cooperative relationships with more international partners" to promote "greater collective security, stability, and trust." The United States pursues this strategy because it has not faced a credible competitor since the end of the Cold War. And, thus far, emerging powers have largely supported the U.S. armada to ensure that the oceans remain open to commerce. However, emerging powers with blue-water aspirations raise questions about how U.S. naval hegemony will accommodate new and assertive fleets in the coming decades. China, for instance, has been steadily building up its naval capabilities over the past decade as part of its "far sea defense" strategy. It unveiled its first aircraft carrier in 2010, and is investing heavily in submarines outfitted with ballistic missiles. At the same time, India has scaled up its military budget by 64 percent since 2001, and plans to spend nearly $45 billion over the next twenty years on its navy. Even tensions among rising powers could prove problematic. For example, a two-month standoff between China and the Philippines over a disputed region of the South China Sea ended with both parties committing to a "peaceful resolution."China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines have competing territorial and jurisdictional claims to the South China Sea, particularly over rights to exploit its potentially vast oil and gas reserves. Control over strategic shipping lanes and freedom of navigation are also increasingly contested, especially between the United States and China. Combating illicit trafficking: Porous, patchy enforcement In addition to being a highway for legal commerce, oceans facilitate the trafficking of drugs, weapons, and humans, which are often masked by the flow of licit goods. Individual states are responsible for guarding their own coastlines, but often lack the will or capacity to do so. Developing countries, in particular, struggle to coordinate across jurisdictions and interdict. But developed states also face border security challenges. Despite its commitment to interdiction, the United States seizes less than 20 percent of the drugs that enter the country by maritime transport. The United Nations attempts to combat the trafficking of drugs, weapons, and humans at sea. Through the Container Control Program (PDF), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) assists domestic law enforcement in five developing countries to establish effective container controls to prevent maritime drug smuggling. The UNODC also oversees UN activity on human trafficking, guided by two protocols to the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime. Although UN activity provides important groundwork for preventing illicit maritime trafficking, it lacks monitoring and enforcement mechanisms and thus has a limited impact on the flow of illegal cargo into international ports. Greater political will, state capacity, and multilateral coordination will be required to curb illicit maritime trafficking. New ad hoc multilateral arrangements are a promising model for antitrafficking initiatives. The International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, for instance, provides a uniform set of measures to enhance the security of ships and ports. The code helps member states control their ports and monitor both the people and cargo that travel through them. In addition, the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative facilitates international cooperation to interdict ships on the high seas that may be carrying illicit weapons of mass destruction, ballistic missiles, and related technology. Finally, the Container Security Initiative (CSI), also spearheaded by the United States, attempts to prescreen all containers destined for U.S. ports and identify high-risk cargo (for more information, see section on commercial shipping). One way to combat illicit trafficking is through enhanced regional arrangements, such as the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control. This agreement provides a model for an effective regional inspections regime, examining at least 25 percent of ships that enter members' ports for violations of conventions on maritime safety. Vessels that violate conventions can be detained and repeat offenders can be banned from the memorandum's area. Although the agreement does not permit searching for illegal cargo, it does show how a regional inspections regime could be effective at stemming illegal trafficking. Securing commercial shipping: Global supply chains at risk Global shipping is incredibly lucrative, but its sheer scope and breadth presents an array of security and safety challenges. The collective fleet consists of approximately 50,000 ships registered in more than 150 nations. With more than one million employees, this armada transports over eight billion tons (PDF) of goods per year—roughly 90 percent of global trade. And the melting Arctic is opening previously impassable trade routes; in 2009, two German merchant vessels traversed the Northeast Passage successfully for the first time in recent history. But despite impressive innovations in the shipping industry, maritime accidents and attacks on ships still occur frequently, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars of cargo. Ensuring the safety and security of the global shipping fleet is essential to the stability of the world economy. Internationally, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) provides security guidelines for ships through the Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea, which governs everything from construction to the number of fire extinguishers on board. The IMO also aims to prevent maritime accidents through international standards for navigation and navigation equipment, including satellite communications and locating devices. Although compliance with these conventions has been uneven, regional initiatives such as the Paris Memorandum of Understanding have helped ensure the safety of international shipping. In addition, numerous IMO conventions govern the safety of container shipping, including the International Convention on Safe Containers, which creates uniform regulations for shipping containers, and the International Convention on Load Lines, which determines the volume of containers a ship can safely hold. However, these conventions do not provide comprehensive security solutions for maritime containers, and illegal cargo could be slipped into shipping containers during transit. Since 1992, the IMO has tried to prevent attacks on commercial shipping through the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, which provides a legal framework for interdicting, detaining, and prosecuting terrorists, pirates, and other criminals on the high seas. In reality, most enforcement efforts since the 9/11 attacks have focused on securing ports to prevent the use of a ship to attack, rather than to prevent attacks on the ships themselves. Reflecting this imperative, the IMO, with U.S. leadership, implemented the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS) in 2004. This code helped set international standards for ship security, requiring ships to have security plans and officers. However, as with port security, the code is not obligatory and no clear process to audit or certify ISPS compliance has been established. Overall, a comprehensive regime for overseeing the safety of international shipping has not been created. The United States attempts to address this vulnerability through the Container Security Initiative (CSI), which aims to prescreen all containers destined for the United States, and to isolate those that pose a high-security risk before they are in transit. The initiative, which operates in fifty-eight foreign ports, covers more than 86 percent of container cargo en route to the United States. Several international partners and organizations, including the European Union, the Group of Eight, and the World Customs Organization, have expressed interest in modeling security measures for containerized cargo based on the CSI model. Despite these efforts, experts estimate that only 2 percent of containers destined for U.S. ports are actually inspected. Confronting piracy: Resurgent scourge, collective response After the number of attacks reached a record high in 2011, incidences of piracy dropped 28 percent in the first three months of 2012. Overall, the number of worldwide attacks decreased from 142 to 102 cases, primarily due to international mobilization and enhanced naval patrols off the coast of Somalia. However, attacks intensified near Nigeria and Indonesia as pirates shifted routes in response to increased policing, raising fresh concerns over the shifting and expanding threat of piracy. In addition to the human toll, piracy has significant economic ramifications. According to a report by the nonprofit organization Oceans Beyond Piracy, Somali piracy cost the global economy nearly $7 billion in 2011. Sustained international coordination and cooperation is essential to preventing and prosecuting piracy. Recognizing this imperative, countries from around the world have shown unprecedented cooperation to combat piracy, particularly near the Gulf of Aden. In August 2009, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization commenced Operation Ocean Shield in the horn of Africa, where piracy increased close to 200 percent between 2007 and 2009. This effort built upon Operation Allied Protector and consisted of two standing maritime groups with contributions from allied nations. Although the efforts concentrate on protecting ships passing through the Gulf of Aden, they also renewed focus on helping countries, specifically Somalia, prevent piracy and secure their ports. Meanwhile, the United States helped establish Combined Task Force 151 to coordinate the various maritime patrols in East Africa. Other countries including Russia, India, China, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and South Korea, have also sent naval vessels to the region. At the same time, regional organizations have also stepped up antipiracy efforts. The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia was the first such initiatives, and has been largely successful in facilitating information-sharing, cooperation between governments, and interdiction efforts. And in May 2012, the European Union naval force launched its first air attack against Somali pirates' land bases, the first strike of its kind by outside actors to date. Like individual countries, international institutions have condemned piracy and legitimized the use of force against pirates. In June 2008, the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1816, encouraging greater cooperation in deterring piracy and asking countries to provide assistance to Somalia to help ensure coastal security. This was followed by Resolution 1846, which allowed states to use "all necessary means" to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia. In Resolution 1851, the UN Security Council legitimized the use of force on land as well as at sea to the same end. Outside the UN, watchdogs such as the International Maritime Bureau, which collects information on pirate attacks and provides reports on the safety of shipping routes, have proven successful in increasing awareness, disseminating information, and facilitating antipiracy cooperation. However, such cooperative efforts face several legal challenges. The United States has not ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which governs crimes, including piracy, in international waters. More broadly, the international legal regime continues to rely on individual countries to prosecute pirates, and governments have been reluctant to take on this burden. Accordingly, many pirates are apprehended, only to be quickly released. In addition, many large commercial vessels rely on private armed guards to prevent pirate attacks, but the legal foundations governing such a force are shaky at best. National governments have redoubled efforts to bring pirates to justice as well. In 2010, the United States held its first piracy trial since its civil war, soon followed by Germany's first trial in over four hundred years. Other agreements have been established to try pirates in nearby countries like Kenya, such as the UNODC Trust Fund to Support the Initiatives of States to Counter Piracy of the Coast of Somalia, established in January 2010. Under the mandate of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, the fund aims to defray the financial capital required from countries like Kenya, Seychelles, and Somalia to prosecute pirates, as well as to increase awareness within Somali society of the risk associated with piracy and criminal activity. Future efforts to combat piracy should continue to focus on enhancing regional cooperation and agreements, strengthening the international and domestic legal instruments necessary to prosecute pirates, and addressing the root causes of piracy. Reducing marine pollution and climate change: Mixed progress Pollution has degraded environments and ravaged biodiversity in every ocean. Much contamination stems from land-based pollutants, particularly along heavily developed coastal areas. The UN Environment Program (UNEP) Regional Seas Program has sponsored several initiatives to control pollution, modeled on a relatively successful program in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1995, states established the Global Program of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities, which identifies sources of land-based pollution and helps states establish priorities for action. It has been successful in raising awareness about land-based pollution and offering technical assistance to regional implementing bodies, which are so often starved for resources. More recently, 193 UN member states approved the Nagoya Protocol on biodiversity, which aims to halve the marine extinction rate by 2020 and extend protection to 10 percent of the world's oceans. Shipping vessels are also a major source of marine pollution. Shipping is the most environmentally friendly way to transport bulk cargoes, but regulating maritime pollution remains complicated because of its inherently transnational nature. Shipping is generally governed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which regulates maritime pollution through the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). States are responsible for implementing and enforcing MARPOL among their own fleets to curb the most pernicious forms of maritime pollution, including oil spills, particulate matter such as sulfur oxide (SOx) and nitrous oxide (NOx), and greenhouse gas emissions. Port cities bear the brunt of air pollution, which devastates local air quality because most ships burn bunker fuel (the dirtiest form of crude oil). The IMO's Marine Environmental Protection Committee has also taken important steps to reduce SOx and NOx emissions by amending the MARPOL guidelines to reduce particulate matter from ships. Despite such efforts, a 2010 study (PDF) from the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation found that international shipping still accounts for nearly 3 percent of all greenhouse gasses. The IMO has achieved noteworthy success in reducing oil spilled into the marine environment. Despite a global shipping boom, oil spills are at an all-time low. The achievements of the IMO have been further strengthened by commitments by the Group of Eight to cooperate on oil pollution through an action plan that specifically targets pollution prevention for tankers. The IMO should strive to replicate this success in its efforts to reduce shipping emissions. Climate change is also exacerbating environmental damage. In June 2009, global oceans reached their highest recordedaverage temperature: 17 degrees Celsius. As the world warms, oceans absorb increased levels of carbon dioxide, which acidifies the water and destroys wetlands, mangroves, and coral reefs—ecosystems that support millions of species of plants and animals. According to recent studies, ocean acidity could increase by more than 150 percent by 2050 if counteracting measures are not taken immediately. Moreover, melting ice raises sea levels, eroding beaches, flooding communities, and increasing the salinity of freshwater bodies. And the tiny island nation of the Maldives, the lowest country in the world, could be completely flooded if sea levels continue to rise at the same rate. Individual states are responsible for managing changes in their own marine climates, but multilateral efforts to mitigate the effect of climate change on the oceans have picked up pace. In particular, the UNEP Regional Seas Program encourages countries sharing common bodies of water to coordinate and implement sound environmental policies, and promotes a regional approach to address climate change. Sustainable fisheries policies on the high seas: An ecological disaster States have the legal right to regulate fishing in their exclusive economic zones (EEZs), which extend two hundred nautical miles from shore—and sometimes beyond, in the case of extended continental shelves. But outside the EEZs are the high seas, which do not fall under any one country's jurisdiction. Freedom of the high seas is critical to the free flow of global commerce, but spells disaster for international fisheries in a textbook case of the tragedy of the commons. For years, large-scale fishing vessels harvested fish as fast as possible with little regard for the environmental costs, destroying 90 percent of the ocean's biomass in less than a century. Overall, fisheries suffer from two sets of challenges: ineffective enforcement capacity and lack of market-based governance solutions to remedy perverse incentives to overfish. Although there are numerous international and multilateral mechanisms for fisheries management, the system is marred by critical gaps and weaknesses exploited by illegal fishing vessels. Articles 117 and 118 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) enumerate the specific fisheries responsibilities of state parties, placing the onus on national governments to form policies and regional agreements that ensure responsible management and conservation of fish stocks in their respective areas. UNCLOS was further strengthened by the UN Fish Stocks Agreement (FSA), which called for a precautionary approach toward highly migratory and straddling fish stocks that move freely in and out of the high seas. Seventy-eight countries have joined the FSA thus far, and a review conference in May 2010 was hailed as a success due to the passage of Port State Measures (PSMs) to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Yet fish stocks have continued to stagnate or decline to dangerously low levels, and the PSMs have largely failed to prevent IUU operations. Regional fishery bodies (RFBs) are charged with implementation and monitoring. The RFBs provide guidelines and advice on a variety of issues related to fishing, including total allowable catch, by-catch, vessel monitoring systems, areas or seasons closed for fishing, and recording and reporting fishery statistics. However, only a portion of these bodies oversee the management of their recommendations, and some RFBs allow members to unilaterally dismiss unfavorable decisions. Additionally, RFBs are not comprehensive in their membership and, for the most part, their rules do not apply to vessels belonging to a state outside the body. Even when regional bodies make a binding decision on a high-seas case, implementation hinges on state will and capacity. In 2003, the UN General Assembly established a fund to assist developing countries with their obligations to implement the Fish Stocks Agreement through RFBs. The overall value of the fund remains small, however, and countries' compliance is often constrained by resource scarcity. This results in spotty enforcement, which allows vessels to violate international standards with impunity, particularly off the coasts of weak states. Migratory species like blue fin tuna are especially vulnerable because they are not confined by jurisdictional boundaries and have high commercial value. Some of the RFBs with management oversight, such as the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources and the South East Atlantic Fisheries Organization, have been relatively effective in curbing overfishing. They have developed oversight systems and specific measures to target deep-water trawl fishing and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in the high seas. Many regional cooperative arrangements, however, continue to suffer from weak regulatory authority. At the same time, some regions like the central and southwest Atlantic Ocean lack RFBs. Some have suggested filling the void with market-based solutions like catch shares, which could theoretically alter the incentives toward stewardship. Catch shares (also known as limited access privilege programs) reward innovation and help fisheries maximize efficiency by dedicating a stock of fish to an individual fisherman, community, fishery association, or an individual state. Each year before the beginning of fishing season, commercial fishermen would know how much fish they are allowed to catch. They would then be allowed to buy and sell shares to maximize profit. By incorporating free-market principles, fisheries could reach a natural equilibrium at a sustainable level. According to research, more sustainable catch shares policies could increase the value of the fishing industry by more than $36 billion. Although allocating the shares at the domestic—much less international—level remains problematic, the idea reflects of the kind of policy work required to better manage the global commons. Managing the Arctic: At a crossroads Arctic ice is melting at unprecedented rates. At this pace, experts estimate that the Arctic could be seasonally ice free by 2040, and possibly much earlier. As the ice recedes and exposes valuable new resources, multilateral coordination will become even more important among states (and indigenous groups) jockeying for position in the region. The melting ice is opening up potentially lucrative new sea routes and stores of natural resources. Since September 2009, cargo ships have been able to traverse the fabled Northwest and Northeast Passages, which are significantly shorter than traditional routes around the capes or through the canals. Widening sea routes also means that fishing fleets can travel north in search of virgin fishing stock, and that cruise ships can carry tourists chasing a last glimpse of the disappearing ice. At the same time, untapped resources such as oil, natural gas, rare earth minerals, and massive renewable wind, tidal, and geothermal energy hold enormous potential. In a preliminary estimate, the U.S. Geographic Society said that the Arctic could hold 22 percent of the world's hydrocarbon resources, including 90 billion barrels of oil and 1,670 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Beyond oil and gas, the Arctic has valuable mineral commodities such as zinc, nickel, and coal. But new opportunities in the Arctic also portend new competition among states. In August 2007, Russia symbolically planted a flag on the Arctic floor, staking a claim to large chunks of Arctic land. Other Arctic powers including the United States, Canada, Norway, and Denmark have also laid geographical claims. The European Union crafted a new Arctic policy, and China sent an icebreaker on three separate Arctic expeditions. Each country stands poised to grab new treasure in this increasingly important geostrategic region. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is a solid foundation on which to build and coordinate national Arctic policies, especially articles 76 and 234, which govern the limits of the outer continental shelf (OCS) and regulate activities in ice-covered waters, respectively. However, there remains a formidable list of nagging sovereignty disputes that will require creative bilateral and multilateral resolutions. The Arctic Council, a multilateral forum comprising eight Arctic nations, has recently grown in international prominence, signing a legally binding treaty on search and rescue missions in May 2011 and drawing high-level policymakers to its meetings. While these are significant first steps, the forum has yet to address other issues such as overlapping OCS claims, contested maritime boundaries, and the legal status of the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route. U.S. Ocean Governance Issues The United States championed many of the most important international maritime organizations over the past fifty years. It helped shape the decades-long process of negotiating the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and has played a leading role in many UNCLOS-related bodies, including the International Maritime Organization. It has also served as a driving force behind regional fisheries organizations and Coast Guard forums. Domestically, the United States has intermittently been at the vanguard of ocean policy, such as the 1969 Stratton Commission report, multiple conservation acts in the 1970s, the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, and, most recently, catch limits on all federally-managed fish species. The U.S.-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Monterrey Bay Research Institute have long been leaders in marine science worldwide. And from a geopolitical perspective, the U.S. Navy secures the world's oceans and fosters an environment where global commerce can thrive. Yet the United States lags behind on important issues, most notably regarding its reluctance to ratify UNCLOS. And until recently, the United States did not have a coherent national oceans policy. To address this gap, U.S. president Barack Obama created the Ocean Policy Task Force in 2009 to coordinate maritime issues across local, state, and federal levels, and to provide a strategic vision for how oceans should be managed in the United States. The task force led to the creation of a National Ocean Council, which is responsible for "developing strategic action plans to achieve nine priority objectives that address some of the most pressing challenges facing the ocean, our coasts, and Great Lakes." Although it has yet to make serious gains (PDF), this comprehensive oceans policy framework could help clear the way for the spadework of coordinating U.S. ocean governance and harmonizing international efforts. Should the United States ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea? Yes: The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which created the governance framework that manages nearly three-quarters of the earth's surface, has been signed and ratified by 162 countries and the European Union. But the United States remains among only a handful of countries to have signed but not yet ratified the treaty—even though it already treats many of the provisions as customary international law. Leaders on both sides of the political aisle as well as environmental, conservation, business, industry, and security groups have endorsed ratification in order to preserve national security interests and reap its myriad benefits, such as securing rights for U.S. commercial and naval ships and boosting the competitiveness of U.S. companies in seafaring activities. Notably, all of the uniformed services—and especially the U.S. Navy—strongly support UNCLOS because its provisions would only serve to strengthen U.S. military efforts. By remaining a nonparty, the United States lacks the credibility to promote its own interests in critical decision-making forums as well as bring complaints to an international dispute resolution body. No: Opponents argue that ratifying the treaty would cede sovereignty to an ineffective United Nations and constrain U.S. military and commercial activities. In particular, critics object to specific provisions including taxes on activities on outer continental shelves; binding dispute settlements; judicial activism by the Law of the Sea Tribunal, especially with regard to land-based sources of pollution; and the perceived ability of UNCLOS to curtail U.S. intelligence-gathering activities. Lastly, critics argue that because UNCLOS is already treated as customary international law, the United States has little to gain from formal accession. Should the United States lead an initiative to expand the Container Security Initiative globally? Yes: Some experts say the only way to secure a global economic system is to implement a global security solution. The U.S.-led Container Security Initiative (CSI) helps ensure that high-risk containers are identified and isolated before they reach their destination. Fifty-eight countries are already on board with the initiative, and many others have expressed interest in modeling their own security measures on the CSI. The World Customs Organization called on its members to develop programs based on the CSI, and the European Union agreed to expand the initiative across its territory. With its robust operational experience, the United States is well positioned to provide the technical expertise to ensure the integrity of the container system. No: Opponents maintain that the United States can hardly commit its tax dollars abroad for a global security system when it has failed to secure its own imports. To date, more than $800 million and considerable diplomatic energy has been invested in CSI to expand the program to fifty-eight international ports, where agents are stationed to screen high-risk containers. Given the scale of world trade, the United States imports more than 10 million containers annually, and only a handful of high-risk boxes can be targeted for inspection. After huge expenditures and years of hard work to expand this program after September 11, 2001, only about 86 percent of the cargo that enters the United States transits through foreign ports covered under CSI, and of that, only about 1 percent is actually inspected (at a cost to the U.S. taxpayer of more than $1,000 per container). Despite congressional mandates to screen all incoming containers, critics say that costs make implementing this mandate virtually impossible. The limited resources the United States has available, they argue, should be invested in protecting imports bound specifically for its shores. Should the United States be doing more to address the drastic decline in the world's fisheries? Yes: Advocates say that the further demise of global fish stocks, beyond being a moral burden, undermines the commercial and national security interests of the United States. Depleting fish stocks are driven in large part by the prevalence of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and the overcapitalization of the global commercial fishing fleet from domestic subsidies. To protect domestic commercial fisheries and the competitiveness of U.S. exports in the international seafood market, the United States should enhance efforts by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to manage, enforce, and coordinate technical assistance for nations engaging in IUU fishing. Domestically, the United States has taken important steps to address the critical gaps in fisheries management. In 2012, it became the first country to impose catch limits on all federally-managed fish species. Some species like the mahi mahi will be restricted for the first time in history. Many environmental experts hailed the move as a potential model for broader regional and international sustainable fisheries policy. To capitalize on such gains, the United States should aggressively work to reduce fishing subsidies in areas such as Europe that promote overcapitalization and thus global depletion of fish stocks. The United States could also promote market-based mechanisms, like catch shares and limited access privilege programs, to help fishermen and their communities curb overfishing and raise the value of global fisheries by up to $36 billion. No: Critics argue that fisheries management is by and large a domestic issue, and that the United States has little right to tell other nations how to manage their own resources, particularly when such measures could harm local economies. They contend that the science behind overfishing is exaggerated, as are the warnings about the consequences of an anticipated fisheries collapse. Existing conventions like the 1995 Fish Stock Agreement already go far enough in addressing this issue. Any additional efforts, they contend, would be a diplomatic overreach, as well as an excessive burden on a struggling commercial fishing industry. Critics also question how market-based mechanisms, such as catch-shares, would be distributed, traded, and enforced, warning that they would lead to speculative bubbles. Should the United States push for a more defined multilateral strategy to cope with the melting Arctic? Yes: The melting Arctic holds important untapped political, strategic, and economic potential for the U.S. government, military, and businesses. This emerging frontier could potentially support a variety of economic activities, including energy exploration, marine commerce, and sustainable development of new fisheries. Countries such as Russia, Canada, Norway, and China have already made claims to the region, yet the United States remains on the sideline without a comprehensive Arctic strategy. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) remains the premier forum of negotiating and arbitrating disputes over contested territory. As a nonparty, however, the United States loses invaluable leverage and position. In addition, the U.S. military does not have a single icebreaker, whereas Russia operates over thirty. Experts argue that the U.S. government should also adopt the recently proposed Polar Code, which is a voluntary agreement that "sets structural classifications and standards for ships operating in the Arctic as well as specific navigation and emergency training for those operating in or around ice-covered waters." No: Opponents argue that Arctic Council activities and the 2009 National Security Presidential Directive, which updated U.S. Arctic polices, are sufficient. Any collaboration with Canada to resolve disputes over the Northwest Passage might undermine freedom of navigation for U.S. naval assets elsewhere, especially in the Strait of Hormuz and the Taiwan Straits, and this national security concern trumps any advantages from collaborating on security, economic, or environmental issues in the Arctic. Last, given the dominant Russian and Canadian Arctic coastlines, future Arctic diplomacy might best be handled bilaterally rather than through broader multilateral initiatives. April 2013: Japan included in Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations Japan agreed to join negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an ambitious free trade agreement between counties along the Pacific rim. Since the broad outline of the agreement was introduced in November 2011, sixteen rounds of negotiations have thus far brought eleven countries together to discuss the TPP. The addition of Japan, a major economic force in the region, as the twelfth participant comes as an important step in creating a robust agreement. Already, the South China Sea is the second-busiest shipping lane in the world, and should the TTP become a reality, transpacific shipping would dramatically increase. The seventeenth round of negotiations will take place in May and the current goal for agreement is October 2013. March 2013: IMO pledges to support implementation of new code of conduct on piracy At a ministerial meeting in Cotonou, Benin, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) pledged to support the implementation of a new code of conduct on piracy and other illicit maritime activity. The Gulf of Guinea Code of Conduct, drafted by the Economic Community of Central African States and the Economic Community of West African States, in partnership with the IMO, contains provisions for interdicting sea- and land-based vehicles engaged in illegal activities at sea, prosecuting suspected criminals, and sharing information between state parties. The code builds on several existing frameworks to create a sub-regional coast guard. The agreement is set to open for signature in May 2013. March 2013: New fishing restrictions on sharks and rays Delegates attending the annual meeting on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) voted to place robust export restrictions on five species of sharks and two species of manta rays. Over the past fifty years, the three shark species—the oceanic whitetip, hammerhead, and porbeagle—have declined by more than 70 percent. Although experts cautioned that the new rules would be difficult to enforce in practice, the decision marked an important victory over economic interests, particularly of China and Japan. January 2013: Philippines to challenge China's maritime claims in South China Sea The Philippine government announced its intention to take China to an international arbitration tribunal based on claims that China violated the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The dispute dates back to mid-2012, when tensions flared over the Scarborough shoal, which is claimed by both countries. China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines have competing territorial and jurisdictional claims to the South China Sea, particularly over rights to exploit its potentially vast oil and gas reserves. Control over strategic shipping lanes and freedom of navigation are also increasingly contested, especially between the United States and China. September 2012: Arctic ice reaches record low In September 2012, ice in the Arctic Ocean reached an all-time low of 24 percent, shattering the previous record of 29 percent from 2007. The finding not only has implications for climate change and environmental stability, but also for heightened competition among states jockeying for access to critical resources in the region. For the first time, the melting Arctic has exposed troves of natural resources including oil, gas, and minerals, as well as newly accessible shipping routes. The United States, Russia, and several European states already control parts of the Arctic, and China is also an increasing presence. September 2012: Tensions flare in the East China Sea In September 2012, Japan purchased three islands in the East China Sea that form part of the Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands to the Chinese. The islands, claimed by both countries, have been controlled by Japan since 1895, but sovereignty remains hotly contested. Following Japan's announcement, protests broke out across China, and Chinese leaders accused Japan of "severely infringing" upon their sovereignty. In a move to affirm its claim to the islands, China announced its intention to submit their objections to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf under the UNCLOS, and dispatched patrol ships to monitor the islands. In December 2012, tensions flared after a Chinese small aircraft flew into airspace over the islands, and both countries sent naval vessels to patrol nearby waters. Both sides remain adamant that there is no room for negotiations over their control of the islands, which are in close proximity to strategic shipping routes, fishing grounds, and potentially lucrative oil reserves. Options for Strengthening Global Ocean Governance There are a series of measures, both formal and informal, that can be taken to strengthen U.S. and global ocean governance. First, the United States must begin by finally ratifying the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. On this foundation, the United States should then tap hitherto underused regimes, update twentieth-century agreements to reflect modern ocean challenges, and, in some cases, serve as the diplomatic lead in pioneering new institutions and regimes. These recommendations reflect the views of Stewart M. Patrick, senior fellow and director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program, and Scott G. Borgerson, former visiting fellow for ocean governance. In the near term, the United States and its international partners should consider the following steps: - Ratify UNCLOS The United States should finally join the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), an action that would give it further credibility and make the United States a full partner in global ocean governance. This carefully negotiated agreement has been signed and ratified by 162 countries and the European Union. Yet despite playing a central role shaping UNCLOS's content, the United States has conspicuously failed to join. It remains among only a handful of countries with a coastline, including Syria, North Korea, and Iran, not to have done so. Emerging issues such as the melting Arctic lend increased urgency to U.S. ratification. By rejecting UNCLOS, the United States is freezing itself out of important international policymaking bodies, forfeiting a seat at decision-making forums critical to economic growth and national security interests. One important forum where the United States has no say is the commission vested with the authority to validate countries' claims to extend their exclusive economic zones, a process that is arguably the last great partitioning of sovereign space on earth. As a nonparty to the treaty, the United States is forgoing an opportunity to extend its national jurisdiction over a vast ocean area on its Arctic, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts—equal to almost half the size of the Louisiana Purchase—and abdicating an opportunity to have a say in deliberations over other nations' claims elsewhere. Furthermore, the convention allows for an expansion of U.S. sovereignty by extending U.S. sea borders, guaranteeing the freedom of ship and air traffic, and enhancing the legal tools available to combat piracy and illicit trafficking. Potential participants in U.S.-organized flotillas and coalitions rightly question why they should assist the United States in enforcing the rule of law when the United States refuses to recognize the convention that guides the actions of virtually every other nation. - Coordinate national ocean policies for coastal states The creation of a comprehensive and integrated U.S. oceans policy should be immediately followed by similar efforts in developing maritime countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) . These so-called BRIC nations will be critical players in crafting domestic ocean policies that together form a coherent tapestry of global governance. Ideally, such emerging powers would designate a senior government official, and in some cases the head of state, to liaison with other coastal states and regional bodies to coordinate ocean governance policies and respond to new threats. Consistent with the Regional Seas Program, the ripest opportunity for these efforts is at the regional level. With UN assistance, successful regional initiatives could then be harmonized and expanded globally. - Place a moratorium on critically endangered commercial fisheries Commercial fishing, a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States, is in grave danger. The oceans have been overfished, and it is feared that many fish stocks may not rebound. In the last fifty years, fish that were previously considered inexhaustible have been reduced to alarmingly low levels. Up to 90 percent of large predatory fish are now gone. Nearly half of fish stocks in the world have been fully exploited and roughly one-third have been overexploited. The recent imposition of catch limits on all federally-managed fish species is an important and long overdue first step, which should be expanded and strengthened to a moratorium on the most endangered commercial fisheries, such as the Atlantic blue fin tuna. But tuna is hardly alone in this predicament, and numerous other species are facing the same fate. Policymakers should stand up to intense political pressure and place fishing moratoriums on the most threatened fisheries to give them a chance to rebound. Doing so would be a courageous act that would help rescue collapsing fish while creating a commercially sustainable resource. In the longer term, the United States and its international partners should consider the following steps: - Strengthen and update UNCLOS The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and related agreements serve as the bedrock of international ocean policy. However, UNCLOS is thirty years old. If it is to remain relevant and effective, it must be strengthened and updated to respond to emerging threats such as transnational crime and marine pollution, as well as employing market-based principles of catch shares to commercial fisheries, especially in the high seas. Lastly, UNCLOS Article 234, which applies to ice-covered areas, should be expanded to better manage the opening Arctic, which will be an area of increasing focus and international tension over the coming years. The international community should also counter the pressure of coastal states that unilaterally seek to push maritime borders seaward, as illustrated by China's claim to all of the South China Sea. Additionally, states should focus on using UNCLOS mechanisms to resolve nagging maritime conflicts, such as overlapping exclusive economic zones from extended continental shelf claims, and sovereignty disputes, such as that of the Spratly and Hans Islands. - Bolster enforcement capacity Many ocean-related governance issues have shortcomings not because rules for better management do not exist, but because weak states cannot enforce them. A failure in the oversight of sovereign waters inevitably leads to environmental degradation and, in cases like Somalia, can morph into problems with global implications, such as piracy. Accordingly, the international community should help less developed coastal states build the capacity to enforce (1) fisheries rules fleets; (2) International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships regulations to reduce ocean dumping and pollution; (3) other shipping regulations in states with open registries such as Liberia, Panama, Malta, and the Marshall Islands; (4) and existing mandates created to stop illicit trafficking. Developed countries should also help less developed areas monitor environmental variables such as acidification, coral reefs, and fisheries.

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Marine Life Studies

Restoring a Waterway for the 21st Century A resource for the local community and a habitat for wildlife You may not have heard of the Wilts & Berks Canal as it has been derelict for nearly a century. There are ambitious plans to bring the waterway back to life. Its called the Wilts & Berks because it is said that a lazy draughtsman could not be bothered to write in full the county names! Swindon is mid point of the waterway which linked the Thames at Abingdon with the Kennet & Avon Canal near Melksham. A further link was made from Swindon to the Thames & Severn Canal at Cricklade (The North Wilts Canal). There were also branches to Chippenham, Calne, Longcot (near Shrivenham) and Wantage. The waterway now is located in Wiltshire Swindon and Oxfordshire since Local Government boundary changes in the 1970's. The Wilts and Berks Trust is committed to returning this historic waterway to a navigable state. The canal will restore an important link in the national waterways network, but the project will be part of the green infrastructure of the region, creating connections between existing wildlife habitats and creating aquatic and wetland habitats for endangered species. Working with our partners we aim to restore the canal route, provide wildlife habitats, cycleways and routes for walkers along the restored towpath. The Trust would like your help to complete this exciting project- please explore this website to find out more. Latest news follow us on Twitter Donate on line

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Military History Events

Integrated Circuits are found in every conceivable electronic device, and control the on-off behavior of a device capable of conductive behavior. They evolved from vacuum tubes and transistors to incorporate hundreds of thousands of transistors on a single chip today. IC's and semiconductors now control computing, communications, networking, and other facets of daily modern life. They are created by "etching" a pattern onto a semiconductor platform, such as silicon, which can then be controlled by exposure to electrical current. Semiconductors are the individual "on-off" switches that make up a electronic devices. By only allowing the conductance of electricity in specific situations (as opposed to conductors and insulators), semiconductors can produce complex and sophisticated behaviors, calculations, and measurements. By working in tandem, many semiconductors can constitute an mp3 player, computer processor, or wireless network adapter.

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Digital Signal Processing Topics

WebMD Medical News Daniel J. DeNoon Louise Chang, MD Oct. 9, 2012 – About 13,000 people in 23 states got the fungus-contaminated steroid pain shots in the ongoing outbreak of fungal meningitis. So far, 119 people who got the shots have come down with fungal infections of the fluid surrounding their spinal cords and brains. Eleven of those people have died. The case count rises daily, as symptoms of fungal infection can take up to a month to appear, and there's often a delay in case reporting. Most of the 13,000 who got the tainted shots will not get the infection, suggests John Jernigan, MD, director of the CDC's office of health care infection prevention, research, and evaluation. "The attack rate is still to be determined, but so far it appears that the vast majority of patients who received the injection have not developed evidence of meningitis," Jernigan says in an email. "But the investigation is ongoing, and exposed patients and their physicians should be vigilant for signs of illness." All of the fungal infections to date have been in patients who received spinal injections. Some of the patients who received the contaminated steroids got shots in painful joints such as the knee or elbow. To date, none of these patients has reported a fungal infection. The source of the outbreak is a compounding pharmacy called New England Compounding Center (NECC). The company makes more than 2,400 different medicines sold throughout the U.S. All have been recalled. All cases so far have been in patients who received one of 17,676 single-shot vials of a steroid, methylprednisolone, since May 21, 2012. An FDA investigation of the NECC facility, including studies of whether other medications might be contaminated, is ongoing. There haven't yet been any reports of fungal infection in patients who got joint injections of the NECC steroids. Even so, the CDC is warning such patients to be on the lookout for symptoms of fungal infection: Patients who have such symptoms should see a doctor for further tests. Doctors likely will collect joint fluid to test it for fungal infection. If you suspect you may have received a dose of contaminated medicine, contact the health provider who gave it to you. Ask if the medication came from NECC. All NECC products carry the NECC logo. Clinics that gave the suspect shots are contacting all patients to warn them to look out for symptoms. Symptoms may appear one to four weeks after getting a pain injection. For patients who got spinal injections, early symptoms may be very mild. At first, most patients only feel a little worse than usual. For example, patients with back pain may feel slightly worse pain, or slightly more weakness. The CDC warns patients who have had a spinal steroid shot since May 21, 2012, to call a doctor immediately if they have any of these symptoms: Treatment of fungal meningitis is complicated. Antifungal drugs must be given intravenously, every day. At least at first, patients should be treated in a hospital. Treatment often lasts for several months, and can have serious side effects. As of Oct. 9, the CDC reports deaths and cases in these states: SOURCES:Curtis Allen, public information officer, CDC, email interview.CDC web site.FDA web site.David Kibbe, public information officer, Massachusetts Department of Health.

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Infectious Disease Information

A grooved pulley wheel like that used for ropes is called a sheave. A single sheave mounted in a block and fixed in place simply changes the direction of force exerted on the rope passing over it. If the end of the rope that ordinarily would attach to the load is passed around a second, unfixed pulley and back to the fixed pulley, a load attached to the free pulley can be raised with half the effort, or with a mechanical advantage of 2. Thus arranged, the device is called a block and tackle. The number of pulley wheels mounted in the fixed and free blocks can be increased indefinitely to get a higher and higher mechanical advantage, the mechanical advantage equaling the number of strands running to the free pulley. Therefore if the rope is run over the first fixed pulley wheel, around the free pulley, over a second pulley wheel in the fixed block, and back to the free block, the mechanical advantage is 3. A 300-lb load can be raised by a pull of 100 lb on the free end of the rope. To raise the load 10 ft, however, the free end of the rope must be pulled 30 ft. Disregarding friction, work output will always equal work input. If the action is reversed by attaching the load to the free end of the rope and pulling on the free block, the mechanical advantage becomes a mechanical disadvantage, but a speed advantage. A rope block and tackle is usually for hand operation. To lift larger loads by hand, a chain is substituted for the rope and the pulleys have grooves for gripping the links. A differential pulley consists of two pulleys of different radii connected and rotating as one on a common axle. The pulleys have their circumferences grooved and spiked so that a chain will run in them without slipping. Over the pulleys an endless chain is run, forming two hanging loops. In one loop is placed a movable block, whose pulley is shaped to take the chain. The load is attached to the movable block and is raised by pulling on the other loop of the chain. Power-operated machinery usually has cables, as in vertical-lift drawbridges, power shovels, and cranes. Before the extensive use of electric motors, steam engines or water turbines often supplied the power for factory machinery. One engine or turbine might run a whole factory through a complicated system of shafts, pulleys, and belts. Pulleys for flat belts are crowned to keep the belt centered. Raised flanges will serve the same purpose, but they wear the edges of the belt. Drive pulleys for conveyor belts often have a covering, called lagging, to provide better grip. Individual electric motors usually provide drive by means of V belts, the pulleys having raised flanges to form slots that match the trapezoidal cross sections of the belts. Cone pulleys consist of a number of pulleys of varying diameters massed in the shape of a cone. They are used with belt drives for machines (e.g., lathes) requiring a variety of speeds. In mechanics, a wheel that carries a flexible rope, cord, cable, chain, or belt on its rim. Pulleys are used singly or in combination to transmit energy and motion. In belt drives, pulleys are attached to shafts at their axes, and power is transmitted between the shafts by means of endless belts running over the pulleys. One or more independently rotating pulleys can be used to gain mechanical advantage, especially for lifting weights. The shafts around which the pulleys turn may attach them to frames or blocks, and a combination of pulleys, blocks, and rope is called a block and tackle. The pulley is considered one of the five simple machines. Learn more about pulley with a free trial on Britannica.com. A pulley (also called a sheave or block) is a wheel with a groove between two flanges around its circumference. A rope, cable or belt usually runs inside the groove. Pulleys are used to change the direction of an applied force, transmit rotational motion, or realize a mechanical advantage in either a linear or rotational system of motion. A belt and pulley system is characterized by two or more pulleys in common to a belt. This allows for mechanical power, torque, and speed to be transmitted across axes and, if the pulleys are of differing diameters, a mechanical advantage to be realized. A belt drive is analogous to that of a chain drive, however a belt sheave may be smooth (devoid of discrete interlocking members as would be found on a chain sprocket, spur gear, or timing belt) so that the mechanical advantage is given by the ratio of the pitch diameter of the sheaves only (one is not able to count 'teeth' to determine gear ratio). Belt and pulley systems can be very efficient, with stated efficiencies up to 98%. In a system of a single rope and pulleys, when friction is neglected, the mechanical advantage gained can be calculated by counting the number of rope lengths exerting force on the load. Since the tension in each rope length is equal to the force exerted on the free end of the rope, the mechanical advantage is simply equal to the number of ropes pulling on the load. For example, in Diagram 3 below, there is one rope attached to the load, and 2 rope lengths extending from the pulley attached to the load, for a total of 3 ropes supporting it. If the force applied to the free end of the rope is 10 lb, each of these rope lengths will exert a force of 10 lb. on the load, for a total of 30 lb. So the mechanical advantage is 3. The force on the load is increased by the mechanical advantage; however the distance the load moves, compared to the length the free end of the rope moves, is decreased in the same proportion. Since a slender cable is more easily managed than a fat one (albeit shorter and stronger), pulley systems are often the preferred method of applying mechanical advantage to the pulling force of a winch (as can be found in a lift crane). Pulley systems are the only simple machines in which the possible values of mechanical advantage are limited to whole numbers. In practice, the more pulleys there are, the less efficient a system is. This is due to sliding friction in the system where cable meets pulley and in the rotational mechanism of each pulley. It is not recorded when or by whom the pulley was first developed. It is believed however that Archimedes developed the first documented block and tackle pulley system, as recorded by Plutarch. Plutarch reported that Archimedes moved an entire warship, laden with men, using compound pulleys and his own strength. These are different types of pulley systems: The simplest theory of operation for a pulley system assumes that the pulleys and lines are weightless, and that there is no energy loss due to friction. It is also assumed that the lines do not stretch. In equilibrium, the total force on the pulley must be zero. This means that the force on the axle of the pulley is shared equally by the two lines looping through the pulley. The situation is schematically illustrated in diagram 1. For the case where the lines are not parallel, the tensions in each line are still equal, but now the vector sum of all forces is zero. A second basic equation for the pulley follows from the conservation of energy: The product of the weight lifted times the distance it is moved is equal to the product of the lifting force (the tension in the lifting line) times the distance the lifting line is moved. The weight lifted divided by the lifting force is defined as the advantage of the pulley system. It is important to notice that a system of pulleys does not change the amount of work done. The work is given by the force times the distance moved. The pulley simply allows trading force for distance: you pull with less force, but over a longer distance. In diagram 2, a single movable pulley allows weight W to be lifted with only half the force needed to lift the weight without assistance. The total force needed is divided between the lifting force (red arrow) and the "ceiling" which is some immovable object (such as the earth). In this simple system, the lifting force is directed in the same direction as the movement of the weight. The advantage of this system is 2. Although the force needed to lift the weight is only W/2, we will need to draw a length of rope that is twice the distance that the weight is lifted, so that the total amount of work done (Force x distance) remains the same. A second pulley may be added as in diagram 2a, which simply serves to redirect the lifting force downward, it does not change the advantage of the system. The addition of a fixed pulley to the single pulley system can yield an increase of advantage. In diagram 3, the addition of a fixed pulley yields a lifting advantage of 3. The tension in each line is W/3, and the force on the axles of each pulley is 2W/3. As in the case of diagram 2a, another pulley may be added to reverse the direction of the lifting force, but with no increase in advantage. This situation is shown in diagram 3a. This process can be continued indefinitely for ideal pulleys with each additional pulley yielding a unit increase in advantage. For real pulleys friction among rope and pulleys will increase as more pulleys are added to the point that no advantage is possible. It puts a limit for the number of pulleys usable in practice. The above pulley systems are known collectively as block and tackle pulley systems. In diagram 4a, a block and tackle system with advantage 4 is shown. A practical implementation in which the connection to the ceiling is combined and the fixed and movable pulleys are encased in single housings is shown in figure 4b. Other pulley systems are possible, and some can deliver an increased advantage with fewer pulleys than the block and tackle system. The advantage of the block and tackle system is that each pulley and line is subjected to equal tensions and forces. Efficient design dictates that each line and pulley be capable of handling its load, and no more. Other pulley designs will require different strengths of line and pulleys depending on their position in the system, but a block and tackle system can use the same line size throughout, and can mount the fixed and movable pulleys on a common axle. Shape up your pulleys: minimize costly downtime and extend conveyor belt life by keeping wing pulleys free of entrapped material.(SPECIAL SECTION: CONVEYING & MATERIAL HANDLING) Aug 01, 2009; Consider the frequent task of dislodging material from the standard wing pulley. It's necessary yet annoying and time...

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Technological Processes and Materials

Measuring environmental impact Our approach in adopting a responsible attitude to climate change starts with the assessment of the environmental impact of each stage in our products' life by the means of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). As part of our internal environmental program, Ecophon has carried out LCAs on our products in collaboration with Ecobilan SA (Pricewaterhouse Coopers), and according to the international ISO 14040 to ISO 14044 series of standards. To give you an overview of the process and an idea of our products' carbon footprint, we will consider a fictitious panel, the "Ecophon index sound-absorbing acoustic panel" based on the most common physical characteristics of Ecophon products: Format: 1000 x 1000mm Edge design: Edge E Surface: Akutex FT Weight: 1.5 kg/m2 Based on "cradle-to-grave" LCA calculations, the total carbon footprint of our fictitious panel is 2.7kg CO2/m2, from extraction of raw materials through to the end-of-life phase (landfill). Click on the links below to find out more about the various phases of our panel's life and its environmental impact.

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Air Pollution Impact

Skip to main content More Search Options A member of our team will call you back within one business day. Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) occurs when there is too little glucose (sugar) in your child’s blood. It can be caused by skipping meals or snacks, eating too little food, or taking too much insulin or diabetes medication. A lot of physical activity can also cause low blood sugar, even hours later. In severe cases, low blood sugar can lead to seizures or passing out. Everyone’s symptoms are different. Your child may feel dizzy, weak, hungry, headachy, or shaky. Your child may seem cranky or confused. If lows happen very often over time, your child may no longer be able to sense them. Encourage your child to recognize his or her symptoms and tell you about them right away. Stay calm so you can better help your child. Check your child’s blood sugar to make sure that it is low. If you’re not able to check, treat for low blood sugar anyway. Give your child 15 to 20 grams of fast-acting sugar such as 3 to 4 glucose tablets, a glass of nonfat milk, or 4 ounces (½ cup) of juice or regular soda. Diet soda will not help at all. Chocolate, cookies, and other fatty sweets will not work as quickly. If possible, recheck blood sugar in 15 minutes. If it is still low, give your child another 15 to 20 grams of fast-acting sugar. Once your child’s blood sugar is normal, give your child a snack or meal to eat. If your child’s blood sugar does not go back up, call the doctor or take your child to the emergency room. Be sure your child eats meals and snacks on time, and eats before exercising. Have your child carry fast-acting sugar. Don’t inject insulin near a muscle that’s going to be exercised. Check your child’s blood sugar often, especially after exercise and at bedtime. Keep fast-acting sugars handy. Check blood sugar often, especially after activity and before bed. For severe low blood sugar, your child may need a glucagon injection. Ask your child’s healthcare provider about glucagon emergency kits for home and school.

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Diabetes Management and Awareness

Modern laparoscopic surgeries may be minimally invasive, but they still require multiple incisions. To make laparoscopies even less intrusive, scientists and surgeons at Columbia University and Vanderbilt University have built a robot that can enter the body through a single 15-millimeter incision or through a natural opening like the mouth. Once inside the body the robot, which has not yet been tested in humans, unfolds like a NASA spaceship, communicates its position through a wire connected to an external computer, and follows instructions to advance, stop, tie sutures and perform other actions. It comes with a camera that tracks the movements of surgical instruments and projects them onto a computer console. Developers say it could perform appendectomies, hysterectomies, some types of kidney surgery, and possibly ear and throat surgery. The Insertable Robotic Effector Platform (IREP) is entering animal testing this fall and could be available within five years. Until now, no study has offered conclusive proof that robotic surgery trumps traditional laparoscopic techniques, but IREP's developers say it is lighter and cheaper than da Vinci, the leading surgical system. “There is definitely a potential here,” says William Lowrance, a robotic surgery expert at the University of Utah, adding that it might offer more dexterity and precision than traditional laparoscopic tools. This article was originally published with the title The Robot Will See You Now.

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Health and Physical Fitness

Posted September 1st, 2002 It's like "something from a bad horror movie"! This is how Maryland's Interior Secretary Gale Norton described the most widely reported environmental emergency The emergency? The Asian snakehead fish. The snakehead is an intriguing fish native to China. They have a voracious appetite, gobbling up everything they can get their teeth on. This includes other fish, birds, frogs, and even their own offspring. Snakeheads seem to defy nature by being able to crawl on dry land for several days at a time, searching for prey. In their native habitat, these three-foot oddities have natural predators and a specific habitat. However, in a small town in Crofton, Maryland (near Washington, D.C.), the snakeheads made an unscheduled appearance. A local resident bought the fish from a market in New York to make soup for an ailing relative. He kept the fish alive at home, but soon his relative got better and the cost of feeding the carnivorous fish became too much. Hoping to get rid of the creatures, he dumped them in the pond. In only a short amount of time, the snakehead fish thrived, producing more than 100 offspring. Even after state officials began treating the pond with herbicide in hopes of killing off plant life and shutting down the oxygen supply to the fish, the snakeheads continued to survive. In fact, their uncanny nature to withstand treatment has earned the snakeheads the nickname "frankenfish." Maryland officials know that if the snakehead managed to escape the pond, they would wreak havoc in the local ecosystem. There are no natural predators of the snakehead in Maryland, and officials feared that it would have a devastating affect on the local environment - especially if they reached the Little Patuxent River, which is located just 250 feet from the pond. As a secondary tactic, officials built a fence around the pond to catch any snakeheads slithering across the land. Then they sprayed the pond with a pesticide called Rotenone. This poison blocks oxygen from getting to the fish's blood, killing them. On September 4, 2002, officials sprayed the Rotenone onto the pond. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) lobbied against the use of the poison because it was inhuman, however, they agreed that the fish must be destroyed in this particular habitat. By Thursday morning, September 5, game officials claimed victory over the alien creatures. Eight hundred pounds of dead fish - including a large number of snakeheads - floated to the surface. Countless others had sunk to the bottom and are expected to resurface when they start decomposing. Use the Internet to research the snakehead fish. In your Science Journal, write an essay about what could happen if the snakeheads were released in the wild throughout

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Marine Life Studies

Even a modest backyard garden can result in an overabundance of homegrown fruits and vegetables, leading to wasted food. You don't have to stuff yourself full of excess produce, give it all away or let it rot - just can it. Home canning is a great way to preserve your garden harvest. Fresher and tastier than store-bought canned goods, home-canned food saves money and reduces packaging waste, too. Food can be preserved in glass mason jars using either hot water bath or pressure canner methods. Heating the jars kills microorganisms that cause spoilage, and as the jars cool, air pressure seals the lids tightly. When stored in a dark, cool, dry location, sealed home-canned goods have a shelf life of about one year. Canning your produce is an ideal way to maintain a more local diet year-round, rather than relying on store-bought goods outside the growing season. You can preserve virtually anything you grow in your garden with home canning. Get creative and add herbs, spices and other items to your fruits and vegetables, or make salsa, sauces and soups. Home Canning Materials To get started, you'll need the following items: - Glass mason jars with lids and sealing rings, sterilized in boiling water and fully dried - Large pot or pressure canner - Canning rack, to hold jars inside the pot - Wide-mouth funnel and ladle, to fill jars - Tongs or jar lifters, to remove cans from the pot - Home canning guide, such as the USDA's Complete Guide to Home Canning The Basics of Canning Food High-acid foods such as tomatoes, jams and jellies can be canned in a hot water bath. Sterilized jars are packed with food, sealed and completely submerged in boiling water for 5 to 85 minutes depending on the type of food and the size of the jars. Boiling removes the oxygen that remains in the jar to form a tight seal. This method can only be used with foods that have a pH of 4.6 or less, as the heat used isn't high enough to prevent the growth of a bacteria called Clostridium botulinum. Modern pressure canners make home canning easier and safer than ever before, and come in a variety of sizes fitting up to two layers of pint-sized jars. Jars filled with food are placed on a rack inside the canner with 2-3 ices of water and processed at high temperatures. This method is ideal for low-acid foods including most vegetables. Home canning is not difficult, but the risk of bacteria growth from improperly canned food requires careful attention to safety guidelines. Always follow instructions from a reliable source of home canning information, such as the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

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Food Science and Safety

On the Lap of the Mighty Sagarmatha - Solu Khumbu or Everest region The major mountains are the Mt.Everest, Mt.Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Nuptse, Pumori, Ama Dablam, Thamserku, Kantega, Mera Peak and Island Peak. Mt. Everest, which is part of the Himalaya range, is located on the border between Nepal and Tibet. Rising to a height of 8848m, the world’s highest mountain was named in 1865 after Sir George Everest. The mountain got its Nepali name Sagarmatha during the 1960s, when the Government of Nepal gave the mountain the official Nepali name. In sanskrit Sagarmatha means "mother of the universe”. The Tibetan name for Mount Everest is Chomolungma or Qomolangma, which means “Goddess Mother of the Snows". Climbers wishing to scale the peak have to obtain an expensive permit from the Nepal Government, often costing more than $25,000 (USD) per person. Base Camp, which serves as a resting area and base of operations for climbers organizing their attempts for the summit, is located on the Khumbu glacier at an elevation of 5300 m (17,400 ft); it receives an average of 450 mm (18 in) of precipitation a year. The climate of Mount Everest is extreme In July, the warmest month, the average summit temperature is -19° C (-2° F). When George Mallory, the British climber was asked why he wanted to climb Everest he replied ‘Because it is there’. After two unsuccessful attempts, in 1924 he again tried to climb the peak with Andrew Irvine. They started on June 8, 1924 to scale the summit via the north col route and never returned. Their bodies were later discovered by the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition near the old Chinese camp in 1999. Edmund Hillary, a New Zealander and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay from Nepal were the first two climbers to set foot on the summit of Mt.Everest. They reached the summit at 11:30 a.m. on May 29, 1953 by climbing through the South Col Route. More than 300 climbers have scaled the highest mountain since then. Also there have been more than 100 deaths on the mountain where conditions are so difficult that most corpses have been left where they fell, some of them visible from standard climbing routes. Mt. Lhotse (8516m) is the fourth highest mountain in the world. It lies south of Mt. Everest. It was first climbed by two Swiss climbers F. Luchsinger and E. Reiss in 1956 from the West face. The Czech scaled it via the South face in 1984. An impressive ring of three peaks makes up the Lhotse massif: Lhotse East or Middle, Lhotse and Lhotse Shar. The South Face of Lhotse is one of the largest mountain faces in the world. Cho Oyu, (8201m) the sixth highest mountain in the world, has gained popularity among climbers just recently. The mountain sits on both sides of the border of Nepal and Tibet, about 30 km. west of Mount Everest. Cho Oyu in Tibetan means "the turquoise goddess ." The south face of Cho Oyu, facing Nepal, is quite steep and difficult, and is rarely climbed. The north side, accessed from Tibet, is more moderate, and there is a relatively safe route to the summit. In the autumn of 1954, an Austrian team made the first ascent via this route. Ama Dablam (6856m) which means ‘mother’s jewellery box’, in sherpa language is considered to be one of the most beautiful mountains in the world. Seen from below, the mountain looks like a woman with outstretched arms or a woman wearing a long necklace. Ama Dablam lies alongside Everest in the heart of the Khumbu valley. Mt Lhotse, Mt. Makalu, Mt. Cho Oyu and Mt. Everest can be seen at close quarters from Ama dablam. Nuptse (7,855m.) lies south west of Mt Everest. It is situated in the Khumbu Himal. From the Thyangboche Monastery Nuptse appears as a massive wall guarding the approach to Everest. The name Nup-tse in Tibetan means west-peak. The main ridge, which is separated from Lhotse by a 7556m high saddle, is crowned by seven peaks and goes west-northwest until its steep west-face drops down more than 2300m to the Khumbu-glacier. Nuptse I was first summited by a British expedition on May 16, 1961 Pumori peak at 7145m is just 8 km away from the world’s highest peak Mt.Everest. The ascent to this peak is described as a classic climb in the 7000m peak category. In Tibetan, ‘Pumo’ means girl and ‘Ri’, mountain. The peak was named by George Mallory, the famous English climber who lost his life trying to ascend Everest in 1924. The German climber Gerhard Lenser was the first to reach the summit of Pumori peak in 1962. Pumori is a popular climbing peak and the easiest. The best season to climb this peak is during autumn and spring. Mera Peak (6,475m) is the highest of Nepal's trekking peaks. By its standard route, it is also the highest peak in Nepal that can be climbed without prior mountaineering experience. It was first climbed on 20 May 1953, by J.O.M. Roberts and Sen Tenzing, from the standard route at Mera La. The mountain lies to the south of Everest, dominating the watershed between the wild and beautiful valleys of the Hinku and Hongu. Island Peak also known as Imja Tse at 6160m was named by Erick Shipton's group in 1953.It was so named as the peak resembles an island in a sea of ice when observed from Dingboche. The peak was first climbed in 1953 by a British group as preparation for climbing Mt. Everest. Among them one of the climbers was Mr. Tenzing Norgay. The peak is part of the south ridge of Lhotse Shar and the main land forms a semicircle of cliffs that rise to the north of the summits of Nuptse, Lhotse, Middle Peak and Lhotse Shar. Cho Oyu and Makalu lie to the east of the Island Peak. Baruntse, Amphu and Ama Dablam lie to the south. Lobuche(6,119m) is known as Lhauche among the Locals. It rises above the town of Lhauche which is just a few kilometer from Mt. Everest. The first ascent on this peak was done by Laurice Nielson and Ang Gyalzen Sherpa on 25 April 1984. Kalapattar is a small mountain 5,545 m (18,500 ft) high on the southern flank of Pumori (7,145 m). It is a trekking peak and every year tourists climb this peak to enjoy the fantastic panoramic views it offers of the Khumbu glacier, the Everest and nearby peaks like Lhotse and Nuptse. To the east, Makalu, Amadablam, Pumori, and Cho Oyu are visible. Climate, Flora & Fauna The climate in the Everest region can be divided into four climate zones owing to the gradual rise in altitude. The climatic zones include a forested lower zone, a zone of alpine scrub, the upper alpine zone which includes upper limit of vegetation growth, and the Arctic zone where no plants can grow. The types of plants and animals that are found depend on the altitude. In the lower forested zone, birch, juniper, blue pines, firs, bamboo and rhododendron grow. All vegetation that is found above this zone is shrubs. As the altitude increases, plant life is restricted to lichens and mosses. At an elevation of 5,750m begins the permanent snow line in the Himalayas. From this point there is no sign of greenery or vegetation. A common animal sighted in the higher reaches is the hairy animal yak. Dzopkyo a sterile male crossbreed between a yak and a cow is used to move goods along the trail. Red panda, snow leopard, musk deer, wild yak, and Himalayan black bear are some of the more exotic animals that are found in this region. A variety of birds can be sighted in the lower regions. Sagarmata (Mt. Everest) National Park The Sagarmatha National Park is the highest national park in the world. It was formally opened to public in July 19, 1976. The park covers an area of 1,148 sq km. It rises from its lowest point of 2,845 m (9,335 ft) at Jorsale to 8,850 m (29,035 ft) up to the summit of Everest. The park’s area is very rugged and steep, with its terrain cut by deep rivers and glaciers. It includes three peaks higher than 8,000 m, including Mt Everest. In 1979 the park was inscribed as a Natural World Heritage Site. The park's visitor centre is located at a hill in Namche Bazaar, where a company of the Nepal Royal Army is stationed for protecting the park. The park's southern entrance is a few hundred meters north of Monjo at 2,835 m. Trekking and climbing groups must bring their own fuel to the park (usually butane and kerosene), and the cutting of wood is prohibited. The Sagarmatha Pollution Control, funded by the World Wildlife Fund and the Himalayan Trust, was established in 1991 to help preserve Everest's environment. About a humdred species of birds and more than twenty species of butterflies have made this park their home. Musk deer, wild yak, red panda, snow leopard, Himalayan black bear, Himalayan thars, deer, langur monkeys, hares, mountain foxes, martens, and Himalayan wolves are found in the park Early expeditions to climb Everest from the Nepalese side started from Jiri. Before the airstrip at Lukla came into existence all the trekking and climbing expeditions to the Everest region started from Jiri. Starting from Jiri, the route passes through the Sherpa villages of the Solu Khumbu, many of them having beautiful Buddhist monasteries. Lukla, a village in Khumbu boast of the region’s sole airport.Lying at a height of 9000ft, most travelers to this region usually begin and end their adventure in Lukla. The airport was built in 1964 by Sir Edmund Hillary as part of his project in Khumbu region during the early 60s to transport the supplies for the Himalayan Trust projects in the Khumbu region. Today, somewhere between 90-95% of the foreign nationals who reach Lukla, arrive by a half hour flight from Kathmandu. Namche Bazar is known as the sherpa capital. Namche is actually a village lying at the junction of the Dudh Koshi and a valley that leads to the frontier pass of Nangpa La . It is tucked away in a niche at a height of 7,845 ft. W. H. Tilman and C. Houston were the first westerners to enter it in 1950 and many more have come since then. Facilities like a bank, a post office, hotels and shops where one can purchase climbing equipment as well as tinned food have sprung up over the years. Namche Bazar is the major regional trading center. Its Saturday market or haat is the place where most of the trading takes place. The headquarters of the Sagarmatha National Park is located in Namche. Thyangboche is famous for the Thyangboche gompa. It is one of the most important centers of Buddhism in the region. The gompa is the largest in the Khumbu region. It was first built in 1923. Destroyed by a fire in 1989, it was rebuilt later on partly with foreign aid. From Thyangboche, one gets a panoramic view of Kwangde, Tawache, Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse, Amadablam, Kangtenga, and Thamserku. Buddhism is believed to have been introduced in the Khumbu region towards the end of the 17th century by Lama Sange Dorjee. According to the legend, he flew over the Himalayas and landed on a rock at Pangboche and Thyangboche, leaving his footprints embedded on the stone. He is believed to have been responsible for the founding of the first gompas in the Khumbu region, at Pangboche and Thami. Pangboche is the highest year-round settlement in the valley. The Imja Khola, coming from the right, joins the Dudh Koshi River a little above the village. The gompa (monastery) in Phyangboche is thought to be one of the oldest in the Khumbu region. Khumjung , a village lying west of Thyangboche, is famous for the gompa where the skull of a supposed Yeti, the Abominable Snowman, is preserved under the supervision of the head Lama. The skull seems more like the outer skin of Himalayan Brown Bear, and this is proved by the report of a scientific exploratory expedition conducted by Sir Edmund Hillary, a copy of which is kept in the gompa. Pheriche is located at an altitude of 13,845 ft. It lies on a level patch. Apart from the basic facilities available here, there is a medical-aid post maintained by the Himalayan Rescue Association of the Tokyo Medical College with Japanese doctors in attendance. Among other facilities, there is an air compression chamber installed for assisting victims of high altitude sickness The scenic village of Gokyo lies below the hilly Gokyo Ri(5483m). The village is a cluster of stone houses and walled pastures.One has to pass by the holy Gokyo lakes on the way to the village. The Ngozumpa Glacier Nepal’s longest glacier at 25 miles has to be traversed enroute to this remote village. Gokyo Ri looms above the village on the northern edge of the lake. The summits of Everest, Lhotse and Makalu are visible from the summit of Gokyo Ri. Thami at 3750m is in a large valley. The village has a police checkpost and a few lodges and tea shops. A little above the village is the Thami gompa, which is the site of the annual Mani Rimdu festival. Sherpas live in the upper regions of Solu Khumbu. They emigrated from Tibet about 600 years ago. In the past they were traders and porters, carrying butter, meat, rice, sugar, and dye from India, and, wool, jewelry, salt Chinese silk and porcelain from Tibet and beyond. The closure of the border between India and China undermined their economy. Fortunately, with the mountaineering expeditions and trekkers, the Sherpa's found their load carrying skills, both on normal treks and high altitudes in great demand. The Khumbu region has provided a strong group of able bodied, hardy and fearless Sherpa porters and guides. The sherpas are Buddhists. At the lower elevations lives the Kiranti Rai. The villages of Jubing, Kharikhola, Okhaldhunga, are inhabited by the Rais. Of mongoloid stock they speak their own dialect. Reference is made of their fighting spirit in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. The people from this group have supplied recruits to Gurkha regiments both in the British as well as Indian armies. The Rais follow a religion that is partly animistic with a strong Hindu influence. They revere their ancestors by observing Kul or Pitri puja every year. The Jirels live in the area around Jiri. They are mongoloid and follow Buddhism. Losar is celebrated in the month of February by the Sherpas. ‘Losar’ means New Year in Tibetan. Apart from the Sherpas and Tibetans, the Gurungs and Tamangs also celebrate Losar. Buddhist monks offer prayers for good health and prosperity at monasteries. People exchange various goods and gifts among them. Families organize feasts and perform dances. Dumje is celebrated to mark the birthday of Guru Rimpoche (Padmasambhava).The celebration takes place in June and lasts for six days. It is celebrated in a big way in the villages of Namche, Thame and Khumjung. Mani Rimdu is a festival that celebrates the victory of Buddhism over the ancient animistic religion of Bon. This festival is celebrated in the monasteries of Thyangboche, Chiwang and Thami. At Thangboche the celebration takes place during the November- December full moon. At Thami the Mani rimdu is festival is celebrated during the full moon in May.Chiwang Gompa generally celebrate this festival during autumn. The lamas wear elaborate brocade gowns and papier-mâché masks while performing. Through the dances, symbolic demons are conquered, dispelled, or converted to Dharma Protectors as positive forces clash with those of chaos. The dances convey Buddhist teaching on many levels from the simplest to the most profound, for those who do not have the opportunity to study and meditate extensively. It gives an opportunity to the Sherpas to gather and celebrate together with the monks. Sakela (Chandi Dance) is a harvest festival celebrated by the Rai community. The harvest ceremony involves the worship of mother earth, called ‘Bhumi-Puja’. The festival is celebrated twice a year, once in spring before planting begins and once during autumn before harvesting. Ubhauli is celebrated during the spring season on Baishakh Purnima. In the autumn season on Mangsir Purnima, Udhauli is celebrated. The spring worship is done to propitiate mother earth for a good harvest and the rain god to bless the earth with enough rain. The festival is celebrated with more fervor in the remote hills. The Rai villagers celebrate it with priests (dhami) who perform rituals to worship their ancestors. The elders of the community begin the dance with a puja. Later on everybody participate in the dance forming a circle by holding each other’s hands. With drumbeats, they begin dancing at a slow pace but moves faster later with the drumbeats. The dance steps and hand gestures imitate the sowing and harvesting of crops .The festival also provides an opportunity for the Rai people to socialise. The Classic Everest Base Camp Trek Mt Everest Base Camp is the most popular destination for trekkers in Nepal. Its popularity has grown since the first expedition to the Nepalese side of Everest in the 1950s.One can do this trek the old way, by beginning the trek from Jiri. From Jiri it takes around nine days to reach Namche. On the way you will come across Rai settlements. The other (quicker) alternative is to take a flight to Lukla and to begin the trek from there. The trek follows the Dudh Kosi valley route with an ascent up to the Sherpa capital of Namche Bazaar. From Namche, you traverse along a high path from where you have the first good view of Everest. You head towards Thyangboche Monastery located on top of a mountain ridge and then descend the Imja Khola and continue to the villages of Pangboche and Pheriche. After that you arrive at the Khumbu Glacier. The trek through the glacier takes you first to Lobuche and then to Gorak Shep. From Gorak Shep you can climb up to Kala Pattar for even more spectacular views of the surrounding mountains, including Everest's south west face. Yhou then reach your destination, the Everest Base Camp at the foot of the Khumbu ice fall.

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Nuclear Power and Safety Issues

There are two well-known approved apparitions of Saint Joseph - but of which occurred in the context of a Marian apparition. Our Lady of Knock (1879) On the evening of Thursday, 21 August 1879 (Eve of the Octave of the Assumption) in Knock, Ireland, three mysterious persons appeared. The one in the middle was immediately identifiable as the Blessed Virgin Mary, veiled, crowned and praying. Immediately on her right was Saint Joseph with a gray beard, bowing toward Mary. To Mary's left was one appearing as a bishop who wore a short mitre. This last saint was the virginal Apostle Saint John the Evangelist. Our Lady of Fatima (1917) As we discussed a few days about on the significance of the three Marian visions of the Miracle of the Sun (See: Miracle of the Sun Signifies Rosary Mysteries), the first vision included Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, as Lucia described: When Our Lady disappeared in the immense distance of the sky, next to the sun we saw Saint Joseph holding the Child Jesus and Our Lady dressed in white with a blue mantle. Saint Joseph and the Child seemed to be blessing the world making the sign of the cross.I find it startling that Saint Joseph, although not a priest, would give the sacerdotal blessing of the sign of the cross in union with his foster-Son, Christ. What can we observe from these two apparitions of Saint Joseph? - In both visions, Joseph does not speak. - Joseph appears along with Mary. - In the Knock vision, John appears, and John is the "son" of Mary is a special way. Is he also a "son" of Joseph in a special way?

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Bible Study and Lessons

S.A.D.D. is an acronym used to described the symptoms/signs/strong behavioral patterns that a nonwhite person is having sex with a white person and/or having frivolous contact with white people (not using the time with white people for constructive benefit). S- Space for white people. The nonwhite/victim of racism person will seek space for white people in discussion of racism. Often seeking space for white people who are not racist and have a high problem of not suspecting white people they come in contact with of being racist/white supremacist especially the white person they are having sex/sexual contact with. The C.O.W.S. w/ Dr. Eddie Moore, Jr. "Your definition sounds like it is not leaving space for white people who don't practice racism or is working against racism" Dr. Eddie Moore, Jr., after hearing Gus T. Renegade/Victim of Racism definition of racism/white supremacy. A- Abstract thought and speech. The nonwhite/victim of racism "They won't talk about racism as if it's live and experienced everyday" but they will talk about it as if it's "out there". They will use words like institutional racism as if institution's are not buildings and are run by the people inside them. The C.O.W.S. w/ W. Kamau Bell Victim of Racism known as W. Kamau Bell used the abstract term Halls of Power six times to describe the system of white supremacy. D- Defend white people/Divided loyalties Defend White People/Defend making white space The nonwhite person will ferociously defend white people and that space they make for white people in discussion of racism. They will often experience from Cognitive Dissonance when they start to think about pondering that the white person they are sleeping with might be a racist/white supremacist. The C.O.W.S. w/ Cynthia McKinney A victim of racism called in after Cynthia McKinney left defending the space for white people. D- Divided loyalties. A metaphor of divided loyalties. The nonwhite person will be on the battlefield of countering racism/white supremacy and instead of going full charge at their enemies, they will be discouraging nonwhite persons from fighting, causing conflict and confusion within the tents making it easy for the white supremacists to come slaughter them.

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Racial and Social Justice

New York Manumission Society The New York Manumission Society was an early American organization founded in 1785 to promote the abolition of the slavery of African descendants within the state of New York. The organization was made up entirely of white men, most of whom were wealthy and held influential positions in society. Throughout its 71-year history, which ended in 1849, the society battled against the slave trade and for the eventual emancipation of all the slaves in the state; it founded the African Free School for the poor and orphaned children of slaves and free people of color. John Jay John Jay had been a prominent leader in the antislavery cause since 1777, when he drafted a state law to abolish slavery. The draft failed, as did a second attempt in 1785. In 1785, all state legislators except one voted for some form of gradual emancipation. However, they did not agree on what civil rights would be given to the slaves once they were freed. In 1799, an emancipation bill passed by not mentioning the subject of civil rights for freed slaves at all. Jay brought in prominent political leaders such as Alexander Hamilton. He also worked closely with Aaron Burr, later head of the Democratic-Republicans in New York. The Society started a petition against slavery, which was signed by almost all the politically prominent men in New York, of all parties and led to a bill for gradual emancipation. Burr, in addition to supporting the bill, made an amendment for immediate abolition, which was voted down. Jay founded the New-York Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves, and Protecting Such of Them as Have Been, or May be Liberated or the New York Manumission Society, and became its first president in 1785. The organization was originally composed of Jay and a few dozen close friends, many of whom were slave-owners at the time. The first meeting was on January 25, 1785, at the home of John Simmons - who had space for the nineteen men in attendance since he kept an inn. Robert Troup and Melancton Smith were appointed to draw up rules; Jay was elected President. There were 31 members at the second meeting on February 4, including Alexander Hamilton. Several of the members were Quakers. The Society formed a ways-and-means committee to deal with the difficulty that more than half of the members, including Troup and Jay, owned slaves (mostly a few domestic servants per household). The committee reported a plan for gradual emancipation: members would free slaves then younger than 28 when they reached the age of 35, slaves between 28 and 38 in seven years' time, and slaves over 45 immediately. This was voted down; and the committee dissolved. This society was instrumental in having a state law passed in 1785 prohibiting the sale of slaves imported into the state, and making it easy for slaveholders to manumit slaves either by a registered certificate or by will. In 1788 the purchase of slaves for removal to another state was forbidden; they were allowed trial by jury "in all capital cases," and the earlier laws about slaves were simplified and restated. The emancipation of slaves by the Quakers was legalized in 1798. At that date, there were still about 33,000 slaves statewide. Lobbying and boycotts The Society organized boycotts against New York merchants and newspaper owners involved in the slave trade. The Society had a special committee of militants who visited newspaper offices to warn publishers against accepting advertisements for the purchase or sale of slaves. Another committee kept a list of people who were involved in the slave trade, and urged members to boycott anyone listed. As historian Roger Kennedy reports, "Those [blacks] who remained in New York soon discovered that until the Manumission Society was organized, things had gotten worse, not better, for blacks. Despite the efforts of Burr, Hamilton, and Jay, the slave importers were busy. There was a 23 percent increase in slaves and a 33 percent increase in slaveholders in New York City in the 1790s." Beginning in 1785, the Society lobbied for a state law to abolish slavery in New York, as all the other northern states (except New Jersey) had done. Considerable opposition came from the Dutch areas upstate (where slavery was still popular), as well as from the many businessmen in New York who profited from the slave trade. The two houses passed different emancipation bills and could not reconcile them. Every member of the New York legislature, but one, voted for some form of gradual emancipation, but no agreement could be reached on the civil rights of freedmen afterwards. Success finally came in 1799, when the Society supported a bill which said nothing about such rights. Jay signed this statement into law as governor. The Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery 1799 declared that, from July 4 of that year, all children born to slave parents would be free. It also outlawed the exportation of current slaves. However, the Act held the caveat that the children would be subject to apprenticeship. These same children would be required to serve their mother’s owner until age twenty-eight for males, and age twenty-five for females. The law defined the children of slaves as a type of indentured servant, while scheduling them for eventual freedom. The last slaves were emancipated by July 4, 1827; the process was the largest emancipation in North America before 1861. Thousands of freedmen celebrated with a parade in New York. Other anti-slavery societies directed their attention to slavery as a national issue. The Quakers of New York petitioned the First Congress (under the Constitution) for the abolition of the slave trade. In addition, Benjamin Franklin and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society petitioned for the abolition of slavery in the new nation; but the NYMS did not act. (Hamilton and others felt that Federal action on slavery would endanger the compromise worked out at the Constitutional Convention, and so the new United States.) African Free School See also - Berlin, Ira and Leslie Harris, eds.. Slavery in New York. New Press, 2005. ISBN 1-56584-997-3. - Gellman, David N. Emancipating New York: The Politics of Slavery And Freedom, 1777-1827 Louisiana State Univ Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8071-3174-1. - Gellman, David N. "Pirates, Sugar, Debtors, and Slaves: Political Economy and the Case for Gradual Abolition in New York." Slavery & Abolition (2001) 22(2): 51-68. Issn: 0144-039x - Gellman, David N. "Race, the Public Sphere, and Abolition in Late Eighteenth-century New York." Journal of the Early Republic (2000) 20(4): 607-636. Issn: 0275-1275 Fulltext: online in Jstor - Leslie M. Harris. In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863 (2003), - Horton, James Oliver. "Alexander Hamilton: Slavery and Race in a Revolutionary Generation" New-York Journal of American History 2004 65(3): 16-24. ISSN 1551-5486 - Roger G. Kennedy, Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character (2000) - Littlefield, Daniel C. "John Jay, the Revolutionary Generation, and Slavery." New York History 2000 81(1): 91-132. Issn: 0146-437x - Edgar J. McManus, History of Negro Slavery in New York (1968) - Newman, Richard S. The Transformation of American Abolitionism: Fighting Slavery in the Early Republic. Univ of North Carolina Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8078-2671-5. - Schaetzke, E. Anne. "Slavery in the Genesee Country (Also Known as Ontario County) 1789 to 1827." Afro-Americans in New York Life and History (1998) 22(1): 7-40. Issn: 0364-2437 - Jake Sudderth," John Jay and Slavery" (2002) at - "African-Americans in New York City, 1626-1863". Emory University Deptartment of History. Retrieved 2006-12-11. - "Race and Antebellum New York City - New York Manumission Society". New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 2006-12-12. - Davis, New York’s Manumission (Free the Slaves!)Society & Its African Free School 1785-1849, as cited. - John Jay and Sarah Livingston Jay, Selected Letters of John Jay and Sarah Livingston Jay (2005) pp 297-99; online at - Edgar McManus, History of Negro Slavery in New York, Syracuse University Press, 1966 - Davis, op. cit.; Chernow, Alexander Hamilton p.214 - Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, p. 215 - Peter Nelson. The American Revolution in New York: Its Political, Social and Economic Significance. (1926). p, 237. - Roger G. Kennedy, Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character (2000) p. 92 - Herbert S. Parmet and Marie B. Hecht, Aaron Burr (1967) p. 76 - Edgar J. McManus, History of Negro Slavery in New York - Edgar J. McManus, History of Negro Slavery in New York - Jake Sudderth," John Jay and Slavery" (2002) at - Forrest McDonald, Alexander Hamilton, a Biography(1982) p. 177

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- OurWorld 2.0 - http://ourworld.unu.edu/en - What does Cancún offer the climate generation? Posted By Huw Oliphant On December 8, 2010 @ 8:30 pm In General | 4 Comments Across the globe, young people are paying attention to what is happening at the COP16 climate negotiations in Cancun, Mexico. They are the “climate generation” — the ones who are going to have to live with our climate legacy, our tendency to prevaricate and our collective global failure to act sooner. The hope is that we will see substantive progress in Cancun towards an internationally binding agreement. This hope was echoed by a group of 30 young climate champions (from Japan, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and Vietnam) who met in Vietnam on 22-26 November 2010 and who called on the leaders of the world to stop talking and take action on climate change. They were brought together by the British Council Climate Generation Project in a workshop that focused on green business and entrepreneurship, aimed to help participants develop their green projects through project management and leadership skills training, as well as interaction with experts in the field. What can the climate generation do? To begin with, business as usual is not an option. These young people are green entrepreneurs and they are all developing “cool” projects aimed at addressing climate and sustainability issues in their community. These young people are green entrepreneurs and they are all developing cool projects aimed at addressing climate and sustainability issues in their community. For instance, Syuichi Ishibashi from Japan has developed an impressive energy literacy project to help monitor on-line energy use at home. Other projects include a factory making furniture from recycled materials in Thailand; a community based conservation project (link in Indonesian) near Lake Buret in Tulungagung, East Java; a green fashion show in Korea; and a project aimed at developing smart grid systems in Vietnam. Young leaders can make a difference Siti Nur Alliah, a British Council Climate Champion from Indonesia, is tackling a burning issue in the heart of Indonesia’s countryside in a quest to reverse climate change and lift a community out of poverty. As a community organiser, Alliah was keenly aware that farmers in Sekonyer village, central Borneo, remained poor no matter how much they burned surrounding forest to expand their farmland. “Tragically, no matter how many resources are exploited, they are still considered as a community living under the poverty line,” she said. So Alliah decided to see if there were more environmentally friendly agriculture methods that would have the added benefits of raising the quality and quantity of farm yields. The result was the Forest Farming project, which works with villagers in Sekonyer to expand their knowledge of agriculture to find better ways of managing their land. Alliah says the project depended on cultivating local knowledge, encouraging the community to take action and fostering commitment in the village to sustained involvement. She says the great willingness of the indigenous people to work with her and her team to change their farming practices is a real sign that they are making a difference. Climate Champion Hiroki Fukushima is part of a network of Japanese students who have issued the Climate Campus Challenge to educational institutions throughout the country. To help cut the education sector’s emissions of greenhouse gas, the students encourage universities to use renewable energy sources, retrofit campus buildings and buy green products. They then rank the colleges according to their success. “We made an environmental survey of 334 universities and assessed them according to criteria, such as energy consumption per student, reduction in energy consumption, climate change policies, climate education for students and unique initiatives,” Hiroki said. “We published an Eco University Ranking and awarded certificates to universities with good environmental policies and activities, and organised a seminar to promote universities with good practice.” Hiroki says the number of Japanese students participating in environmental activities has been on the rise since the 1990s but few of the activities were aimed at tackling climate change on campus. To remedy the situation, the core group studied projects overseas and thought how the activities could be best adapted to implement the campus challenge. They then enlisted students at various universities and established a network to realise the project. Thai Climate Champion Panita Topathomwong is driving home her environmental message through her Cool Bus Cool Smile project. Panita is encouraging residents to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by leaving the car in the garage and hopping on public transport. She says that transport is one of the big sources of carbon dioxide emissions in urban centres and cutting back on car use would help lower the sector’s environmental impact and have the added benefit of easing gridlock. So, with the support of the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) and the Ministry of Transport, Panita and her team organised a design competition to decorate three city buses and take the message to the road. The decorated buses toured Bangkok streets for three months after a high-profile launch in April 2009 attended by the Vice Minister of Transport, the Director of the BMTA, a representative from the British Embassy Bangkok and various media. Climate Champions are young green entrepreneurs who are developing innovative projects aimed at addressing climate and sustainability issues in their community. “We believe that by redecorating the buses with great images we conveyed the message about climate change to wider audiences in Bangkok. The buses were like mobile billboards which convinced everybody to be concerned about climate change,” Panita said. It is cool to be a Climate Champion Since 2008, the British Council Climate Generation has worked with over 120,000 young people from across the world interested in tackling climate change. Through the Climate Generation project, young people have the chance to come up with grassroots projects to combat and offset the effects of climate change. The participants are given the training and resources they need to realise their proposals and spread the word about the issue in their communities. Climate Generation encourages young people interested in tackling climate change to connect with each other, come up with local solutions and reach out to local, national and international decision-makers. As Climate Champions, programme participants have access to the training and information they need to ignite discussion in their communities and devise projects that will help people adapt to and mitigate climate change. The result is a global network of enthusiastic young people with the knowledge, contacts and on-the-ground resources to take action on climate change and make positive contributions to people’s lives. Climate Champions have come from a wide variety of backgrounds including government, business, entrepreneurship, NGOs, education and media. Through training in communication and negotiation, they can learn how to put their plans into practice and give voice to the concerns of their generation. Clearly, the Climate Champions are acting in advance of the outcomes at COP16 and “doing it themselves” but hope that real progress can be made at Cancun. • ♦ • For more information on the programme, please contact Huw Oliphant . Article printed from OurWorld 2.0: http://ourworld.unu.edu/en URL to article: http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/what-does-cancun-offer-for-the-climate-generation/ URLs in this post: stop talking and take action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8APNC8R57w Climate Generation Project: http://climatecoolnetwork.ning.com/ energy literacy project: http://e-idea2010.climate-change.jp/en/ishibashi.php factory: http://www.kokoboard.com community based conservation project: http://www.pplhmangkubumi.or.id/ Huw Oliphant: mailto:email@example.com Copyright © 2008 OurWorld 2.0. All rights reserved.

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Climate and Weather Events

Difference Between SD and SDHC Cards SD stands for Secure Digital which is the most popular storage medium for mobile devices in use today. SD cards can reach up to 4GB of storage space and can come in 3 different form factors; the standard size, mini, and micro each one bigger than the next. SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) was developed to overcome the 4GB limit that SD faced, with its smallest capacity starting at 4GB and with a 32GB maximum capacity. The move to SDHC came as more and more consumers start wanting higher capacity memory cards than what is available in the market. SD cards were once sufficient for use in digital cameras, but with portable media devices like mp3 players and video players, it becomes very apparent that more is always better. SD was limited in the memory capacity not by the physical aspect of the device since you can always add more; it is because of the byte addressing system that is used in SD. Fat32, which is the most commonly used file system in mobile devices can only allocate up to 232 addresses or just under 4.3 billion. If each address is equivalent to 1 byte then there are only 4.3billion bytes or 4GB. SDHC utilized sector addressing rather than byte addressing. Each sector is composed of 512 bytes each, allowing a theoretical maximum capacity of 2 terabytes. But currently, it is limited to a maximum of 32GB per card but will probably be increased once that threshold is reached. SDHC cards are not necessarily faster than SD cards but the enforcement of minimum write speeds could potentially mean much faster read and write access. SD cards start out at 0Mb/s then gradually increases to its max speed then slows back down. The minimum speed of SDHC cards can range from 2Mb/s to 6Mb/s, meaning it starts at a much faster speed compared to SD cards. In order to maintain backwards compatibility, most devices that take SDHC memory cards can also work with SD cards. Most memory cards are pretty easy to identify as SD or SDHC cards due to their capacities, but cards that have a 4GB capacity would need to be examined further since those could be either. 1. SD memory cards can only reach 4GB maximum while SDHC can reach 32GB 2. SD cards use byte addressing while SDHCS utilized sector addressing 3. SDHC cards can be potentially faster than SD cards 4. SDHC readers are backwards compatible with SD cards Search DifferenceBetween.net : Email This Post : If you like this article or our site. Please spread the word. Share it with your friends/family. - Difference Between SD and HD | Difference Between - Difference Between N95 and N96 | Difference Between - Difference Between SD and XD | Difference Between | SD vs XD Leave a Response

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Networking and Data Transmission

OHIO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Division of Plant Industry – Apiculture 8995 East Main Street Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43068-3399 “SWARM PREVENTION AND CONTROL” When honey bees swarm it is a natural process where the colonies divide. In essence, it is nature’s way of trying to increase bee colony populations. Beekeepers can not stop all swarming. However, swarm prevention should be incorporated info a beekeeper’s management program, if he/she is interested in obtaining a good honey crop. The following are some things that can be done to reduce swarming. - Colonies should be requeened every 2 to 3 years. This can be done in the spring, fall, after a honey flow or as conditions dictate. - Clipping the wings on a new queen is another attempt to prevent swarming. This procedure slows down swarming, but may resutt in the colony swarming anyway with a virgin queen. - Reversing the hive bodies in the spring results in having an empty hive body being placed above the brood chamber, thus providing more room for queen laying, pollen and honey storage. This procedure may be done several times in the spring. - Colonies can be split. This entails dividing the colony population in half to make up 2 hives. This is an effective method in swarm control. - Cutting queen cells is a method many beekeepers use. However, the bees usually win out. Once the queen cells are eliminated the bees will produce more queen celIs. |Prepared by:||Gordon Rudloff Ohio Department of Agriculture

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Bees, Bed Bugs, and Ants

Inflammation Key to the Asthma-Sinus Connection People with asthma frequently experience problems with their sinuses. And more than half of those who have chronic sinusitis also suffer from asthma. Is there a connection? Each condition is marked by inflammation, which is to blame for both the symptoms of asthma—cough, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and wheezing—and sinusitis. Researchers speculate inflammation in the lungs or sinuses affects both. As a result, people with lung symptoms likely will eventually get symptoms in the nose, and vice versa. Plus, sinusitis can trigger asthma attacks. What is sinusitis? Sinusitis occurs when air-filled spaces behind the nose, forehead, cheeks, and eyes become inflamed and blocked with mucus. Often, infection results. Symptoms usually occur after a cold that fails to improve or gets worse after five to seven days. They include: People with asthma who experience sinus problems should talk with their doctor about treatment. Studies show that resolving sinusitis often improves asthma and decreases the need for asthma medication. How you can protect yourself Those with asthma need to be vigilant about colds and the flu. Viral respiratory infections often worsen asthma. Some prevention tips: Avoid smoke and pollution. Drink plenty of fluids. Take decongestants for upper respiratory infections. Get help for allergies. Use a humidifier to increase moisture in nose and sinuses.

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Allergy and Infection Information

Sepia is a dark brown-grey color, named after the rich brown pigment derived from the ink sac of the common cuttlefish. The word sepia is Greek for "cuttlefish". Sepia in human culture In the last quarter of the 18th century, Professor Jacob Seydelmann of Dresden developed a process to extract and produce a more concentrated form for use in watercolors and oil paints. It has been suggested that the actual skin color of most black people would be most accurately represented by the color sepia. There is a magazine for African-Americans called Sepia, which was started in 1947. Sepia ink was commonly used as writing ink in classical times. Sepia tones are used in photography; the hue resembles the effect of aging in old photographs and photographs chemically treated for archival purposes, an effect sometimes created by purpose. Many digital cameras include a sepia tone effect as well.

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Engineering, Color Theory, Photography, Printing

The Durban climate change negotiations are about three gaps. The first is scientific and has to do with the amount of Greenhouse gases we are pumping into the atmosphere, and the levels we need to reduce to in order to prevent irreversible changes to the climate system. The second is political and affects the course of the negotiations. The third is the gap between public perception of climate change and the reality of the change that has already begun. All of these gaps are interrelated. In 2009 countries made pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to keep global average temperature from increases below 2 degrees Celsius. Last week the United Nations Environment Programme issued “The Emissions Gap Report: Are the Copenhagen Accord Pledges Sufficient to Limit Global Warming to 2oC or 1.5oC?” Following the conclusion of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) in Copenhagen, 42 industrialized countries submitted “economy-wide” emissions targets for 2020. Another 43 developing countries also submitted “nationally appropriate mitigation actions.” While the Copenhagen negotiations failed to produce an expected new climate change treaty, these pledges have become the basis for “analyzing the extent to which the global community is on track to meet long-term temperature goals” (for details, see the Emissions Gap Report). They are also the source of much of the wrangling that continues in the Durban negotiations. The 2020 date is significant because that’s the date by which the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that emissions cuts need to start being made if the global average temperature increases are to be kept below 2oC. The report states that while it is possible to reach the required level of reductions by 2020, the current reduction pledges “are not adequate to reduce emissions to a level consistent with the 2°C target, and therefore lead to a gap.” Research tells us that annual emissions need to be around 44 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2 equivalent by 2020 to have a likely chance of holding global average temperatures to 2°C or less. (A gigatonne is equal to 1 billion tonnes of carbon. According to the International Energy Agency, the world emitted a record 30.6 tonnes of CO2 in 2010 - a 5% increase over the previous record level in 2008. The report states that if the “highest ambitions” of all the countries that signed the Copenhagen Accord are implemented, annual emissions of greenhouse gases would be cut by around 7 (Gt) of CO2 equivalent by 2020. This represents a cut in annual emissions to around 49 Gt of CO2 equivalent, which would still leave a gap of around 5 Gt compared with where we need to be—”a gap equal to the total emissions of the world’s cars, buses and trucks in 2005.” However, if only the lowest ambition pledges are implemented, and if no clear rules are set in the negotiations, emissions could be around 53 Gt of CO2 equivalent in 2020 – “not that different from business-as-usual so the rules set in the negotiations clearly matter.” If it’s “business as usual” emissions could rise to 56 Gt by the same date. This points to the second gap -- in political will. The differences between those who are feeling the brunt of rapid climate change right now -- primarily many of the Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries -- and the major emitters, is growing. The Framework Convention on Climate Change, negotiated nearly 20 years ago in Rio de Janeiro, calls on all nations to cooperate “...in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and their social and economic conditions.” This has been traditionally interpreted to mean that the industrialized nations of Europe and North America bear a large portion of the responsibility for dealing with the problem since they are primarily responsible for the vast majority of historical emissions. Indeed, the United States was only recently surpassed by China as the largest GHG emitter. However, the US, Canada and others have higher per capita emissions levels. Nevertheless, Canada has led the charge of developed nations that now say that it is “unfair” for developed countries to cut total emissions while developing nations such as China, India and Brazil are not bound to reduce in the same way. Canada has become the first nation in the world to say it will not abide by the Kyoto Protocol, nor will it agree to a second commitment period. This approach has widened the gap between those that support a renewed Kyoto Protocol -- most of the developing world and the European Union (subject to developing nations such as China getting onboard) -- and those that say they don’t want a second commitment period. This group is led by Canada, Russia and Japan but others have now joined, so many that there is little chance that the Kyoto Protocol, which lapses next year, will be renewed in Durban. Such positioning and politicking is widening the gap between developed and developing countries. For some, like the Small Island Developing States, there is a sense of being abandoned to their fates. Delay does not bode well for the Arctic either. People from both regions need immediate and sustained emissions reductions. The third gap is between what we think or believe is (or is not) happening and what the facts are telling us. The latter are based on observation and a growing body of scientific knowledge. There are literally thousands of peer reviewed scientific papers that demonstrate that the climate is changing and we are primarily responsible. The public in developed countries -- and many developing nations -- still has not embraced this reality. While millions of people are mobilized and calling for action, there is still a strong predilection to ignore the signals that are all around us, or to use the current economic downturn as an excuse for inaction. Both lead to the same end -- they are further narrowing the window in which we have time to act. And they are passing the problem of adaptation on to future generations, when the price will be much higher.

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Climate and Weather Events

Physical examination by a health care provider confirms the abnormal curve of the spine. The doctor will also look for any nervous system (neurological) changes (weakness, paralysis, or changes in sensation) below the curve. MRI (if there may be a tumor, infection, or neurological symptoms) Treatment depends on the cause of the disorder: Congenital kyphosis requires corrective surgery at an early age. Scheuermann's disease is treated with a brace and physical therapy. Occasionally surgery is needed for large (greater than 60 degrees), painful curves. Multiple compression fractures from osteoporosis can be left alone if there are no nervous system problems or pain. However, the osteoporosis needs to be treated to help prevent future fractures. For debilitating deformity or pain, surgery is an option. Kyphosis caused by infection or tumor needs to be treated more aggressively, often with surgery and medications. Treatment for other types of kyphosis depends on the cause. Surgery is needed if neurological symptoms or persistent pain develop. Adolescents with Scheuermann's disease tend to do well even if they need surgery, and the disease stops once they stop growing. If the kyphosis is due to degenerative joint disease or multiple compression fractures, surgery is needed to correct the defect and improve pain. Decreased lung capacity Disabling back pain Neurological symptoms including leg weakness or paralysis Round back deformity Treating and preventing osteoporosis can prevent many cases of kyphosis in the elderly. Early diagnosis and bracing of Scheuermann's disease can reduce the need for surgery, but there is no way to prevent the disease. Spiegel DA, Hosalkar HS, Dormans JP. The spine. In: Kliegman RM, Behrman RE, Jenson HB, Stanton BF, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 678. Thomas N. Joseph, MD, Private Practice specializing in Orthopaedics, subspecialty Foot and Ankle, Camden Bone & Joint, Camden, SC. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M. Health Solutions, Inc.

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Bone and Joint Conditions

Dying Suddenly - Sudden Cardiac Death People at Risk - Individuals who have coronary artery disease, especially those who have suffered myocardial infarctions ("heart attacks") in the past - Individuals who have congestive heart failure of any cause - Individuals with intrinsic heart muscle disease such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, and arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia - Individuals with family history of heart muscle disease and SCD - Individuals with syncope of unknown cause - Individuals who abuse cocaine or heroin Coronary artery disease is the underlying heart disease in 70 to 90% of individuals who succumb to SCD. Although many episodes of SCD are called "heart attacks," most of them, in fact, do not represent new myocardial infarctions. The arrhythmias that occur originate in previously damaged regions of the heart, and no new heart damage is necessary to start the arrhythmias. Patients with congestive heart failure are at high risk of SCD. As left ventricular ejection fraction falls, the risk of SCD increases regardless of the underlying cause of the heart disease. Ironically, CHF patients who receive certain types of antiarrhythmic drugs are particularly prone to suffer proarrhythmic side effects of the medications because of interactions between the medications and the diseased tissue. Some non-antiarrhythmic medications, the beta blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, have been shown to decrease the risk of SCD in CHF patients, but the degree of risk is still much higher than that of a normal healthy person. SCD is frequently seen in individuals with heart diseases where the primary problem lies with the heart muscle cells themselves; these diseases are called cardiomyopathies. Different cardiomyopathies are caused by different cellular defects, but most of the cardiomyopathies are associated at one time or another with congestive heart failure and the formation of scar tissue in the ventricles. Since many cardiomyopathies are genetically transmitted, individuals in families that exhibit cardiomyopathy who have family members that have died suddenly appear to be more prone to SCD than those without a family history of SCD. Syncope is spontaneous loss of consciousness. Since arrhythmias may cause syncope and may also be the first and only manifestation of heart disease, thorough cardiac evaluation following an episode of syncope is very important. Although the most common causes of syncope are relatively benign, "aborted" SCD should be considered as a possible cause of syncope, especially in a patient who has not been evaluated. If no heart disease is found after thorough evaluation and the history suggests a simple drop in blood pressure in the absence of arrhythmias, one can be reassured that the likelihood of life-threatening disease is low. Many drugs have been associated with serious arrhythmias. Antiarrhythmic medications, when administered to patients with heart disease, can have proarrhythmic effects as noted above. Cocaine has been noted to cause spasm of the coronary arteries and, in large repeated doses, to have a direct toxic effect on the heart muscle. The cocaine-induced cardiomyopathy shows the same tendency toward arrhythmias as other cardiomyopathies. In addition, cocaine increases adrenaline and catecholamine levels in the bloodstream that further stresses the heart and exacerbates the tendency toward arrhythmias.

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Medical Topics

William Gilly has seen a Kraken. The mythical squid beast with ship-dooming tentacles surely exists, Gilly says, because he's seen a baby one. "It was this big around," he says, making a circle as big as a tire with his arms, a proud, boyish smile on his face. Fishermen spotted the carcass of the 2.4-metre-long, 181-kilogram baby giant squid in Monterey Bay three years ago, according to "If you're an assistant professor proposing to study it, I don't think you'd get tenure," he says. "But one has to exist." laboratory at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove brims with squid décor: stuffed animals, preserved specimens, glass figurines, drawings, photographs, plastic toys, and piñatas. He has studied these denizens of the sea for almost four decades, and he's handled countless numbers of the fabled Kraken's smaller cousins, the very real jumbo Humboldt squid. Like their giant counterparts, Humboldt squid are enigmatic. No one has seen them mate or lay eggs. No one has watched them develop from egg to adult. No one knows how many exist. These tentacled titans have now ensnared marine biologists with another riddle: they have left their normal gathering grounds in the Sea of Cortez in Baja California, Mexico. Fishermen worry that a critical part of their livelihood may be gone. Many families have depended on Humboldt squid since the slippery creatures moved in droves into the Gulf of California's Guaymas Basin in the "We have a huge problem on our hands," says coordinator Juan Pedro Vela Arreola of the Alianza de Ribereños y Armadores, an association of fishermen and producers in Mexico. "Fishermen are desperate." Gilly blames the most recent El Niño in the Pacific Ocean for forcing some Humboldt squid to migrate away. Others have physically shrunk -- just one bizarre adaptation among their many strange body-shifting traits. Leaders of Mexican fisheries and scientists are banding together to figure out whether the diablos rojos (red devils) will come back, and how to cope in the "You have to learn to live in a very unpredictable way," says Unai Markaida of El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) in Campeche, Mexico. "You live like a squid, and you adapt to the life it leads." "They're very mysterious," says marine biologist Danna Staaf, stressing very in a slightly higher pitch. "And Staaf, a self-described "cephalopodiatrist," completed her PhD with Gilly's team. She studied Humboldt squid on two summer research cruises in the Gulf of California before the latest El Niño drove them away. She and her crewmates pulled up to 15 squid out of the water every night, when they would come up to the surface from depths of more than 975 metres to feed. Many of the 9-kilogram cephalopods she caught were about 1.2 metres long. Most were a year old. Scientists can tell their age by looking at the number of rings on tiny crystals located near their brain called statoliths, like botanists can age a tree by counting its rings. These stones help a squid detect gravity and maintain their balance and sense of space. The scientists stored some of the catch in their "squid condo," an oversize cooler with continuously flowing water and six clear, plastic tubes. They housed squid in separate tubes to keep them from attacking one another. Over the next few days, they studied the squids' behaviours and neurophysiology. For instance, altering the temperature and oxygen content of the water could trigger or change their escape response -- the way squid dart away when startled by a predator. Staaf dissected other squid to study their development, the focus of her dissertation. She used their eggs and sperm to make squid babies. She wanted to discover the temperature range at which their eggs could hatch and develop. At the time, Humboldt squid had spread to waters off the coast of Monterey. Marine scientists thought the squid might establish new colonies there, but Staaf wanted to know whether it was even possible for the animals to grow in the much cooler waters of California's Pacific coast. In the lab, she found, their eggs can grow between temperatures of 15 and 25 degrees Celsius, suggesting it is possible they could set up a breeding population. Whether squid babies have the same preferences in the wild is still unknown, Staaf says. Other team members studied squid chromatophores, structures in their muscles that allow them to change colour. Humboldts sometimes flash from red to white as they propel themselves through dark waters. Scientists don't know how they control these colour shifts, whether it's the brain or local nerve cells that set off the flickering. They also don't fully understand why they suddenly change colours, but some speculate it's a form of When they're not in direct contact with other squid, their flesh flickers from red to white in a random, mosaic-like pattern. Gilly compares this to visual white noise. But as they interact with their species, the irregular colour waves become more organised, like a cephalopod Morse code, Gilly says. They can change the intensity of the flashing, as well as the rhythm and frequency. Squid might use these "calls," together with arm posturing, to attract mates or to establish hierarchies, for example. Gilly and his team have seen some of these behaviours through underwater "Crittercams," about the size of 340-gram drink bottle, attached to a squid's back. "Ideally, we'd also like to see what they eat," Gilly says, because that might help his team study these animals. Scientists can't get Humboldts to eat in the lab, so squid last only a few days in Indeed, squid dislike being trapped, strongly. Sometimes they get so anxious, they ram themselves against the tank. "They've never seen the bottom. They've certainly never seen the wall of a tank," Gilly says. "They're intelligent organisms. And when you put one in an abnormal situation, they get totally freaked out. They don't do their flickering in the lab," he notes. Scientists do know that during the day, Humboldt squid forage for silvery lanternfish and other small animals in the oxygen minimum zone, a dark, cold netherworld more than 900 metres deep. Here, oxygen is scarce, and while few animals can withstand its hostile environment, Humboldts seem to thrive. "Living in low oxygen -- that's surprising, especially for an animal that's an athlete," Markaida says. How they move and how their nervous system functions under these conditions is still a mystery. Widespread changes in the temperatures of Earth's oceans have compelled many creatures, including the powerful Humboldt squid, to seek new climes. Their dominion usually stretches from Argentina to California, but more recently they've been spotted in Canada and Alaska. Scientists don't yet understand how the squid are settling into their new hangouts. This month, a few Humboldts stranded themselves on the beaches of Pacific Grove, Calif, while whale-watching boats have spotted them near Point Pinos. These sightings might be a sign they are returning, Gilly says.

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Marine Life Studies

Midnight Rising: John Brown & the Raid that Sparked the Civil War November 2, 2011 Abolitionist John Brown is best known for his foiled attempt to seize the federal armory and arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, on October 16th 1859. Three years after he and his sons raided and viciously killed five men at a pro-slavery settlement in Kansas, Brown led 18 men, including five blacks and two of his sons, to what is now Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Ten of the men were killed in the raid, one got away, and seven were hanged, including Brown. Our guest, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist TONY HORWITZ, considers if Brown’s intention was to be a martyr for his vehement anti-slavery war stance, as he deepened and exposed the divide between the North and the South and forced people to take sides. In his new book, Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War, he researches the beginnings of Brown’s Calvinist, anti-slavery family and ponders the question whether John Brown's legacy is as a hero or a zealous vigilante.

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Historical Events and Figures