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The American Revolutionary War began in 1775 and ended in 1783. The British ruled the American colonists and they had become increasingly rebellious. General Gage had ordered 700 British soldiers to Concord to destroy a weapon's depot belonging to the colonists. On the way, they are met by some rebellious colonists and the British fire, killing eight Americans and wounding ten. This was known as ‘the shot heard round the world' and the war was on. The first major battle occurred on June 17, 1775 at Boston, Massachusetts. It was known as the Battle of Bunker Hill. The British are used to marching proudly out before taking aim and firing. The Americans have been ordered not to fire until they can see the whites of their eyes. They are dug in along the high ground of Breed's Hill. As the British close in, the Americans begin firing halting the advance. The British regroup and attack again. The same thing happens. By the third attack the Americans are out of ammunition and have to resort to stones and bayonets. Although the British take the hill, they've lost half their force with over a thousand casualties; the Americans have lost four hundred. On January 9, 1776, Thomas Paine's pamphlet, ‘Common Sense' criticizes King George III and encourages independence from Britain. It becomes a bestseller. By May, America has support from France and promises of support from Spain. After many battles, Congress formally endorses the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. But the war isn't over yet. On July 14, 1777, Congress mandates an American flag consisting of thirteen stars and thirteen stripes to represent the thirteen colonies.
The first major American victory in the Revolutionary war occurs on October 7, 1777 at the Battle of Saratoga. There are six hundred British casualties to one hundred fifty American. On November 15, 1777, Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation giving Congress the sole authority of the new government. In February, France officially recognizes the United States. On March 16, 1778, a Peace Commission from Britain is sent to negotiate with the Americans. They offer to meet all demands, except independence. Congress rejects their offer. On July 10, 1778, France declares war against Britain. By now the British have instigated attacks on Americans by the native Indians. On May 12, 1780, the Americans suffered a major defeat as Charleston, South Carolina was captured by the British. On October 17, 1781, the British at Yorktown send out a flag of truce. On January 1, 1782, the British begin leaving America. On February 27, 1782, the House of Commons in England votes against further war with America. On August 27, 1872, the last battle is waged in South Carolina. On February 4, 1783, England officially declares an end to hostilities in America. On April 11, 1783, Congress officially declares an end to the Revolutionary war. | <urn:uuid:1b7c2cbc-6535-49f1-a99b-cb3d06419f5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shvoong.com/humanities/history/6433-american-revolutionary-war/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968392 | 597 | 3.890625 | 4 |
The Wild West
How the West Was Won
Dusty road shoot outs, roaming buffalo, bar brawls, gold, tragedy and genocide, damsels in distress, and cowboys riding off into the sunset—the taming of the Western frontier is one of the most colorful and fascinating periods of American history. In this beautifully illustrated and comprehensive book, Bruce Wexler brings the ruggedness of the old American West to life. The Wild West separates fact from the fiction, exposing the myths of the old West, and assesses its cultural impact on the indigenous people, American life, and the American dream—both past and present. | <urn:uuid:a249a77c-3fee-4d88-a1ac-cc9bda7c1e8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/book/?GCOI=60239100542700 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.886543 | 129 | 2.859375 | 3 |
What is SMART ?SMART (Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions) is an inter-agency initiative launched in 2002 by a network of organizations and humanitarian practitioners.
SMART Methodology is an improved survey method for the assessment of severity of a humanitarian crisis based on the two most vital public health indicators:
- Nutritional status of children under-five.
- Mortality rate of the population.
SMART NewsUPCOMING SMART TRAINING: An inter-agency training will take place in Madrid on June 17th-21st, 2013, intended for European-based headquarter staff involved in nutrition and mortality surveys. Please make sure you have filled out the pre-questionnaire no later than Friday, May 24th, 2013: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SMART_MADRID_2013
Preparing survey teams in SMART
The SMART standardized survey methodology incorporates elements of nutrition, mortality, and food security for emergencies or surveillance purposes. It was developed to be used with the user-friendly ENA software.
The SMART manual provides agencies & field workers with basic tools to collect data necessary for planning direct interventions in emergency settings, as well as for surveillance.
Standardized Training Package (STP)
The STP harmonizes the procedures and tools used throughout the survey process and is broken down into 9 modules.
Emergency Nutrition Assessment (ENA) Software
ENA software is the user-friendly analytical program recommended by SMART. It saves time and effort by simplifying both survey planning and data collection via integrated calculators. | <urn:uuid:ee3a071f-b6c1-4d70-9f3e-f3d1e7be89fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smartmethodology.org/index.php?option=com_user&view=reset&lang=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905918 | 330 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Animals. Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without eating ‘em. (Just kidding, vegans!)
Whether or not you do eat them, you certainly don’t want to waste any of the precious meat — and that’s what normally happens when a machine, not a human, tries to butcher an animal. After all, each animal is a different size and shape.
Enter Automated Lamb Boning. Developed by Scott Technology LTD, a New Zealand-based lamb exporter, this process uses X-ray technology to measure the inner dimensions of a lamb carcass to make cuts accurate and reduce waste.
Using the X-ray of each carcass, the 100% automated processing plant can adjust its robotic arms, claws, grippers, torso impalers and conveyor belts to make the most accurate cuts.
Watch the video (not for the squeamish) to see how efficiently it produces crown racks, chops and more.
Related on SmartPlanet:
- Video: Machine scoops up, deposits ketchup — in same shape
- Self-sculpting sand assembles itself into shapes
- Small, speedy robots zip, roll and swarm through the air
- Lockheed Martin debuts maple seed-inspired drone
- Video: Scientists create micro-robots that form assembly lines
via: Popular Science | <urn:uuid:215628a9-137b-4140-9cf1-45af7566b15c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/science-scope/video-automated-lamb-boning-makes-for-accurate-butchering/12912 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.848812 | 285 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Smoke Detectors, Carbon Monoxide Detectors, Gas Detectors
SMOKE DETECTOR INFORMATION:
Most people are aware of the danger of fire but are unaware of the fatality of smoke. More people die from breathing smoke than by burns. In fact, deaths from smoke inhalation outnumber deaths by burning by 2:1. In a hostile fire, smoke and deadly gases tend to spread farther and faster than heat from flames. Moreover, when people are asleep, deadly fumes can send them deeper into unconsciousness.
Smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors are a powerful and effective fire safety technology. They are the first lines of defense against smoke and fire. They may awaken those who would otherwise have been overcome by smoke and toxic gases in their sleep. And most importantly, they provide an early warning alerting individuals of a fire, allowing them precious time to escape.
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), 75 to 80% of all deaths by fire happen in the home. More than half of these deaths occurred in buildings without smoke detectors. By installing a smoke detector, individuals can reduce the risk of dying by almost 50%.
Ionization smoke detectors monitor 'ions,' or electrically charged particles in the air. Air molecules in a sample chamber of ionization smoke detectors, are 'ionized' by a radioactive source. This allows a small electrical current flow. Smoke particles entering the sensing chamber change the electrical balance of the air. The greater the amount of smoke, the higher the electrical imbalance. When combustion particles enter the smoke detector, they obstruct the flow of the current. An alarm is pre-programmed to sound when the current gets too low.
Ionization smoke detectors respond first to fast flaming fires. A flaming fire devours combustibles extremely fast, spreads rapidly and generates considerable heat with little smoke.
Ionization alarms are best suited for rooms, which contain highly combustible material. These types of material include:
1. Cooking fat/grease 2. Flammable liquids 3. Newspaper 4. Paint 5. Cleaning solutions
Smoke alarms with ionization technology are the most popular types sold in the United States.
The NFPA recommends smoke alarms be installed in EVERY room and area of your home or bulding for complete protection. For maximum protection, install at least one ionization and one photoelectronic smoke alarm on each level of your home.
All smoke alarms should be replaced after 10 years of operation. Ten years is a smoke alarm's useful lifetime and for continued, reliable safety and protection, smoke alarms need to be replaced.
Consumer's should consult their owner's manual for specific instructions when locating a smoke alarm. The following are some general guidelines:
Because smoke rises, smoke alarms should be installed on the ceiling or on walls at least 4 to 6 inches below the ceiling.
Smoke alarms should not be located less than 4 to 6 inches from where the wall and ceiling meet on either surface; this space is dead air that receives little circulation.
Smoke alarms should not be mounted in front of an air supply, return duct, near ceiling fans, peaks of A-frame ceilings, dusty areas, locations outside the 40 degree Farenheit to 100 degree Farenheit temperature range, in humid areas or near fluorescent lighting.
If you hear the smoke alarm, roll to the floor and crawl to the door. Stay low where the air is cleaner and cooler. Touch the door. If the door feels cool, open it just a crack and check for smoke. If there is no smoke, leave by your planned escape route. Crawl and keep your head down. If the door feels hot, do not open it. Do no panic. Escape out the window or use an alternate exit.
If you can't leave your room, seal the cracks around the doors and vents as best you can. Use a wet towel or clothing if possible. Open a window at both the top and bottom. Stay low and breathe fresh air. Shout for help and signal your location by waving a bright cloth, towel or sheet out of a window.
If you live in a high rise building, never use the elevator to escape fire. If the fire blocks your exit, close your apartment door and cover all cracks where smoke could enter. Telephone the fire department, even if fire fighters are aleready at the scene, and tell them where you are. Shout for help and signal your location by waving a bright cloth, towel or sheet out of a window.
If your clothes catch on fire, "Stop, Drop and Roll" to put out the flames. Do not run-running will only increase the flames.
Photoelectronic alarms contain a light emitting diode (LED) which is adjusted to direct a narrow infrared light across the unit's detection chamber. When smoke particles enter this chamber they interfere with the beam and scatter the light. A strategically placed photodiode monitors the amount of light scattered within the chamber. When a pre-set level of light strikes the photodiode, the alarm is activated.
Photoelectronic smoke alarms respond first to slow smoldering fires. A smoldering fire generates large amounts of thick, black smoke with little heat and may smolder for hours before bursting into flames.
Photoelectronic models are best suited for living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens. This is because these rooms often contain large pieces of furniture, such as sofas, chairs, mattresses, counter tops, etc. which will burn slowly and create more smoldering smoke than flames. Photoelectronic smoke alarms are also less prone to nuisance alarms in the kitchen area than ionization smoke alarms.
The use of both ionization and photoelectronic smoke alarms will provide a home with maximum protection and an ample warning in the event of a fire.
Families should get together and draw a floor plan of their home. They should show two ways out of every room. The first way should be out a door and the second way could be through a window. If it is a second or third story window, they might consider purchasing a safety ladder. They should choose a meeting place for all family members outside the home and mark it on the plan. A good meeting place would be a driveway, tree or a neighbor's home.
Families should practice the escape plan to make sure everyone understands the planned routes. Involve every member of the family. Start with everyone in their beds with the doors closed. Have one person sound the smoke alarm. Have each person touch his or her door. (Tip: sleep with bedroom doors closed. A closed door will help show the spread of fire, smoke and heat). Practice low escape routes-one for a cool door and one for a hot door. Meet outdoors at the assigned meeting place. Designate one person to call the fire department. Make sure everyone knows the fire department or local emergency telephone number.
Consumers should be advised of the following features when choosing a smoke alarm to best suit their needs:
Smoke detectors with an alarm silencer feature will silence an alarming unit for several minutes, giving the air time to clear. These models are idal near kitchen and cooking areas where most nuisance alarms occur. Note: consumers should always determine the reason for the unit sounding before quickly dismissing it as a nuisance alarm and pressing the alarm silencer feature to silence the alarm.
Long Life Smoke Detectors
The NFPA reports that 1/3 of all smoke detectors installed in homes are not operating because of dead or missing batteries. This is an all too common occurrence in smoke detectors that leaves families and homes vulnerable.
Long life smoke detectors utilize lithium batteries that provide up to 10 years of continuous protection. Lithium batteries eliminate the need and expense of semi-annual battery replacement. When long life smoke detectors near the end of their tenth year in operation, they will sound a low battery signal to remind consumers to replace the entire unit.
Note: it is recommended that smoke detectors be replaced every 10 years and be tested regularly.
Some smoke detectors have a built-in emergency light that will turn on when the unit goes into alarm. The emergency light will illuminate an escape route in case of a power failure. These units are best utilized when installed by stairs and in hallways.
Hardwire smoke detectors are connected to a home's AC power supply and should be intalled by a licensed electrician according to the local electrical code. AC power means you never have to replace a battery to protect your home and family.
CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR INFORMATION:
Carbon monoxide poisoning is often confused with the flu. It is important that you discuss with all family members the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. Different carbon monoxide concentrations and exposure times cause different symptoms. Remember, carbon monoxide detectors are your first defense against carbon monoxide poisoning.
EXTREME EXPOSURE: Unconsciousness, convulsions, cardiorespiratory failure, and death
MEDIUM EXPOSURE: Severe throbbing headache, drowsiness, confusion, vomitting, and fast heart rate
MILD EXPOSURE: Slight headache, nausea, fatigue (often described as 'flu-like' symptoms)
For most people, mild symptoms generally will be felt after several hours of exposure of 100 ppm's of carbon monoxide.
Many reported cases of carbon monoxide poisoning indicate that while victims are aware they are not well, they become so disoriented that they are unable to save themselves by either exiting the building or calling for assistance. Also, due to small size, young children and household pets may be the first affected.
If left unchecked, a child's exposure to carbon monoxide can lead to neurological disorders, memory loss, personality changes and mild to severe forms of brain damage.
If a child complains or shows signs of headaches, dizziness, fatigue or nausea or diarrhea, he or she could have carbon monoxide poisoning. Be especially aware of symptoms that disappear when the child is out of the house and reappear upon return, or symptoms that affect the entire household at once.
Since the symptoms closely mimic viral conditions such as the flu, without the fever, carbon monoxide poisoning is often treated improperly, if at all.
A physician can perform a simple blood test (called a carboxyhemoglobin test) to determine the level of carbon monoxide in the bloodstream. If elevated levels of carbon monoxide are present, hyperbaric (high-pressure) oxygen treatment may be used to rid the body of carbon monoxide. A physician will make this determination and administer treatment if necessary.
Children with carbon monoxide poisoning have mistakenly been treated for indigestion.
The following are considerations consumers should be advised to take when choosing a carbon monoxide detector that will be sure to meet their needs.
1. Consumers should consider ease of installation, the location of installation and the power source of an alarm when choosing a plug-in, battery powered or hardwire model.
Plug-in units are designed to directly plug into a standard 120-volt electrical outlet for simple installation. This location provides easy access for both testing and resetting the detector. In addition, the location provides both a visual and audible difference from a ceiling mounted smoke alarm, which may help to eliminate confusion during an emergency alarm condition. A plug-in unit also requires no additional costs for annual battery replacement.
Battery powered units can be easily mounted to a wall or ceiling if the consumer wishes to keep electrical outlets free, if they wish to keep the unit relatively out of sight, or if they would like to keep the alarm away from the reach of children. Some battery-powered units are portable alarms that work anywhere--no installation required. These units may be mounted to a wall, left on a tabletop or carried while traveling. Battery powered units require battery replacement every year, similar to smoke alarms. These units will have a low battery-warning signal to indicate when the batteries need repacing.
Hardwire units are powered by wiring the unit directly into a household's AC power supply at a junction box. A licensed electrician according to the local electrical code should install them. The unit can be permanently installed to prevent tampering.
2. Consumers should choose a carbon monoxide detector with the features (e.g. low level warning, battery back up, digital display, etc.) that meet their needs.
Low Level Warning-some carbon monoxide alarms sound a warning (e.g. 3 short beeps) when a low level of carbon monoxide has been detected. Low levels of carbon monoxide can be hazardous over a long period of time. Low level warnings flag potential carbon monoxide problems and allow consumers time to respond to them before an emergency situation arises.
Battery Backup-some plug-in carbon monoxide alarm models have a back-up power source that allows the unit to function in the event of a main line power failure. During a power outage, people are likely to use alternate sources of power, light and heat (e.g. kerosene heaters, gas-powered portable generators and fireplaces) which may be out of tune and may produce deadly carbon monoxide gas.
Digital Display-some carbon monoxide alarms have a digital display that shows the levels of carbon monoxide in the air in parts per million (ppm). For some people, this added feature provides at-a-glance peace of mind.
3. Consumers should choose an alarm that has been accuracy tested.
American Sensors(TM), guarantees each of its alarms to be Triple Accuracy Tested(TM).
American Sensors'(TM) triple Accuracy Testing process exposes every alarm to three separate tests during manufacturing. This testing process includes twice exposing the alarm to carbon monoxide to precisely calibrate each unit. One test is at high levels and the second is at lower levels of carbon monoxide. In the third step, every alarm is tested to protect against nuisance alarms.
This stringent method of testing and quality control helps ensure that every American Sensors(TM) carbon monoxide alarm will provide years of reliable, accurate protection for your family and home.
4. Consumers should compare alarm warranties and note hidden operating costs.
Consumers should select an alarm that offers a comprehensive warranty. The alarm's warranty should include its sensor. Consumers should be advised that some CO alarms require the purchase of an expensive replacement sensor and/or battery pack as an ongoing expense. American Sensors(TM) alarms do not require replacement sensors and carry a 5 year warranty.
5. Check that the product is Listed by Underwriters Laboratories Inc. UL 2034 and/or Underwriters' Laboratories of Canada.
Consumers should avoid any brand that does not bear the mark of Underwriters Laboratories Inc. and/or Underwriters' Laboratories of Canada.
All American Sensors(TM) carbon monoxide alarms meets and/or exceeds the latest stringent standards of Underwriters Laboratories Inc. and/or Underwriters' Laboratories of Canada.
Carbon monoxide is generated through incomplete combustion of fuel such as natural gas, propane, heating oil, kerosene, coal, and charcoal, gasoline or wood.
This incomplete combustion can occur in a variety of home appliances. The major cause of high levels of carbon monoxide in the home is faulty ventilation of funaces, hot water heaters, fireplaces, cooking stoves, grills and kerosene heaters.
Other common sources are car exhausts, and gas or diesel powered portable machines.
Faulty or improper ventilation of natural gas and fuel oil furnaces during the cold winter months accouts for most carbon monoxide poisoning cases.
Correct operation of any fuel burning equipment requires two key conditions. There must be:
* An adequate supply of air for complete combustion.
* Proper ventilation of fuel burning appliances through the chimney, vents or duct to the outside.
Install carbon monoxide alarms as a first line of defense against poisoning. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends installing at least one carbon monoxide alarm with an audible alarm near the sleeping areas in every home. Install additional alarms on every level and in every bedroom to provide extra protection.
Carbon monoxide poisoning can happen anywhere and at any time in your home. However, most carbon monoxide poisoning cases occur while people are sleeping. Therefore, for the best protection, a carbon monoxide alarm should be installed in the sleeping area.
Approximately 250 people in the US died last year from the 'silent killer'-carbon monoxide. The safety experts at Underwriter's Laboratories Inc. (UL) recommend that consumers follow these steps to help prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.
1. Have a qualified technician inspect fuel-burning appliances at least once a year. Fuel-burning appliances such as furnaces, how water heaters and stoves require yearly maintenance. Over time, components can become damaged or deteriorate. A qualified technician can identify and repair problems with your fuel-burning appliances. Carbon monoxide detectors can detect a carbon monoxide condition in your home.
2. Be alert to the danger signs that signal carbon monoxide problems, e.g., streaks of carbon or soot around the service door of your fuel burning appliances; the absence of a draft in your chimney; excessive rusting on flue pipes or appliance jackets; moisture collecting on the windows and walls of furnace rooms; fallen soot from the fireplace; small amounts of water leaking from the base of the chimney, vent or flue pipe; damaged or discolored bricks at the top of your chimney and rust on the portion of the vent pipe visible from outside your home.
3. Be aware that carbon monoxide poisoning may be the cause of flu-like symptoms such as headaches, tightness of chest, dizziness, fatigue, confussion and breathing difficulties. Because carbon monoxide poisoning often causes a victim's blood pressure to rise, the victim's skin may take on a ink or red cast.
4. Install a UL/ULC Listed carbon monoxide detector outside sleeping areas. A UL/ULC Listed carbon monoxide alarm will sound an alarm before dangerous levels of carbon monoxide accumulate.
Carbon monoxide poisoning can happen to anyone, anytime, almost anywhere. While anyone is susceptible, experts agree that unborn babies, small children, senior citizens and people with heart or respiratory problems are especially vulnerable to carbon monoxide and are at the greatest risk for death or serious injuries. Itís time to install your carbon monoxide detector.
Infants and children are especially vulnerable to carbon monoxide due to their high metabolic rates. Because children use more oxygen faster than adults do, deadly carbon monoxide gas accumulates in their bodies faster and can interfere with oxygen supply to vital organs such as the brain and the heart. Unborn babies have an even higher risk of carbon monoxide poisoning and carbon monoxide poisoning in pregnant women has been linked to birth defects. This is another reason to install a carbon monoxide detector.
Hundreds of people die each year, and thousands more require medical treatment, because of carbon monoxide poisoning in their home. Now, with recent technological breakthroughs, you can avoid becoming one of these statistics simply by installing a carbon monoxide detector in your home.
Consumers should consult their owner's maunal for a carbon monoxide detector procedure. However, the following is a general procedure:
If a carbon monoxide detector sounds a low level warning or hazard level alarm, consumers should push the test/reset button to silence it.
If no one in the household has any carbon monoxide symptoms (headache, dizziness, nausea, and fatigue) consumers should be advised to open the doors and windows to air out their house. They should turn off any gas, oil or other fuel powered appliances including the furnace and call a qualified technician or thier local utility company to inspect and repair their home before restarting the furnace and all fuel-burning appliances.
If anyone in the household does have signs of carbon monoxide poisoning, consumers should leave their home immediately and call their local emergency service or 911 for help. They should do a head count to check that all persons are accounted for once outside in the fresh air. They should not re-enter their home until it has been aired out and the problem corrected by a qualified technician or utility company.
Most carbon monoxide detectors sold at retail are for use in single residential living units only. They should only be used inside a single family home or apartment. They cannot be used in RV's or boats.
Carbon monoxide detectors should not be installed in the following locations:
1. Kitchens or within 5 feet of any cooking appliance where grease, smoke, and other decomposed compounds from cooking could build up on the surface of the carbon monoxide sensor and cause the alarm to malfunction.
2. Bathrooms or the other rooms where long-term exposure to steam or high levels of water vapor could permanently damage the carbon monoxide sensor.
3. Very cold (below 40 degrees Fahrenheit) or very hot (above 100 degrees Fahrenheit) rooms. The alarm will not work properly under these conditions.
4. Do not place in a close proximity to an automobile exhaust pipe, as this will damage the sensor.
***PLACE ONE CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR ON EVERY LEVEL OF YOUR HOME FOR MAXIMUM PROTECTION***
Read the manufacturer's instructions carefully before installing a carbon monoxide alarm. Do not place the alarm within five feet of household chemicals. If your alarm is wired directly into your home's electrical system, you should test it monthly. If your unit operates off a battery, test the alarm weekly and replace the battery at least once a year.
Avoid placing your alarm directly on top of or directly across from fuel-burning appliances. These appliances will emit some carbon monoxide when initially turned-on. Never use charcoal grills inside a home, tent, camper or unventilated garage. Don't leave vehichles running in an enclosed garage, even to 'warm up' your car on a cold morning.
Know how to respond to a carbon monoxide detector. If your alarm sounds, immediately open windows and doors for ventilation. if anyone in the home is experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning-headache, dizziness or other flu-like symptoms, immediately evacuate the house and call the fire department. Don't go back into the house until a fire fighter tells you it is okay to do so. If no one is experiencing these symptoms, continue to ventilate, turn off fuel-burning appliances and call a qualified technician to inspect your heating system and appliances as soon as possible. Because you have provided ventilation, the carbon monoxide buildup may have dissipated by the time help responds and your problem may appear to be temporarily solved. Do not operate any fuel-burning appliances until you have clearly identified the source of the problem. A carbon monoxide alarm indicates elevated levels of carbon monoxide in the home. NEVER IGNORE THE ALARM.
The safety experts urge consumers to recognize the danger signs of carbon monoxide before any harm can come to them or their families. | <urn:uuid:a6654bd8-a96b-4e44-8f17-8171ec24a2b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smokesign.com/detectors.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914133 | 4,736 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Here is how it was done in 1810...By a mechanical wiz, not a beginner - now show us how you'd do it with a few motors and a controller
And I don't think that you'd put that old mechanical doll in the "simple" category?
Simple it was not. Just imagine what it took to program it by cutting brass cams for each degree of freedom... Amazing is what I would call it.
Now, back to the original problem - is this robot supposed to write random phrases or just a couple pre-programed things?
One of the tough parts would be the math - first, mathematically describing the path for the tip of the arm and then sorting out all of the joint angles as a function of time to get it to trace the desired path.
One way around the math would be to build the arm with position sensors and then just move the arm by hand along the desired paths and record the angles. Then, the recorded values could be used as the target positions for your arm controller (a simple PI controller is likely to be adequate if you didn't try to move the arm too fast). Create tables of time / position pairs to describe the paths for the arm.
If the arm was built with servos - that makes it more difficult to record the "training" movements because all the feedback is inside the servo's themselves. So, you would have to open up the servos and run wires back from the potentiometers to your micro-controller to record the servo positions as you train it. (And translate from the voltage from the pot to the pulsewidth sent to the servo to get that position - another training exercise where you command various pulsewidths and record the potentiometer output.)
Getting a robot to generate nice cursive writing was a challenge in 1810, and can be a challenge today! | <urn:uuid:0045912d-03d2-49b5-bc59-99f1b7edb280> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=15354.msg110910 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95786 | 383 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Sign up to save your quiz points
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Prepare Your Classroom
to Learn with a Tablet.
Learning the musical alphabet notation and where each note is on the piano keyboard in relation to the two and three black keys.
Learning the musical alphabet A through G and finding them on the piano.
for Sophia online college credit courses. | <urn:uuid:89b0da71-4d28-4898-9094-74566c9e48bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sophia.org/beginning-piano-instruction-the-musical-alphabet-tutorial?subject=music | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.858997 | 76 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Federal and state laws emphasize the importance of parents/guardians as key decision makers in the educational process. Child Study Team personnel share many common skills such as child advocacy, understanding of school functioning, knowledge and implementation of special education law, case management, transition planning, inservice training, research, and community collaboration. However, each discipline approaches the intervention and eligibility process from a different perspective based on the training and skills of each profession.
School Psychologists are specialists with training and expertise in psychology as it is applied to education. They use their training and skills to collaborate with parents/guardians, educators, and other professionals to ensure that every child learns in a safe and supportive environment. School Psychologists use their understanding of school organization and effective learning to help students realize their academic and social potentials. They tailor their services to the particular needs of each child and each situation. School Psychologists are trained to assess and counsel students with behavioral, emotional, and educational concerns through consultation, prevention, intervention, crisis management, evaluation, and program development. A psychological assessment shall be the responsibility of a School Psychologist employed by the district Board of Education. The psychological assessment should include standardized and functional appraisals of a student’s current cognitive, intellectual, adaptive, social, emotional and behavioral status in the context of his/her environments. The assessment should include consultation with parents, educators, and relevant professionals; a student interview; and observation of the student in other than a testing situation.
School Social Workers provide unique services to students and their families, helping the students attain maximum benefits from their educational programs. The School Social Worker's knowledge of social, emotional, cultural and economic differences among children and families enable them to be the link between school, family and community. As a member of the educational team, School Social Workers promote and support students' academic and social/emotional well-being. Through sound school social work practice, the School Social Worker is able to enhance the full educational and individual potential of all students and eliminate barriers to learning by being pro-active within the academic community and providing early intervention, prevention, consultation, counseling, crisis management, and support services. A social assessment shall be the responsibility of a school social worker employed by the district board of education. The social assessment shall include observation of the student and communication with the student's parent(s)/guardian(s). It shall also include an evaluation of the student's adaptive social functioning and emotional development and of the family, social, and cultural factors which influence the student's learning and behavior in the educational setting. | <urn:uuid:0c7bd9c5-eaa6-42da-afe8-68601b01be48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.staffordschools.org/Domain/55 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959113 | 521 | 2.984375 | 3 |
LABDIEN [Hello]! My name is Hannah Rosenthal, and I am the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism at the U.S. Department of State. In Latvian, envoy means “Īpašā sūtne”. Thank you for inviting me here today to speak to you about the importance of diversity and respect for others. I am always eager to speak to young students because so much of my work depends on your help.
As the Special Envoy, it is my job to monitor anti-Semitic incidents and combat such intolerance. “Anti-Semitism” simply means hatred for Jewish people. I monitor anti-Semitic incidents such as vandalism of religious places, anti-Semitic speech, and even violence against Jews.
But the truth is, I am in the relationship-building business. I am here today to tell you that young people and students can have an impact and do what I do. We must all share and strive for the same mission: to combat hate and intolerance to create a more peaceful and just world.
In order to fight hatred, we must begin with respecting the dignity of every individual, regardless of his or her beliefs. In fact, our differences make us human. You may have heard about the concept of the “Other,” or in Latvian, “svešinieks”. There are individuals in this world who would like us to view some people as outside the larger human family.
The desire to stamp out or suppress or ostracize certain individuals because of who they are, how they worship, or who they love is an obstacle for all members of society. Intolerance prevents us from creating a just and peaceful society. Meanwhile, we, as society, must not stand by idly. When we stand by passively, we also pay a price.
Terrible things can happen when intolerance and racism take hold in a society, across a continent. Hitler’s Nazi ideology called for racial purity and targeted the Jews as an Other that needed to be exterminated. Some of you may know that yesterday communities around the world observed Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. Yom HaShoah is a day to remember the victims of the Holocaust and to commemorate the individuals – including some Latvians -- who risked their lives to save the Jews. I understand Latvia has its own official Holocaust Remembrance Day on July 4. While we officially commemorate the Holocaust on these days, we must carry their lessons with us every day. We must stand against attitudes that value some individuals below others. We must expand the circle of rights and opportunities to all people – advancing their freedoms and possibilities.
Intolerance is a moral, a political, and a social problem. But it is also a solvable one. It is not unchangeable. We are not born hating. Somewhere we learn to hate. We can, in fact, make hatred and intolerance something of the past. But this demands our attention. It’s not easy work, but it is urgent work.
At the U.S. Department of State (which is like the Foreign Ministry in Latvia) I work within the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. The primary and overarching goal of the Bureau is to promote freedom and democracy and protect human rights around the world. We are constantly strengthening our policies and pushing ourselves and others to break down former walls of intolerance. Over the past three years, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has made the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people – “LGBT” in shorthand -- a priority of our human rights policy. As Secretary Clinton emphatically stated, “Gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights.”
In the United States, we are inspired by the idea that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. The United States has a strong multi-ethnic heritage. Over the course of centuries, many people have immigrated to the United States in hopes of a better life with more opportunities. We embrace this diversity and continue to uphold these values in our everyday lives, actions and laws.
I am learning that Latvia too has a diverse and multicultural history. Various tribes -- the Livs, the Letts, and the Cours -- lived here for many centuries. People from Belarus, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, and many other places have played an important part in Latvia’s history. Jews have also contributed to Latvia’s heritage since the sixteenth century. In the eighteenth century, a Jewish man named Abraham Kuntze invented the famous Rigas Balzam (Latvia’s signature liquor). Latvia’s Jews backed the independence movement in the early twentieth century, with hundreds volunteering for service in the Latvian Army and fighting heroically during the war for independence. Latvia’s Jews thrived during the independence period of the 1920s and 30s, serving in parliament and helping write Latvia’s constitution. Zigfrids Meierovics, the first Foreign Minister of Latvia, and twice Prime Minister, had a Jewish father.
Sadly, when the Soviets arrived in Latvia in 1940, they shut down Jewish institutions and seized Jews’ property. When the Soviets deported tens of thousands of Latvians to Siberia, hundreds of Latvian Jews were deported as well. And then, just over one year later, the Holocaust followed and approximately 70,000 of Latvia’s Jews – almost 90 percent – were murdered by the Nazis and their accomplices.
And yet, the Jewish people survived in Latvia. In the 1980s and 90s, Latvia’s Jews once again supported Latvian independence from the Soviet Union, lending their efforts to those of the Popular Front of Latvia. Jews stood on the barricades in 1991. Today, Jews – along with all other Latvians -- are free to practice their faith and to celebrate their culture in a free Latvia. Latvian society is richer, and more diverse, because of the contributions of all these people.
Of course, neither Latvia, nor the United States, is perfect. There are people in both of our countries who do not believe in diversity and respect in every society. However, if we condemn their words of hate, we can spread the message of dignity and respect.
Anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred attack the very idea that every individual is born free and equal in dignity and rights. But Jews, Christians, Muslims and all religious communities are all part of the same family we call humanity. As a child of a Holocaust survivor, anti-Semitism is something very personal to me. My father was arrested – on Kristallnacht, the unofficial pogrom that many think started the Holocaust – and sent with many fellow Jews to prison and then to the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. And he was the lucky one – every other person in his family was murdered at Auschwitz. I have dedicated my life to eradicating anti-Semitism and intolerance with a sense of urgency and passion that only my father could give me.
At the State Department, we are trying to make human rights a human reality. As the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, I have recognized that this will not be possible without the help of you, our youth and future leaders.
Last year my colleague Farah Pandith, the Special Representative to Muslims Communities, and I launched a virtual campaign called “2011 Hours Against Hate,” using Facebook. Perhaps you have heard of it? We are asking you, young people around the world, to pledge a number of hours to volunteer to help or serve a population different than their own. We ask that you work with people who may look different, or pray differently or live differently. For example, a young Jew might volunteer time to read books at a Muslim pre-school, or a Russian Orthodox at a Jewish clinic, or a Muslim at a Baha’i food pantry, or a straight woman at an LGBT center. We want to encourage YOU to walk a mile in another person’s shoes. And while our goal was to get 2011 hours pledged, at the end of last year youth all over the world had pledged tens of thousands of hours.
The campaign was, in fact, so successful that we continued it into 2012. Thanks to a group of British non-governmental organizations, we are now also partnering with the London Olympic and Paralympic Games! In January, the London Olympic and Paralympics approved our application to have 2012 Hours Against Hate branded with the Olympics logo. We can now leverage the energy surrounding the 2012 Olympics to encourage athletes and fans alike to participate in combating hate and pledging their time to help or serve someone who is different from them.
Farah and I have met hundreds of young people – students and young professionals – in Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. They want to DO something. And I have a feeling that YOU want to DO something too. Last summer, Farah and I met with youth and interfaith leaders in Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia, and discussed reaching out to others, increasing tolerance and understanding among different religious groups, and addressed intolerance in their textbooks and lessons. Last month we traveled to Albania to encourage students from Tirana University and the local Madrasah to participate in 2012 Hours Against Hate. We held a panel discussion on the importance of religious diversity, and encouraged Albanian youth to live up to their country’s important legacy of acceptance and courage: Albania was the only country that saved all of its Jews during the Holocaust. Really, we have just begun.
So while I fight anti-Semitism, I am also aware that hate is hate. Nothing justifies it – not economic instability, not international events, not isolated incidents of hate.
Since the beginning of humankind, hate has been around, but since then too, good people of all faiths and backgrounds have worked to combat it. The Jewish tradition tells us that “you are not required to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it.”
Together, we must confront and combat the many forms of hatred in our world today. Where there is hatred born of ignorance, we must teach and inspire. Where there is hatred born of blindness, we must expose people to a larger world of ideas and reach out, especially to youth, so they can see beyond their immediate circumstances. Where there is hatred whipped up by irresponsible leaders, we must call them out and answer as strongly as we can – and make their message totally unacceptable to all people of conscience.
Thank you again for inviting me here to speak to you today. I am now happy and excited to answer your questions. | <urn:uuid:98ec614b-daef-452c-9e5b-ae03965de10f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/rm/2012/189162.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962984 | 2,200 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Giant Water Scavenger Beetle
|Geographical Range||North America|
|Scientific Name||Hydrophilus triangularis|
|Conservation Status||Not listed by IUCN|
The name says it all. This large beetle lives in water, where it scavenges vegetation and insect parts. The insect can store a supply of air within its silvery belly, much like a deep-sea diver stores air in a tank. | <urn:uuid:469863a4-9f80-47c2-ad04-ee7f0adecfd5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stlzoo.org/animals/abouttheanimals/invertebrates/insects/beetles/giantwaterscavengerbeetle/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.834391 | 91 | 3.078125 | 3 |
January 23, 2007:
The paper by researchers at Yale, the University of Winnipeg, Stony Brook University, and led by University of Florida paleontologist Jonathan Bloch reconstructs the base of the primate family tree by comparing skeletal and fossil specimens representing more than 85 modern and extinct species. The team also discovered two 56-million-year-old fossils, including the most primitive primate skeleton ever described.
In the two-part study, an extensive evaluation of skeletal structures provides evidence that plesiadapiforms, a group of archaic mammals once thought to be more closely related to flying lemurs, are the most primitive primates. The team analyzed 173 characteristics of modern primates, tree shrews, flying lemurs with plesiadapiform skeletons to determine their evolutionary relationships. High-resolution CT scanning made fine resolution of inaccessible structures inside the skulls possible.
"This is the first study to bring it all together," said co-author Eric Sargis, associate professor of anthropology at Yale University and Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History. "The extensive dataset, the number and type of characteristics we were able to compare, and the availability of full skeletons, let us test far more than any previous study."
At least five major features characterize modern primates: relatively large brains, enhanced vision and eyes that face forward, a specialized ability to leap, nails instead of claws on at least the first toes, and specialized grasping hands and feet. Plesiadapiforms have some but not all of these traits. The article argues that these early primates may have acquired the traits over 10 million years in incremental changes to exploit their environment.
While the study did not include a molecular evaluation of the samples, according to Sargis, these results are consistent with molecular studies on related living groups. Compatibility with the independent molecular data increases the researchers' confidence in their own results.
Bloch discovered the new plesiadapiform species, Ignacius clarkforkensis and Dryomomys szalayi, just outside Yellowstone National Park in the Bighorn Basin with co-author Doug Boyer, a graduate student in anatomical sciences at Stony Brook. Previously, based only on skulls and isolated bones, scientists proposed that Ignacius was not an archaic primate, but instead a gliding mammal related to flying lemurs. However, analysis of a more complete and well-preserved skeleton by Bloch and his team altered this idea.
"These fossil finds from Wyoming show that our earliest primate ancestors were the size of a mouse, ate fruit and lived in the trees," said study leader Jonathan Bloch, a vertebrate paleontology curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History. "It is remarkable to think we are still discovering new fossil species in an area studied by paleontologists for over 100 years."
Researchers previously hypothesized plesiadapiforms as the ancestors of modern primates, but the idea generated strong debate within the primatology community. This study places the origins of Plesiadapiforms in the Paleocene, about 65 (million) to 55 million years ago in the period between the extinction of the dinosaurs and the first appearance of a number of undisputed members of the modern orders of mammals.
"Plesiadapiforms have long been one of the most controversial groups in mammalian phylogeny," said Michael J. Novacek, curator of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History. "First, they are somewhere near primates and us. Second, historically they have offered tantalizing, but very often incomplete, fossil evidence. But the specimens in their study are beautifully and spectacularly preserved."
"The results of this study suggest that plesiadapiforms are the critical taxa to study in understanding the earliest phases of human evolution. As such, they should be of very broad interest to biologists, paleontologists, and anthropologists," said co-author Mary Silcox, professor of anthropology at the University of Winnipeg.
"This collaboration is the first to bring together evidence from all regions of the skeleton, and offers a well-supported perspective on the structure of the earliest part of the primate family tree," Bloch said.
The research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, Field Museum of Natural History, Yale University, Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada), University of Winnipeg, the Paleobiological Fund, and The Wenner--Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. | <urn:uuid:3fb03c5f-56af-4237-afa9-75336a1587b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.strangeark.com/blogarchive/2007_01_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94408 | 932 | 3.8125 | 4 |
Crime and Personality: Personality Theory and Criminality Examined
Keywords: Criminality Personality Theory Criminal Personality Crime And Personality Criminology Psychopathy
The search for the criminal personality or super trait has captured both the minds and imaginations of academics and the wider community (Caspi et al., 1994). Partly, this is due to a stubborn aversion to the notion that normal, regular people rape, murder, or molest children (Barlow, 1990). Secondly, there is a desire for simple, straightforward answers (Bartol, 1991).
Generally, personality theorists endeavor to put together the puzzle of the human personality. Temperament is the term used for the childhood counterpart to personality (Farrington & Jolliffe, 2004). Facets of personality or temperament, traits, are combined together into super traits or broad dimension of personality. Personality traits are persisting underlying tendencies to act in certain ways in particular situations (Farrington & Jolliffe, 2004). Traits shape the emotional and experiential spheres of life, defining how people perceive their world and predict physical and psychological outcomes (Roberts, 2009). Various structured models of personality exist, each with a set of traits and super traits (Miller & Lynam, 2001).
Personality and crime have been linked in two general ways. First, in “personality-trait psychology” (Akers & Sellers, 2009, p. 74) certain traits or super traits within a structured model of personality may be linked to antisocial behavior (ASB).1 As reviewed by Miller and Lynam (2001), four structured models of personality theory were found to be widely used in criminological research and are considered reliable: the five-factor model (FFM; McCrae & Costa, 1990), the PEN model (Eysenck, 1977), Tellegen’s three-factor model (1985), and Cloninger’s temperament and character model (Cloninger, Dragan, Svraki, & Przybeck, 1993). In Table 1, the traits of these models are listed and defined. Eysenck hypothesized specific associations between the PEN model and ASB, proposing that the typical criminal would possess high levels of all three of his proposed personality dimensions. Cloninger hypothesized a link between ASB and personality dimensions from his model, stating that ASB would be linked to high novelty seeking, low harm avoidance, and low reward dependence (see Table 1).
The second way that personality theorists have linked personality to crime is through “personality-type psychology” (Akers & Sellers, 2009, p. 74) or by asserting that certain deviant, abnormal individuals possess a criminal personality, labeled psychopathic, sociopathic, or antisocial. The complex and twisting history of the term and concept of psychopathy can be traced back to the early 1800s (Feeney, 2003), contributing to its common misuse by both academics and nonacademics.2 Hare (1993, 1996) set forth a psychological schematic of persistent offenders who possess certain dysfunctional interpersonal, affective, and behavioral qualities and make up about one percentage of the population. The distinguishing interpersonal and affective characteristic of psychopaths is the dual possession of absolute self-centeredness, grandiosity, callousness, and lack of remorse or empathy for others coupled with a charismatic, charming, and manipulative superficiality (Hare, 1993). The defining behavioral characteristics of psychopaths are impulsivity, irresponsibility, risk taking, and antisocial behavior (Hare, 1993). Table 2 displays the emotional, interpersonal, and acts of social deviance hypothesized to indicate psychopathy. The term antisocial, not psychopath or sociopath, is now used by the American Psychological Association in the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV-TR, 2000). This disorder manifests itself as a persistent disregard for and violation of the rights of others, beginning at an early age and persisting into adulthood. The DSM-IV-TR (2000) outlines the antisocial personality disorder as a broader clinical disorder than psychopathy, a diagnosis that could easily be applied to many who engage in criminal behavior (see Table 2).
Concerns Related to Theoretical Propositions and Policy Implications
Certain personality theorists such as Eysenck (1977) postulated that personality traits stem from biological causes. For example, Eysenck noted that arousal levels are directly associated with the personality trait of extraversion (Eysenck, 1977) and testosterone levels are linked to levels of psychotocism (Eysenck, 1997). The biologically deterministic premise postulated within segments of personality theory sparked an intense debate in criminology (Andrews & Wormith, 1989; Gibbons, 1989), which provides just a glimpse into a chasm in the field of criminology that has been rupturing for decades.
Criticisms against deterministic thought can best be understood within the historical context (Hirschi & Hindelang, 1977; Laub & Sampson, 1991; Rafter, 2006). Criminology is a field full of deep schisms and sharp debates, a sort of “hybrid” discipline (Gibbons, 1989), with even the historical accounts of criminology being disputed (Brown, 2006; Forsythe, 1995; Garland, 1997; Jones, 2008; Rafter, 2004). Yet, it is generally agreed that the foundations for understanding criminal behavior, even the justification for the existence of the discipline of criminology, is rooted in psychobiological perspectives (Brown, 2006; Garland, 1997; Glicksohn, 2002; Jones, 2008). Many of those considered to be the founders of criminology collaborated with psychiatrists focusing on the rehabilitation and medical or psychological treatment of criminal deviance, viewing such behavior as a disease of the mind or intellect rather than holding to the more primitive explanations that attributed crime to manifestations of evil spirits or sinfulness (Hervé, 2007; Jones, 2008; Rafter, 2004).
With the dawning of the ideals of the Enlightenment, interest grew in the notion that just as there are natural laws that act upon the physical world, there may be underlying forces that propel individuals or groups to react in certain ways (Jones, 2008). Two distinct schools of positivism arose during this period, those who assumed that these underlying forces were societal and those who assumed that the forces propelling criminal behavior were individualistic or psychological. One faction of nineteenth century positivists, with researchers such as Guerry and Quetelet, focused primarily on societal forces and emphasized geographical differences in crime rates, especially the effects of urbanization (Jones, 2008; Quetelet, 2003). At the core of this work was the idea that individuals do not have free will to act upon their societal environment, but rather are being acted upon by social forces; “Society prepares crime and the criminal is only the instrument that executes them” (Quetelet, Physique Sociale, quoted in Jones, 2008, p. 8).
However, the name most associated with nineteenth century positivism is Cesare Lombroso. Lombroso considered criminal behavior as indicative of degeneration to a lower level of functioning caused by brain damage or from certain genetic impacts (such as birth defects passed to children born of diseased or alcoholic parents), which impeded natural development (Glicksohn, 2002; Jones, 2008). Jones (2008) notes that Lombroso’ antagonists recount his professed allegiance to the use of the scientific method, yet they also detail how he would elaborate wildly, speculating far beyond the bounds of his empirical observations. Occasionally, Lombroso’s work is completely omitted from texts advocating individualistic or psychological approaches to criminal behavior, as Lombroso’s work is seen as an embarrassment and deemed a precursor to the Nazi ideology of the Ayran race (Jones, 2008; Rafter, 2006). Against this blemished backdrop of Nazi ideologies of racial hygiene, labeled biological determinism, sociologically inclined theories flourished within criminology and individualistic explanations for criminality were deserted as taboo and unmentionable (Andrews & Wormith, 1989; Glicksohn, 2002; Hirschi & Hindelang, 1977; Laub & Sampson, 1991).
Concerns about Policy Implications
Within such a historical context, ethical and moral concerns were raised regarding personality theory leading to inequitable or brutish policies (Rafter, 2006). Fears of policy recommendations forcing medical procedures, drug treatment, or excessively restrictive practices were common concerns levied against highly deterministic psychological theories (Bartol & Bartol, 2004; Gibbons, 1986; Jones, 2008). Labeling or stigmatizing persons as psychopaths, sociopaths, or antisocial, raised concerns that such labels might lead to unmerited, harsh sentences, as such individuals would be deemed as incorrigible (Andrews & Wormith, 1989). Conversely, there were concerns that labeling offenders with personality disorders could result in doubts about their culpability for crimes, leading to undue leniency (Bartol & Bartol, 2004).Continued on Next Page »
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On Topic These keywords are trending in Criminal Justice
Calling All College Students!
We know how hard you've worked on your school papers, so take a few minutes to blow the dust off your hard drive and contribute your work to a world that is hungry for information.
It's a good feeling to see your name in print, and it's even better to know that thousands of people will read, share, and talk about what you have to say. | <urn:uuid:101c9d04-f35e-4cd3-9d0f-a57b98d5fbf7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/377/crime-and-personality-personality-theory-and-criminality-examined | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909767 | 2,029 | 2.609375 | 3 |
They say anyone can follow a recipe. But even experienced cooks know things don't always work out. Often the problem lies in how the ingredients are measured - and what they're measured in.
Clear cups, with pour spouts, are primarily for liquids. They come in multiple-quart and 1-, 2-, and 4-cup sizes, with measurements marked on the sides. Set on a level surface and pour in ingredients; read markings at eye level. The larger sizes also work well for chunky foods like vegetables (cherry tomatoes, broccoli florets, hunks of squash), cut-up fruit, and berries.
Metal or plastic cups, for measuring dry ingredients, come in sets of 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, and 1 cup; some sets also include a 1/8-cup or 2-cup or larger unit. Fill to the brim and scrape the ingredient level with a spatula or straight-sided knife. How you fill the cup depends on the ingredient. Pour or spoon in granulated sugar, salt, grains, cornmeal, and other substances that don't pack down. Pack in brown sugar, soft cheeses, and solid fats. Spoon or drop in shredded cheeses and leafy vegetables (unless recipe says to pack). To measure fluffy items like flour, powdered sugar, or cornstarch, stir them first, then gently spoon into cup; if you scoop them with the cup or tap it to settle the contents, you can get as much as 25 percent more in the cup.
Standard measuring spoons come in sets of 1 tablespoon, 1, 1/2, and 1/4 teaspoon, and sometimes 1/8 teaspoon. Use these for both liquid and dry ingredients, pouring liquids to the rim and scraping dry ingredients level with rim. | <urn:uuid:b560bcf1-5b3c-430c-89db-9f49882a1024> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sunset.com/food-wine/techniques/measured-steps-00400000013249/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932298 | 366 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Posted by admin on August 21st, 2008
Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) the size (in bytes) of the largest packet or frame that a given layer of a communications protocol can pass onwards. The MTU may be fixed by standards (as is the case with Ethernet) or decided at connect time. A higher MTU brings higher bandwidth efficiency. However, large packets can block up a slow interface for some time, increasing the lag for further packets.
The MTU for ethernet is 1500 bytes, 1492 for PPPoE and 576 for Dialup. In very rare occasions, you may need to change the MTU size due to connectivity issues with your ISPs or in a VPN environment on your openSUSE.
The following procedure should help to change the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) in openSUSE.
In Network Manager
If you are using Network-Manager to control the network settings in your openSUSE then
1. From the menu, click Computer – YaST.
2. Click Network Devices in the leftpane and click Network Settings
3. Select the Network Adapter and click Edit.
4. Under General tab, select from the default “MTU” values or enter your own required value. Please be aware of what you are doing as an incorrect MTU size setting can cause connectivity and performance issues. Click Next and Finish to complete the settings wizard.
This will set the MTU value and restart the Network Service.
In traditional Network configuration
If you are not using the Network Manager and use the traditional method of controlling network settings using ifcfg scripts then
1. Using a terminal window, change directory to /etc/sysconfig/network/
opensuse:~ # cd /etc/sysconfig/network
2. In /etc/sysconfig/network directory, you have a config file for each of your network interface card. For instance, on my laptop, I have ifcfg-eth0 (ethernet) and ifcfg-wlan0 (wireless). These hold configurations for the respective network cards. Edit the interface file and enter the line as following
opensuse:/etc/sysconfig/network # vi ifcfg-eth0
and add a line like
So it looks something like this
opensuse11:/etc/sysconfig/network # cat ifcfg-eth0
3. Restart the network service or reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.
opensuse11:/etc/sysconfig/network # /etc/init.d/network restart
Dynamically change MTU
To dynamically change the MTU, you can use the ifconfig command. To change the MTU of interface eth0,
opensuse11:~ # ifconfig eth0 mtu 1460
However, this will be lost upon reboot. | <urn:uuid:43e029f1-7621-4f98-913a-41f868bdd1ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.susegeek.com/networking/how-to-manually-set-the-mtu-maximum-transmission-unit-in-opensuse/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.798675 | 586 | 2.859375 | 3 |
This series enables children to use the computer for independent research into a range of curriculum related topics. They read the information from talking books and then link to writing grids so they can write about what they have read. High quality real speech gives added support on both the reading and writing activities. Perfect for the reading strand throughout the literacy curriculum!
This resource lets you find out about the different parts of a plant. Learn about plant habitats and some of the ways that plants are used by people. Use the information about growth and reproduction to write about pollination, fertilization, and seed dispersal.
"Find Out" information is presented in three levels of difficulty, designed to meet the needs of children with a wide range of abilities.
- Book One/Level One - The information is presented in short sentences. The associated writing grids enable children to work with sentence beginnings and endings to recreate the sentences from each information page.
- Book Two/Level Two - The information pages contain flowing text, and the writing grids offer a wider choice of words. This enables students to construct their own sentences.
- Book Three/Level Three - This level includes more in-depth information. The writing grids offer sentence starters and word banks than enable students to write an extended piece of text. Students use the keyboard as well as the grid as they interpret and respond to the text.
Find Out and Write About Series
Packed with rich multimedia content that is perfect for both literacy and subject teaching
The unique Find Out and Write About series for Clicker provides a range of multimedia CDs ideal for literacy teaching. Early readers of all ages can research the non-fiction material and then use the associated writing grids to write about what they have learnt.
A Find Out and Write About CD-ROM contains an interactive talking book of non-fiction text. Children can read the text or click the `listen` button to hear it spoken. Children can also click on a word with the right-hand mouse button to hear it.
Each page of the book contains a link to a Clicker writing grid that relates directly to that page, so children can write about the information they have just learned. Children write by clicking on a word with the left-hand mouse button. Words are colour-coded to help writers compose sentences successfully.
Emergent, struggling and fluent readers can all use the resources, as the information is provided at three differentiated levels. At level 1 for example, students are given short sentences, which they can choose to have read to them. The writing grids, relating directly to each page, enable students to work with sentence beginnings and endings. By Level 3, there is flowing in-depth information and the writing grid enables the student to interpret and respond to the text using the grid to scaffold their writing.
- Content-rich resources for both literacy and subject teaching
- Differentiated for children of all ages
- Listen to all text as real speech
- Printed outcome for monitoring by the teacher
- Hugely motivating for all ability levels
- Fully switch accessible for students with physical disabilities
- Great for whole class teaching with a whiteboard or touchscreen monitors, as well as individual work | <urn:uuid:14125662-fed3-4dd4-9f5f-a361aa89b968> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.swexpress.com/home.nsf/item/59FED4FD6E35D4778525747F0052359C!OpenDocument | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928833 | 642 | 3.9375 | 4 |
The lushly forested nation of Guyana on Thursday joined a regional pact to protect jaguars, the elusive spotted cat that is the biggest land predator in the Americas, but is vulnerable due to expanded agriculture and mining that have carved away at their fragmented habitat.
Leaders of the government’s environment ministry were signing an agreement with the New York-based conservation group Panthera, which is trying to establish a “jaguar corridor,” a network of pathways that would link core jaguar populations from northern Argentina to Mexico. Guyana is pledging to ensure the protection of jaguars, the national animal that is a near-threatened species.
The South American nation with some of the region’s least spoiled wilderness joins Colombia and nations in Central America in recognizing the corridor and agreeing to work toward the long-term conservation of jaguars, said Esteban Payan, regional director for Panthera’s northern South America jaguar program.
A network of cameras equipped with motion sensors and fixed to tree trunks has revealed tantalizing glimpses of sleek, solitary jaguars slinking through Guyana’s dense rain forests and vast grasslands stretching to the country’s border with Brazil.
Scientists reported finding a relatively healthy jaguar density of three to four animals per 100km in Guyana’s southern Rupununi Savannah. That means that preserving grasslands are as important to conservation of jaguars as protecting the dense rain forests, they say.
Evi Paemelaere, a Belgian jaguar scientist with Panthera, said Amerindian villagers in remote spots in Guyana have helped her set up cameras along the roads and hunting trails that the big cats like to travel on.
“Amerindians are very keen on being part of the project,” she said from Georgetown, Guyana’s capital.
Jaguars once roamed widely from the southwestern US to Argentina, but have lost nearly half of their natural territory and have disappeared altogether from some countries. Heavy hunting for their spotted coats decimated their numbers in the 1960s and early 1970s until the pelt trade was largely halted.
No one has any reliable estimates of how many jaguars are left in the wild, where they prey on peccaries, tapirs and, since they are powerful swimmers, river turtles. | <urn:uuid:94624377-bc33-4086-9a8a-4a938d5239c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/print/2013/01/26/2003553502 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951008 | 494 | 3.171875 | 3 |
The Online Teacher Resource
Receive free lesson plans, printables, and worksheets by email:
- Over 400 Pages
- Great Writing Habits.
- Character Sketches, Plot Summaries
- Excellent for students
Age Range: Kindergarten through Grade 2 (Early Elementary or Primary Level)
Overview and Purpose : In this activity, students imagine what they would like to have fall from the sky every day and describe what happens when too much of it falls at once.
Objective: The student will be able to write a short story and draw a picture of what favorite item they would like to have fall from the sky every day.
Drawing paper/writing paper
Read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to your students. Talk about what happened to the town. Have your students write a short story about what they would like to have fall from the sky everyday and what would happen if it got out of control. When they are finished writing, have them draw a picture of their story. Have the students share their stories with the class when they are finished.
This activity can also be done in small groups. The students can decide on one thing they would like to have fall from the sky and then tell their story. | <urn:uuid:51b12d2f-a0b8-428d-b6b2-849e0164d3d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/language_arts/literature/k2cloudy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968033 | 257 | 3.9375 | 4 |
This is a great activity that goes with the new book in the Sir Cumference series. The book is titled Sir Cumference and the Viking's Map. It is a story that correlates with coordinate graphing. The activity I made to go along with the book is a "map" graph and a set of ten sentences that have students mark an X at each of the stops (coordinate points). This is a great way to tie reading into your math lesson or math into a reading lesson. | <urn:uuid:7c98330a-5fcb-415a-b9ab-a628a7022b51> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Vikings-Map-Treasure-Hunt-209208 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969048 | 99 | 3.609375 | 4 |
They are not expecting any angry birds, but bird-watchers are already seeing evidence of what is expected to be a major invasion of hungry birds winging through the region.
Normally content to hang out in the deep forests of Canada, grosbeaks, pine siskins, finches, redpolls and other seed-eaters are winging their way south, hoping to find something to eat. The tree seed crop, normally plentiful in the forests of Ontario and Quebec, has in some cases failed completely, causing what is known as a bird irruption.
“The invasion is under way,” said David Small, president of the Athol Bird and Nature Club and one of the Central Massachusetts bird count leaders. “I had redpolls Sunday at the home feeder, which don't show up every year, and often not until January or February.”
Mr. Small, who is a supervisor at the Quabbin Reservoir, said he has been seeing pine grosbeaks at the reservoir headquarters and several locations. Central Massachusetts birders also report seeing white-winged and red crossbills.
“I was at Plum Island and Salisbury in early November and saw 250-plus white-winged crossbills,” he said. “So a big year is upon us. I can't recall a year it started this early with such diversity and large numbers.”
Based on data from ornithologists in Ontario, the National Audubon Society issued a winter bird warning — not really warning of disaster — that because there is so little to eat up north, a bird invasion is under way. The warning was issued more for the interest of those who will take part in the Audubon's Christmas Bird Count, which takes place all over the country from Dec. 14 through Jan. 5. The bird count often offers up data to support what ornithologists are predicting based on climate conditions. The seed crop failure may have been connected to a lack of rainfall. Central and Eastern Canada experienced long-term drought conditions this year.
Over the years, some species of seed-eating birds have been seen in small numbers; some are not seen for several years at a time, but the region saw a flood of pine siskins pass through in October and November. The birds enjoyed what they could get from the limited number of feeders out in Central Massachusetts at the time and headed off, possibly making their way as far south as North and South Carolina.
This year's small bird irruption followed a banner year for the eye candy of wild birds — snowy owls. The large white raptors were seen throughout the country as they, too, went off in search of food.
Irruptions occur regularly when food supplies of various types are disrupted. In the case of the owls, it was a lack of small mammals for them to eat.
Local birders have been keeping close watch on the ebb and flow of species. Recently there have been reports on WPI's Central Massachusetts Bird Update list of pine grosbeaks at Quaboag Pond in Brookfield and Worcester Airport. There have also been large numbers of pine grosbeaks seen in downtown Westminster, Royalston Common and several areas of Gardner and Lunenburg.
Bill Cormier, co-owner of The Bird Store and More in Sturbridge, said bird activity has been very active this early winter.
“There was a big wave of pine siskins that came through here earlier in the season,” he said.
Mr. Cormier said he is interested to see what is collected during the Sturbridge Christmas Bird Count, set for Dec. 18. The count will be led by local bird observer Mark Lynch; after 24 hours of recording birds, volunteers will report their data to compilers at The Bird Store.
Along with bird counts in Athol and Sturbridge, there will be counts in Worcester, Uxbridge and Westminster.
Feeders are an important part of the bird-count effort, and Mr. Cormier said he recommends black oil sunflower seeds with some nuts mixed in.
“Nuts are a major ingredient,” he said.
The birds expected or already seen in this irruption are mostly regular sights in Central Massachusetts, although in smaller numbers, but a few are fairly rare.
“We rarely get a hoary redpoll,” Mr. Small said.
The hoary redpoll's range is mostly no farther south than the Canadian border, but Mr. Small said even it is a possibility this year.
The Athol and Worcester Christmas Bird Counts will be held Dec. 15, Westminster will be Dec. 23 and Quabbin and Uxbridge will be Dec. 29. | <urn:uuid:9a6028aa-f264-4fb8-8c7f-9dfe336820d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telegram.com/article/20121208/NEWS/112089902/0/hometeam_magazine | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973475 | 982 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Arnold Henry Guyot
||This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (June 2012)|
|Arnold Henry Guyot|
Arnold Henry Guyot
|Born||September 28, 1807
Boudevilliers, Canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
|Died||February 8, 1884
Princeton, New Jersey, United States
Guyot was born at Boudevilliers, near Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He was educated at Chaux-de-Fonds, then at the college of Neuchâtel. In 1825, he went to Germany, and resided in Karlsruhe where he met Louis Agassiz, the beginning of a lifelong friendship. From Karlsruhe he moved to Stuttgart, where he studied at the gymnasium. He returned to Neuchâtel in 1827. He determined to enter the ministry and started at the University of Berlin to attend lectures. While pursuing his studies, he also attended lectures on philosophy and natural science. His leisure was spent in collecting shells and plants, and he received an entrée to the Berlin Botanical Garden from Humboldt. In 1835, he received the degree of Ph.D. from Berlin.
In 1838, at Agassiz's suggestion, he visited the Swiss glaciers and communicated the results of his six weeks' investigation to the Geological Society of France. He was the first to point out certain important observations relating to glacial motion and structure. Among other things he noted the more rapid flow of the center than of the sides, and the more rapid flow of the top than of the bottom of glaciers; described the laminated or ribboned structure of the glacial ice; and ascribed the movement of glaciers to a gradual molecular displacement rather than to a sliding of the ice mass as held by de Saussure. He subsequently collected important data concerning erratic boulders.
In 1839, he became the colleague of Agassiz as professor of history and physical geography at the College of Neuchâtel (a.k.a. Neuchâtel Academy?). The suspension of that institution in 1848 caused Guyot to emigrate, at Agassiz's instance, to the United States, where he settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He delivered a course of lectures at the Lowell Institute which were afterward published as Earth and Man (Boston 1853). For several years the Massachusetts Board of Education retained his services as a lecturer on geography and methods of instruction to the normal schools and teachers' institutes.
He was occupied with this work until his appointment, in 1854, as professor of physical geography and geology at Princeton University, which office he retained until his death. He was also for several years lecturer on physical geography in the State Normal School in Trenton, New Jersey, and from 1861 to 1866 lecturer in the Princeton Theological Seminary. He also gave courses in the Union Theological Seminary, New York, and at Columbia College. He founded the museum at Princeton, many of the specimens of which are from his own collections.
His scientific work in the United States included the perfection of plans for a national system of meteorological observations. Most of these were conducted under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution. His extensive meteorological observations led to the establishment of the United States Weather Bureau, and his Meteorological and Physical Tables (1852, revised ed. 1884) were long standard.
His graded series of text-books and wall-maps were important aids in the extension and popularization of geological study in America. In addition to text-books, his principal publications were:
- Earth and Man, Lectures on Comparative Physical Geography in its Relation to the History of Mankind (translated by Cornelius Conway Felton, 1849)
- A Memoir of Louis Agassiz (1883)
- Creation, or the Biblical Cosmogony in the Light of Modern Science (1884).
- Johnson’s New Universal Cyclopaedia (1876) - editor-in-chief along with Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard
He is the namesake of several geographical features, including Guyot Glacier in Alaska, Mount Guyot on the North Carolina and Tennessee border, and a different Mount Guyot in New Hampshire, as well as Mount Guyot on the Rocky Mountain Continental Divide in Colorado. The building housing the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Geosciences at Princeton is named Guyot Hall in his honor.
- James Dwight Dana's Memoir in the Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Science, vol. ii. (Washington, 1886).
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Guyot, Arnold Henry". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Beach, Chandler B., ed. (1914). "Guyot, Arnold". The New Student's Reference Work. Chicago: F. E. Compton and Co.
- "Guyot, Arnold". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.
- Tables, Meteorological and Physical Prepared for the Smithsonian Institution (1858)
- Tables, Meteorological and Physical Prepared for the Smithsonian Institution (1884)
- Directions for meteorological observations, and the registry of periodical phenomena (1860)
- Physical Geography (1873)
- The earth and man: lectures on comparative physical geography, in its relation to the history of mankind (1860).
- National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir | <urn:uuid:927319ed-9b7e-4eac-add5-e1bd4297ed75> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.territorioscuola.com/wikipedia/en.wikipedia.php?title=Arnold_Henry_Guyot | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946961 | 1,180 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The giving of the law at Mount Sinai was the climax of a series of events that began at Passover, the moment and the means of the Israelites' redemption. At Passover they killed a lamb and put the blood on their doorposts. When the death angel passed through to slay the firstborn, those who had blood on the doorposts were spared. God was saving, redeeming, buying back His people.
Mount Sinai adds the other half of the equation. Though redemption through the blood of a lamb (Christ) freed them from sin's dominion and death, the giving of the law at Mount Sinai shows that freeing them is not all that God had in mind. Israel came to Mount Sinai after being redeemed, heard the law, and assented to keep it. God gave the law to show the pattern of life, the principles of righteousness, for the redeemed.
On one side of the coin is grace and on the other is law and obedience. They are harmonious; they cannot be separated. They are both vital parts of the process of sanctification leading to salvation. Grace is given upon repentance from sin, but after repentance, what is a Christian to do with his life? Obedience to God and living a life of holiness become his first priorities, and these work to produce character in the image of God (II Corinthians 3:18).
Amos 5:25 reconfirms that the sacrifice, offering, and shedding of blood is a foundational necessity for a relationship with God. "Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?" The answer is, "Yes." The people were sacrificing, but is that all that they did? He implies that though they were sacrificing, something was missing—obedience to the law.
God told Israel that He would dwell in the Tabernacle, specifically the Holy of Holies, the symbolism of which we need to understand. The most important piece of furniture inside the Holy of Holies was the Mercy Seat, a wooden chest overlaid with gold. Its lid functioned as the seat. Inside the chest, under the seat, were stored the two tablets of stone, symbolizing God sitting on His law, the basis of His judgment.
When one sins, he begins to separate himself from fellowship with God (Isaiah 59:1-2). He is no longer permitted, as it were, to come into the Holy of Holies. What means did God provide to heal the broken relationship, to restore the fellowship?
One might think that the giving of a sin offering would appease God, and He would forgive the sin. However, Hebrews 10:4 is very clear: "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins." Then why did God have the Israelites make these sacrifices? "But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year" (verse 3). As Amos does not mention the sin offering in Amos 5:22, it seems that Israel did not even make the attempt to be reminded of sin.
So how was fellowship restored? On the Day of Atonement, once a year, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the Mercy Seat with blood. God's intent in this ritual was to show people that their transgressions of His law were covered by the blood. The redeemed were again in fellowship with God.
The blood and the law are essential parts for maintaining the correct relationship with God. The law is permanent and codifies the nature of God in precepts to help us understand Him clearly. Obedience to His law is a perpetual requirement, with blood available to cover any transgression of it. | <urn:uuid:b9619109-5f2f-4a84-aeb7-ac36b882068f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theberean.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Home.showBerean/BereanID/2024/bblver/ASV/Amos-5-25.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978551 | 751 | 3.203125 | 3 |
This year, millions of New Year’s resolutions will be made – and then broken soon after. But there is one resolution that all men should keep: to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in America, affecting one in six men, according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. In addition, heart disease killed 26 percent of the men who died in 2006. And half of the men who die suddenly of coronary heart disease have no previous symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
There are many simple ways men can reduce their risk for life-threatening health conditions. Make a New Year’s resolution to improve your health and better your life with these easy tips.
Sometimes improving your health is as simple as a trip to the doctor. As you age, the likelihood of being diagnosed with prostate cancer increases significantly. Men over 40 should begin discussing their prostate health with a physician. Catching prostate cancer in its earliest stages can greatly improve a man’s chance at survival, so it’s important to be proactive and talk to your doctor about your prostate health. You can learn more about risk factors and prevention on the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s website at www.PCF.org.
Choosing healthy snacks and avoiding fatty meals can help reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes and certain forms of cancer. Foods that are low in saturated fat and dietary cholesterol and high in fiber can help prevent high cholesterol, according to the CDC. Additionally, several studies suggest that eating fish can help protect against prostate cancer because they have “good fat,” particularly omega-3 fatty acids.
Maintaining a healthy weight is crucial to preventing heart disease. Physical activity will help lower your blood pressure and cholesterol. According to the Surgeon General, adults should engage in moderately intense exercise for at least 30 minutes a day. By maintaining a healthy weight, you will also lower your risk for diabetes.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. Reducing your stress at work and at home can help improve your overall health and lead to a longer, happier life. Seek medical treatment for stress, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and depression. Treating these conditions may save your life and have been shown to improve survivorship in prostate cancer.
These are resolutions to keep. Now is the perfect time to make changes to improve your health. | <urn:uuid:3467db8d-5a0c-45c7-99b1-e665f3829a63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecentralvirginian.com/?p=5335&wpmp_switcher=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945548 | 492 | 2.515625 | 3 |
WAKING the GIANT Bill McGuire
While we transmit more than two million tweets a day and nearly one hundred trillion emails each year, we're also emitting record amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2). Bill McGuire, professor of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London, expects our continued rise in greenhouse gas emissions to awaken a slumbering giant: the Earth's crust. In Waking the Giant: How a Changing Climate Triggers Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Volcanoes (Oxford University Press), he explains that when the Earth's crust (or geosphere) becomes disrupted from rising temperatures and a C[O.sub.2]-rich atmosphere, natural disasters strike more frequently and with catastrophic force.
Applying a "straightforward presentation of what we know about how climate and the geosphere interact," the book links previous warming periods 20,000 to 5,000 years ago with a greater abundance of tsunamis, landslides, seismic activity and volcanic eruptions. McGuire urgently warns of the "tempestuous future of our own making" as we progressively inch toward a similar climate.
Despite his scientific testimony to Congress stating "what is going on in the Arctic now is the biggest and fastest thing that Nature has ever done" and the "incontrovertible" data that the Earth's climate draws lively response from the geosphere, brutal weather events are still not widely seen as being connected to human influence. Is our global population sleepwalking toward imminent destruction, he asks, until "it is obvious, even to the most entrenched denier, that our climate is being transformed?" | <urn:uuid:46ed79e4-97dd-492f-bf29-99304e01f4ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Earthly+disruptions.-a0287635319 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929909 | 330 | 3.046875 | 3 |
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Preventive medicine or preventive care refers to measures taken to prevent diseases, (or injuries) rather than curing them or treating their symptoms. The term contrasts in method with curative and palliative medicine, and in scope with public health methods (which work at the level of population health rather than individual health).
This takes place at primary, secondary and tertiary prevention levels.
- Primary prevention avoids the development of a disease. Most population-based health promotion activities are primary preventive measures.
- Secondary prevention activities are aimed at early disease detection, thereby increasing opportunities for interventions to prevent progression of the disease and emergence of symptoms.
- Tertiary prevention reduces the negative impact of an already established disease by restoring function and reducing disease-related complications.
- Quaternary prevention is the set of health activities that mitigate or avoid the consequences of unnecessary or excessive interventions in the health system.
Simple examples of preventive medicine include hand washing and immunizations. Preventive care may include examinations and screening tests tailored to an individual's age, health, and family history. For example, a person with a family history of certain cancers or other diseases would begin screening at an earlier age and/or more frequently than those with no family history. On the other side of preventive medicine, some non-profit organizations, such as the Northern California Cancer Center, apply epidemiological research towards finding ways to prevent diseases.
Universal, selective, and indicated
Gordon (1987) in the area of disease prevention, and later Kumpfer and Baxley in the area of substance use proposed a three-tiered preventive intervention classification system: universal, selective, and indicated prevention. Amongst others, this typology has gained favour and is used by the U.S. Institute of Medicine, the NIDA and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
- Universal prevention addresses the entire population (national, local community, school, district) and aim to prevent or delay the abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. All individuals, without screening, are provided with information and skills necessary to prevent the problem.
- Selective prevention focuses on groups whose risk of developing problems of alcohol abuse or dependence is above average. The subgroups may be distinguished by characteristics such as age, gender, family history, or economic status. For example, drug campaigns in recreational settings.
- Indicated prevention involves a screening process, and aims to identify individuals who exhibit early signs of substance abuse and other problem behaviours. Identifiers may include falling grades among students, known problem consumption or conduct disorders, alienation from parents, school, and positive peer groups etc.
Outside the scope of this three-tier model is environmental prevention. Environmental prevention approaches are typically managed at the regulatory or community level, and focus on interventions to deter drug consumption. Prohibition and bans (e.g. smoking workplace bans, alcohol advertising bans) may be viewed as the ultimate environmental restriction. However, in practice environmental preventions programmes embrace various initiatives at the macro and micro level, from government monopolies for alcohol sales, through roadside sobriety or drug tests, worker/pupil/student drug testing, increased policing in sensitive settings (near schools, at rock festivals), and legislative guidelines aimed at precipitating punishments (warnings, penalties, fines).
Professionals involved in the public health aspect of this practice may be involved in entomology, pest control, and public health inspections. Public health inspections can include recreational waters, pools, beaches, food preparation and serving, and industrial hygiene inspections and surveys.
In the United States, preventive medicine is a medical specialty, one of the 24 recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). It encompasses three areas of specialization:
- General preventive medicine and public health
- Aerospace medicine
- Occupational medicine
In order to become board-certified in one of the preventive medicine areas of specialization, a licensed U.S. physician (M.D. or D.O.) must successfully complete a preventive medicine medical residency program following a one-year internship. Following that, the physician must complete a year of practice in that special area and pass the preventive medicine board examination. The residency program is at least two years in length and includes completion of a master's degree in public health (MPH) or equivalent. The board exam takes an entire day: the morning session concentrates on general preventive medicine questions, while the afternoon session concentrates on the one of the three areas of specialization that the applicant has studied.
In addition, there are two subspecialty areas of certification:
These certifications require sitting for an examination following successful completion of an MT or UHB fellowship and prior board certification in one of the 24 ABMS-recognized specialties.
Prophylaxis (Greek "προφυλάσσω" to guard or prevent beforehand) is any medical or public health procedure whose purpose is to prevent, rather than treat or cure a disease. In general terms, prophylactic measures are divided between primary prophylaxis (to prevent the development of a disease) and secondary prophylaxis (whereby the disease has already developed and the patient is protected against worsening of this process).
Some specific examples of prophylaxis include:
- Influenza vaccines are prophylactic.
- Antibiotics are sometimes used prophylactically: For example, during the 2001 anthrax attacks scare in the United States, patients believed to be exposed were given ciprofloxacin. In similar manner, the use of antibiotic ointments on burns and other wounds is prophylactic. Antibiotics are also given prophylactically just before some medical procedures such as pacemaker insertion.
- Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) may, with caution, be an example of a chronic migraine preventative (see Amitriptyline and migraines' prevention by medicine).
- Antimalarials such as chloroquine are used both in treatment and as prophylaxis by visitors to countries where malaria is endemic to prevent the development of the parasitic Plasmodium, which cause malaria.
- Condoms are sometimes referred to as "prophylactics" because of their use to prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted infections.
- Low-molecular-weight heparin is used as a prophylaxis in hospital patients, as they are at risk for several forms of thrombosis due to their immobilisation.
- Professional cleaning of the teeth is dental prophylaxis.
- Risk Reducing or Prophylactic Mastectomies may be carried out for carriers of the BRCA mutation gene to minimise the risk of developing Breast Cancer
- Daily and moderate physical exercise in various forms can be called prophylactic because it can maintain or improve one's health. Cycling for transport appears to very significantly improve health by reducing risk of heart diseases, various cancers, muscular- and skeletal diseases, and overall mortality.
- Prophylaxis may be administered as vaccine. Prophylactic vaccines include: PEP, nPEP, PREP, or nPREP. PEP stands for post-exposure prophylaxis used in an occupational setting. nPEP is non-occupational post-exposure prophylaxis. nPEP may be used in a recreational setting; for example, during intercourse, if the condom breaks and one partner is HIV-positive, nPEP will help to decrease the probability of spread of infection of HIV. PREP is often used in occupational settings, e.g., in hospital staff to prevent the spread of HIV or Hepatitis C from patient to staff. nPREP is a measure taken before exposure but in a non-occupational setting (non-occupational Pre-exposure prophylaxis); for example, injection drug users may seek nPREP vaccinations.
Leading cause of preventable death
Leading causes of preventable death worldwide as of the year 2001.
Leading causes of preventable deaths in the United States in the year 2000.
- ^ MeSH Preventive+Medicine
- ^ MeSH Primary+Prevention
- ^ MeSH Secondary+Prevention
- ^ MeSH Tertiary+Prevention
- ^ Gordon, R. (1987), ‘An operational classification of disease prevention’, in Steinberg, J. A. and Silverman, M. M. (eds.), Preventing Mental Disorders, Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1987.
- ^ Kumpfer, K. L., and Baxley, G. B. (1997), 'Drug abuse prevention: What works?', National Institute on Drug Abuse, Rockville.
- ^ How should influenza prophylaxis be implemented?
- ^ de Oliveira JC, Martinelli M, D'Orio Nishioka SA, et al. (2009). "Efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis prior to the implantation of pacemakers and cardioverter-defibrillators: Results of a large, prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial". Circ Arrhythmia Electrophysiol 2: 29–34. doi:10.1161/CIRCEP.108.795906.
- ^ Lars Bo Andersen et al. (June 2000). "All-cause mortality associated with physical activity during leisure time, work, sports, and cycling to work.". Arch Intern Med. 160 (11): 1621–8. doi:10.1001/archinte.160.11.1621. PMID 10847255.
- ^ Lopez AD, Mathers CD, Ezzati M, Jamison DT, Murray CJ (May 2006). "Global and regional burden of disease and risk factors, 2001: systematic analysis of population health data". Lancet 367 (9524): 1747–57. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68770-9. PMID 16731270.
- ^ Mokdad AH, Marks JS, Stroup DF, Gerberding JL (March 2004). "Actual causes of death in the United States, 2000". JAMA 291 (10): 1238–45. doi:10.1001/jama.291.10.1238. PMID 15010446. http://www.csdp.org/research/1238.pdf.
- Sackett DL. The arrogance of preventive medicine. CMAJ. 2004;167:363-4.
- Gérvas J, Pérez Fernández M. Los límites de la prevención clínica. AMF. 2007; 3(6):352-60.
- Gérvas J, Pérez Fernández M, González de Dios J. Problemas prácticos y éticos de la prevención secundaria. A propósito de dos ejemplos de pediatría. Rev Esp Salud Pública. 2007;81:345-52.
- Starfield B, Hyde J, Gérvas J, Heath I. The concept of prevention: a good idea gone astray? J Epidemiol Community Health. 2008;62(7):580-3.
- Gérvas J, Starfield B, Heath I. Is clinical prevention better than cure? Lancet. 2008;372:1997-9.
- Gérvas J, Pérez Fernández M. Los daños provocados por la prevención y por las actividades preventivas. RISAI. 2009; 1(4).
- Gérvas J. Abuso de la prevención clínica. El cribaje del cáncer de mama como ejemplo. Rev Espaço Saùde. 2009; 11(1):49-53.
- Gérvas J, Heath I, Durán A, Gené J; Members of the Seminar of Primary Health Innovation 2008. Clinical prevention: patients' fear and the doctor's guilt. Eur J Gen Pract. 2009; 15(3):122-4. | <urn:uuid:ff8463f5-0739-41fe-b3b5-8fe819208fd7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thefullwiki.org/Preventive_medicine | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.860703 | 2,570 | 3.734375 | 4 |
Even though Facebook requires users to be at least 13 years old, there are 7.5. million users under that age, most of them not yet 10, according to projections from a "State of the Net" survey conducted by Consumer Reports.
The survey, published in the June issue of Consumer Reports, also found that the accounts of these minors were largely unsupervised by their parents, exposing them to online predators and bullies.
"Despite Facebook's age requirements, many kids are using the site who shouldn't be," Jeff Fox, technology editor for Consumer Reports, said in a release. "What's even more troubling was the finding from our survey that indicated that a majority of parents of kids 10 and under seemed largely unconcerned by their children's use of the site."
Indeed, the survey found that one million children were exposed to online bullying through Facebook in the past year. Use of the site also exposed more than five million U.S. households to virus infections, identity theft and other types of abuse.
To guard against abuse, Consumer Reports recommends parents carefully monitor their children's Facebook accounts, joining their children's circle of friends on the site and either deleting a pre-teen's account or asking Facebook to do so by filling out its "report an underage child" form.
Also, use the site's privacy controls. Roughly one in five adult users said they hadn't, making them more vulnerable to threats. Consumer Reports advices users to set everything you can so that it can only be accessed by people on your friends list. Among the magazine's other recommendations: turn off instant personalization and use apps with caution, both of which can help keep personal information about you from floating around online.
In April, Facebook compared web safety for kids to crossing the street.
"We agree with safety experts that communication between parents/guardians and kids about their use of the Internet is vital," the company said. "Just as parents are always teaching and reminding kids how to cross the road safely, talking about internet safety should be just as important a lesson to learn."
Perhaps kids who aren't yet 13 need to be on Facebook in today's world, but if that's true, then their parents really, really need to make sure they know what they're doing online.
Or perhaps kids shouldn't be allowed to use Facebook until they reach the site's minimum age.
What do you think? | <urn:uuid:a6fa0ecb-bf5f-424a-a2de-0f776b5d23e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/should-children-be-allowed-on-facebook/article2016871/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976514 | 490 | 2.5625 | 3 |
SEA level rises and climate change are linked, say top scientists as they prepare the next major global climate change update.
More than 250 experts from 39 countries are in Hobart this week to review the latest draft of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's report including a new chapter on sea level.
The co-ordinating lead author on the new chapter, CSIRO's Dr John Church, said sea level is clearly linked to climate change.
"The sea level is rising, the rate of the rise has increased and will continue to increase," he said.
He said the rate had increased from a few tenths of a millimetre a year before the 20th century to more than 3mm a year in the past 20 years.
"It's clear the rate of sea level rise has already increased," he said.
"Whether that 3mm is a further acceleration or not is yet unclear but we do expect a further acceleration during the 21st century and it's clearly linked to greater levels of greenhouse gases."
He said thermal expansion because of ocean warming and the melting of glaciers were two key causes of sea level rise.
CSIRO's Dr Steve Rintoul, who is involved with the report's ocean observations chapter, said oceans were very important for climate because of the amount of heat they absorbed and stored.
He said the temperature of the ocean surface had increased by 0.3-0.5C over the past 50 years.
"There's no disputing the oceans are warming," he said.
"It's clear from the published literature that greenhouse gases as well as natural variability have contributed to this observed warming of the ocean."
He said oceans around Tasmania were changing, with recordings showing that temperatures around Maria Island have increased by 1.5C over the past 60 years.
"It's a very large number compared with other parts of the ocean," he said.
The Hobart conference is the last meeting before scientists prepare the final draft of the IPCC report's physical science section. The final report will be submitted in September. | <urn:uuid:4b0a824e-2759-4652-bb9b-cadd0312b57c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2013/01/16/370451_tasmania-news.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970363 | 420 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Polish second most spoken language
Polish is the second most common main language in England and Wales with more than half a million speakers, according to new figures from the 2011 Census.
Nearly one in 10 people in England and Wales - 8% - reported speaking a different main language to English or Welsh in the census, findings from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown.
Polish was the second most commonly reported main language with 546,000 speakers, reflecting more than half a million Poles who migrated to England and Wales during the last decade.
Redcar and Cleveland local authority had the highest percentage of people with English as their main language at 99% of the population, with Ealing listing the highest proportion of Polish speakers at 6% of the population.
In all but three of the London boroughs - the City of London, Richmond Upon Thames, and Hillingdon - more than 100 languages were listed as main languages.
Of the four million residents of England and Wales who spoke a main language other than English, 1.7 million said they could speak English very well, 726,000 could speak English but not well and 138,000 could not speak English at all.
The least common main language in England and Wales was listed as Manx-Gaelic with 33 speakers, followed by 58 Gaelic Scottish speakers.
London had the highest proportion, at 22%, of people who reported that English was not their main language, with the North East reporting the lowest percentage in this category, at 3%. The figures also showed that not all languages were spoken - with 22,000 people using sign language.
The census also appeared to confirm a boom in cycling in London, with 161,700 people, or 2.6%, using bicycles to get to work in the capital. This compared with 77,000 a decade ago, the ONS said, but these figures were not strictly comparable as the 2001 figures did not include those who said they worked from home.
Cambridge remained the local authority with the highest proportion who cycle to work, at 18%, or 17,755 people. In spite of the surge in cycling, the majority of 16 to 74-year-olds in England and Wales said they drove a car or van to work, at 58% or 15 million. | <urn:uuid:97f934ea-308f-4373-9ace-0c5342c18067> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/uk_national_news/10194337.Polish_second_most_spoken_language/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980285 | 468 | 2.578125 | 3 |
THL Toolbox > Audio-Video > Overview
Contributor(s): David Germano, James Graves, Chelsea Hall, Eric Woelfel.
New developments in digital technology and the Web offer exciting new possibilities for the incorporation of audio-video into new areas of research, publication and teaching. They also allow us for the first time to use and explore audio-video creatively in ways previously only possible with texts, such as providing for powerful ways to search media files and giving users tools to creatively alter audio-video files to incorporate into their own work. However, working with audio-video can also be very frustrating, and thus THL has expended considerable energies in developing tools and documentation to provide a systematic framework for the creation, delivery and use of audio-video in research, publication and teaching.
For a beginner's lesson on how to use the AV Database website, please see: Using the THL AV Database.
The overall process from start to finish can be divided into five distinct phases:
- Create the audio-video through recording sessions
- Technically process the media into edited segments in formats usable on a computer
- Catalog the resultant media titles with metadata
- Linguistically process the media titles with transcription, translation, annotation and timecoding
- Package the media title into research publications, or into instructional units, including integration with reference databases, for delivery to end users
Given the demands of such a process, it is vital that an integrated set of tools with proper manuals and broader documentation are available which are free, open source, and suited for educational purposes. We are creating comprehensive documentation for each phase, which themselves involve a series of internal steps and processes often requiring separate documentation. As a whole, these materials form the basis for our training and reference with regard to audio-video materials.
1. Determine a title to be produced.
- Review/screen recorded material (i.e., video tapes) and decide how they might be broken down into discrete titles. Each title will be its own video. Consult standardized guidelines for generating titles, including standardized phraseology, etc.
- Generating Titles & Credits for Recordings
2. Propose a title (and corresponding credits for each title) and have them checked by Germano.
- (Typically, it's best to prepare a batch of titles and their corresponding credits, and submit that to Germano, rather than submitting titles to him one-by-one.)
3. Send the approved titles and credits to Penam in Lhasa, or a local Tibetan assigned to the task like Tsering Wangchuk and Tsering Perlo to be rendered into Tibetan and Chinese.
4. Meanwhile digitize and edit your titles in Final Cut Pro, inserting blank title and credit slates whose trilingual information can be added later, once translations are ready.
5. Complete catalog entries in BOTH the physical media (i.e., tapes) database AND Audio-Video database.
- Physical Media Database: Make sure the content of the tape is properly described in the physical media database. Also include the recording date, the tape format (i.e., NTSC, PAL, HD, etc.), and other useful data about the tape itself and its recording.
- AV Database: Give a short description of the title’s content, fill out the relevant metadata (like language, etc.), propose collection classifications if not obvious, & record as much information as you can about participants involved in your title, under the "Credits" tab of each AVDB entry
- Consult with a native Tibetan speaker to help process participant information on handwritten forms as necessary. (Often such forms are filled out in the cursive script, not dbu can, and may therefore be harder to understand.)
6. Compress each title in Final Cut Pro, making sure you've included ending credits. Upload the files to the server after compression and after converting the audio files to MPEG-3 and generating thumbnails.
7. Alert a Transcription Center that the compression is ready for transcription, and eventual translation.
8. If relevant, once transcribed, it can be further processed for use in an instructional unit or other presentational context (see making language instructional units).
NOTE: If possible, use the fields under the workflow tab in order to mark processes as completed. In addition, you should keep track of the workflow in a more comprehensive fashion using the status reports for av, ie: titles waiting to be approved, completed titles, etc. In the future, we hope the new AV database will allow for tracking of workflow so that everyone involved can easily fnd what titles need to be translated, etc. by using the database itself. | <urn:uuid:3c5658e7-c38b-4074-9e1d-6519a90175a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thlib.org/tools/wiki/Overview%20of%20Working%20with%20Audio-Video%20in%20THDL.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901082 | 961 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Increased age, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure and smoking are a few
of the risk factors related to heart disease, according to the American Heart Association.
You can modify, treat or control most risk factors to lower your risk by focusing
on your lifestyle habits or, if needed, taking medicine.
According to the American Heart Association, the major risk factors for coronary
heart disease are:
- Increased age: four out of five people who die of coronary heart disease are age
65 or older.
- Male gender: men have a greater risk of heart attach and they have attacks earlier
- Heredity: children of parents with heart disease are more likely to develop it
themselves. Heart disease risk is also higher among Americans with ancestry from
Africa or Mexico, native Americans, Hawaiians and Asians.
- Tobacco smoke: smoker's risk of heart attack is more than twice that of nonsmokers.
Second hand smoke increases the risk even for nonsmokers.
- High blood cholesterol: risk increases as blood cholesterol levels increase.
- High blood pressure: increases the heart's workload, causing the heart to
enlarge and weaken over time.
- Physical inactivity: regular, moderate-to-vigorous exercise is important in preventing
heart and blood vessel disease.
- Obesity and overweight: people with excess body fat are, especially in the waist
area, are more likely to develop heart disease, even if they have no other risk
- Diabetes mellitus: even when glucose levels are under control, diabetes greatly
increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. | <urn:uuid:65d279b3-689b-46b1-899c-8df9a5892fbe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thomasvillemedicalcenter.org/Home/Services/HeartCare/RiskFactorsPreventionofHeartDisease.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902965 | 330 | 3.265625 | 3 |
What Are The Main Types Of Water Filter?
There are several different types of water filters available for use in the home and for other purposes. The type of water filter that you require depends on what you need to use it for.
Filtering ordinary tap water in the home for the purpose of improving the taste is a common practice. Chlorination and excess minerals can drastically change the taste and smell of tap water, but running the water through a filter can eliminate these substances and make the water taste much better.
If you are spending time in the outdoors doing some camping or backpacking, available water sources such as lakes and rivers can be dangerous or even deadly to drink. In this case a slightly more powerful type of water filtration would be needed. Other instances in which you might need to have a much more aggressive method of water filtration is when traveling in foreign countries or in the event of a major disaster such as a flood.
The charcoal based water filter is one of the most common of all types of water filter. This is the type of filter that you would find in a typical water filtration pitcher such as the Brita pitcher, and also in most types of on-the-faucet water filters. These types of water filter usually have a cartridge that contains a combination of charcoal and sand. When water is poured through the filter, the charcoal removes chlorine, chemicals and some other contaminants and the sand filters out any larger particles. The end result is clear looking and clean tasting water.
For filtration of outdoor water sources when camping and backpacking, a portable reverse osmosis system is one option. Reverse osmosis purifies water by passing it through a semi-permeable membrane, which traps nearly 100% of all contaminants, both chemical and biological. Since biological contaminants such as bacteria and viruses are a major threat in rivers and lakes, it is important to have a water filter that is able to safely remove them.
One disadvantage of reverse osmosis is that the process is extremely slow and wastes a lot of water. A reverse osmosis filter can also be a valuable part of any emergency supply kit, because contaminated water is a common hazard encountered in emergency situations. Because reverse osmosis is capable of even removing viruses from water, this type of filter can save lives in countries where there is an extreme shortage of safe drinking water.
Another one of the more popular types of water filter is the ceramic microfilter. Like a reverse osmosis system, a ceramic filtration system also uses an ultra-fine material to filter the water. In this case, porous ceramic is used as a filter. The ceramic is fine enough to trap even most bacteria and some types of virus, so they can successfully purify water in most parts of the world. Many ceramic-based water purifiers also incorporate charcoal and sand into the filters to improve taste while offering maximum filtration at the same time.
To read more about related subjects, please follow these links:
Boat Water Filters
Camping Water Filter
Emergency Water Filter
Garden Hose Water Filter
Hiking Water Filters
Outdoor Water Filters
Pond Water Filters
Pool Water Filters
Portable Water Filter
Salt Water Pool Filter
Water Bottle Filter
Well Water Filter Systems | <urn:uuid:561597b5-feb8-46a1-aab3-3b16ef83d4cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.totallydrinkable.com/types-of-water-filter.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940204 | 677 | 2.8125 | 3 |
HVAC Career Information
T he world outdoors is often an uncomfortable place. Weather changes can bring precipitation, blustery winds, and extreme temperatures. That's why we turn to the shelter of indoor spaces. We rely on climate-controlled environments to carry out our lives comfortably and effectively. But it takes much more than just a few walls, a roof, and insulation to make it all happen. So, what is HVAC?
What is HVAC and HVAC/R?
HVAC stands for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. The HVAC systems in our homes, offices, shopping malls, and other buildings allow us to live inside without too much concern for what's happening outside. But HVAC goes beyond the regulation of indoor temperatures. When such systems are properly installed and maintained, they contribute to better airflow and healthier indoor air quality, which is especially important for people with allergies, asthma, or other medical issues.
In addition to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, there is another type of climate-control technology that is crucial to modern life. The "R" in HVAC/R stands for refrigeration. The storage and transport of perishable foods, medicines, and other items we may take for granted is made possible by today's commercial refrigeration systems. (Side note: Don't be confused by the different ways in which the "R" is added to HVAC. The subtle variations you might encounter—HVAC&R, HVAC/R, HVACR, HVAC-R, or HVAC R—all mean the same thing.)
Advances in HVAC technology are making the heating and cooling of new and retrofitted buildings more and more energy efficient. Refrigerants are being developed and used that are more environmentally friendly. And technologies such as hydronics (water-based heating), geothermal, and solar-powered heating and cooling are turning the HVAC profession into one with a growing number of "green" jobs.
HVAC systems are installed and serviced by HVAC technicians (who are sometimes known as HVAC mechanics or HVAC installers).
What Does an HVAC Technician Do?
The work of an HVAC technician can be rather varied. From installation to routine maintenance to repair, the many duties of a professional in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning industry often add up to working days full of diverse activities. However, a lot depends on whether or not an HVAC technician chooses to specialize in working with a particular type of equipment (i.e., residential, light commercial, or commercial/industrial) in either the installation or service side of the business.
So, depending on their specialty, level of knowledge, and arsenal of skills, HVAC technicians carry out tasks that can include:
- Installing furnaces, heat pumps, and air conditioning units
- Installing the ductwork that carries treated air throughout a building
- Following blueprints and specifications used in the installation of HVAC systems, including air ducts, vents, pumps, water and fuel supply lines, and other components
- Connecting electrical wiring and controls
- Performing routine maintenance on a variety of HVAC equipment, such as checking for leaks, adjusting blowers and burners, and checking nozzles, thermostats, electrical circuits, controls, and other components
- Diagnosing and repairing problems that are found within any part of an HVAC system
- Adjusting the controls of an HVAC system and recommending appropriate settings
- Testing the performance of a furnace, heat pump, air conditioning unit or other piece of HVAC equipment to ensure that it operates at peak efficiency
- Using carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide testers to make sure that a customer's equipment operates safely
- Selling service contracts or replacement equipment to customers
HVAC/R technicians, sometimes known as refrigeration mechanics, install and service commercial or industrial refrigeration systems. In addition to some of the tasks above, HVAC/R technicians have duties that can include:
- Charging refrigeration systems with the proper refrigerant
- Conserving, recovering, and recycling refrigerants for reuse or ensuring that they are disposed of properly since their release can be very harmful to the environment
- Venting refrigerant into the appropriate cylinders
To perform their duties, HVAC and HVAC/R technicians use a large variety of special tools (sometimes numbering in the dozens) such as:
- Pressure gauges
- Acetylene torches
- Voltmeters, ohmmeters, and multimeters
- Combustion analyzers
- Soldering and brazing equipment
- Pipe cutters
- Gas detectors
- Micron gauges
- Tap and die sets
Where Can HVAC Technicians Work?
Whether they specialize in installing or servicing residential, commercial, or industrial equipment (or all three), HVAC technicians perform their work on-site in a wide variety of settings. Any building that utilizes climate-control equipment will see multiple visits by HVAC technicians over the course of its lifetime. Such buildings can include:
Most HVAC technicians work for independent service contractors. However, employment can also be found with:
- Direct-selling retail establishments (e.g., HVAC equipment dealers)
- Repair shops for commercial or industrial equipment and machinery
- Merchant wholesalers of heating equipment and supplies
What is the Typical Salary of an HVAC Technician?
The typical salary of an HVAC technician depends on many factors such as the type of HVAC job, employer location, level of experience, and whether or not a union is involved. When it comes to HVAC, salary is usually implemented in the form of hourly wages. Most HVAC technicians, regardless of their training, begin their careers at a relatively low rate of pay, but their wages rise gradually as they increase their skills, knowledge, and experience.
So, what are some average HVAC salaries? Based on national estimates, yearly wages for HVAC and HVAC/R technicians break down this way: *
- The bottom 10 percent earn $26,490 or less.
- Median wages (50th percentile) are $42,530.
- The top 10 percent earn $66,930 or more.
The pay scales of similar employers, even within the same city, can sometimes vary dramatically. HVAC/R technicians that install and service commercial or industrial systems generally get paid the most. Unionized employers also tend to have much higher wages than non-unionized ones. However, you can expect a large chunk of your wages from any union job to go toward paying for union fees, insurance, and other benefits.
Many HVAC technicians maximize their income by working longer hours during peak seasons (summer and/or winter). Additional wages can also come, in some cases, from earning commissions on the sale of new equipment or service contracts.
Are There Any Downsides to Working in the HVAC Trade?
For the people who turn it into a long-term career, HVAC is a lifestyle. Many HVAC technicians reap a great deal of personal satisfaction from their work. But, like any occupation, the field of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning has its upsides and downsides. It's not a career for everybody. You've got to be 100 percent committed in order to succeed.
Here are some of the possible drawbacks of being an HVAC or HVAC/R technician:
- Physical hazards—It can be grueling and hard on your body. Installing or servicing HVAC systems often requires heavy lifting, crouching, and kneeling—including in tight places like attics and crawl spaces. Other physical hazards also exist such as the potential for cuts, scrapes, electrical shock, burns, or muscle strain. And, although rare, working with refrigerants without appropriate safety equipment can result in injuries like frostbite, skin damage, or even blindness.
- Uncomfortable working conditions—It frequently involves working outdoors in bad weather or extreme temperatures (hot and cold).
- Mental fatigue—In addition to being physically demanding, HVAC work can also be mentally tiring. That's because you must remain alert and focused in order to solve problems and avoid injury or costly mistakes. Plus, no matter how experienced you are, there is always a lot to learn. HVAC technology changes quickly, so being an HVAC technician requires staying on top of the latest developments and adding that knowledge to what you've already learned about older systems that are still in use. That makes the job sometimes feel overwhelming. As HVAC technology improves, much of it is also becoming more and more technically challenging to work on.
- Fluctuating work hours—Employment in the HVAC trade can sometimes be subject to seasonal fluctuations, particularly for technicians without much experience. It is common for many HVAC service technicians to work very long hours during peak seasons (summer and winter) followed by a reduction in hours (often less than full time) during the slower seasons. The peak seasons can be extra difficult if you have a family since working overtime and being on call at all hours (including weekends) can mean you're not able to spend as much quality time with those you care about. On the other hand, slow weeks are also inevitable, so you have to know how to account for the ups and downs in your personal finances.
- Irritable customers—Since many service calls happen when customers are in distress over failing heating or cooling equipment during extreme weather, HVAC technicians sometimes must deal directly with people who are cranky and impatient. Tempers are heightened when a problem can't be fixed right away because a part needs to be ordered.
- Delayed gratification—It takes time—usually at least five years—to develop the skills that enable you to begin making what are considered good wages in the HVAC industry. As a new technician, you should expect the starting pay to be lower than what you might be hoping for. You have to be willing to stick it out and learn everything you can in the meantime.
What are the Good Things About Working in HVAC?
The downsides of being an HVAC technician are balanced—and some might even say overcome—by the many positive attributes of the HVAC trade. Here are a few of them:
- A sense of accomplishment—It can be intensely rewarding to fix problematic equipment or install new systems since it means that your hard work directly impacts the ability of people to feel comfortable in their environments. You have the chance to make someone's day if they were freezing (or sweating) prior to your arrival. Plus, looking back on a job well done often leads to a great feeling of personal satisfaction, regardless of how difficult it might have been.
- Built-in exercise for mind and body—Despite the occupational hazards, being an HVAC technician can help you stay in shape—physically and mentally.
- Variety—Every day is bound to be somewhat different. You won't be stuck in an office. Instead, you'll get to solve a variety of problems and meet new people. And the fast pace of busy times helps the work days pass quickly.
- Pride—Because HVAC technicians can impact the well-being of people and the environment, they often feel a great sense of personal responsibility and pride of purpose.
- Stimulation—Opportunities for learning something new happen on a frequent basis, which means boredom is rare. As the HVAC industry moves closer and closer toward full computer automation for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, the chance to develop advanced skills and knowledge also increases.
- Long-term stability—Once you've established yourself in the trade, there is great potential for making good money. And the job security can also be good. This is particularly true when you consider that HVAC skills are portable, and the work must be performed on location, which means that HVAC jobs are not subject to foreign outsourcing.
What Personal Characteristics Do I Need for an HVAC Career?
People who succeed as HVAC technicians possess key traits that enable them to handle the challenges of the occupation while taking advantage of the benefits. It's important to keep in mind that those who find long-term success and satisfaction in the HVAC trade generally possess the following characteristics:
- A strong desire to help other people
- A sense of craftsmanship and pride in their work (no cutting corners)
- Physical and mental toughness
- A courteous and respectful attitude
- Pride in their appearance
- An aptitude for mechanical, hands-on work
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Common sense
- The ability and willingness to learn
- Determination and a strong work ethic
- An interest in the science behind HVAC technology
- Good problem-solving abilities
How Do You Become an HVAC Technician?
There is more than one path to establishing a career in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. When asking, "How do you become an HVAC technician?" it is important to consider that there are essentially four different ways to begin going about it:
- Obtaining formal HVAC training from a high school program or post-secondary school
- Entering a formal apprenticeship program for your training
- Joining the Armed Forces and receiving military HVAC training
- Pursuing an entry-level HVAC position without any formal training and hoping that you find an employer willing to teach you everything informally on the job (an increasingly rare circumstance)
Each option has its advantages and disadvantages. However, most employers generally consider formal training a must before they will even consider you for an open position.
Here are some things to consider about post-secondary training at an HVAC school:
- Most HVAC training programs at technical and trade schools take between six months and two years to complete.
- Programs that last a year or less generally award a diploma or certificate of completion. Those that last two years usually award an associate's degree.
- Shorter certificate or diploma programs are often designed only to teach students the basics of one of the three main areas of HVAC/R: (1) residential heating and air conditioning, (2) light commercial heating and air conditioning, or (3) commercial refrigeration.
- Most well-respected HVAC training schools offer programs that are accredited by at least one of the following agencies: HVAC Excellence, the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER), or the Partnership for Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Accreditation (PAHRA).
- Taking the right courses in high school can help you better prepare for HVAC school. These include subjects such as mechanical drawing, basic electronics, math, computer science, and applied physics and chemistry. It can also be beneficial to gain some basic knowledge of electrical and plumbing work.
- HVAC schools are designed to give you a head start in the acquisition of your skills, but it will likely take a few years of working experience as an assistant HVAC technician after you graduate before anyone will begin to think of you as proficient.
Another popular and advantageous way to receive formal training is through an apprenticeship. Here is what you should know about HVAC apprenticeships:
- In general, apprenticeship opportunities pop up only periodically depending on the needs of employers, both unionized and non-unionized.
- Apprenticeships are often a pathway to national certification in the HVAC industry, and they can even allow you to earn college credits.
- In order to reap all of the benefits of a formal HVAC apprenticeship, you'll want to find an apprenticeship program that is registered with the Office of Apprenticeship, which is part of the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration.
- Most apprenticeships allow you to earn a wage while you learn. And, if you are part of a registered apprenticeship program, your paycheck is guaranteed to increase over time. Unionized apprenticeships offer the additional advantages of working under the protection of a union contract and, usually, receiving insurance and pension benefits.
- Apprenticeships usually last four to five years, and they include both classroom instruction and hands-on training on the job. After completing a five-year registered apprenticeship, you can become a journeyman in the HVAC field.
- The organizations with the most HVAC apprenticeship opportunities include, in no particular order: (1) Air-Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA), (2) Mechanical Contractors of America (MCAA), (3) Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors (PHCC), (4) Sheet Metal Workers' International Association (SMWIA), (5) Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), and (6) United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada (UA).
- Apprenticeship openings are often highly competitive. Plus, you must meet the minimum requirements of whatever apprenticeship program you are applying for. Organizations that offer or coordinate apprenticeships in HVAC often look for candidates that have at least a high school diploma (or equivalent), good math and reading skills, above-average manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination, strong mechanical aptitude, patience, dependability, the ability to get along well with other people, and a desire to do whatever it takes to learn the trade. As part of the application process, you may also be required to take aptitude tests and attend multiple interviews.
- Completing an HVAC program at a technical college or trade school can sometimes give you a leg up on the competition when applying for a registered apprenticeship.
Regardless of how you get your HVAC training, there are a number of other things to keep in mind about the HVAC trade and finding work in it. Consider the following points:
- Many employers look for HVAC professionals with at least two to five years of on-the-job experience. Schooling alone, while beneficial, is often not enough—particularly for openings at larger companies.
- In order to break into the trade and get the experience you need, you might have to spend a few years working for a smaller HVAC company at a lower wage than you might be expecting. The more you are willing to swallow your pride and do whatever is necessary to gain experience, the more opportunities you will have at the beginning of your career.
- In many regions, you are more likely to land your first HVAC job during a peak season (summer or winter) since that is when demand for HVAC workers increases.
- Employers want workers who will stick around for the long haul. That's why many of them prefer to hire people who've completed a formal HVAC program. Completing an HVAC education is a sign that you aren't just looking for a temporary job but, rather, have put your heart into making HVAC your career.
- As you seek to gain experience early in your career, it's best to go for variety, if possible, in the type of HVAC work you do. Some people in the trade get "stuck" in just one particular area (such as installation) and find it difficult later on if they wish to move into a different HVAC specialty that they might enjoy better.
- It pays to be assertive and proactive, especially when it comes to increasing your HVAC knowledge. You'll have better job security and advancement opportunities if you can become the "go-to" person for technical information and troubleshooting know-how about the equipment your employer sells and services. As you begin your career, it is essential to ask a lot of questions, pay close attention, and study, study, study. And, as you continue your career, the need to learn never stops. There will always be more to know.
- Like in any other trade, the better you are at your job, the more quickly you can climb the HVAC career ladder.
- It is impossible to learn everything you need to know in two years or less. So, although trade school can give you a great head start on the fundamentals, you should expect to begin your HVAC career in a "helper" or apprentice role as you continue to learn. It generally takes at least five years of on-the-job experience before you're ready to work on your own.
- Since demand for HVAC technicians can sometimes be prone to seasonal fluctuations, it is important to learn how to manage your money in a way that allows you to ride out any downtimes comfortably.
- Long-term success as an HVAC technician hinges a great deal upon your reputation. So it's important to develop a courteous and respectful attitude early on, to never cut corners, and to let the quality of work you perform speak for itself.
- Persistence and enthusiasm are the biggest keys to landing your first job in HVAC. Employers look for people who are willing to commit to hard work. You can improve your chances of finding employment by always acting polite and professional, following up repeatedly with the people in charge of hiring, and demonstrating to them that you're not an arrogant "know-it-all" but are, instead, humble and ready to learn and take on all of the challenges inherent to HVAC work.
How Do You Get HVAC Certification?
When asking, "How do you get HVAC certification?" it is essential to understand that some certifications are required while most others are voluntary. Even voluntary certifications, however, can help you advance in your HVAC career since most employers like to see official acknowledgment of your competencies.
But knowing how to obtain HVAC certification is just one aspect of this issue. You also need to understand what it all means. Here are the most important things to remember:
- Regardless of which area of HVAC/R you choose to work in, you will be required to obtain at least one type of certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Section 608 of the Clean Air Act of 1990 requires anyone who services equipment that uses specific refrigerants to take a test to prove that they know how to properly handle, recycle, and dispose of materials that can damage the ozone layer.
- EPA Section 608 certification is broken down into four types depending on the kind of equipment you will be working with: (1) Type I for small appliances, (2) Type II for very high-pressure appliances, (3) Type III for low-pressure appliances, and (4) Universal for all types of HVAC/R equipment.
- HVAC students enrolled in formal training are often required to take the EPA Section 608 Universal certification test as part of their program.
- Although not required by the EPA, R-410A certification covers an especially dangerous type of refrigerant in greater detail than what is found in the EPA Section 608 test. R-410A refrigerant is used at a much higher vapor pressure than other refrigerants and, therefore, requires different tools, equipment, and safety standards. R-410A is increasingly replacing some of the older ozone-damaging refrigerants that are being phased out.
- Other types of professional HVAC certifications are designed to verify the real-world skills and working knowledge of HVAC and HVAC/R technicians who've had at least a year or two of on-the-job experience. Certification is offered by independent organizations in many different specialty areas such as residential and commercial air conditioning, heat pump service and installation, gas heat, electric heat, oil furnaces, hydronics, air distribution, and commercial refrigeration.
- The two most recognized providers of professional-level certifications in the American HVAC/R industry are (1) HVAC Excellence and (2) North American Technician Excellence (NATE). Obtaining certification from these organizations involves meeting any necessary prerequisites and then passing written exams. You can also obtain your EPA Section 608 certification through such providers.
- A certificate of completion (or diploma) from a formal HVAC training school is NOT the same thing as professional-level certification from organizations like HVAC Excellence or NATE.
How Long Do HVAC Classes Take?
Formal HVAC programs at technical colleges and trade schools vary in length. A lot depends on the type of credential you're after and how in-depth you want your schooling to be. So, how long do HVAC classes take?
HVAC programs that award certificates or diplomas typically last one year or less. Some take as little as about 18 weeks to complete. With these shorter programs, you often must choose to study just one of three specific areas: (1) light commercial air conditioning and heating, (2) residential air conditioning and heating, or (3) commercial refrigeration.
Associate degree programs in HVAC/R technology, on the other hand, are designed to last two years and are often more comprehensive.
How Much Does HVAC School Cost?
The cost of HVAC schooling varies significantly depending on where you go to school and whether you choose to pursue a certificate or associate degree. So, how much does HVAC school cost?
Basic program costs, including tuition, can range from as little as $2,000 or less to as much as $35,000 or more. The more expensive programs sometimes have a wider range of HVAC equipment and tools in their labs for better hands-on learning, although it is best to tour any school you are considering and check out their facilities to make sure you'll be getting good value for your money. Books and supplies are sometimes an extra expense and can cost as much as $4,500 depending on the program.
Financial aid in the form of loans and grants are frequently available from the federal government for those who qualify. And some states offer financial assistance through their own retraining programs for unemployed workers.
What Can I Expect to Learn in My HVAC Training?
HVAC schools are set up to teach the fundamentals of what you need to know to begin working as an HVAC technician at the entry level. Ultimately, HVAC involves learning at least the basics of about five different trades competently, including electrical work, plumbing, welding, pipefitting, and sheet metal.
HVAC education programs vary in their curriculum, but the ones that are accredited by an industry-recognized organization generally share a number of common elements. Three of the biggest accrediting bodies for HVAC training are (1) HVAC Excellence, (2) the Partnership for Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Accreditation, and (3) the National Center for Construction Education and Research.
Most HVAC programs combine classroom study with hands-on training. Depending on the school and program you choose, you can expect the curriculum to include subjects such as:
- Electric, gas, and oil heat
- Residential and light commercial air conditioning
- Heat pumps
- Basic electronics
- Soldering and brazing
- Venting and duct systems
- Interpreting mechanical drawings and diagrams
- Components of HVAC systems
- General HVAC theory
- Airflow and indoor air quality
- Heating fuels
- Refrigerant types and refrigerant oils
- Installation and service
- Troubleshooting and problem solving
- Building codes and requirements
- Tools and test instruments
- Safety precautions and practices
Many accredited HVAC/R programs use the Industry Competency Exam (ICE) as an exit exam for students. So, depending on the program you choose, you might have to take one or more of the three different tests that are available as part of the ICE. The different testing areas are: (1) residential air conditioning and heating, (2) light commercial air conditioning and heating, and (3) commercial refrigeration.
As an HVAC Technician, Will I Need to Be Licensed?
The answer depends on where you intend to work. Licensing requirements for HVAC technicians vary greatly depending on the state or locality they work in and whether they intend to be their own boss. And some states don't have any legal requirements. In the ones that do, however, a state exam often must be passed. Plus, some states require you to have completed the equivalent of an apprenticeship program or two to five years of on-the-job HVAC experience before you can apply for a license to legally work on your own.
The content of state licensing exams also varies significantly. In some states, for example, emphasis might be placed on having an extensive knowledge of electrical codes, but, in other states, the focus might be more on HVAC-specific knowledge.
Just remember: Although your state might not require you to obtain an official license in order to perform HVAC work, the federal government will still require you to be certified in the proper handling of refrigerants. The EPA Section 608 certification exam is a written test and is administered by a variety of organizations that have been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including unions, building groups, trade schools, and contractor associations.
How Promising is the HVAC Job Outlook?
The HVAC job outlook is expected to be excellent for the foreseeable future. In America, employment of HVAC technicians is projected to increase by 28 percent between 2008 and 2018, which is much faster than average. **
The growing demand for HVAC and HVAC/R technicians can be attributed to a number of factors. As the nation's population grows, so does the number of buildings (residential, commercial, and industrial) that need to be fitted with climate-control systems. And the increasing complexity of new HVAC systems means an increasing possibility of their malfunction and need for servicing, which then requires skilled technicians. In addition, the growing focus on reducing energy consumption and improving indoor air quality means that more HVAC technicians are needed for analyzing the efficiency of existing systems and replacing old polluting ones with new, more efficient models.
Although experienced HVAC technicians can expect excellent job prospects, the odds of new techs landing employment are best for those who have had training through a formal apprenticeship program, through an accredited program from an HVAC school, or both. You can also increase your chances of landing a good job by becoming an expert at increasing energy efficiency and gaining a solid understanding of complex computer-controlled HVAC systems such as those found in modern high-rises.
What Kind of Advancement Opportunities Exist in the Heating, Ventilation,
and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Industry?
The HVAC industry is incredibly diverse. Most HVAC technicians begin their careers in the residential and light commercial sectors of the field. Advancement usually comes in the form of higher wages or supervisory positions. But, with advanced knowledge, a lot of experience, and the right mindset, new opportunities can arise for entering other areas of the industry, which offer new challenges.
Commercial refrigeration, for instance, is an area of high demand that requires workers with a lot of patience and specialized skills. With the right training and education, HVAC/R technicians can also specialize in areas such as solar-powered or geothermal heating and cooling, retrofitting, system testing and balancing, efficiency evaluations, or building operations with advanced computer controls. In addition, some technicians move into teaching, HVAC sales and marketing, or managing their own contracting businesses.
It is even possible to earn a bachelor's degree in HVAC engineering technology. Such a degree could allow you to become an HVAC engineer or HVAC technologist and design new systems and controls for the manufacturing, commercial, institutional, or industrial sectors.
How Do I Get Started?
One of the best ways to discover whether HVAC might be a good field for you is to talk with a few experienced HVAC technicians. See if you can schedule a time to ride along with them on some service or installation calls. Or, if you're ready to get moving now, then check out our list of HVAC schools. You could soon have the repeated, satisfying experience of standing back and admiring a job well done. | <urn:uuid:2544a8b7-2405-4749-8cfa-059c46bbfae9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.trade-schools.net/career-counselor/hvac-technician-information.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95472 | 6,747 | 3 | 3 |
Zones: 3 to 8
Mature Height: 75 feet
Mature Spread: 40 feet
This is an outstanding tree for fall color. The yellow leaves glow against the black bark. Cherry-like, dark brown-red, non-peeling bark with dark glossy green leaves. This tree has a narrow, upright habit. It is native to the eastern United States. The bark and leaves of the sweet birch are sweet and aromatic, and the stems taste and smell like wintergreen. Also known as the Black Birch or Cherry Birch.
When choosing a location, keep in mind that the Sweet Birch has a fast growth rate. It grows up to 75 feet in height and 40 feet in spread. It can be planted in zones 3 to 8. This birch will need additional water during dry periods. An acid, moist soil is preferred.
How To Start These Seeds:
Scarification: Soak in water, let stand in water for 24 hours
Stratification: Cold stratify for 30 days
Germination: Requires light for germination, surface sow and keep moist
Other: Natural fall sowing in mulched beds
Seed Count Per Packet:
This packet contains 80 hand-sorted, high-quality seeds.
If refrigerated upon receipt, these seeds can be stored for up to a year before you decide to use them. | <urn:uuid:9d15c961-0517-463f-8c2e-cfda110304f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.treehelp.com/sweet-birch-seeds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911264 | 280 | 2.71875 | 3 |
As the Fukushima world disaster continues to unfold, we have learned that the strontium levels are 240 times over the legal limit near the plant, which has become an uninhabitable land area. The nuclear waste advisor to the Japanese government recently explained that roughly 966 square kilometers (km), or 600 square miles, around Fukushima are now uninhabitable due to the unfolding disaster. This massive dead zone area is equivalent in size to 17 Manhattan Islands placed next to one another. Unfortunately, the latest readings taken approximately 20 miles out to sea from the site showed radioisotope levels from all the radioactive particles were ten times higher than those measured in the Baltic and Black Seas after the massive Chernobyl disaster.
"Given that the Fukushima plant is on the ocean, and with leaks and runoff directly to the ocean, the impacts on the ocean will exceed those of Chernobyl, which was hundreds of miles from any sea," said Ken Buessler, Senior Scientist in Marine Chemistry at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, several months back. It has also been revealed that reactors 1, 2, and 3 have all experienced "melt-throughs." This means the radiation materials have burnt through and gone directly into the ground and water. This is considered to be the worst possible scenario in a disaster of this nature.
"Dangerous levels of radioactive iodine and cesium have already contaminated the sea, the soil, groundwater, and the air," said reporter Mark Willacy of the Australian Broadcast Corporation in a recent Lateline interview. "This week plutonium was detected for the first time outside the stricken plant, and Strontium-90, known as a ‘ seeker’ , because it can cause bone cancer and leukemia, has now been found as far away as 60 kilometers (37+ miles) from the facility."
Various atomic experts now agree that the unfolding situation is truly "as serious as it gets in a nuclear disaster." Fukushima presently has 20 nuclear cores exposed, and it has 20 times the potential of Chernobyl to be released. This is without a doubt the worst nuclear disaster the world has ever seen.
"We are discovering hot particles everywhere in Japan," said Arnold Gundersen, a former industry senior vice president with 39 years of nuclear engineering experience.
The average number of infant deaths caused by the Fukushima radiation exposure multiple meltdown was 37 deaths in 4 weeks (an average of 9.25 per week), ending March 19th (prior to the disaster) and after 10 weeks, ending May 28th (post disaster), the number of deaths was 125 (an average of 12.60 per week). This is a 35% increase of perinatal mortality in infants under a year old, in 8 cities in the Northwest (Boise, Seattle, Portland, Santa Cruz, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, and Berkeley). According to Joseph Mangano, Epidemiologist and Executive Director of Radiation & Public Health Project, the perinatal mortality rate in Philadelphia rose 48% 10 weeks after the meltdown.
The bad news, of course, is that this is an ongoing disaster, and the governments, for whatever unexplained reasons, don’ t seem interested in sealing it off. Even though this ongoing radiation exposure and disaster is not being noted in the newspapers, and one cannot see it, smell it or detect it easily, it is still there and getting worse.
Evidence of the ongoing danger of U.S. nuclear plants is the report by the Associated Press citing 48 out of 65 of the facilities reported leaking tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen. In other words, 75% of U.S. nuclear plants are leaking. It is confirmatory to hear that the U.S. commission blames many of the leaks on corroded buried piping. The significance of the leaking is that in 37 of the 48 sites, there was found to be contamination of the ground water that exceeded the federal drinking water standard. The good news is that no public water supplies are known to be contaminated, but it was found in private wells in Illinois and Minnesota. In New Jersey, tritium was found in a discharge canal feeding Barnegat Bay. This is not a recent phenomenon. In 2007 cesium-137 was found, along with tritium, at the Fort Calhoun plant near Omaha, Nebraska, and strontium-90 was found near New York City and the Indian Point nuclear site. All this just supports how important it is not only protect yourself against all forms of radiation with our supplement program, but also to attempt to create some reforms to protect the American public.
The threat that nuclear power poses to our nation is alarming, as our government recklessly moves to re-license old reactors and use tax dollars to help finance new plants. Even more frightening is the lack of evacuation plans for more than 111 million Americans who live within 50 miles of a reactor. Unfortunately, the U.S. government isn’t learning the critical lessons from these nuclear energy disasters. Incredibly, our nation’ s evacuation plans only include areas within 10 miles of reactors—despite clear evidence from Chernobyl and Fukushima that serious radiation impacts extend much further. And our emergency medical capacities fall short of what’ s needed to meet a major nuclear catastrophe. These dangerously inadequate emergency response plans put major U.S. urban areas at risk—including New York City, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C.
The significance of this censored news further supports the unsustainability and dangers of nuclear plants in the U.S. compounded by lax federal regulation. This is a dangerous situation that unfortunately is just waiting to happen. I suggest for the protection of our family, children, and the U.S. population that we exert every possible effort to follow the German example of making a commitment to dismantle all nuclear reactors by 2020 and certainly not to build new ones. That is the least we can do to put common sense and values of human safety above the interests of economic investment and profit of the nuclear industry. This dangerous nonsense is only going to be stopped if enough people complain. I urge you to support all the anti-nuclear groups nationally and locally, such as Environmental Defense Fund, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine, etc. Your active support on local and national levels can help to:
- End loan guarantees for new reactors and implement a nationwide moratorium on new reactor licensing and design certification;
- Suspend operations at reactors similar to those at Fukushima—as well as those on geological fault lines—and reject renewed licensing for existing reactors until all of the lessons of the current crisis are fully understood; and
- Deal with the dangerous radioactive waste by upgrading spent fuel pools and hardening onsite fuel storage for all operating reactors.
Blessings to your health and radiant wellbeing,
Gabriel Cousens, M.D. | <urn:uuid:c193344d-5da7-4901-b36e-51363b9b9fcc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.treeoflife.nu/DRCOUSENS/DRCOUSENSBLOG/tabid/364/PostID/158/language/en-US/~/~/Default.aspx?tabid=364&PostID=105&language=en-US | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953095 | 1,396 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Now a team of University of Washington and Battelle scientists have identified metabolites in urine that could potentially predict young children at risk of developing autism.
The varying degrees and manifestations of this developmental brain condition are collectively called autistic spectrum disorder. ASD is characterized by impaired social interactions, difficulty in communicating, and repetitive behaviors. Many other symptoms also can be present, including anxiety, depression, learning disabilities, sleep disorders, and gastrointestinal problems.
Currently, diagnosing a child with ASD requires a thorough evaluation by a team of health professionals from a wide range of specialties. Early intervention often can reduce or prevent the more severe symptoms and disabilities associated with ASD.
Autism specialists and many other people look forward to a day when a test for a biological marker might detect autism risk in young children. To this end, Seattle researchers evaluated porphyrins in the urine of children to determine if the levels of these metabolites could predict ASD.
The research team included James Woods, professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the UW School of Public Health, and Nicholas Heyer and Diana Echeverria, senior scientists at Battelle Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation
While porphyrins are found in everyone’s urine, the research team observed that certain kinds of these metabolic byproducts are much higher in the urine of some children with autism, compared with typically developing, non-autisitic children of the same age.
Additionally, when children with autism were randomly compared with typically developing children or children with other developmental disorders, the porphyrin biomarkers correctly identified more than thirty percent of autistic children without incorrectly identifying a single non-autistic child.
The ability to detect porphyrins in a urine sample opens new clinical possibilities. Simple urine tests, if they prove effective, could become a rapid, low-cost, widely available way to screen young children for this type of autism risk.
“The significance of this biomarker is not only that it may facilitate earlier detection of autism risk,” said Woods, “but also that it might help identify those ASD children whose symptoms are specifically associated with altered porphyrin metabolism.”
He added, “When validated in a larger study, this biomarker could help to identify a specific subset of ASD kids and improve the search for more focused treatment options for these children.”
The findings were published in this month’s edition of Autism Research to coincide with Autism Awareness Month. The paper can be found online.
Partial funding for this research was provided by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Additional funding was provided by the Autism Research Institute and the Wallace Research Foundation.
Source: University of Washington | <urn:uuid:915317f1-d213-4899-9524-0040b89dc3d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tricitypsychology.com/low-cost-test-may-screen-for-autism/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940716 | 547 | 3 | 3 |
Inflammation is a necessary component of the immune system’s fight against infections and the repair of damaged tissues—but problems can arise if the fire won’t subside.
Asthma, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and even depression have been linked to a constant activation of the inflammatory response. It’s not an easy condition to treat, either, because its causes include obesity, stress, and pollution, among others. As a result, Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, Ph.D., the Webb Endowed Chair of Nutrition Sciences, and many other UAB researchers are investigating ways to control inflammation on an individual basis.
They’re not the only ones searching for a solution. Several high-profile celebrities have been touting “anti-inflammatory” diets as a cure. These diets call for eating lots of fruits and vegetables, decreasing consumption of processed carbohydrates, replacing fats and proteins containing omega-6 with their omega-3 counterparts such as fish, and using olive oil instead of other oils.
Logic and Loss
It’s logical: If inflammation causes certain diseases, then eating foods that combat inflammation should prevent those diseases. But according to Demark-Wahnefried, these popular “anti-inflammatory” diets are missing one critical factor: weight control. “We know adipose tissue (body fat) has a great deal to do with inflammation,” she says. “It produces all kinds of cytokines and adipokines, which are signaling molecules that can drive inflammation.”
“It’s all spin,” says Demark-Wahnefried. “What they seem to be preaching is pretty much mainstream. They’ve just repackaged it.”
The bright side is that changes in eating habits can lead to weight loss, producing health benefits. Even a 7 percent reduction in body weight substantially diminishes the risk of diseases like diabetes and cancer, Demark-Wahnefried says. This doesn’t necessarily depend on the diet used, though. She points out that even the Atkins diet—the antithesis of an “anti-inflammatory” diet—can lead to some clinical health benefits if it results in weight loss.
As for antioxidant supplements, studies suggest that there is no shortcut. Just adding an antioxidant supplement or two will not overcome all the inflammatory effects of the traditional Southern biscuits-and-gravy diet, for example. In fact, when it comes to research on isolated supplements, “we’ve really bombed out at being able to predict what the benefit will be,” says Demark-Wahnefried. “The more you separate the antioxidants from the whole food, the more danger you have of not having the right isoform or the appropriate mix. You lose a lot of the benefit of the whole food when you have that reductionist mentality.”
So, to reduce chronic inflammation, Demark-Wahnefried recommends losing the extra pounds to reduce adipose stores, then following up with an overall healthier diet. She suggests consuming more fruits and vegetables and replacing unhealthy proteins with those rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as fish. Sounds a lot like an “anti-inflammatory” diet, right? “It’s all spin,” she says. “What they seem to be preaching is pretty much mainstream. They’ve just repackaged it.”
A Primer on Produce
Fresh fruits and vegetables are best for nutritional value—“as long as they’re fresh,” Demark-Wahnefried notes. She explains that many fruits and vegetables sold in grocery stores are picked before their nutrients are at peak capacity, and more nutrients are lost during the long transit. In other words, buy local if possible.
Canned fruits and vegetables can provide some nutrients, too, but the heat of the canning process can destroy some, which are known as heat-labile nutrients. “A lot of B vitamins go up in smoke, and vitamin C and anything that is water-soluble is diminished,” Demark-Wahnefried says. Heat-labile nutrients are also lost in dried fruits, but the soluble fiber (especially good for cholesterol levels) and many nutrients like magnesium and iron are maintained. One caveat: Dried fruit tastes good, so you’re likely to eat more. “It’s a substantial calorie load,” she warns.
As for cooking, “there’s a certain wisdom to eating things raw; you don’t destroy the nutrients that are heat-labile,” Demark-Wahnefried explains. “But by the same token, there are some substances in food that, when you cook them, actually have a better benefit for you.” She recommends cooking vegetables in the microwave, which introduces the least amount of vitamin-leeching water and often requires a shorter cooking time. No matter how vegetables are prepared, she doesn’t recommend overcooking them or adding lots of saturated fats.
Still, we may not have to eliminate the biscuits and gravy completely. Demark-Wahnefried considers moderation essential. “Let’s face it. Everyone eats some foods that are unhealthy,” she says. “Everything’s a balance.”
—Written by Erin Thacker | <urn:uuid:384106e7-f7d6-4ab1-a477-8f1645f71dc3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uab.edu/news/uab-magazine/item/2226-taming-the-fire-inside-the-truth-behind-anti-inflammatory-diets | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931865 | 1,137 | 3.0625 | 3 |
1 October 2009
A picnic basket linked to Agatha Christie, soil samples collected before the Channel Tunnel was built and a radioactive rock used in a Nobel Prize-winning experiment feature in a provocative new exhibition at UCL.
Disposal?, which opens on Monday 19 October 2009, invites you to comment on the most challenging question faced by museums today: What should we collect and hold on to and what should we get rid of?
The exhibition includes objects which would not normally be on display, such as a crusher which can apply the weight of 150 hippos, a collection of plastic dinosaurs and slides containing microscopic fossils.
Among these are five objects earmarked for disposal that the public can vote on. This is one of several ways in which people can contribute their views on the collections: on what they think is important, what should be collected and what they feel would be better off elsewhere.
Featured pieces will include:
- A picnic basket belonging to Agatha Christie’s husband’s second wife Barbara Parker. The husband, Max Mallowan, was a famous archaeologist. Parker donated the hamper and its contents to UCL. The contents included Minoan pottery, a key, a doorknob, beads and a copy of The Times.
- Soil samples collected before the building of the Channel Tunnel. Archaeologists take such samples to see if a site contains archaeological material. These samples were stored at UCL soon after they were taken, but have never been analysed.
- A radioactive mineral sample which emits alpha particles, but which is historically important. William Ramsay (1852–1916), a former head of UCL Chemistry, used it to discover helium in one of a series of Nobel Prize-winning experiments.
The exhibition will also host two events:
- ‘Fight at the Museum: Rescue My Object!’ on Tuesday 20 October, 6.30pm – 9pm, will see experts battle to convince an audience to save their favourite object housed in different collections at UCL.
- ‘Treasured? Hunt’ on Wednesday 28 October, 6pm – 9pm, will invite people to seek out intriguing objects and specimens in store and decide for themselves just how treasured objects should be.
Disposing of objects by museums is controversial, conjuring up emotive images of collections thrown into skips or valuable artworks lost to the nation through private sales. With ever-decreasing resources and ever-expanding collections, museums are under serious pressure. Collections are fast becoming unsustainable – ethical but tough decision-making is essential to museums’ survival.
In a research-led university such as UCL, collections have to keep pace with cutting-edge innovations and new discoveries. While active collecting always goes on, responsible and regular disposal is essential for collections to stay manageable.
Subhadra Das, UCL Collections Reviewer, says: “UCL Museums & Collections hold thousands of fascinating and historically important objects which are used for teaching and research. Like all museums, they also contain objects whose roles and use are unclear or problematic. Some objects may no longer be useful, some are too big or have become damaged and some should never have been collected. In the past such things have sometimes been disposed of thoughtlessly – by putting them in the skip. This exhibition is about thoughtful disposal.”
The exhibition runs from Monday 19 October to Saturday 31 October 2009, is open to the public and is free of charge. Opening hours are Monday-Friday 10am-7pm, Saturday 10am-6pm. The exhibition is in the Chadwick Building, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT.
Media contact: Jenny Gimpel
Image: A hippopotamus skull | <urn:uuid:16a4970e-f1a1-4f75-b238-2fe76f6e1d01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0910/09100106/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962919 | 769 | 2.59375 | 3 |
A simple, inexpensive method for preventing type 2 diabetes that relies on calling people and educating them on the sort of lifestyle changes they could make to avoid developing the disease has proven effective in a study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the City of Berkeley Department of Public Health.
The study involved 230 people in poor, urban neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area cities of Richmond, Oakland and Berkeley. Contacted by phone about once a month, half of them received specific dietary guidance and other lifestyle counseling. After six months, those who had received the counseling had on average lost more weight, were consuming less fat, were eating more fruits and vegetables and showed more improvements in lowering in their blood triglycerides, a key risk measure for type 2 diabetes.
Described this week in the American Journal of Public Health, the new intervention is specifically designed for urban, poor, and predominantly minority communities. It addresses the need for diabetes prevention interventions in these communities and highlights a simple fact that doctors at UCSF and elsewhere have been repeating for years — that type 2 diabetes is preventable in the first place.
“Diabetes is not something you are necessarily going to get just because it runs in your family,” said Alka Kanaya, MD, an associate professor of medicine at UCSF and one of two senior authors on the study. “It is very preventable, and lifestyle changes can really impact the onset of diabetes.”
“You can do something about it,” said Anita Stewart, PhD, a professor at the UCSF Institute for Health & Aging and the Center for Aging in Diverse Communities who is the other senior author on the paper.
How Lifestyle Changes Can Prevent Diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic and complex disease marked by high levels of sugar in the blood that arise due to problems with the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar levels. It is usually caused by an inability to produce insulin (type 1) or an inability to respond correctly to insulin (type 2).
A major health concern in the United States, diabetes of all types affect an estimated 8.3 percent of the U.S. population — some 25.8 million Americans — and cost U.S. taxpayers more than $200 billion annually.
In California alone, an estimated 4 million people (one out of every seven adults) have type 2 diabetes and millions more are at risk of developing it. These numbers are poised to explode in the next half century if more is not done to prevent diabetes.
Previous studies have shown that counseling and other lifestyle interventions are effective at preventing type 2 diabetes, but those interventions have generally been designed for clinical settings and include separate sessions with numerous health professionals. This makes them expensive and difficult to scale to large urban populations where diabetes interventions are needed the most.
Many of this country’s urban poor face thin health insurance coverage, low literacy, and low income, and a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. These disparities were apparent in the UCSF study. About half of the study population was composed of immigrants, and nearly a quarter had no health insurance. Almost a third said they faced financial hardship, and 22 percent had less than a high-school education.
By focusing on a phone-based solution delivered by the Public Health department staff, the UCSF researchers designed their new intervention specifically as a low-cost community-based approach that would be relevant to poor, minority and low-literacy populations. Similar telephone interventions have been used to reach out broadly to populations in San Francisco and in other cities to spread lifestyle messages related to hypertension, smoking, high cholesterol and other issues.
“This adds to our public health toolkit of ways to do outreach and prevent diabetes,” said Kanaya.
The article, “The Live Well, Be Well Study: A Community-Based, Translational Lifestyle Program to Lower Diabetes Risk Factors in Ethnic Minority and Lower–Socioeconomic Status Adults” by Alka M. Kanaya, Jasmine Santoyo-Olsson, Steven Gregorich, Melanie Grossman, Tanya Moore and Anita L. Stewart appears in the June 14, 2012 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health through a translational research grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK067896-01A2) and by the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research program of the National Institute on Aging (P30-AG15272).
UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. | <urn:uuid:a21619af-d4df-444c-a9b5-fb8cf57a4bd0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2012/06/12178/inexpensive-approach-preventing-type-2-diabetes-shows-promise-ucsf-study | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948308 | 964 | 3.375 | 3 |
It's important for us to create a climate which together with different kinds of knowledge will give the children a sense of trust towards their fellow students, regardless of age. It is also important to be preparet to meed changes and new conditions.
We emphasize working with pupil democracy and the childres influence in the work we perform actively. Wurking with social skills is an important part in everthing we do. A work procedure where the pupils play an active role is characteristic of our way of working. Our organization consists of work groups and joint effort between different groups.
Reflection and following-up our work are important parts of our activities for us to be able to constantly learn to take care of our knowledge. | <urn:uuid:c71bacdd-106e-4d87-b622-96d5d3b5615b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.umea.se/linblommansskola/omoss/linblommaninenglish.4.3c6cfe2710af5588bc7800041830.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963204 | 145 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Conference underscores young people’s leadership in HIV prevention
27 August 2010
The role of young people in improving the state of the world took centre stage at this week’s World Youth Conference in Leon, Mexico. Over five days, delegates from 112 countries—including 25 000 youth and representatives from government, civil society and the United Nations—shared ideas on young people’s involvement in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
With an estimated 40% of new HIV infections occurring among people aged 15-24, a youth-centered approach to the AIDS response will be critical to meet MDG 6—halting and reversing the spread of HIV—and to ensure efforts are sustained in the long term.
In a video message to young delegates, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé said that young people had the power to shape a future with zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. “Each of you is a driving force for change and development in your own countries,” he said. “Together you are an incredible movement that is shaping the future of the world.”
Of the 33.4 million people living with HIV worldwide, some 5 million are young people. An estimated 2500 young people become newly infected with HIV each day. The epidemic has taken a particularly devastating toll on the lives of young women, who account for 66% of infections among youth worldwide.
Empowering young people to protect themselves from HIV represents one of UNAIDS’ ten priority areas, with the overall goal of a 30% reduction in new HIV infections by 2015.
At a joint workshop on HIV and young people, UNAIDS and UNFPA introduced a new “business case” outlining successes to date in the HIV response among youth and areas for improvement. Through the workshop, young delegates were invited to offer their perspectives on the relevance and application of the business case at the national level. Evidence-based information and HIV services, including sexual and reproductive health, were highlighted as critical to reducing infection among young people. Many participants voiced concern over reaching young people with effective HIV prevention messages.
“As we are still young and exploring, we may get into risky behaviors,” said Rodriguez Gastelum, a youth participant from Mexico who attended the workshop. “Correct information on HIV is the first step—that will protect us.”
Less than 40% of young men and women have access to accurate knowledge about HIV transmission—far short of the 95% target set in the UNGASS Declaration of Commitment for the year 2010. In developing countries, excluding China, only 30% of young men and 19% of young women benefit from comprehensive information on HIV.
Despite challenges, there are signs of progress. A new study from UNAIDS has reported a more than 25% drop in HIV prevalence among young people in 15 countries heavily affected by the AIDS epidemic.
“Simply put, young people are leading a prevention revolution all over the globe,” said Dr. César Nunez, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Latin America, in a health-focused session at the conference. “The empowerment of young people has led to changes in sexual behavior. Young people are choosing to have sex later, with fewer partners, and they are using condoms.”
Earlier this month, the UN launched the International Year of Youth, an initiative designed to increase youth participation in global development issues and enhance inter-cultural dialogue and understanding across generations. At a launch event in New York City, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged young people across the world to look beyond the borders of their own countries: “Engage with the world. Become a global citizen,” he said. “We are the leaders of today. You are the leaders of tomorrow.” | <urn:uuid:b86de1e6-e754-4e44-841f-54d9349b24c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2010/august/20100827fsmexicoyouth/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947445 | 793 | 2.703125 | 3 |
3. "We think the cane could pose a hazard to other students. We’d like your child to leave it at the door or in the locker."
Why is this statement problematic?
The proper use of the long, white cane will not cause a hazard but can
actually prevent hazardous situations from occurring. The cane identifies
a child as having a visual impairment so that others can respond appropriately.
Like vision, the cane provides preview of what is out in front and enables
the child to detect objects, identify drop offs and other changes in elevation,
and walk confidently at a normal speed. Furthermore, the cane helps the
child develop spatial concepts and environmental awareness. The child must
be taught to take personal responsibility for the cane and use it appropriately
for safe and independent travel.
Possible Responses for Parents/Advocates
- “According to Ellie’s formal orientation and mobility evaluation
the cane is a necessary tool for her safe and independent travel. In fact,
she is building life-long skills that will enable her to negotiate a variety
of environments independently.”
- “Jan needs her cane in the same way that a student in a wheelchair needs
wheels or a student with myopia needs eyeglasses. She uses it for safe and
independent mobility. Not allowing her to use her cane in the halls and classroom
will compromise not only her safety but also her understanding of the environment.
In addition, her IEP cannot be considered implemented if she is not allowed
to use her cane.”
- “Jack’s cane is a respectable and necessary tool that enables him to
move about safely, independently, and age appropriately. For example, it
would be very demeaning and inconvenient if Jack had to wait for someone
to ‘take’ him to the bathroom. Jack has been trained in the proper use of
his cane and should be expected to use it properly. The O&M Specialist*
would be glad to discuss any concerns you have.
*Orientation and Mobility Specialist
Read the Law
Collabortive effort between the
National Center on Severe and Sensory Disabilities
and the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
Copyright © 2008 National Center on Severe and Sensory Disabilities
Copyright © 2006 National Center on Low-Incidence Disabilities
Permission to use for educational purposes granted. | <urn:uuid:9fcecae8-c49a-4229-86a1-ba44f544027a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unco.edu/ncssd/bviIEP/popup3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934658 | 502 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Following the World Summit on Children in 1990 and Malaysia’s formulation of the National Plan of Action for Children (NPA), the Social Welfare Department and UNICEF work, hand-in-hand, to promote child participation in civil rights which include rights to information, expression and decision making.
Through this partnership, children and adolescents are trained to be facilitators and peer educators to promote the Convention on the Rights of the Child and create awareness for the prevention of violence and abuse against children. Young Malaysians are also given opportunities to contribute to the preparation of the NPA for 2001-2010; and to participate in various international and regional meetings.
In recognition of the special place young people have in society, Malaysia’s launch of the Say Yes campaign, part of the Global Movement for Children in 2001, was officiated by the Prime Minister. Malaysia's children also attended the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children in 2002.
In 2006, UNICEF continued its partnership with the Social Welfare Department to document Malaysia’s best practices on child participation.
9 October 2006:
2 February 2006:
25 November 2005:
14 December 2006: | <urn:uuid:b4d24b34-9aff-4628-acac-8ad99f16481b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unicef.org/malaysia/health_education_4204.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932421 | 236 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter
Sidereal Time is the time is takes for celestial bodies to ascend and descend in the night sky. We know that celestial bodies are in reality, fixed in their positions. The reason for their dramatic movement in the night is because of the rotation of the earth. This is the same reason why the Sun and the Moon seem to rise and set. For the longest time, this motion caused many philosophers and astronomers to assume that the Earth was the center of the Universe. Fortunately later astronomers like Copernicus were able to discern the true movements of the Earth, Moon, and Sun helping to explain their movements. The time that it takes for a star, planet or other fixed celestial body to ascend and descend in the night sky is also called sidereal period. Coincidentally this time corresponds to the time it takes for the Earth to rotate one revolution which is just under 24 hours.
Sidereal time is not like solar time which is measured by the movement of the sun. Or the lunar cycles which take about 28 days. It is the relative angle of a celestial object to the prime meridian of the vernal equinox of the earth. IF these terms are confusing, here is what they mean. In cartography, the Earth is bisected by two major lines of longitude and latitude. These lines are the 0 degree points on the globe. The 0 degree point for the latitude is the Equator the point where the Earth is perfectly bisected. It cut through South America and Africa. The 0 degree point for the longitude is the prime meridian. It exact location is Greenwich, UK. The Equinoxes are essentially the times of the year when the sun rise and sets at the exact same point of the horizon at the equator. This means that these are the only times the solar day is equally divided into 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night. The hour angle for a celestial object relative to this meridian is what we call sidereal time.This angle changes with the rotation of the Earth creating a pattern of ascension and descent for celestial bodies in the Earth’s sky.
With the knowledge of sidereal time astronomers can predict the positions of stars. The values for the sidereal time of celestial objects is compile in a table or start chart called an ephemeris. With this guide to sidereal time astronomers can find a celestial object regardless of the change in their position over the year.
There are also some great resources on the net. The U.S. Naval observatory has an online clock to help you find out the sidereal time in your area. There is also a great explanation on the astronomy section of the Cornell university site. | <urn:uuid:678e8811-82bd-4c27-af17-f540e64bc52a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.universetoday.com/35946/sidereal-time/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928417 | 564 | 3.75 | 4 |
Tell me about the International Dark-Sky Association—how did it start, what's the mission?
IDA’s mission is to preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies through environmentally responsible outdoor lighting. IDA was founded in 1988 by a professional astronomer working at the Kitt Peak Observatory in Tucson, Arizona and an amateur astronomer who noticed that the increasing sky glow over Tucson was interfering with nighttime observations. Their message is simple, clear, and effective, and their efforts were fundamental in getting light pollution recognized around the world as an unwelcome and detrimental environmental condition.
What are some of the effects of light pollution on animals? On humans? Tell me about some of the science that supports this.
There are four main types of light pollution: sky glow (that strange orange dome over urban areas), glare (overly bright, unshielded points of light), light trespass (unwanted light intruding onto private property), and clutter (groupings of light sources). Animals and even plants are affected by sky glow and light trespass due to their extreme photosensitivity. Because seasonal temperatures can vary from year to year, many species rely on light cues to tell them when to shed leaves, mate, and reproduce. When outdoor lighting artificially prolongs the day, the instinctive rhythms of many species are affected.
Many species behave unnaturally in the presence of artificial light—for example, light at night decreases a firefly’s ability to be seen, thereby hindering its ability to attract a mate. Sea turtles and migratory birds use starlight to orient themselves, so light pollution has devastated their internal navigation systems. Some birds will crash into tall buildings, or fixate on a light source, circling around it until they are exhausted and unable to fly.
Glare from unshielded light sources presents the largest problem to humans. Effects of glare from poor outdoor lighting are a primary reason that the American Medical Association unanimously adopted Resolution 516 to support light pollution and glare reduction efforts last June. Depending on the severity, glare can cause discomfort or temporary night blindness. On the roadway, glares can interfere with visibility, presenting a hazard to both drivers and pedestrians. The problem gets worse as people age and gradually lose their ability to adjust to changing light levels.
Exposure to excessive light at night has been found to alter the circadian rhythm, interfere with sleep patterns, and suppress the sleep hormone melatonin. The amount of light needed to affect sleep patterns is not known, but sleeping in total darkness is recommended by both the CDC and the NIH as a way to promote a regular circadian rhythm.
What is International Dark-Sky Association doing to combat light pollution? How are you measuring the effectiveness of these campaigns?
As an environmental educational 501(c)(3) non-profit, IDA has enacted dynamic programs in the areas of technology, conservation, and public awareness. IDA’s Fixture Seal of Approval program directly attacks sky glow by establishing “dark sky-friendly” criteria for outdoor light fixtures.
Currently in the spotlight is our International Dark Sky Places (IDSPlaces) program, a conservation curriculum established to protect urban and rural starscapes. The IDS Communities and Dark Sky Developments of Distinction designations recognize outstanding dark sky preservation efforts in municipalities and planned communities. All designated IDSPlaces have met stringent lighting requirements through retrofits and legislation and have undertaken outreach efforts to educate the public about the importance of natural night. Many designees are successfully incorporating astronomy and stargazing into their local attractions, hosting festivals or sky watching events known as “star parties.”
In house, IDA collects, creates, and distributes information relating to light pollution, much of which is available for free on the IDA website. We also participate in industry meetings and technology expos, and actively collaborate with non-profit interest groups.
Do you see differences regionally? How bad is the East Coast in terms of light pollution?
Several New England states have taken great strides to protect their skies. The east coast has more light on the whole simply because it is more densely populated, not because the lighting is necessarily worse. We don’t see a huge difference regionally so much as from city to city. Rural and urban areas across the world have enacted dark sky ordinances or are undertaking retrofits in public lighting (usually as part of an energy saving endeavor) and their lighting is much more thoughtful, more aesthetically pleasing, and more efficient than cities or townships that have not.
What can you tell me about any legislation concerning light pollution, particularly on the East Coast? In New York? IDA’s newly opened public policy office in Washington, DC is creating a lot of opportunities for collaboration with other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and some significant inroads with energy agencies and congressional leaders, but any national action is a long way off. Many of these accomplishments have been spurred by Leo Smith, IDA’s Regional Director for New England Sections. Connecticut is the furthest along in terms of addressing light pollution, with three state laws, one state building code requirement, and one requirement from the utility regulators to present a new streetlight rate for streetlights that are programmed to turn off at midnight are on the books.
The New Hampshire law, signed in July, also requires utility regulators to adopt a rate for streetlights that are turned off at midnight, as well as requiring shielded streetlights. Maine and Rhode Island both require shielded streetlights. New York isn’t quite there yet, though night lighting has been addressed in several regions, namely the municipalities of Tully, East Hampton, Southampton, Tuxedo Park, Riverhead, and Brookhaven.
IDA conducts third-party certification of light fixtures— how successful has this program been, how many certified fixtures are currently on the market and how receptive has the industry been to change?
IDA has reached out to the lighting industry since its inception. Good quality light at night is necessary for safety, security, and recreation, but outdoor light is the main cause of light pollution. Some members of the lighting community have been very apt to address this, and have worked to create products that minimize light pollution by directing light to the ground, where it is needed, instead of to the sky, where it becomes a wasteful nuisance. IDA is fortunate to have support from these companies, because they provide the technology to make our mission effective.
The Fixture Seal of Approval program was started in 2005 to recognize lighting manufacturers who integrated the concept of full shielding into their fixture design and to encourage market expansion of dark sky-friendly products. Any approved fixture must be fully shielded to emit no light above a 90 degree angle. This program has been wildly successful for both IDA and the lighting manufacturers who join. The IDA seal is gaining worldwide recognition and becoming a selling point for manufacturers and vendors alike, and the market for dark sky-friendly products is expanding as companies strive to design sleek, stylish, and efficient fixtures. Over 100 manufacturers have joined the FSA program to date, featuring approximately 300 fixture models.
What can consumers do to combat light pollution? And then, what can architects, builders, planners do to combat light pollution?
Shield your light sources, especially floodlights. A “par shield” that clips on to the fixture makes a huge difference in directing light where you want it to go. If you install dark sky-friendly fixtures outside your home or business, you’ve already made a difference. Look for the IDA Fixture Seal of Approval or purchase a fully-shielded or full-cutoff product. Those who want to learn more or work toward creating an ordinance can join a local IDA Section (information at darksky.org) or contact a local astronomy club.
Architects and builders interested in sustainability can achieve LEED Credit 8, which specifically addresses outdoor lighting. Again, purchasing and installing fully shielded fixtures in any new development is all it takes. The market now contains so many qualified fixtures that there is virtually no difference in price.
Light sent into the sky costs the U.S. approximately $2.2 billion every year. As energy efficiency becomes imperative, city planners must consider improvements in public lighting as a long term way to reduce energy and conserve public funds. Most streets can dramatically lessen their lighting without compromising driver response time or pedestrian safety.
In your view, what's the most compelling reason for consumers to swap their traditional outdoor lighting to a Dark Sky fixture, and how are you getting that message out?
The dark skies movement will resonate with anyone who recognizes the profound effect light has on a space, indoor or outdoor. Seriously, what other small change can you make that affects wildlife, energy, and the ambiance of your entire neighborhood? In addition to the personal benefits you receive in terms of reduced energy use and a more pleasant personal space, a shift to dark sky-friendly lighting shows an awareness of the environment at large and a respect for the place you live.
The dark sky message usually sells itself, once people become aware of it. IDA’s wonderful volunteers do a phenomenal job in spreading enthusiasm for the cause. Their interest in creating a sustainable, beautiful nighttime environment and their dedication to action is what drives the success this campaign. Thanks to the hard work of IDA volunteers worldwide, cities in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and even Australia are seeing the darkness.
For more information about the IDA, local policies, and where to find shielded lighting, visit darksky.org | <urn:uuid:23364f66-83aa-43c7-b0fd-cb8825f1b6f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.upstatehouse.com/view/full_story/4976834/article-Exclusive-Q-A-with-Rowena-Davis- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949437 | 1,950 | 3.625 | 4 |
v.: to dismantle or otherwise redistribute the composite parts of a whole, as with an automobile, motorcycle, or computer system, according to the respective practical or monetary value of each.
n./adj.: used to denote or describe an item whose original purpose or function as a whole is no longer viable, but whose constituent parts retain some individual practical or monetary value, as with a "yard out" motorcycle (often hyphenated: "yard-out"), also called a "parts machine".
Context: The parting out of automobiles, motorcycles, electronic computer systems, industrial and agricultural machinery, electrical appliances, medical apparatuses, nautical and aeronautical equipment and other mechanical devices and instrumentation is done as an economical and, incidentally, ecological means of recycling (see recycle) and reusing various components that may otherwise be more expensive or difficult to obtain.
See also: part out; part it out; dismantle; parts queen, junk wagon.
"Patrick had me yard out a Zenith carburetor from a Triumph Tigress as the British were up to no good." | <urn:uuid:4a5f966a-c768-4ace-a47d-247314ccd85e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Yard%20out | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927042 | 221 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?
ISBN 9780448478050 | 112 pages | 27 Dec 2007 | Grosset & Dunlap | 5.59 x 7.67in | 8 - 12 years
Summary of Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.? Summary of Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.? Reviews for Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.? An Excerpt from Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was only 25 when he helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott and was soon organizing black people across the country in support of the right to vote, desegregation, and other basic civil rights. Maintaining nonviolent and peaceful tactics even when his life was threatened, King was also an advocate for the poor and spoke out against racial and economic injustice until his death—from an assassin’s bullet—in 1968. With clearly written text that explains this tumultuous time in history and 80 black-and-white illustrations, this Who Was…? celebrates the vision and the legacy of a remarkable man.
To keep up-to-date, input your email address, and we will contact you on publication
Please alert me via email when: | <urn:uuid:58ca579d-7d43-496c-ad02-96666b414a67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780448478050,00.html?Who_Was_Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.?_Bonnie_Bader | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.897125 | 245 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Such was the condition in Kansas at the opening of the presidential year of 1856, and it became one of the leading issues of the campaign. The whole country was aroused over reports from Kansas, and it was impossible that such a question remain long out of the halls of Congress, notwithstanding the claim of Douglas that his famous bill would remove the slavery question from national politics. In May, 1856, Senator Sumner made a powerful speech on "The Crime against Kansas." The speech was a fearful arraignment of the slave power. But the speaker went out of his way to abuse certain senators whom he did not like, especially Senator Butler of South Carolina, who was then absent from the city, and who had made no special personal attack on Sumner.
Charles Sumner, with all his learning, was a narrow-minded man. He was opinionated, egotistical, and incapable of giving credit to another for an honest difference of opinion. But he was sincerely honest and courageous.¹ His espousal of the cause of the slave when that cause was very unpopular rose from the innermost depths of his soul. His furious attack on Butler was occasioned by the indignation expressed by the latter at the audacity of the Topeka convention in applying for statehood. But Sumner suffered severely for his extravagance. Two days after making this speech, as he sat at his desk writing, after the Senate had adjourned, he was assaulted with a cane by Preston Brooks, a member of the House and a relative of Senator Butler. Brooks rained blows on Sumner's head with great ferocity. Sumner sat so near his desk that he had no chance to defend himself; but at length he rose, wrenching the desk from its fastenings. Brooks then grappled with him and continued his blows until Sumner fell bleeding and unconscious to the floor.
So great were the injuries of the Massachusetts senator that he did not fully recover for four years; and indeed, never after this assault was he the powerful, robust athlete that he had been before. No incident in many years revealed more vividly the vast gulf between the North and the South than did the different manner of their receiving the news of this assault on Sumner² Throughout the North the deed was denounced as a cowardly outrage, unworthy of any but a bully and a thug. At the South, where Sumner was hated above all men, the verdict was that he received only the punishment he deserved. Brooks was hailed as a champion and a hero, and was presented with many canes. He resigned his seat in the House because of a majority vote--not the necessary two thirds--for his expulsion; but he was immediately reëlected by his district.³
Meantime matters were growing worse on the plains of Kansas. On the day that intervened between the closing of Sumner's speech and the assault by Brooks the town of Lawrence was sacked by a mob. The House of Representatives sent a committee of three to Kansas to investigate matters and report. This committee, composed of William A. Howard of Michigan, John Sherman of Ohio, and Mordecai Oliver of Missouri, after examining several hundred witnesses, reported in July. Howard and Sherman reported favorably to the free-state party, but agreed that the election of Reeder to Congress, as that of Whitfield, was illegal. Oliver made a minority report favoring the southern view.
With the attack on Lawrence the Civil War in Kansas may be said to have begun. Soon after this occurred the massacre of Pottawatomie, the leader of which was John Brown. Brown had come from the East to join his sons, who had been among the early settlers of Kansas. He was an ascetic and a fanatic. He had come to Kansas to make it a free state at any hazard. He regarded slavery with a mortal hatred, and while his courage was unlimited and his intentions upright, his soul was too utterly narrow to see a thing in its true light. He believed that the only way to free the slaves was to kill the slaveholders. "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins," said John Brown.
A few free-state men, one of whom was a neighbor of Brown, had been killed by the opposite party, and Brown determined that an equal number of them should suffer death to expiate the crime. He organized a night raid--his sons and a few others--and started on his bloody errand. They called at one farmhouse after another and slew the men in cold blood. He did not inquire if they were guilty of not guilty; enough if they belonged to the opposite party. One man was dragged from the presence of a sick wife. Her pleadings that he be spared were not heeded. He was murdered in cold blood in the road before his house. Before the end of that bloody night raid Brown's party had put six or seven men to death--for no crime except that they belonged to the opposite party and had made threats--an offense of which Brown's party were equally guilty. When the news of this ghastly work was flashed over the country, the people in general refused to believe it; and to the credit of the free-state people in Kansas, they repudiated it as wholly unwarranted.
¹While he was uttering this speech, in which he attacked Senator Douglas also without mercy, the latter said to a friend: "Do you hear that man? He may be a fool, but I tell you that he has pluck." Poore's "Reminiscences," Vol. I, p. 461.
²Rhodes, Vol. II, p. 143
³Brooks died the following January, and Butler in May of the same year. | <urn:uuid:7cccc48a-8bff-43dd-aedc-ca7bda58238f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ks/state/history/history3.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.991606 | 1,174 | 3.265625 | 3 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A modem self-test in which data from the keyboard or an internal test pattern is sent to the modem's transmitter, turned into analog form, looped back to the receiver, and converted back into digital form.
A variety of signals and wavelengths that can be transmitted over communications lines such as the sound of a voice over the phone line.
The mode used by your modem when answering an incoming call from an originating modem. The transmit/receive frequencies are the reverse of the originating modem, which is in originate mode.
A computer program designed to perform a specific task or set of tasks. Examples include word processing and spreadsheet applications.
Automatic Repeat reQuest. A function that allows your modem to detect flawed data and request that it be retransmitted. See MNP and V.42.
American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A code used to represent letters, numbers, and special characters such as $, !, and /.
Data transmission in which the length of time between transmitted characters may vary. Because characters may not be transmitted at set intervals, start/stop bits are used to mark the beginning and end of each character.
Sets the modem to pick up the phone line when it detects a certain number of rings. See S-register S0 in the Technical Reference section of this guide.
A process where your modem dials a call for you. The dialing process is initiated by sending an ATDT (dial tone) or ATDP (dial pulse) command followed by the telephone number. Auto-dial is used to dial voice numbers. See basic data command Dn in the Technical Reference section of this guide.
A term used to measure the speed of an analog transmission from one point to another. Although not technically accurate, baud rate is commonly used to mean bit rate.
A 0 or 1, reflecting the use of the binary numbering system. Used because the computer recognizes either of two states, OFF or ON. Shortened form of binary digit is bit.
Also referred to as transmission rate. The number of binary digits, or bits, transmitted per second (bps). Communications channels using analog modems are established at set bit rates, commonly 2400, 4800, 9600, 14,400, 28,800, 33,600, and higher.
bits per second (bps)
The bits (binary digits) per second rate. Thousands of bits per second are expressed as kilobits per second (Kbps).
A temporary memory area used as storage during input and output operations. An example is the modem's command buffer.
A group of binary digits stored and operated upon as a unit. Most often the term refers to 8-bit units or characters. One kilobyte (KB) is equal to 1,024 bytes or characters; 640 KB is equal to 655,360 bytes or characters.
The basic signal altered or modulated by the modem in order to carry information.
A representation, coded in binary digits, of a letter, number, or other symbol.
characters per second (cps)
A data transfer rate generally estimated from the bit rate and the character length. For example, at 2400 bps, 8-bit characters with start/stop bits (for a total of ten bits per character) will be transmitted at a rate of approximately 240 characters per second (cps). Some protocols, such as error-control protocols, employ advanced techniques such as longer transmission frames and data compression to increase cps.
class 1 and 2.0
International standards used by fax application programs and faxmodems for sending and receiving faxes.
cyclic redundancy checking (CRC)
An error-detection technique consisting of a test performed on each block or frame of data by both sending and receiving modems. The sending modem inserts the results of its tests in each data block in the form of a CRC code. The receiving modem compares its results with the received CRC code and responds with either a positive or negative acknowledgment.
The transmission or sharing of data between computers via an electronic medium.
data compression table
A table containing values assigned for each character during a call under MNP5 data compression. Default values in the table are continually altered and built during each call: The longer the table, the more efficient throughput gained.
Mode used by a modem when sending and receiving data files.
Data Communications (or Circuit-Terminating) Equipment, such as dial-up modems that establish and control the data link via the telephone network.
Any setting assumed, at startup or reset, by the computer's software and attached devices. The computer or software will use these settings until changed by the user or other software.
A test that checks the modem's RS-232 interface and the cable that connects the terminal or computer and the modem. The modem receives data (in the form of digital signals) from the computer or terminal and immediately returns the data to the screen for verification.
Discrete, uniform signals. In this guide, the term refers to the binary digits 0 and 1.
Data Terminal (or Terminating) Equipment. A computer that generates or is the final destination of data.
Indicates a communications channel capable of carrying signals in both directions. See half-duplex, full-duplex.
Electronic Industries Association (EIA)
Group which defines electronic standards in the U.S.
Various techniques that check the reliability of characters (parity) or blocks of data. V.42 and MNP error-control protocols use error detection (CRC) and retransmission of flawed frames (ARQ).
A method for transmitting the image on a page from one point to another. Commonly referred to as fax.
The mode used by a modem to send and receive data in facsimile format. See definitions for V.17, V.27 ter, V.29.
A mechanism that compensates for differences in the flow of data into and out of a modem or other device. See extended data commands &Hn, &In, &Rn in the Technical Reference section of this guide.
A data communications term for a block of data with header and trailer information attached. The added information usually includes a frame number, block size data, error-check codes, and Start/End indicators.
Signals can flow in both directions at the same time over one line. In microcomputer communications, this may refer to the suppression of the online local echo.
Signals can flow in both directions, but only one way at a time. In microcomputer communications, may refer to activation of the online local echo, which causes the modem to send a copy of the transmitted data to the screen of the sending computer.
Hertz, a frequency measurement unit used internationally to indicate cycles per second.
An electronic communications network that connects computer networks and organizational computer facilities around the world.
Internet Service Provider (ISP)
A company that provides dial-up (modem) access to the Internet for a fee.
An international organization that defines standards for telegraphic and telephone equipment. For example, the Bell 212A standard for 1200-bps communication in North America is observed internationally as ITU-T V.22. For 2400-bps communication, most U.S. manufacturers observe V.22 bis.
Link Access Procedure for Modems. An error-control protocol defined in ITU-T recommendation V.42. Like the MNP protocols, LAPM uses cyclic redundancy checking (CRC) and retransmission of corrupted data (ARQ) to ensure data reliability.
A modem feature that enables the modem to display keyboard commands and transmitted data on the screen. See basic data command En in the Technical Reference section of this guide.
Microcom Networking Protocol, an error-control protocol developed by Microcom, Inc., and now in the public domain. There are several different MNP protocols, but the most commonly used one ensures error-free transmission through error detection (CRC) and retransmission of flawed frames.
A device that transmits/receives computer data through a communications channel such as radio or telephone lines. It also changes signals received from the phone line back to digital signals before passing them to the receiving computer.
nonvolatile memory (NVRAM)
User-programmable random access memory whose data is retained when power is turned off. On the USRobotics modem, it includes four stored phone numbers and the modem settings.
Modem operations that are the equivalent of manually lifting a phone receiver (taking it off-hook) and replacing it (going on-hook).
online fall back/fall forward
A feature that allows high-speed, error-control modems to monitor line quality and fall back to the next lower speed in a defined range if line quality diminishes. As line conditions improve, the modems switch up to the next higher speed.
The mode used by your modem when initiating an outgoing call to a destination modem. The transmit/receive frequencies are the reverse of the called modem, which is in answer mode.
A simple error-detection method that checks the validity of a transmitted character. Character checking has been surpassed by more reliable and efficient forms of error checking, including V.42 and MNP 2-4 protocols. Either the same type of parity must be used by two communicating computers, or both may omit parity.
A system of rules and procedures governing communications between two or more devices. Protocols vary, but communicating devices must follow the same protocol in order to exchange data. The format of the data, readiness to receive or send, error detection and error correction are some of the operations that may be defined in protocols.
Random Access Memory. Memory that is available for use when the modem is turned on, but that clears of all information when the power is turned off. The modem's RAM holds the current operational settings, a flow control buffer, and a command buffer.
remote digital loopback
A test that checks the phone link and a remote modem's transmitter and receiver.
A copy of the data received by the remote system, returned to the sending system, and displayed on the screen. Remote echoing is a function of the remote system.
Read Only Memory. Permanent memory, not user-programmable.
The consecutive flow of data in a single channel. Compare to parallel transmissions where data flows simultaneously in multiple channels.
The signaling bits attached to a character before and after the character is transmitted during asynchronous transmission.
A device whose keyboard and display are used for sending and receiving data over a communications link. Differs from a microcomputer or a mainframe in that it has little or no internal processing capabilities.
Software mode that allows direct communication with the modem. Also known as command mode.
The amount of actual user data transmitted per second without the overhead of protocol information such as start/stop bits or frame headers and trailers. Compare with characters per second.
The ITU-T standard specification that covers the initial handshaking process.
An ITU-T standard for making facsimile connections at 14,400 bps, 12,000 bps, 9,600 bps, and 7,200 bps.
An ITU-T standard for modems operating in asynchronous mode at speeds up to 300 bps, full-duplex, on public switched telephone networks.
An ITU-T standard for modem communications at 1,200 bps, compatible with the Bell 212A standard observed in the U.S. and Canada.
An ITU-T standard for modem communications at 2,400 bps. The standard includes an automatic link negotiation fallback to 1,200 bps and compatibility with Bell 212A/V.22 modems.
An ITU-T standard for facsimile operations that specifies modulation at 4,800 bps, with fallback to 2,400 bps.
An ITU-T standard for facsimile operations that specifies modulation at 9,600 bps, with fallback to 7,200 bps.
An ITU-T standard for modem communications at 9,600 bps and 4,800 bps. V.32 modems fall back to 4,800 bps when line quality is impaired.
An ITU-T standard that extends the V.32 connection range: 4,800, 7,200, 9,600, 12,000, and 14,400 bps. V.32 bis modems fall back to the next lower speed when line quality is impaired, fall back further as necessary, and also fall forward (switch backup) when line conditions improve (see online fall back/fall forward).
An ITU-T standard that currently allows data rates as high as 28,800 bps.
An enhancement to V.34 that enables data transfer rates as high as 33,600 bps.
An ITU-T standard for modem communications that defines a two-stage process of detection and negotiation for LAPM error control.
An extension of ITU-T V.42 that defines a specific data compression scheme for use during V.42 connections.
An ITU-T standard for modem data compression. It provides for a 6:1 compression ratio.
The ITU-T standard for 56 Kbps modem communications. This technology uses the digital telephone network to increase the bit rate of the receive channel by eliminating the analog to digital conversion commonly found in modem connections. V.90 connections require a modem with V.90 or x2 technology calling a digitally connected Internet Service Provider or corporate host site compatible with V.90 or x2 technology.
The ITU-T standard for advanced 56 Kbps modem communications. This technology offers three new features to enhance the V.90 standard. The first feature is V.PCM-Upstream, which allows a modem's upstream communication to reach speeds of 48,000 bps. The second feature provides quicker connection times by allowing the modem to remember the line conditions of a V.92 supported service provider. The third feature is the Modem on Hold technology, which allows your Internet connection to be suspended when there is an inbound telephone call, then return to the connection when the call is completed without losing the connection. The V.92 technology can only be utilized if a V.92 modem is dialing into an Internet Service Provider that supports and provides a digital V.92 signal.
World Wide Web (WWW)
A part of the Internet designed to allow easier navigation of the network through the use of graphical user interfaces and hypertext links between different addresses.
USRobotics's trademark for its proprietary technology that uses the digital telephone network to increase the bit rate of the receive channel by eliminating the analog-to-digital conversion commonly found in modem connections. x2 connections require a modem with x2 technology calling a digitally connected Internet Service Provider or corporate host site compatible with x2 technology.
Standard ASCII control characters used to tell an intelligent device to stop/resume transmitting data. | <urn:uuid:8b850b22-852e-4826-a9cd-72324510d250> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usr.com/support/5686e/5686e-ug/gloss.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.876833 | 3,112 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Outcome Thinking with SOCRATES
Purpose: To provide an easy-to-remember summary of the key criteria and questions to help you develop a really “Well-Formed Outcome”. Using this model will significantly increase personal achievement over time and can also increase the immediate effectiveness of all your activities, for example, in meetings, negotiations and personal coaching sessions.
|S||Specify your goal||What is the specific goal you really want to achieve?
Is it stated in positive language?
If “Moving Away From” the Present State, what do you want instead of the problem?
|O||Own it||Is it within your control to make happen?
If not, what can you bring within control?
|C||Check your evidence for having achieved it||Step into it – ‘As if’ it is already achieved.
Allow it to become fully associated in your mind:
What are you seeing?
What are you hearing?
What are you feeling?
What are you thinking?
|R||Remember how you’ve achieved this particular goal||Looking back, how have you done this?
What skills and resources have you used?
|A||Add in your higher level ‘interests’||What does achieving this do for you?|
What does it mean to you?
What else is important to you about this?
|T||Test against the needs of others most closely affected||How does your achievement ‘dovetail’ with the needs of others affected by it?|
Is this acceptable to you?
What do they need at the same time?
|E||Ecology and other effects||Looking at the bigger systems that may be affected:|
What is the impact of this achievement?
What are the further consequences?
What other ripples can you identify?
|S||Step out and start||Looking back, what were your first steps?
Dissociate – Is the image truly compelling?
Test commitment (a score out of 10)
10 = Committed
8-9 Ask what has to be true to make it 10?
7 or less? – Check for any hidden positive by-products of the Present State and incorporate them. Or, change the goal! | <urn:uuid:c0709127-0b82-4d17-aefd-303a03e6dd8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vievolve.com/outcome-thinking/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931542 | 477 | 2.96875 | 3 |
This story is from the category Embodiment
Date posted: 17/11/2011
If you tell yourself that someone who's being mean is just having a bad day -- it's not about you -- you may actually be able to stave off bad feelings, according to a new study which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Having someone angry at you isn't pleasant. A strategy commonly suggested in cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy is to find another way to look at the angry person. For example, you might tell yourself that they've probably just lost their dog or gotten a cancer diagnosis and are taking it out on you. Stanford researchers Jens Blechert, Gal Sheppes, Carolina Di Tella, Hants Williams, and James J. Gross wanted to study the efficiency and the speed of the process of reappraising emotions. "You can see this as a kind of race between the emotional information and the reappraisal information in the brain: emotional processing proceeds from the back to the front of the brain, and the reappraisal is generated in the front of the brain and proceeds toward the back of the brain where it modifies emotional processing," Blechert says.
Blechert and his colleagues came up with two experiments to study this process. Participants were shown several series of faces and tested on their reactions. For example, in one set, they were told to consider that the people they'd seen had had a bad day, but it's nothing to do you with you. "So we trained the participants a little bit, not to take this emotion personally, but directed at someone else," Blechert says.
They found that, once people had adjusted their attitude toward someone, they weren't disturbed by that person's angry face the next time it appeared. On the other hand, when participants were told to just feel the emotions brought on by an angry face, they continued to be upset by that face. In a second study, the researchers recorded electrical brain activity from the scalp and found that reappraising wiped out the signals of the negative emotions people felt when they just looked at the faces.
Psychologists used to think that people had to feel the negative emotion, and then get rid of it; this research suggests that, if people are prepared, it's actually a much faster and deeper process.
"If you're trained with reappraisal, and you know your boss is frequently in a bad mood, you can prepare yourself to go into a meeting," says Blechert, who also works as a therapist. "He can scream and yell and shout but there'll be nothing." But this study only looked at still pictures of angry faces; next, Blechert would like to test how people respond to a video of someone yelling at them.
See the full Story via external site: www.sciencedaily.com
Most recent stories in this category (Embodiment):
04/05/2013: Bielefeld robots take part in a space simulation | <urn:uuid:8536c70e-54bc-48de-b0e5-10d94957b166> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.virtualworldlets.net/Archive/IndividualNews.php?News=8599 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975183 | 622 | 3.046875 | 3 |
African Americans in the Bluegrass
Whether you are spending a day, a week or longer in the Bluegrass Region, you and your family will learn fascinating information about African Americans. Gleanings from your travels will become answers to questions that you might not ever have thought to ask.
History in the Heart of Downtown
The public square at the center of downtown was platted in 1780 as the site of the courthouse for the newly established town of Lexington. The square has always been, and still is, a place where significant events and community activities have occurred. Archive records tell of a fight between a school teacher and a wildcat, controversial slave auctions, military drills, Civil War skirmishes, riots, hangings, speeches and fires that destroyed previous courthouses. This history has been inclusive of African Americans both enslaved and free.
By 1789, an area of the square had been designated as a marketplace and named after the market in London, England - Cheapside (old English ceapan means to buy). William Tucker (1787-1837), a free African American, was one of the merchants who advertised the sale of household items and spices from his stall. Farmers and others, during their monthly visits to transact legal business, bought, sold and swapped livestock and agricultural products. The sale activity, known as Court Day, ended in 1921. Historian J. Winston Coleman, Jr. documented two dozen dealers in Lexington who bought and sold the enslaved between 1833 and 1865. This commercial enterprise established Lexington as one of the largest slave markets in the south. The Cheapside Auction Block stood near Main Street in the general vicinity of the monument for J.C. Breckinridge. The historical marker giving an account of the sale of African Americans stands in the northeast courtyard on Short Street. It was placed on the former site of the whipping post, erected by order of town trustees in 1806.
The impressive Romanesque design courthouse, the fourth built on site, was erected between 1898 and 1900. The Tandy and Byrd Construction Company, owned by African Americans Henry Tandy and Albert Byrd, laid the brick under the stone façade. In 2003 the building became the Lexington History Center; it closed in 2012 for renovation.
|Blue Note: A number of nationally known individuals started their lives in Kentucky. Vertner Tandy (1885-1949), son of constructor Henry Tandy, became the first licensed architect in New York and a founding member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternal organization. He designed the New York mansion of Madam C.J. Walker, the hair care product millionaire and Berea Hall dormitory on the campus of Lincoln Institute, Simpsonville.|
In 2009, Cheapside once again became an open-air market when area farmers and merchants began selling fresh produce and food products every Saturday from April through November. The pavilion also serves as performance space for musicians during “Thursday Night Live” and shelters those who attend local festivals, events and celebrations.
Walk around the square to read the wayside markers and stroll our downtown streets to view other points of interest. Historical Highway Markers are located throughout Lexington. Those highlighting African American history include: Doctors' offices at 118 N. Broadway; Historic Pleasant Green Baptist Church at 540 Maxwell Street; Lyman T. Johnson who integrated the University of Kentucky on Administration Drive; Polk/Dalton Infirmary at 148 Deweese Street; African Cemetery No. 2 at 419 East Seventh Street; The Colored Orphan Home at 644 Georgetown Street; The Agricultural and Mechanical Fair of Colored People at Georgetown Street past Nandino Drive; and Maddoxtown Community on Huffman Mill Road. Main Street Baptist Church will be placing a marker at their church in 2013 celebrating 150 years at their West Main Street location.
|Blue Note: The Aviation Museum at Bluegrass Airport off Man-O-War Boulevard and U.S. Hwy 60 has an exhibit about the Tuskegee Airmen of Kentucky as well as other aviation history. 4316 Hanger Drive, behind the airport. (859)231-1219.|
Equine Industry Superstars
Plan a visit to the Kentucky Horse Park by traveling down Hwy 922, Newtown Pike, to Iron Works Pike. On the way, you’ll pass the Coldstream Research Farm on the left. It was once the thoroughbred breeding farm McGrathiana, owned by H.P. McGrath. On this farm worked Oliver Lewis, the African American jockey who won the inaugural Kentucky Derby in 1875. The winning thoroughbred was Aristides, trained by renowned African American Ansel Williamson. Williamson was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1998. Outlining a portion of the original boundary of the farm is a rock wall fence. A sign designates that it was crafted by African American masons who had replaced the Scottish and Irish immigrant stone masons of the 1840s and 1850s.
Admission to the Kentucky Horse Park includes both the International Museum of the Horse and the American Saddle Horse Museum. African Americans were the national sports superstars during the early development of the thoroughbred racing and Saddlebred horse industries. There are memorials to Isaac Murphy, the first African American jockey to win three Kentucky Derbies, and the famous thoroughbred, Man-O-War and his groom, Will Harbut. "The Buffalo Soldiers of the Western Frontier" is a permanent exhibit housed in the International Museum of the Horse. Pick up a DVD produced by the American Saddlebred Association entitled "Out of the Shadows", the story of African American trainers and owners. (859)233-4303.
|Blue Note: The rock fences seen as you travel the roadways are of limestone that was uncovered in fields being cultivated for agriculture as well as quarried. Most were dry laid - without the use of mortar. The Lexington Fayette Urban County government has ordinances in place that encourage the preservation and restoration of area stone fences. The nonprofit Dry Stone Conservancy has taken on the task of preserving and restoring the stone fences by conducting workshops to train new masons in old techniques. Look for signs that designate the dates, styles and builders of these fences.|
African Americans played an important role in the development of the racing industry. Stop by the Lexington Public Library downtown and you’ll see a mural highlighting a number of influential early African American jockeys, and the world’s largest ceiling clock as well! (859)231-5501.
The Stories of Slaves and Soldiers
Another day's tour can take you just outside Lexington to Waveland, site of a restored historic mansion and slave quarters. Head south on Nicholasville Road, then turn right onto Waveland Museum Lane. The stone building where the enslaved were housed and worked has been preserved and furnished with period artifacts. The guides tell you the history of enslaved on the property in conjunction with the story of the Bryan family, relatives of Daniel Boone, who lived in the Mansion house. (859)272-3611.
Leaving Waveland, turn right onto Hwy 27 again and travel south past Nicholasville, taking the 27 Bypass. Signs let you know you are approaching Camp Nelson, established in 1863 as a supply camp for the Union Army during the Civil War. It became the third largest recruitment and training center for African Americans who formed the regiments known as the United States Colored Troops. Kentucky recruiters enlisted 23,700 African Americans, primarily among those who were enslaved. Some 10,000 began their training at Camp Nelson.
The camp originally encompassed 4,000 acres and held 300 buildings which were dismantled following the war. The house that was used as headquarters was saved and has been restored. Guided tours are available. A self guided tour of the grounds will lead you to the camp's earthen fortifications which are being restored. A number of artifacts which have been unearthed can be viewed in the interpretive center, a replica of a barracks. Camp Nelson Heritage Park was added to the National Parks Underground Railroad Network to Freedom in 2007.
The third weekend in September, the park celebrates Camp Nelson Days. The site comes alive with re-enactors of the 12th Heavy Regiment of the USCT and other military units. Lectures and demonstrations (firing of the cannon, cavalry charges, open fire cooking) help you experience some of what camp life was like for the soldiers as well as the families who escaped slavery and became free.
Adjacent to the Heritage Park is the National Military Cemetery. In an original section, the grave sites of African American soldiers can be found. Check the list of those who are interred to see if you might have relatives who were veterans.
Just beyond the park are several Kentucky Highway Markers that tell the history as it relates to the formation of the Hall community and the Ariel school established following the closing of the camp. (859)881-5716.
|Blue Note: The town of Nicholasville is the birthplace of Morgan and Marvin Smith, the twin brothers whose photography captured images of Harlem, New York between 1935 and 1952.|
Cousins of Influence
Lexington and Richmond are the locations of homes of two influential men who were cousins. Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate is located at 120 Sycamore Drive, just off Richmond Road. At its zenith, the estate encompassed over 600 acres which were developed, cultivated and harvested by 50 enslaved at one time by Mr. Clay's telling. The farming operations also included active livestock breeding of horses, sheep and cattle. An interpretive history of the work performed by the enslaved in the management of the farm and household is presented. There are archival panels along with a sketch of Charles Dupuy, a member of the family responsible for the personal care of the Clay household. The Dupuy family traveled to Washington, D.C. when Henry Clay was appointed Secretary of State in 1825 and lived in the Decatur house, the Clay’s official residence. The story of Charlotte Dupuy's lawsuit filed in 1829, petitioning for her freedom as well as that of her two children, is truly fascinating. Charlotte did not win the suit, but Henry Clay did finally emancipate her and her two children, Charles and Mary Ann, in the 1840s. There are archive photos of the T.H. Hummons' family and other African Americans who were employed in the household from the 1900s to 1964. (859)266-8581.
From the Henry Clay estate, turn right onto Richmond Road and take I-75 South to Richmond, exit 95, to discover White Hall State Historic Site, the home of Henry Clay's cousin. The road leads to the home of Cassius Marcellus Clay - not the boxer - but the man who served as Ambassador to Russia during Abraham Lincoln's presidency. Cassius became an ardent emancipationist, having freed 50 of those enslaved to him in 1844. He printed the True American, a newspaper in 1845 promoting the emancipation of the enslaved. White Hall, a 44 room Italianate mansion, makes an impressive appearance as you approach the entrance.
|Blue Note: Cassius M. Clay supported the founding of Berea College in 1855, donating both land and money. Founder John G. Fee promoted the idea of a school where students from the Appalachian region could be educated regardless of race and income. Julia Britton, grandmother of Benjamin Hooks, Director of the NAACP, John H. Jackson, first president of Kentucky State University and Carter G. Woodson, founder of Black History Week, were graduates. The college is located in Berea, KY, just south of Richmond. You can spend a full day in the town enjoying the food, crafts and history.|
At the right rear of the house is a stone building that was used as housing and workspace for the enslaved. Several of the original outbuildings have also been restored. One serves as the Gift Shop and location for admission to the home. There are picnic tables and restroom facilities, so plan for lunch or a late afternoon snack on the grounds. (859)623-9178
An Afternoon in Paris
A scenic drive to Paris will take you past historic horse farms and more rock wall fences. Take Broadway/Paris Pike, Hwy 68 North from Lexington. One of the first stops should be the Thoroughbred Training Center located at 3380 Paris Pike. This facility actually trains future champion horses. You do need to be there before 9 a.m. if you want to see the horses put through their paces. Observing the work here will help you understand what is involved in the care and preparation of thoroughbreds for their careers in racing.
In earlier times, the tasks you observe would have been performed by African Americans, many of whom were children and young males. At age seven and eight, they started working in the barns and stables. By ten years of age some were being mounted on the horses as exercisers. Jockeys Isaac Murphy and William Walker began riding at the age of 11 and Raleigh Colston, Jr. rode in his first Kentucky Derby at the age of 13 in 1875. (859)293-1853. Reservations recommended.
If you have stopped at the training center, return to Paris Pike and continue into town. Visit the Hopewell Museum, (859)987-7274, located in the old Paris post office at 800 Pleasant Street. There is a permanent display featuring Garrett Morgan, inventor of the traffic signal and gas mask. Look for the Kentucky Historical Highway Marker at 10th and Vine Streets that marks the birthplace of Garrett Morgan.
Several quaint, independently owned restaurants make great lunch or dinner stops to round out your afternoon in Paris.
A Hamlet and a Railroad Town
Leaving Lexington from another direction, head west on Leestown Road (Hwy 421) and you’ll pass an African American community established in 1865 by Frederick Braxton, founder and minister of the Main Street Baptist Church in Lexington. He had purchased land and sold small acreage to other blacks after emancipation. They named the community in his honor, Bracktown.
Stay on Hwy 421 until you reach Midway. Turn left at Hwy 62 which will lead you to town. Don't be surprised to find that the railroad tracks run through the middle of the street. When goods were delivered by rail, it made it convenient to off load supplies directly to stores. On Railroad Street, a marker pays tribute to Edward Dudley "Dick" Brown. He was born into slavery in Lexington about 1848. R.A. Alexander purchased him at auction around 1856 and brought him to the Woodburn farm in Woodford County where he began his career as a stable boy. He eventually advanced to exerciser, jockey, trainer and finally owner of his own thoroughbred, Ben Brush, 1896 Kentucky Derby winner. Also in town are Historical Markers detailing the history of the Second Christian Church, Smith Street; Pilgrim Baptist Church, 133 East Stephen Street and St. Matthews AME Church, 112 S. Winter Street. They are within walking distance from Railroad Street.
A Capital Idea
Leaving Midway, get back on Hwy 421 and follow it into Frankfort, Kentucky’s capital. Take the by-pass until you see the sign directing you to Kentucky State University. Founded in 1887 by act of legislature, it became the first state supported school to train African Americans to become teachers. John H. Jackson, a native of Lexington, became its first president. Recitation Hall was the first building completed in 1887 by stone mason, James C. Brown. The building was renamed Jackson Hall and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The building is now the office/museum of the Center of Excellence for the Study of Kentucky African Americans. Visit the Welcome Center to view a display on African American history. Visitor permit parking is available.
Other sites to visit in Frankfort are the Memorial to United States Colored Troops at the Greenhill Cemetery, the Kentucky Military History Museum, the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, Kentucky State Capitol and Old State Capitol. Historic Markers are located at St. John AME Church, 210 West Clinton; 1st Baptist Church at 100 W. Clinton and Emily Thomas Tubman House on Washington Street.
For more information call the Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau at 800-845-3959.
Written by Yvonne Giles, December 2008 | <urn:uuid:88da4d25-3083-404d-80d8-d5a552c80292> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.visitlex.com/idea/african-americans.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964578 | 3,402 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Botanical Name and Pronunciation:
Dendranthema x grandiflorum (den-DRAN-the-ma grand-I-FLOR-um)
shades of red, pink, orange, bronze, yellow, white
Form and Size:
Daisy spray mums have a leafy stem with many blooms. The blooms have several petals that uniformly extend out from an eye-like center. Gerbera daisies and chrysanthemum daises are similar.
7 – 14 days, sometimes longer
Cut under water and place in fresh water with flower food. The stem must be cut above any woody portions to ensure good water intake. Do not pound stem ends, this will not help to ensure good water intake.
History and Usage:
A member of the Compositae (aster) family, chrysanthemums, including daisy mums, originated in China. They were first introduced to Japan in 400 A.D. They were then considered the emblem of the imperial family. They were introduced to Europe in the late 18th century. Chrysanthemums have a long vase life, so they go well in any arrangement. Daisy spray mums can be used as a filler flower, or in an arrangement as the main attraction.
Points of Interest:
Relatives of the chrysanthemum include cosmos, dahlia, calendula and zinnia. In Italy, mums are synonymous with death and funerals. | <urn:uuid:5384679b-0d5e-405d-816e-2aa4008be943> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.viviano.com/flowers-v2/information.asp?FlowerLetter=I&FlowerSearch2=&ID=53 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941286 | 313 | 2.625 | 3 |
|Regel 30:||Regel 30:|
|Sediment supply from soft cliffs <br> © A. J. Chadwick
|Sediment supply from soft cliffs <br> © A. J. Chadwick
The current world’s coastlines were formed as a result of the last ice age, which ended about 10,000 years ago (see the beach management manual <ref name="CIRIA">CIRIA (2010). Beach management manual, Second Edition. Publication no. RP787, London.</ref>). At that time large ice sheets covered more of the world’s land masses than they do at present. As they melted there was a rapid rise of sea level (about 120m between 20,000 and 6000 years ago). Vast quantities of sediment were carried by rivers to the sea during this period, eventually forming the pre-cursor to our present coastlines as the rate of sea level rise rapidly reduced about 6000 years ago. Much of our beaches today are composed of the remnants of these sediments, composed predominantly of sand and gravel. These sources of beach material have subsequently been supplemented by [[Coast erosion|coastal erosion]] of soft cliffs and the reduced but continuing supply of sediments from rivers. Material has also been derived from offshore banks left behind by relatively rapid rises of sea level after cold episodes in the earth’s climate.
The current world’s coastlines were formed as a result of the last ice age, which ended about 10,000 years ago (see the beach management manual <ref name="CIRIA">CIRIA (2010). Beach management manual, Second Edition. Publication no. RP787, London. </ref>). At that time large ice sheets covered more of the world’s land masses than they do at present. As they melted there was a rapid rise of sea level (about 120m between 20,000 and 6000 years ago). Vast quantities of sediment were carried by rivers to the sea during this period, eventually forming the pre-cursor to our present coastlines as the rate of sea level rise rapidly reduced about 6000 years ago. Much of our beaches today are composed of the remnants of these sediments, composed predominantly of sand and gravel. These sources of beach material have subsequently been supplemented by [[Coast erosion|coastal erosion]] of soft cliffs and the reduced but continuing supply of sediments from rivers. Material has also been derived from offshore banks left behind by relatively rapid rises of sea level after cold episodes in the earth’s climate.
Versie van 16 okt 2012 om 09:36
Gravel beaches are widespread around the world, including the USA, Canada, Japan, Argentina, New Zealand and the wave dominated coastlines of Northern Europe . In the UK, about one third of the coastline is protected by such beaches .
In coastal defence schemes, considerable use is made of coarse-grained (gravel) sediment to replenish eroding beaches, often in conjunction with structures such as rock or wooden groynes or offshore breakwaters. This is because such beaches are known to be an efficient form of natural coastal defence . Two examples from the UK are those at Sidmouth, Devon and Elmer, West Sussex.
|Sidmouth coastal defence scheme||Elmer coastal defence scheme |
Picture courtesy of the Arun District Council
Research into the particular characteristics of gravel beaches and their engineering analysis is relatively new, with much of the progress being made recently. In the 1990’s small scale experimental measurements and early field studies lead to the subsequent development of parametric models for profile prediction, longshore transport and the stability of barrier beaches. Since 2002, two major large scale experimental studies and some new comprehensive field studies have been undertaken. Since that time, good progress has also been made in process based numerical modelling systems for long and cross shore transport.
The emphasis of the article is to present in a clear and concise manner the most relevant concepts, basic understanding and insights into the behaviour of gravel beaches, to provide a summary of the available engineering analysis techniques and modelling approaches and to provide guidance to further reading and a list of the most relevant references to work carried out since 1990.
|Sediment supply from soft cliffs |
© A. J. Chadwick
The current world’s coastlines were formed as a result of the last ice age, which ended about 10,000 years ago (see the beach management manual ). At that time large ice sheets covered more of the world’s land masses than they do at present. As they melted there was a rapid rise of sea level (about 120m between 20,000 and 6000 years ago). Vast quantities of sediment were carried by rivers to the sea during this period, eventually forming the pre-cursor to our present coastlines as the rate of sea level rise rapidly reduced about 6000 years ago. Much of our beaches today are composed of the remnants of these sediments, composed predominantly of sand and gravel. These sources of beach material have subsequently been supplemented by coastal erosion of soft cliffs and the reduced but continuing supply of sediments from rivers. Material has also been derived from offshore banks left behind by relatively rapid rises of sea level after cold episodes in the earth’s climate.
Sediment classification and properties
|all pictures: © A. J. Chadwick|
Traditionally sand and gravel sizes have been classified according to the Wentworth scale. This defines sand as being of diameter between 0.0625mm to 2mm. Material sizes larger than this are classified as gravel, subdivided into granular (2mm to 4 mm), pebble (4mm to 64 mm), cobble (64mm to 256 mm) and boulder (>256 mm). Rounded gravel, typical of a significant number of UK beaches, is referred to as shingle.
There are several physical properties of sand and gravel beaches which are important in the study of coastal sediment transport. The first is the sediment density (ρs), typically 2650 kg/m³ for quartz. The rest are required in recognition of the fact that a beach comprises a mixture of the beach material, interspersed with voids which may be filled with air or water. Thus the bulk density (ρb) is defined as the in situ mass of the mixture/volume of the mixture, the porosity (ps) as the volume of air or water/volume of the mixture, typically between 0.25 to 0.4 for a gravel beach, the voids ratio (e) as the volume of air or water/volume of the grains, typically between 0.33 to 0.66 for a gravel beach, and finally the angle of repose (Φ), which is the limiting slope angle at which the grains begin to roll, typically about 35° in air. In water this reduces to about 30°.
The material sizes on any particular beach will normally comprise a range of grain sizes, thus it is standard practice to measure the grain size distribution by a sieve analysis from which the percentage by weight of material passing through a range of sieve sizes is plotted against particle size. The median size is denoted by D50, representing the diameter for which 50% of the grains by mass are finer. The spread of sizes is often indicated by the values of D84 and D16 and their ratio is used to measure the degree of sorting. A well sorted sample is one in which there is a small range of sizes (D85/D16<2), whereas a well mixed sample has a large range of sizes (D85/D16>16).
Beaches types may be categorised according to the mixture of sands and gravels present, which has a significant influence on the beach slope and the more general morphological response of the beach to wave action. Four categories are defined as pure gravel (G), mixed sand and gravel (MSG), composite sand and gravel (CSG) and pure sand (S).
|© A. J. Chadwick|| Picture courtesy of
Halcrow Consulting Engineers
|© A. J. Chadwick||© A. J. Chadwick|
The characteristics of a gravel beach are very different from those of a sand beach. Most notably, gravel can support a steep gradient typically of the order of 1 in 8 with a tendency to form a near vertical berm towards the high water mark and a step at the wave break point. Swell wave conditions promote onshore accretion in the swash zone, with storm conditions promoting rapid offshore erosion. Despite the large grain size, the sediment is highly mobile. Changes in the vertical profile of the order of 0.5m are commonly found over just one tidal cycle for moderate to large waves .
|all pictures: © A. J. Chadwick|
|all pictures: © A. J. Chadwick|
On macro-tidal beaches, the active swash zone continuously re-works the beach face as the tide rises and falls. At low tide, it is common to observe a berm at the high water mark of the beach below which is a beach face of uniform slope, which ends in the step feature at the low water mark.
Cusp formation on gravel beaches is another distinctive feature. They can form rapidly when the wave approach is near normal, but are also washed out rapidly when the wave approach changes to an oblique angle. In the literature, two dominant models of cusp formation are recognised, namely edge wave forced and swash circulation/self organisation modes. However, cusp formation on gravel beaches has not been discussed very much in the literature .
|© A. J. Chadwick|
The steep beach gradient allows waves to progress much closer inshore before breaking, often resulting in a single plunging breaker. Consequently, there is minimal generation of infra-gravity waves. Even during storms, a wide surf zone is rare. An important consequence of this is that the swash zone can be of similar width to the surf zone and hence the sediment transport within the swash zone is of considerably more significance than on sand beaches. A second effect of the steep beach gradient is that refraction processes are also confined to a narrower zone than is experienced on a sand beach, with the result that refraction is often observed to be incomplete and the waves arrive at the beach face with some considerable angle, resulting in significant longshore transport. Gravel beaches are also much more reflective than sand beaches, with reflection coefficients of up to about 0.2.
Another distinguishing characteristic is the high permeability of gravel which, compared to a sand beach, increases the potential for infiltration during the swash uprush and exfiltration during the swash downrush. This induces a downward, stabilising force on sediment movement during the uprush and a lift force during backwash. Conversely, there is a thinning of the boundary layer during uprush, leading to increased shear stress on the bed and a thickening during backwash, leading to deceased shear stress on the bed. This latter effect is thought to predominate. On a gravel beach the backwash volume can also be considerably reduced, lowering the backwash velocities (see Elfrink and Baldock (2002) for a detailed review). It is these processes that lead to the formation of the high water mark berm.
|Picture courtesy A. Pedrozo-Acuna|
Barrier beaches are a common geomorphological feature across the world, many of which are composed of gravel. Their essential features comprise a narrow, elongated ridge of sand or gravel existing slightly above the high tide level. The ridge generally extends parallel to the shore, but is separated from it by a wetland, lagoon or a tidal flat. Barrier beaches act as natural means of coast protection. In addition, wetlands and lagoons formed behind barrier beaches provide shelter for many coastal habitats and are therefore of considerable environmental significance. One explanation of their formation is that they have been formed by landward migration of submerged sand/shingle banks with rising sea levels since the last ice age.
Barrier beaches are constantly evolving in response to short and long term processes. Short term changes in barrier beaches are related to local wave and current climate, tidal variations, frequency and magnitude of storm events, barrier geometry and type of beach sediment and permeability. Over longer terms, the primary factors for change and modification of barrier beaches are sea level rise, longshore sediment transport and changes in sediment sources and/or sinks according to Orford et al. (1995) .
A barrier beach can respond to these factors by landward or seaward migration, reshaping and re-alignment and crest breakdown or build-up . The episodic processes of over-washing, over-topping and associated breaching are the primary phenomena behind long term evolution.
Understanding the processes of sediment transport on gravel beaches is important for beach management which requires some quantification of shoreline evolution. The vast majority of coastal engineering projects still rely on one-line models since, as yet, 3D morphodynamic models are restricted to short- and medium-term predictions and none have been validated against coarse-grained field data. Most one-line models make use of empirical total longshore transport equations. Hence, the formulation of a reliable estimate of longshore sediment transport rate remains of considerable practical importance in coastal engineering applications such as feasibility studies of port extensions, derivation of sediment budgets for coastal areas and the appraisal of long term beach stability.
To some extent, the mechanisms associated with the longshore transport of gravel may be differentiated from that of sand. Generally, for a sand seabed the oscillatory force due to the passage of a (breaking) wave will tend to stir the sediment into motion. The bed shear due to the longshore current can then transport the sand. On gravel beaches the sediment normally moves as bedload and is largely confined to the swash zone. As the flow in the uprush is perpendicular to the wave crest and in the backwash is perpendicular to the beach contours, the gravel describes a 'sawtooth', or zig-zag, path along the beach.
Quantitative estimation of sediment transport rates is extremely difficult on a gravel beach. Direct measurement of longshore transport has been attempted using a variety of techniques, such as deposition of a tracer material (radioactive, dyed or artificial sediment) or installation of traps (see Van Wellan et al. (2000) for a review).
|all pictures: © A. J. Chadwick|
Changes in beach volumes may be calculated from data derived from ground or aerial surveys. If surveys are carried out over several years a trend for accretion or depletion may be discernible. This is not necessarily a direct measure of the longshore transport rate along the coast. Rather it is an indication of any imbalances in the supply of sediment from one point to another. However, where marine structures are constructed which cut of the supply from further up the coast, comparisons of beach volumes before and after construction can give some indication of the longshore transport rates.
|all pictures: © A. J. Chadwick|
The most widely used formula for calculating longshore transport is the CERC equation (US Army Corps of Engineers, 1984). The equation was derived from sand beaches and has been developed over a number of years. The formula is intended to include both bedload and suspended load and is usually given in the form of:
is the immersed weight sediment transport rate
is the longshore component of wave power
where E is wave energy, is group wave speed, θ is wave approach angle, subscript b refers to wave break point
and where K is a dimensionless empirically derived coefficient. The volumetric transport rate, , is related to by: where
where ρs is sediment density, ρ is sea water density, e is voids ratio.
There is no direct inclusion of the influence of grain size in the CERC equation, other than via the coefficient, K. It should be noted that for random waves, the choice of wave height used in the CERC equation (significant wave height, Hs or root mean square wave height, Hrms) must be correlated with the K value. Much confusion can arise, as some authors have used Hs and others Hrms without explicitly stating which one. For Rayleigh distributed waves, the K value using Hrms is twice that using Hs. A suggested value for K using Hrms is 0.77 for sand sized sediments. For gravel beaches, Chadwick’s (1989) data suggested a K value of 7% of that for sand (K=0.053). This was later found to work well at another beach site, Slapton Sands, Devon,UK (see Alegria-Arzaburu & Masselink (2010) ).
Chadwick (1991) also developed a numerical model to predict longshore transport on gravel beaches. The hydrodynamic module uses the non-linear shallow water wave equations, which predict the instantaneous water levels and velocities throughout the surf and swash zones. These are combined with a sediment transport module based on Bagnold's stream power concept. Instantaneous transport rates across the surf and swash zones are subsequently summed in space and time to determine the total longshore transport rate. Thus, this model specifically includes a sediment threshold term and transport in the swash zone, both of which are of importance on shingle beaches. The model required calibration of only the friction coefficient, which was determined from field data. Subsequently, an algebraic formula (the Chadwick-Van Wellen formula) was derived from the numerical model results given by:
This equation was specifically designed for application to gravel beaches but has only been calibrated to the data from one field site. For further details of this and other longshore transport equations, applicable to gravel beaches, see Van Wellen et al (2000) .
Large scale experimental studies
|© A. J. Chadwick|
More recent work on coarse grained beaches was undertaken by the EU project “Large Scale Modelling of Coarse Grained Beaches” which was undertaken between March-May 2002. The experiment was conducted at full scale, thus avoiding the sediment scaling issues inherent in small scale models. The measurements included not only the wave field and resultant equilibrium profile development, but also detailed measurements of pore water pressures under the swash face. The experimental results of this work may be found in López de San Román-Blanco et al (2006) . This experiment was used to develop the cross shore profile model of Pedrozo et al (2006) , described in more detail in this article.
Subsequently another large scale experimental study of gravel barrier beaches was undertaken in BARDEX (Barrier Dynamics Experiment) in the Delta wave flume, the Netherlands, during June and July 2008. One unique aspect of this work was the inclusion of the effects of a back barrier lagoon in conjunction with a varying tidal level. A special edition of Coastal Engineering has been devoted to papers resulting from this work (see Turner and Masselink (2012)) . These include details of the observations, the effect of the lagoon water level on the beach profile, new measurements of and prediction techniques for wave friction factors, new predictive techniques for assessing barrier overwashing and overtopping and an assessment of the XBeach model used to predict beach profile evolution and the morphological effect of washover.
Parametric models for equilibrium profiles
The prediction of the expected profile for a gravel beach is very different from the concepts used for equilibrium profiles on a sand beach. The problem was first comprehensively addressed by van der Meer (1988) and Powell (1990) , based on extensive scaled laboratory flume tests (small scale with anthracite in Powell’s case and large and small scale with gravel in van der Meer’s case). Powell’s work resulted in the development of a parametric profile model, which described the profile as a set of three curves: from the crest to the still water level, from the still water level to a transition point and from the transition point to the base of the profile. This was found to work well using the data from the GWK experiment ).
Parametric models for barrier stability
Bradbury (2000) carried out a series of 3-D mobile bed laboratory tests on barrier crest response to hydrodynamic conditions and initial barrier geometry. Based on the model investigations, several categories of barrier response to hydrodynamic conditions were identified and underlying characteristics were qualitatively defined. These included crest raised by overtopping, crest lowered due to undermining of crest but with no overtopping, crest raised by over-washing with roll-back, crest lowered by over-washing with roll-back and finally, no change to the crest elevation with profile contained to seaward of the barrier crest.
He developed an expression for an over-washing threshold of barrier crests, based on regression analysis. It is a function of wave steepness (Hs/Lm), barrier free board (Rc) and barrier cross-sectional area Ba (above the still water line), given by:
The expression was validated against field data gathered at Hurst Spit, UK and found to be consistent with the field data. In addition, a conceptual model for barrier over-washing was formulated. According to his model, the beach will initially attempt to reach a dynamic equilibrium; if the critical barrier inertia is exceeded then the crest will be lowered by over-washing.
Modelling cross shore profile development
|Picture courtesy of A. Pedrozo-Acuna|
The first of several recent deterministic process based models for predicting the profile response of coarse grained beaches was developed by Lawrence, Chadwick and Fleming (2001) . It was shown that Boussinesq equations coupled with a bed load sediment transport formulation were a useful approach for process-based modelling of gravel beach profile evolution. This model was subsequently extended to model the sediment transport of grain size fractions and thus to predict sediment sorting across the beach face . However, it was found that this numerical model scheme was not stable on steep beaches.
Subsequently, using a newer Boussinesq model, Pedrozo et al (2006) demonstrated that the two principle sediment parameters of friction (f) and sediment transport efficiency (C) were controlling the shape of the gravel beach profile. With f and C as constant values, accurate prediction of the profile evolution was not possible. The use of bigger friction factors in the uprush slightly improved the prediction. When larger values of the sediment transport efficiency (C -value) were used in the uprush compared to the backwash, better predictions of the beach profile resulted. The physical processes which dictate the differences between the predicted and measured profiles were hypothesised as being related to infiltration effects on the flow above the beach face and more accelerated flow in the uprush. Further developments coupling the effects of infiltration/exfiltration with sediment movement were still required at that time. The more recent results reported by Jamal et al (2010) and Williams et al (2012) indicate that including this process leads to significant improvements in prediction. Pedrozo et al (2010) have also highlighted the importance of the impulsive pressures induced by plunging breakers on gravel beach sediment transport.
Suggestions for further research
For all budding researchers in coastal research, the further study of gravel and mixed beaches offers much opportunity to enhance our knowledge. Longshore transport prediction is still imprecise and cross shore processes very complex and not completely understood. Current parametric design methods leave much to be desired. Further field and large scale experimental studies remain a primary tool for advancing our understanding of long and cross shore processes. These will need to stand on the heads of the previously mentioned studies. Numerical modelling tools can still benefit greatly from improved process representation, including infiltration/exfiltration, interactions with groundwater flows, impulsive pressure forces, the incorporation of grain size fractions and the prediction of sediment sorting across the beach face.
Example barrier beaches
Chesil Beach, Dorset UK, is a world famous gravel barrier beach. It is approximately 28 kilometres long and, on average, 160 metres wide. The height of the beach is typically 11 metres above mean sea level. The beach stabilised close to its present position around 5000 years ago.
A rent research paper concerning the internal structure of Chesil beach (Bennett et al (2009)) also contains a good summary of the extensive historical literature on this beach. There is an informative web site at www.chesilbeach.org.
A comprehensive assessment of the historical development and contemporary processes affecting a significant gravel barrier beach system in the UK (Slapton Sands, South Devon UK) may be found in Chadwick et al (2005) and a short summary of these studies is presented elsewhere in the coastal wiki (Slapton barrier beach case study, UK).
The paper includes assessment of the effects of sea level rise on barrier migration and its susceptibility to over-washing and overtopping, inter alia. It was found that the processes at work on the Slapton shoreline included:
|© A. J. Chadwick|
- Short-term changes in beach profile due to storms, acting over a period of several days. These storms cause cut-back of the seaward edge of the shingle crest, or changes in crest elevation
- Overtopping, in which wave action throws water and sediment onto the crest.
- Overflowing, or overwashing, where extremely high water levels coincident with wave action cause water to flow over the crest of the ridge. This can cause significant changes to the crest and backslope of the ridge.
- Medium-term changes in beach width and profile due to longshore transport, occurring over a period of months or several years.
- Long-term landward retreat; the barrier beach responds to sea level rise by “roll-over” and by increasing its crest height. This process involves overwashing, transferring sediment from the shore-face to the back barrier area. This is an episodic rather than a continuous process.
- Planform change; as the barrier beach is pinned by hard rock cliffs at either end (Strete and Torcross), landward retreat results in a gradual increase in both curvature and length.
In a later comprehensive field study of this site, Alegria-Arzuburu and Masselink (2010) used an ARGUS video system to monitor short and medium term changes. This study confirmed many of the conclusions reached in the Chadwick study and demonstrated the importance of storm sequencing to both long and cross shore processes which affect beach erosion and accretion.
An up to date and comprehensive review of gravel beaches and barriers may be found in Anthony (2008) . Gravel beach dynamics are reviewed by Buscombe and Masselink (2006) . Stripling et al (2008) present a good review of barrier beaches and their management.
Finally, the management manual (2010) provides information on state-of-art methods, guidance on beach monitoring and maintenance, evaluation of the state and performance of a beach, design, procurement, execution and the after-care of beach improvement schemes. It also includes case studies to illustrate popular management techniques and draws from experience of existing management approaches.
- Risk and coastal zone policy: example from the Netherlands
- Shore protection, coast protection and sea defence methods
- The Integrated approach to Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)
- Natural causes of coastal erosion
- Human causes of coastal erosion
- Coastal defense techniques
- Natural barriers
- Relative sea level
- Shore nourishment
- ↑ 1,0 1,1 Buscome D., Masselink G. (2006). Concepts in gravel beach dynamics. Earth science Reviews 79 33-52.
- ↑ Fuller, R. M. & Randall, R. E. (1988). The Orford Shingles, Suffolk, UK. Classic conflicts in coastline management. Biological conservation.
- ↑ 3,0 3,1 Powell, K. A. (1990). Predicting short term profile response for shingle beaches. HR Wallingford Report SR 219.
- ↑ Diserens, A. P. & Coates, T. T. (1993). UK South Coast shingle beach study: storm response of shingle beaches. HR Wallingford Report SR 323.
- ↑ 5,0 5,1 CIRIA (2010). Beach management manual, Second Edition. Publication no. RP787, London. Available at: http://www.southerncoastalgroup.org.uk/bmm.htm Beach
- ↑ 6,0 6,1 6,2 Van Wellen, E, Chadwick, A J and Mason, T (2000) A review and assessment of longshore sediment transport equations for coarse grained beaches. Coastal Engineering, 40, 3, 243-275.
- ↑ 7,0 7,1 Anthony E. J. (2008). Gravel beaches and barriers. Developments in Marine Geology, Vol 4, 289-324.
- ↑ Elfrink B, Baldock T. (2002) Hydrodynamics and sediment transport in the swash zone: a review and perspectives. Coastal Engineering, 45, 149–167.
- ↑ Orford, J.D., Carter, R.W.G., Jennings, S.C. and Hinton, A.C. (1995). Processes and time scales by which a coastal gravel dominated barrier respond geomorphologically to sea level rise-Story Head Barrier, Nova-Scotia, Earth Surface process and Land Forms, 20(1), pp.21-37.
- ↑ Carter, R.W.G., Forbes, D.L., Jennings, S.C., Orford, J.D., Shaw, J. and Taylor, R.B., (2003), Barrier and lagoon coast evolution under differing relative sea level regimes-examples from Ireland and Nova-Scotia, Marine Geology, 88, Issue 3-4, pp.221-242.
- ↑ 11,0 11,1 Ruiz de Alegria-Arzaburu, A., Masselink, G. (2010). Storm response and beach rotation on a gravel beach, Slapton Sands, U.K Marine Geology 278, 77–99.
- ↑ Chadwick, A J. (1991). An unsteady flow bore model for sediment transport in broken waves Part 1: The development of the numerical model. Proc. Instn. Civ. Engrs. Part 2, 1991, 91, Dec. 719 - 737.
- ↑ Chadwick, A J. (1991). An unsteady flow bore model for sediment transport on broken waves Part II: The properties, calibration and testing of the numerical model. Proc. Instn. Civ. Engrs. Part 2, 1991, 91, Dec., 739-753.
- ↑ 14,0 14,1 López de San Román-Blanco, B., Coates, T., Holmes, P., Chadwick, A. J., Bradbury, A., Baldock, T., Pedrozo-Acuña, A., Grüne, J. (2006). Large scale experiments on gravel and mixed beaches: experimental procedure, data documentation and initial results. Coastal Engineering 53 (4), 349-363.
- ↑ 15,0 15,1 Pedrozo, A., Simmonds, D.J., Otta, A.K., Chadwick, A.J. (2006). On the cross-shore profile change of gravel beaches. Coastal Engineering, 53 (4), 335-347.
- ↑ Ian L. Turner, Gerd Masselink (2012). Coastal gravel barrier hydrology — Observations from a prototype-scale laboratory experiment (BARDEX). Coastal engineering, 63, 13-22
- ↑ Van der Meer J. (1988) Rock slopes and gravel beaches under wave attack. Delft Hydraulics Publications n 396.
- ↑ Bradbury, A.P. (2000), Predicting breaching of shingle barrier beaches- recent advances to aid beach management, 35th MAFF (DEFRA) Conf of River and Coastal Engineers.
- ↑ Lawrence, J, Chadwick, A J and Fleming, C A. (2001). A phase resolving model of sediment transport on coarse grained beaches. In: Billy L Edge (ed) Coastal Engineering 2000, 624-636. American Society of Civil Engineers: Reston, Virginia.
- ↑ Lawrence, J, Karunarathna, H, Chadwick, A J and Fleming, C A. (2003). Cross-shore sediment transport on mixed coarse grain sized beaches: modelling and measurements. Proceedings of the International Conference on Coastal Engineering 2002
- ↑ Jamal, M.H., Simmonds, D.J., Magar, V., Pan, S., (2010). Modelling infiltration on gravel beaches with an XBeach variant. Proc.32nd Conf. on Coastal Eng., Shanghai, China, 2010, sediment, p. 41 http://journals.tdl.org/ICCE/issue/view/154/showToc.
- ↑ Jon J. Williams, Amaia Ruiz de Alegría-Arzaburu, Robert T. McCall, Ap Van Dongeren (2012). Modelling gravel barrier profile response to combined waves and tides using XBeach: Laboratory and field results. Coastal engineering, 63, 62-80
- ↑ Pedrozo-Acuña, A., Torres-Freyermuth, A., Zou, Q., Hsu, T.-J., Reeve, D.E. (2010). Diagnostic modelling of impulsive pressures induced by plunging breakers. Coastal Engineering 57 (3), 252–266.
- ↑ Bennett M. R., Cassidy N. J., Pile J. (2009). Internal structure of a barrier beach as revealed by ground penetrating radar (GRP) Chesil beach, UK. Geomorphology 104, 218-229.
- ↑ Chadwick, A. J., Karunarathna, H., Gehrels, R, Massey, A. C.,O’Brien, D. ,Dales, D.(2005). A New Analysis of the Slapton Barrier Beach System. Maritime Engineering 158, 4, 147-161
- ↑ Stripling A., Bradbury, A.P., Brampton, A.H. and Cope S.N. (2008) Understanding Barrier Beaches Joint DEFRA/EA Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management R&D Programme. Technical Report FD1924/TR
Please note that others may also have edited the contents of this article. | <urn:uuid:2b305a28-5383-420b-b80c-4a4d1f82f025> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vliz.be/v/index.php?title=Gravel_Beaches&curid=7202&diff=54233&oldid=54232 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919276 | 7,202 | 3.46875 | 3 |
At Walmart, we talk a lot about learning from one another and working in partnership to create global change. A recent report, “Smart Moves,” examines some of the best practices by companies working to cut emissions from transportation.
Emissions from freight transportation are no small problem. The report’s author, Jason Mathers of the Environmental Defense Fund, points out that freight emissions are expected “to increase 74 percent from 2005 to 2035” in the U.S. Mathers’ report looks at some of the best strategies and most creative thinking at work today to cut pollution caused by shipping.
Justin Gerdes’ Forbes commentary highlights the report and notes that “any CEO concerned about his or her company’s carbon footprint must account for shipping’s growing contribution to climate change…” As Gerdes points out, the report is loaded with statistics about shipping emissions as well as examples of smart moves by companies that reduced emissions and saved money at the same time. Here’s what he highlighted about Walmart:
Wal-Mart: Direct shipment
Wal-Mart worked with Minute Maid to eliminate one stop in the chain used to deliver Minute Maid’s Simply Orange Juice to Wal-Mart distribution centers. Now, the product moves directly from a production facility in Florida to Wal-Mart distribution centers. Eliminating delivery to Minute Maid’s own distribution centers slashed CO2 emissions by 1,500 metric tons annually and added six days to the shelf life of the orange juice. | <urn:uuid:095407aa-8504-499b-b006-f52a907f9941> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.walmartgreenroom.com/2012/02/forbes-how-nike-wal-mart-and-ikea-save-money-and-slash-carbon-by-shipping-smarter/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940209 | 312 | 2.59375 | 3 |
What is Rainwater Harvesting?
Rainwater harvesting is an ancient practice of catching and holding rain for later use. In a rainwater harvesting system, rain is gathered from a building rooftop or other source and is held in large containers for future use, such as watering gardens or washing cars. This practice reduces the demand on water resources and is excellent during times of drought.
Why is it Important?
In addition to reducing the demand on our water sources (especially important during drought), rainwater harvesting also helps prevent water pollution. Surprised?
Here’s why: the success of the 1972 Clean Water Act has meant that the greatest threat to New York’s waterbodies comes not from industrial sources, but rather through the small actions we all make in our daily lives. For example, in a rain storm, the oil, pesticides, animal waste, and litter from our lawns, sidewalks, driveways, and streets are washed down into our sewers. This is called non-point source (NPS) pollution because the pollutants come from too many sources to be identified. Rainwater harvesting diverts water from becoming polluted stormwater; instead, this captured rainwater may be used to irrigate gardens near where it falls.
In New York City, keeping rainwater out of the sewer system is very important. That’s because the city has an old combined sewer system that uses the same pipes to transport both household waste and stormwater to sewage treatment plants. During heavy rains, the system overloads; then untreated sewage and contaminated stormwater overflow into our rivers and estuary, with serious consequences:
Who is Harvesting Rainwater in New York City?
Back in 2002, a drought emergency pushed many community gardens to the brink of extinction. For the first time in twenty years, community gardeners were denied permission to use fire hydrants, the primary source of water for most community gardens. This crisis led to the formation of the Water Resources Group (WRG), an open collaboration of community gardening and environmental organizations. With help from the WRG, rainwater harvesting systems have now been built as demonstration sites in twenty NYC community gardens.
At community gardens that harvest rainwater, rain is diverted from the gutters of adjacent buildings and is stored in tanks in the gardens. A 1-inch rainfall on a 1,000-square-foot roof produces 600 gallons of water. The tanks are mosquito proof, so the standing water does not encourage West Nile virus. Because rainwater is chlorine free, it is better than tap water for plant growth, meaning healthier plants. And it’s free!
What are Other Cities Doing?
Many cities have adopted creative, low-cost ways to stop wasting rainwater by diverting it from their sewage systems and putting it to use where it falls. Here are some examples:
What Can I Do?
Spread the word! Educate those around you on the importance of lifestyle decisions.
Tell people not to litter, dump oil down storm drains, or overfertilize their lawns.
Install a rainwater harvesting system at your home, school, business, or local community center.
Contact your local elected officials, and let them know you support rainwater harvesting!
Supporting rainwater harvesting Jade Boat Loans | <urn:uuid:14a860e9-8430-426b-8c1a-80c7f022fb96> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.waterresourcesgroup.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942301 | 671 | 3.890625 | 4 |
Students at a local college walked around campus Tuesday without shoes on and it was all for a good cause.
Bowling Green Technical College held a "One Day Without Shoes" event.
It's meant to raise awareness for the millions of children around the World who don't have proper footwear and are therefore, exposed to disease and injuries.
Students and community members walked over a gravel pathway barefoot at the event.
"People are not really aware that kids go daily without shoes. Roughly, 30,000 children just in the area are going without shoes," says John Rose, one of the event's coordinators.
"I think it's a good awareness and it shows people what kids go through every day," says Haley Womac, a student at BGTC.
Those who took part also got the chance to get pedicures.
Organizers say the Philippines and Kenya are just two of the countries where many children go without shoes. | <urn:uuid:8dbbffea-7932-4e1d-a240-b02e4f0b1688> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbko.com/news/headlines/One_Day_Without_Shoes_At_Bowling_Green_Tech_College__146827045.html?storySection=comments | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975931 | 194 | 2.5625 | 3 |
What is Morbid Obesity?
Obesity becomes "morbid" when it reaches the point of significantly increasing the risk of one or more obesity-related health conditions or serious diseases (also known as co-morbidities) that result either in significant physical disability or even death. As you read about morbid obesity you may also see the term "clinically severe obesity" used. Both are descriptions of the same condition and can be used interchangeably. Morbid obesity is typically defined as being 100 lbs. or more over ideal body weight or having a Body Mass Index of 40 or higher. According to the National Institutes of Health Consensus Report, morbid obesity is a serious disease and must be treated as such. It is a chronic disease, meaning that its symptoms build slowly over an extended period of time. | <urn:uuid:b328868e-89dc-47f8-bdc7-c0a9660a81f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wboc.com/story/9821188/what-is-obesity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967591 | 163 | 3.25 | 3 |
What Your Cholesterol Level Means
How’s your cholesterol? Time to get it checked!??
Keeping your cholesterol levels healthy is a great way to keep your heart healthy – and lower your chances of getting heart disease or having a stroke. Cholesterol can be tricky to understand, though, because not all is bad for you. Some is actually good for you. The most important thing you can do as a first step is to know your cholesterol numbers by getting your cholesterol tested. Here are some easy ways for you to understand what the testing involves, how it can help you and ways to improve your health by improving your cholesterol.??
The American Heart Association endorses the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) guidelines for detection of high cholesterol: All adults age 20 or older should have a fasting lipoprotein profile — which measures total cholesterol, LDL (bad) cholesterol, HDL (good) cholesterol and triglycerides — once every five years. This test is done after a nine- to 12-hour fast without food, liquids or pills. It gives information about total cholesterol, LDL (bad) cholesterol, HDL (good) cholesterol and triglycerides (View an animation of cholesterol).??
Your test report will show your cholesterol levels in milligrams per deciliter of blood (mg/dL). To determine how your cholesterol levels affect your risk of heart disease, your doctor will also take into account other risk factors such as age, family history, smoking and high blood pressure.??
A complete fasting lipoprotein profile will show the following four results.?
Your Cholesterol Levels
Your Total Blood (or Serum) Cholesterol Level
|Total Cholesterol Level||Category|
|Less than 200 mg/dL||Desirable level that puts you at lower risk for coronary heart disease. A cholesterol level of 200 mg/dL or higher raises your risk.|
|200 to 239 mg/dL||Borderline high|
|240 mg/dL and above||High blood cholesterol. A person with this level has more than twice the risk of coronary heart disease as someone whose cholesterol is below 200 mg/dL.|
Above content provided by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
For advice about your medical care, consult your doctor. | <urn:uuid:89b5e54a-f281-40ea-ac8e-f7ca0d301130> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wcvb.com/Sponsors/bethisrael/What-Your-Cholesterol-Level-Means/-/9239880/18000816/-/view/print/-/r5o7i5/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.884304 | 461 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Save money with properly inflated tires
(NewsUSA) - Tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) are now a standard safety feature on all new cars in the United States. TPMS automatically monitors tire pressure and alerts the driver when the pressure in one or more tires becomes significantly low -- and potentially dangerous.
Still, conducting monthly tire pressure checks is one of the smartest driving moves you can make. Not only are properly inflated tires critical for vehicle safety, they also increase fuel efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Increase Fuel Efficiency
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 3.56 million gallons of gasoline are wasted every day due to incorrectly inflated tires. The good news is you can improve gas mileage just by keeping tires inflated to the proper pressure. In fact, one study showed that if gas costs $3 per gallon, proper tire pressure can save you up to $432 at the pump each year.
Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the typical car in the United States releases more than five tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. By keeping tires properly inflated, you can reduce your vehicle's "carbon footprint" by an average of 327 pounds per year. Because a tire can lose up to half its air pressure without appearing to be under-inflated, you cannot rely on a tire's appearance to determine whether it's properly inflated or not.
Tire Pressure Tips
To help ensure your tires are properly inflated year-round, here are some tips from Schrader, a manufacturer of TPMS:
* Check the pressure in all four tires -- and the spare tire -- monthly with an accurate tire gauge, and always check tire pressure before a long road trip.
* The "right" pressure for your vehicle's tires can be found in the vehicle's manual or on the driver door edge, glove box or fuel door. Do not follow the information listed on the tire sidewall.
* For the most accurate reading, tires should be checked when they are cool.
* Always remember to replace the valve cap.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:fbe63891-da5c-47a0-9e22-c0c971f16e25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wcyb.com/living/automotive/2013-autos/Save-money-with-properly-inflated-tires/-/15281066/8590838/-/view/print/-/yur80u/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932094 | 447 | 2.75 | 3 |
Streptococcus, Group B
It is possible that the main title of the report Streptococcus, Group B is not the name you expected. Please check the synonyms listing to find the alternate name(s) and disorder subdivision(s) covered by this report.
- Group B Streptococcal Septicemia of the Newborn
- Lancefield Group B Streptococcus
- Sepsis of the Newborn
- Streptococcus Agalactiae
- Infant Early-Onset Streptococcus, Group B
- Infant Late-Onset Streptococcus, Group B
- Adult Onset Streptococcus, Group B
Group B streptococcus (group B strep) is a type of bacteria that causes infection among newborns, pregnant women or women after childbirth, females after gynecologic surgery, and older male and female patients with other serious diseases.
Group B strep remains the most common cause among newborns (neonates) of infection of the blood (septicemia) and of the brain (meningitis). The responsible bacterium, usually S. agalactiae, may be found most often in the vagina and rectum of females and may be transmitted sexually, as well as to a fetus as the infant passes through the birth canal.
Group B strep infection of newborns may be prevented by giving pregnant women who are carriers antibiotics through the vein (intravenously) during labor. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that any pregnant woman who has had a baby with group B strep disease in the past, who has a bladder (urinary tract) infection caused by group B strep, or who tests positive for group B strep during pregnancy should receive antibiotics during labor.
Prevention and prompt treatment are important because group B strep infections may become life-threatening among newborns.
GBS disease is said to be early onset if it is obvious within the first week of life. It is said to be late onset if the disease is evident after the first week of life and before the end of the first three months. Those at greatest risk of GBS disease are newborn children of infected mothers, women after childbirth, females after gynecologic surgery and older male and female patients with other serious diseases.
Group B Strep Association
P.O. Box 16515
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30333
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Office of Communications and Government Relations
6610 Rockledge Drive, MSC 6612
Bethesda, MD 20892-6612
MUMS National Parent-to-Parent Network
150 Custer Court
Green Bay, WI 54301-1243
Genetic and Rare Diseases (GARD) Information Center
PO Box 8126
Gaithersburg, MD 20898-8126 | <urn:uuid:a3af5eed-7288-47e6-8bf2-686166408cc7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/streptococcus-group-b | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.828134 | 623 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Heart Disease and Abnormal Heart Rhythm (Arrhythmia)
An irregular heartbeat is called an arrhythmia, which is not the same as an irregular heart rate. In fact, the two don't necessarily occur together.
A normal heart rate is 50 to 100 beats per minute. Arrhythmias can occur with a normal heart rate, or with heart rates that are slow or rapid. In the United States, more than 850,000 people are hospitalized for an arrhythmia each year.
What Causes an Arrhythmia?
Arrhythmias may be caused by many different factors, including:
Irregular heart rhythms can also occur in otherwise normal, healthy hearts.
What Are the Types of Arrhythmias?
The types of arrhythmias include:
Premature atrial contractions. These are early extra beats that originate in the atria (upper chambers of the heart). They are harmless and generally do not require treatment.
Premature ventricular contractions(PVCs). These are among the most common arrhythmias and occur in people with or without heart disease. This is the skipped heartbeat we all occasionally experience. In some people, it can be related to stress, too much caffeine or nicotine, or too much exercise. But sometimes, PVCs can be caused by heart disease or electrolyte imbalance. People who have a lot of PVCs, and/or symptoms associated with them, should be evaluated by a heart doctor. However, in most people, PVCs are usually harmless and rarely need treatment.
Atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is a very common irregular heart rhythm that causes the atria, the upper chambers of the heart, to contract abnormally.
Atrial flutter. This is an arrhythmia caused by one or more rapid circuits in the atrium. Atrial flutter is usually more organized and regular than atrial fibrillation. This arrhythmia occurs most often in people with heart disease and in the first week after heart surgery. It often converts to atrial fibrillation.
Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT). A rapid heart rate, usually with a regular rhythm, originating from above the ventricles. PSVT begins and ends suddenly. There are two main types: accessory path tachycardias and AV nodal reentrant tachycardias (see below).
Accessory pathway tachycardias. A rapid heart rate due to an extra abnormal pathway or connection between the atria and the ventricles. The impulses travel through the extra pathways as well as through the usual route. This allows the impulses to travel around the heart very quickly, causing the heart to beat unusually fast.
AV nodal reentrant tachycardia. A rapid heart rate due to more than one pathway through the AV node. It can cause heart palpitations, fainting, or heart failure. In some cases, it can be terminated using simple maneuvers, such as breathing in and bearing down. Some drugs can also stop this heart rhythm.
Ventricular tachycardia (V-tach). A rapid heart rhythm originating from the lower chambers (or ventricles) of the heart. The rapid rate prevents the heart from filling adequately with blood. This can be a serious arrhythmia, especially in people with heart disease, and may be associated with more symptoms.
Ventricular fibrillation. An erratic, disorganized firing of impulses from the ventricles. The ventricles quiver and are unable to contract or pump blood to the body. This is a medical emergency that must be treated with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation as soon as possible.
Long QT syndrome. The QT interval is the area on the electrocardiogram that represents the time it takes for the heart muscle to contract and then recover, or for the electrical impulse to fire impulses and then recharge. When the QT interval is longer than normal, it increases the risk of a life-threatening form of ventricular tachycardia. Long QT syndrome is an inherited condition that can cause sudden death in young people. It can be treated with antiarrhythmic drugs, pacemaker, electrical cardioversion, defibrillation, implanted cardioverter/defibrillator, or ablation therapy.
Bradyarrhythmias. These are slow heart rhythms, which may arise from disease in the heart's electrical conduction system. Examples include sinus node dysfunction and heart block.
Sinus node dysfunction. A slow heart rhythm due to an abnormal sinus node. Significant sinus node dysfunction that causes symptoms is treated with a pacemaker.
Heart block. A delay or complete block of the electrical impulse as it travels from the sinus node to the ventricles. The heart may beat irregularly and, often, more slowly. If serious, heart block is treated with a pacemaker. | <urn:uuid:9f941670-6331-405f-b436-5f4a3b656ff1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/heart-disease-abnormal-heart-rhythm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902894 | 1,030 | 3.828125 | 4 |
Westat has applied our strong statistical, environmental, and data collection skills to design, conduct, and analyze environmental studies for more than 25 years. We have applied national field resources to the collection of environmental samples in homes, schools, and industrial facilities and coordinated analyses at specialized laboratories, following EPA's and our own quality assurance specifications.
National Children's Study (NCS)
Westat has been awarded the contract to serve as the coordinating center for the National Children's Study (NCS) — the largest study ever undertaken within the United States to assess the effects of the environment on child and adult health. The full nationwide study would follow more than 100,000 children from prior to conception through adulthood, seeking information to prevent and treat such health problems as autism, birth defects, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Westat will collect data, compile and analyze statistics, and ensure that the study proceeds according to design.
Environmental measures proposed for inclusion in the study include toxicants in air, water, and household dust and body burden data to be collected from urine, saliva, and blood. Toxicants to be studied include pesticides, metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), phytoestrogens, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and more.
Six Vanguard Centers have been selected to pilot and complete the first phases of the study. The centers, which include a variety of universities, hospitals, health departments, and other organizations, will work within their communities to recruit participants, collect and process data, and pilot new research methods for incorporation into the full study.
NCS is led by a consortium of Federal agency partners: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (including the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Exposure Assessment and Environmental Epidemiology
Our work in the area of exposure assessment and environmental epidemiology has included studies of exposure to pesticides, particulate matter, PCBs, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds in a variety of populations, including children, the elderly, and the immunocompromised. Westat conducted the National Human Exposure Assessment Regional Survey in Maryland, a multimedia, multicontaminant field study of long-term exposure that included the collection of blood and urine samples for environmental exposure. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey now includes measurements of environmental exposure to dozens of contaminants through sampling of blood, urine, hair, and other body tissues and fluids. Other Westat environmental epidemiology studies include studies of the health effects relating to the following exposures:
- Air pollution among the elderly in Maryland and California and school children in California and Texas;
- Pesticides among children throughout the United States;
- Microbial pathogens among bathers in recreational water;
- Mercury in the seafood consumed by subsistence fishermen and women of childbearing age;
- Indoor allergens in the homes and daycare centers of children throughout the United States; and
- Asbestos in homes, schools, and commercial buildings throughout the United States.
Water Quality has been the focus of several projects for the EPA. Westat has performed the following:
- Evaluated the best technology available for minimizing the adverse environmental impact of cooling water intake structures;
- Analyzed water quality impairment from concentrated animal feeding operations; and
- Designed, conducted, and analyzed the results of industry surveys to determine whether current effluent guidelines were appropriate for current manufacturing technologies used in the iron and steel, meat products, and aquaculture industries.
Westat's work in the area of lead hazards has included two national surveys of lead-based paint hazards in housing, an assessment of exposure to lead in child-care centers and homes, and the analysis of data on lead levels in soil. Our staff has performed the following:
- Produced technical guidance documents on lead contamination of various media (soil, water, and dust);
- Developed risk communication materials for the general public;
- Designed a series of examinations to certify lead inspections;
- Evaluated training programs designed to train janitors and others to work safely around lead paint; and
- Designed a protocol for measuring the blood lead levels of children living in remediated housing.
Health and Environment Chapter of the EPA's State of the Environment Report
Westat assisted EPA in preparing the health and environment chapter of the EPA's State of the Environment Report. Written in a style appropriate for the general public, yet in conformance with the standards of the health and environmental research communities, the report addresses the following:
- Health status of the U.S. population;
- Human exposure to environmental pollutants;
- Diseases related to environmental pollution; and
- Data gaps and emerging issues.
Hazardous Waste Survey
For the EPA's Office of Solid Waste, Westat designed and implemented the Hazardous Waste Survey. This national industry survey provided important information about the characteristics of waste generation, treatment, storage, and disposal facilities and the quantities of hazardous waste produced. | <urn:uuid:de4d4e7a-b9d0-4cd5-9c58-70ee0c985a22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.westat.com/Westat/expertise/energy_and_environment/environmental_protection.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931073 | 1,045 | 2.546875 | 3 |
by Bruce Boyers,
Our system of factory agriculture is exacting a great toll on our planet: 40 percent of the land and 70 percent of the fresh water on Earth is devoted to the growing of food, which, in the process, creates some 30 percent of greenhouse gases. Compounding these issues is the fact that commercial produce is often transported thousands or even tens of thousands of miles to its point of sale, consuming tons of fossil fuel. It is evident that our current agricultural model is a failed experiment in search of a more sustainable solution.
In an effort to bring needed fresh produce closer to home with far greater sustainability, a movement in urban agriculture is rapidly gaining momentum. New York City, having such a large and diverse population, is a metropolis ripe for green urban agriculture and is now home to an innovative commercial operation called Gotham Greens.
Gotham Greens has now gone into full production and is providing much-needed locally and sustainably grown produce for the greater New York City area. "My partners and I had a vision for a local farm operation here in New York City that could provide New Yorkers-which would include restaurants, retailers and consumers-with premium quality, fresh, nutritious culinary herbs and greens, salad greens and lettuces," Puri said. "They would be grown year round so that we could reliably and consistently supply our customers with local produce. Obviously our climate in New York doesn't support year-round agriculture of a lot of these crops, so we thought we would try to do something in a greenhouse. A greenhouse climate allows you to potentially grow year round, at the same time protecting crops against extreme or detrimental weather events."
Gotham Greens was founded in 2008 by Puri and Eric Haley; then in 2009 Jennifer Nelkin joined as a partner to head all greenhouse operations. Puri himself had previously developed and managed start-up enterprises in New York City, in Ladakh, India, and in Malawi, Africa, focusing on green building, renewable energy and environmental design. Haley, who is currently employed by a Manhattan-based investment bank and private equity fund, also brought business acumen to the operation. The farm know-how comes from Nelkin, who cultivated her expertise in greenhouse systems and management at the University of Arizona. In addition to greenhouse system design, her skillset includes plant nutrition and crop and pest management. She has managed greenhouses in far more extreme circumstances than New York-namely two different locations in Antarctica, providing fresh vegetables for US research scientists.
House of Greens
The choice of a rooftop was made quite deliberately. "New York City obviously doesn't have a lot of arable or available land, so it seemed to us that one underutilized resource was rooftops," said Puri. "You're seeing more and more innovative uses of the rooftops now in urban areas nationwide."
Getting a rooftop greenhouse up and operational-especially one of this size and scope-was no mean feat. "It was extremely challenging," Puri recalled. "I would say the biggest challenge was just having any real path to follow. There's not a lot of precedent for what we're doing.
"The first thing was finding a building owner who wouldn't mind us building a greenhouse on his or her roof. We also had to find a building that met all the construction criteria, both structurally and for the obtaining of utilities. In addition there had to be access, and the evaluation of how we would get stuff up and how we would get stuff down. On top of that we had to make sure the plan would meet all zoning and building codes."
The Gotham Greens operation, as one might imagine, represents an enormous saving in resource usage. "We employ a recirculating hydroponic technique that actually goes back and captures all irrigation for reuse," Puri explained. "It's the most water-efficient form of agriculture in the world. We use ten times less water than conventional agriculture. Even though we are not in an area that is susceptible to drought, we still think that it's a great demonstration of a technology that is very water efficient." The hydroponic growing environment is sterile as well, which eliminates the risk of pathogens-particularly important in light of the increase in foodborne illnesses, such as E. coli and salmonella, from fresh vegetables.
Puri and his partners have seen to the frugal use of energy too. "We have 55 kilowatts in solar panels that produce electricity to help meet the electrical needs of the facility," said Puri. "Along with that, we've spent a lot of effort here to design our facilities to be as energy efficient as possible. We've installed increased insulation in many areas; the glazing material that we selected helps insulate the greenhouse; and we've deployed heat curtains and heat blankets in the winter to reduce space in the greenhouse that needs to be conditioned." Additionally, a sophisticated computer control system ensures that climate-control equipment operates efficiently to reduce resource consumption.
Perhaps the most significant saving in terms of resources is that of fossil fuels, as the distance from farm to consumer is considerably shorter. "Of course, we sharply reduce the transportation of our product and the associated carbon emissions that are caused because of that," Puri added.
All nutrition and pest control is done naturally and sustainably, which was also one of the goals for Gotham Greens. "We utilize mineral salts that we dissolve in the water," Puri said. "These contain minerals such as nitrogen, magnesium and potassium, along with micronutrients like selenium. In controlling pests, we mostly rely on beneficial insects; there's a whole program in integrated pest management for which a fair bit of monitoring goes on. If we do find a pest in here, we will introduce its natural predator-for instance, we have ladybugs and lacewings to control aphids."
It's in the Taste
Like many others concentrating on great flavor, Puri and his team have found that truly caring for the plants will result in the superiority they seek. "The biggest thing in obtaining that flavor is really taking care of our crops-making sure they have ideal growing conditions in climate, humidity, temperature, and so forth. We're also making sure they're getting all the nutrients that they need, along with the right amount of irrigation, the right amount of dissolved oxygen. The foremost belief is that healthy plants are going to make for tastier plants.
"And then because we are so close to our customers, we never have to harvest anything before it's completely ready. Many conventionally grown crops have to be refrigerated and transported long distances, so they are picked early and then artificially ripened. We don't have to do anything like that; we can harvest crops when they are at their optimal freshness, size, flavor, profile and color. We can harvest any item in the morning and have it to a supermarket or a restaurant in the afternoon."
In addition to supplying locally grown produce, Gotham Greens contributes to the local economy by providing badly needed jobs. All staff are residents from the nearby community. As production expands, they also plan to offer their products to more local areas that have limited access to fresh produce.
They're Buying It
For more information on Gotham Greens, visit www.gothamgreens.com.
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(1) The section of a pedestal between base and surbase. (2) The lower portion of the wall of a room, decorated diffrently from the upper section.
The dance of death, a favorite late medieval picture subject. It generally shows skeletons forcing the living to dance with them, usually in matching pairs, e.g. a live priest dancing with a skeleton priest. Holbein's woodcut series the Dance of Death is one of the most famous.
Refers to a style of painting that developed in Regensburg, Germany, and elsewhere along the Danube river during the Renaissance and Reformation. It is characterized by a renewed interest in medieval piety, an expressive use of nature, the relationship of the human figure and events to nature, and the introduction of landscape as a primary theme in art. The term was coined by Theodor von Frimmel (1853-1928), who believed that painting in the Danube River region around Regensburg, Passau, and Linz possessed common characteristics; the style seems to exist even though leading artists did not form a school in the usual sense of the term, since they did not work in a single workshop or in a particular centre. Major artists whose work represents the style include Lucas Cranach the Elder, Albrecht Altdorfer and Wolf Huber.
a minister who was below the rank of priest in the Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox churches. Deacons originally cared for both the sick and the poor in early Christian communities.
the representation of Christ enthroned in glory as judge or ruler of the world, flanked by the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist acting as intercessors.
in medieval art a picture, often an altarpiece, consisting of two folding wings without a fixed central area.
In Renaissance art theory, the design of a painting seen in terms of drawing, which was help to be the basis of all art. The term stresses not the literal drawing, but the concept behind an art work. With the Mannerists the term came to mean an ideal image that a work attempts to embody but can in fact never fully realize. As disegno appeals to the intellect, it was considered far more important that coloure (colour), which was seen as appealing to the senses and emotions.
A technique of painting in which pigments are diluted with water and bound with a glue. It was usually used for painting wall decorations and frescoes, though a few artists, notably Andrea Mantegna (1430/31-1506), also used it on canvas.
in architecture, hemispherical structure evolved from the arch, usually forming a ceiling or roof.
A Roman Catholic order of mendicant friars founded by St. Dominic in 1216 to spread the faith through preaching and teaching. The Dominicans were one of the most influential religious orders in the later Middle Ages, their intellectual authority being established by such figures as Albertus Magnus and St.Thomas Aquinas. The Dominicans played the leading role in the Inquisition.
a patron who commissioned a work of art for a church. Donors sometimes had their portraits included in the work they were donating as a sign of piety.
A male garment, formerly worn under armour, that from the 15th century referred to a close-fitting jacket.
A ceramic product invented in England around 1720, which belongs to the category of fine stoneware. The porous white bodies are made of fired raw materials containing clay and kaolin as well as quartz, feldspar, and talc. A transparent glaze is applied upon the first or second firing. Earthenware, which is suitable for everyday use, is distinguished by its light, creamy surface. The most famous example of this category is made by the English firm of Wedgwood (since 1780).
Stand on which a painting is supported while the artist works on it. The oldest representation of an easel is on an Egyptian relief of the Old Kingdom (c. 2600-2150 BC). Renaissance illustrations of the artist at work show all kinds of contrivances, the commonest being the three-legged easel with pegs, such as we still use today. Light folding easels were not made until the 18th and 19th centuries, when painters took to working out of doors. The studio easel, a 19th-century invention, is a heavy piece of furniture, which runs on castors or wheels, and served to impress the c1ients of portrait painters. Oil painters need an easel which will support the canvas almost vertically or tip it slightly forward to prevent reflection from the wet paint, whereas the watercolourist must be able to lay his paper nearly flat so that the wet paint will not run down. The term 'easel-painting' is applied to any picture small enough to have been painted on a standard easel.
The words of Pontius Pilate in the Gospel of St. John (19, 5) when he presents Jesus to the crowds. Hence, in art, a depiction of Jesus, bound and flogged, wearing a crown of thorns and a scarlet robe.
In portraiture, a pose in which the sitter faces the viewer directly; full face.
Coloured glass in powder form and sometimes bound with oil, which is bonded to a metal surface or plaque by firing.
A print made from a metal plate that has had a design cut into it with a sharp point. Ink is smeared over the plate and then wiped off, the ink remaining in the etched lines being transferred when the plate is pressed very firmly onto a sheet of paper.
A combining of several media grouped together to form a composite art work. Chapels were among the most notable Renaissance ensembles, sometimes combining panel painting, fresco, sculpture, and architecture.
In classical architecture, the part of a building between the capitals of the columns and the roof. It consists of the architrave, the frieze, and the cornice.
Pictures or tables with reliefs and inscriptions erected in honour of the deceased in churches or sepulchral chapels.
the science of the end of the world and beginning of a new world, and of the last things,death and resurrection.
the sacrament of Holy Communion, celebrated with bread and wine, the most sacred moment of the Christian liturgy.
The term is used in an Italian context to designate spiritual currents manifest around 1540 which might be said to have occupied the confessional middle ground between Catholicism and Protestantism; hence it does not relate at all to the term 'Evangelical' as used in German or English contexts. It has been applied particularly to the so-called spirituali of the Viterbo circle, notably Cardinal Pole, Vittoria Colonna, Marcantonio Flaminio, Carnesecchi and Ochino, and also to Giulia Gonzaga, Contarini, Giovanni Morone; Gregorio Cortese and Vermigli. Such persons combined a zeal for personal religious renewal with spiritual anxieties akin to those of Luther, to which they sought an answer in the study of St Paul and St Augustine; convinced of the inefficacy of human works, they stressed the role of faith and the all-efficacy of divine grace in justification. Few of them broke with the Catholic Church.
Tin-glazed European earthenware, particularly ware made in France, Germany, Spain, and Scandinavia. It developed in France in the early 16th century, was influenced by the technique and the designs of Italian maiolica, and is named for Faenza, Italy, which was famous for maiolica. It is distinguished from tin-glazed earthenware made in Italy, which is called "maiolica," and that made in the Netherlands and England, which is called "delftware." It has no connection to the ancient objects or material also named faience, which was developed in the Near East ca. 4500 BCE.
A title given to those leaders of the early Christian Church whose writings had made an important contribution to the development of doctrine. Saints Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great were often considered the four principal Fathers of the Church.
Ancient Roman god of nature, protector of shepherds, farmers, fields and livestock. Equated with the Greek god Pan, he is frequently depicted with a goats legs and horns.
Architectural ornaments consisting of fruit, leaves, and flowers suspended in a loop; a swag.
In painting, representation of a rural feast or open-air entertainment. Although the term fête galante ("gallant feast") is sometimes used synonymously with fête champêtre, it is also used to refer to a specific kind of fête champêtre: a more graceful, usually aristocratic scene in which groups of idly amorous, relaxed, well-dressed figures are depicted in a pastoral setting.
of a column or pillar, carved with closely spaced parallel grooves cut vertically.
the Four Horsemen in the Revelation of St John (Rev 6, 2 - 8), which contains the description of the end of the world and the Second Coming of Christ. The Horsemen personify the disasters about to happen to mankind, such as plague, war, famine and death. Their attributes are the bow, sword and set of balances. In some sculptures the first rider is identified as Christ by a halo. The colour of his horse is white, that of the others red, black and dun.
A Roman Catholic order of mendicant friars founded by St. Francis of Assisi (given papal approval in 1223). Committed to charitable and missionary work, they stressed the veneration of the Holy Virgin, a fact that was highly significant in the development of images of the Madonna in Italian art. In time the absolute poverty of the early Franciscans gave way to a far more relaxed view of property and wealth, and the Franciscans became some of the most important patrons of art in the early Renaissance.
Wall painting technique in which pigments are applied to wet (fresh) plaster (intonaco). The pigments bind with the drying plaster to form a very durable image. Only a small area can be painted in a day, and these areas, drying to a slightly different tint, can in time be seen. Small amounts of retouching and detail work could be carried out on the dry plaster, a technique known as a secco fresco.
Save in Venice, where the atmosphere was too damp, fresco painting was the habitual way of decorating wall surfaces in Italy, both in churches and in private and public palaces. During the 16th century a liking for the more brilliant effect of large canvases painted in oils, and to a lesser extent for tapestries, diminished the use of frescoes save for covering upper walls, covings and ceilings. The technique of buon fresco, or true fresco, involved covering the area with a medium-fine plaster, the intonaco, just rough enough to provide a bond (sometimes enhanced by scoring) for the final layer of fine plaster. Either a freehand sketch of the whole composition (sinopia) was drawn on the wall, or a full-scale cartoon was prepared and its outlines transferred to the intonaco by pressing them through with a knife or by pouncing - blowing charcoal dust through prickholes in the paper. Then over the intonaco enough of the final thin layer was applied to contain a day's work. That portion of the design was repeated on it either by the same methods or freehand, and the artist set to work with water-based pigments while the plaster was still damp; this allowed them to sink in before becoming dry and fixed. (Thus 'pulls' or slices of frescoes could be taken by later art thieves without actually destroying the colour or drawing of the work.) It is usually possible to estimate the time taken to produce a fresco by examining the joins between the plastered areas representing a day's work. Final details, or effects impossible to obtain in true fresco pigments, could be added at the end in 'dry' paints, or fresco secco, a technique in which pigment was laid on an unabsorbent plaster; the best known example of an entire composition in fresco secco is Leonardo's Last Supper.
The highest order the English monarch can bestow. It was founded by Edward III in 1348. The blue Garter ribbon is worn under the left knee by men and on the upper left arm by women. The motto is Honi soit qui mal y pense (Evil to those who think evil).
in classical Rome, a person's invisible tutelary god. In art from the classical period onwards, the low-ranking god was depicted as a winged, usually childish figure.
In a broad sense, the term is used to mean a particular branch or category of art; landscape and portraiture, for example, are genres of painting, and the essay and the short story are genres of literature.
The depiction of scenes from everyday life. Elements of everyday life had long had a role in religious works; pictures in which such elements were the subject of a painting developed in the 16th century with such artists as Pieter Bruegel. Then Carracci and Caravaggio developed genre painting in Italy, but it was in Holland in the 17th century that it became an independent form with its own major achievements, Vermeer being one of its finest exponents.
A term applied to the 14th-century followers of Giotto. The best-known of the 'Giotteschi' are the Florentines Taddeo Gaddi, Maso di Banco, Bernardo Daddi, and to a lesser extent the Master of St Cecilia. Giotto's most loyal follower was Maso, who concentrated on the essential and maintained the master's high seriousness.
French term used from the 15th century onwards for a lying or recumbent effigy on a funerary monument. The gisant typically represented a person in death (sometimes decomposition) and the gisant position was contrasted with the orant, which represented the person as if alive in a kneeling or praying position. In Renaissance monuments gisants often formed part of the lower register, where the deceased person was represented as a corpse, while on the upper part he was represented orant as if alive.
paint applied so thinly that the base beneath it is visible through the layer.
(1) The supernatural radiance surrounding a holy person.
(2) To have the distinction of one's deeds recognized in life and to be revered for them posthumously: this was glory. The nature of true gloria was much discussed, whether it must be connected with the public good, whether the actions that led to it must conform with Christian ethics, how it differed from notoriety. The concept did not exclude religious figures (the title of the church of the Frari in Venice was S. Maria Gloriosa), but it was overwhelmingly seen in terms of secular success and subsequent recognition, as determining the lifestyles of the potent and the form of their commemoration in literature, in portraits and on tombs. As such, it has been taken as a denial of medieval religiosity ('sic transit gloria mundi'), and thus a hallmark of Renaissance individual ism; as a formidable influence on cultural patronage; and as spurring on men of action, as well as writers and artists, to surpass their rivals - including their counterparts in antiquity.
French tapestry manufactory, named after a family of dyers and clothmakers who set up business on the outskirts of Paris in the 15th century. Their premises became a tapestry factory in the early 17th century, and in 1662 it was taken over by Louis XIV, who appointed Lebrun Director. Initially it made not only tapestries but also every kind of product (except carpets, which were woven at the Savonnerie factory) required for the furnishing of the royal palaces — its official title was Manufacture royale des meubles de la Couronne. The celebrated tapestry designed by Lebrun showing Louis XIV Visiting the Gobelins (Gobelins Museum, Paris, 1663-75) gives a good idea of the range of its activities. In 1694 the factory was closed because of the king's financial difficulties, and although it reopened in 1699, thereafter it made only tapestries. For much of the 18th century it retained its position as the foremost tapestry manufactory in Europe. 0udry and Boucher successively held the post of Director (1733-70). The Gobelins continues in production today and houses a tapestry museum.
a noble chivalric order, still in existence today, founded by Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1430 in honor of the Apostle Andrew, for the defence of the Christian faith and the Church. In allusion to the legend of Jason and the Argonauts, the symbol of the order is a golden ram's fleece drawn through a gold ring.
In painting and architecture, a formula meant to provide the aesthetically most satisfying proportions for a picture or a feature of a building. The golden section is arrived at by dividing a line unevenly so that the shorter length is to the larger as the larger is to the whole. This ratio is approximately 8:13. The golden section (sometimes known as the golden mean), which was thought to express a perfect harmony of proportions, played an important role in Renaissance theories of art.
Italian gonfaloniere ("standard bearer"), a title of high civic magistrates in the medieval Italian city-states.
In Florence the gonfaloniers of the companies (gonfalonieri di compagnia) originated during the 1250s as commanders of the people's militia. In the 1280s a new office called the gonfalonier of justice (gonfaloniere di giustizia) was instituted to protect the interests of the people against the dominant magnate class. The holder of this office subsequently became the most prominent member of the Signoria (supreme executive council of Florence) and formal head of the civil administration. In other Italian cities, the role of the gonfaloniers was similar to that in Florence. Gonfaloniers headed the militia from the various city quarters, while the gonfalonier of justice often was the chief of the council of guild representatives.
The kings of France traditionally bore the title gonfalonier of St. Denis. The honorary title of gonfalonier of the church (vexillifer ecclesiae) was conferred by the popes, from the 13th until the 17th century, on sovereigns and other distinguished persons.
Gothic, which may well have originated with Alberti as a derogatory term and which certainly corresponds to Vasari's 'maniera tedesca' ('German style'), is properly the descriptive term for an artistic style which achieved its first full flowering in the Ile de France and the surrounding areas in the period between c. 1200 and c. 1270, and which then spread throughout northern Europe. It is characterized by the hitherto unprecedented integration of the arts of sculpture, painting, stained glass and architecture which is epitomized in the great cathedrals of Chartres, Amiens, and Reims or in the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. In all the arts the predominantly planar forms of the Romanesque are replaced by an emphasis on line. There is a transcendental quality, whether in the soaring forms of the pointed arches or in the new stress on the humanity of Christ, which similarly distinguishes it from the preceding Romanesque style.
In thinking of Nicola (d. c. 1284) or Giovanni Pisano (d. after 1314) there is same danger of forgetting what had happened in French sculpture half a century or more earlier, and likewise it is hard to remember that the spectacular achievements of early Renaissance art are a singularly localized eddy in the continuing stream of late gothic European art. By northern European standards few Italian works of art can be called gothic without qualification, and the story of 13th and 14th century Italian architecture is as much one of resistance to the new style as of its reception, whether directly from France or through German or central European intermediaries. In sculpture and in painting, the Italian reluctance to distort the human figure, conditioned by a never wholly submerged awareness of the omnipresent antique heritage, gives a special quality to the work of even those artists such as Giovanni Pisano or Simone Martini who most closely approached a pure gothic style.
Nevertheless, the vitalizing role of Northern gothic art throughout the early Renaissance and the period leading up to it should never be underestimated. The artistic, like the cultural and commercial, interaction was continuous and much of the Italian achievement is incomprehensible if seen in isolation. It is not merely at the level of direct exchanges between one artist and another, or the influence of one building; painting, manuscript or piece of sculpture upon another, that the effects are to be felt. The streaming quality of line which is so characteristic of Brunelleschi's early Renaissance architecture surely reflects a sensitivity to the gothic contribution which is entirely independent of, and lies much deeper than, the superficial particularities of form.
The counterflow of influence and inspiration from South to North must likewise not be underrated. In particular, the contribution of Italian painters from Duccio and Simone Martini onwards is central to the evolution of the so-called International Gothic style developing in Burgundy, Bohemia and north Italy in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.
Gouache is opaque watercolour, known also as poster paint and designer's colour. It is thinned with water for applying, with sable- and hog-hair brushes, to white or tinted paper and card and, occasionally, to silk. Honey, starch, or acrylic is sometimes added to retard its quick-drying property. Liquid glue is preferred as a thinner by painters wishing to retain the tonality of colours (which otherwise dry slightly lighter in key) and to prevent thick paint from flaking. Gouache paints have the advantages that they dry out almost immediately to a mat finish and, if required, without visible brush marks. These qualities, with the capacities to be washed thinly or applied in thick impasto and a wide colour range that now includes fluorescent and metallic pigments, make the medium particularly suited to preparatory studies for oil and acrylic paintings. It is the medium that produces the suede finish and crisp lines characteristic of many Indian and Islamic miniatures, and it has been used in Western screen and fan decoration and by modern artists such as Rouault, Klee, Dubuffet, and Morris Graves.
Term applied to the lofty and rhetorical manner of history painting that in academic theory was considered appropriate to the most serious and elevated subjects. The classic exposition of its doctrines is found in Reynolds's Third and Fourth Discourses (1770 and 1771), where he asserts that 'the gusto grande of the Italians, the beau idéal of the French, and the great style, genius, and taste among the English, are but different appellations of the same thing'. The idea of the Grand Manner took shape in 17th-century Italy, notably in the writings of Bellori. His friend Poussin and the great Bolognese painters of the 17th century were regarded as outstanding exponents of the Grand Manner, but the greatest of all was held to be Raphael.
An extensive journey to the Continent, chiefly to France, the Netherlands, and above all Italy, sometimes in the company of a tutor, that became a conventional feature in the education of the English gentleman in the 18th century. Such tours often took a year or more. It had a noticeable effect in bringing a more cosmopolitan spirit to the taste of connoisseurs and laid the basis for many collections among the landed gentry. It also helped the spread of the fashion for Neoclassicism and an enthusiasm for Italian painting. Among the native artists who catered for this demand were Batoni, Canaletto, Pannini, and Piranesi, and British artists (such as Nollekens) were sometimes able to support themselves while in Italy by working for the dealers and restorers who supplied the tourist clientele. There was also a flourishing market in guide books.
A cross with four arms of equal length.
Term current with several different meanings in the literature of the visual arts. In the context of the fine arts, it most usually refers to those arts that rely essentially on line or tone rather than colour — i.e. drawing and the various forms of engraving. Some writers, however, exclude drawing from this definition, so that the term 'graphic art' is used to cover the various processes by which prints are created. In another sense, the term — sometimes shortened to 'graphics' — is used to cover the entire field of commercial printing, including text as well as illustrations.
A painting done entirely in one colour, usually gray. Grisaille paintings were often intended to imitate sculpture.
Italian political terms derived from the German Welf, a personal and thence family name of the dukes of Bavaria, and Waiblingen, the name of a castle of the Hohenstaufen dukes of Swabia apparently used as a battle cry. Presumably introduced into Italy 1198-1218, when partisans of the Emperor Otto IV (Welf) contested central Italy with supporters of Philip of Swabia and his' nephew Frederick II, the terms do not appear in the chronicles until the Emperor Frederick's conflict with the Papacy 1235-50, when Guelf meant a supporter of the Pope and Ghibelline a supporter of the Empire. From 1266 to 1268, when Naples was conquered by Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX, the French connection became the touchstone of Guelfism, and the chain of Guelf alliances stretching from Naples, through central Italy, to Provence and Paris, underwritten by the financial interests of the Tuscan bankers, became an abiding feature of European politics. The Italian expeditions of Henry of Luxemburg (1310-13) and Lewis of Bavaria (1327-29) spread the terms to northern Italy, with the Visconti of Milan and the della Scala of Verona emerging as the leading Ghibelline powers. Attempts by Guelf propagandists to claim their party as the upholder of liberty and their opponents as the protagonists of tyranny rarely coincide with the truth: power politics, then as now, generally overrode ideology in inter-state affairs.
Factional struggles had existed within the Italian states from time immemorial, the parties taking a multitude of local names. In Florence, however, Guelf and Ghibelline were applied to the local factions which supposedly originated in a feud between the Buondelmonte and Amidei clans, c. 1216. In 1266-67 the Guelf party, which had recruited most of the merchant class, finally prevailed over the predominantly noble Ghibellines; after this, internal factions in Florence went under other names, like the Blacks and the Whites who contested for control of the commune between 1295 and 1302. Meanwhile the Parte Guelfa had become a corporate body whose wealth and moral authority as the guardian of political orthodoxy enabled it to play the part of a powerful pressure group through most of the 14th century. After the War of the Eight Saints, the influence of the Parte declined rapidly. Although its palace was rebuilt c. 1418-58 to the designs of Brunelleschi, it had no part in the conflicts surrounding the rise of the Medici régime.
An association of the masters of a particular craft, trade or profession (painters, goldsmiths, surgeons, and so on) set up to protect its members' rights and interests. Such guilds existed in virtually every European city in the 16th century. The guild also monitored standards of work, acted as a court for those who brought their trade into disrepute, and provided assistance to members in need.
Guilds were essentially associations of masters in particular crafts, trades, or professions. In Italy they go back a long way; there is documentary evidence of guilds in 6th century Naples. In origin they were clubs which observed religious festivals together and attended the funerals of their members, but in time they acquired other functions. Their economic function was to control standards and to enforce the guild's monopoly of particular activities in a particular territory. Their political function was to participate in the government of the city-state. In some cities, notably Florence in the 14th century, only guildsmen were eligible for civic office, thus excluding both noblemen (unless they swallowed their pride and joined, as some did), and unskilled workers like the woolcombers and dyers. In Florence in 1378 these groups demanded the right to form their own guilds, and there were similar movements of protest in Siena and Bologna.
Guilds were also patrons of art, commissioning paintings for guildhalls, contributing to the fabric fund of cathedrals and collaborating on collective projects like the statues for Orsanmichele at Florence. The guilds were not equal. In Florence, the 7 'Greater Guilds', including such prestigious occupations as judges and bankers, outranked the 14 'Lesser Guilds', and in general the guild hierarchy was reflected in the order of precedence in processions. The great age of the guilds was the 13th and 14th centuries. The economic recession after 1348 meant fewer opportunities for journeymen to become masters, and greater hostility between master and man. The shift from trade to land in the 15th and 16th centuries meant a decline in the social standing of the crafts. In some towns, such as Brescia and Vicenza, guild membership actually became a disqualification instead of a qualification for municipal office. The guilds lost their independence and became instruments of state control. In 16th century Venice, for example, they were made responsible for supplying oarsmen for the galleys of the state.
Dutch painters who worked in The Hague between 1860 and 1900, producing renderings of local landscapes and the daily activities of local fisherman and farmers in the style of Realism. In this they extended the traditional focus on genre of the 17th-century Dutch masters with the fresh observation of their contemporary French counterparts, the Barbizon school. The group included Jozef Israëls; Hendrik Willem Mesdag; Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch; Jacob Maris, Matthijs Maris, and Willem Maris; Johannes Bosboom; and Anton Mauve.
In a drawing, print or painting, a series of close parallel lines that create the effect of shadow, and therefore contour and three-dimensionality In crosshatching the lines overlap.
the study of the meaning of emblems and coats of arms, with the rules governing their use.
The heretical movements affecting Italy between the mid-12th and the mid-14th century had their main impact in an area covering the north-west of the peninsula and southern France: it is not possible to speak of distinct Italian and meridional French movements. The authentically Christian movements which were expelled from the Catholic Church must in the first instance be distinguished from Catharism, which represented an infiltration by the originally non-Christian dualist system of Manichaeanism; from the start, the Cathars were an anti-church. By contrast, the Waldensian, Spiritual and Joachimite movements appeared initially as vital manifestations of Catholicism; only after their condemnation by the ecclesiastical authorities do they seem to have developed notably eccentric doctrines and to have described themselves as the true Church in opposition to the institutional Church; they had a recognizable kinship with movements that remained within the pale of orthodoxy.
These Christian heresies had in common an attachment to the ideal of apostolic poverty, which came to be seen by the ecclesiastical authorities as a challenge to the institutionalized Church. The Waldensians or Valdesi (not to be confused with Valdesiani, the followers of Juan de Valdes, d. 1541) took their origin from the Poor Men of Lyons, founded by Peter Valdes or Waldo in the 1170s. They were distinguished by a strong attachment to the Bible and a desire to imitate Christ's poverty. At first approved by the Papacy as an order of laymen, they were condemned in 1184. Likewise condemned was the rather similar Lombard movement of the Humiliati. One stream of these remained as an approved order within the Catholic Church, while others merged with the Waldensians. The Waldensians came to teach that the sacraments could be administered validly only by the pure, i.e: only by Waldensian superiors or perfecti practising evangelical poverty. Alone among the heretical sects existing in Italy they were organized as a church, and regarded themselves as forming, together with brethren north of the Alps, one great missionary community. They spread all over western and central Europe but in the long term they came to be largely confined to the Rhaetian and Cottian Alps (the Grisons and Savoy). The Italian Waldensians in the 16th century resisted absorption by Reformed Protestantism.
The early Franciscans might be regarded as a movement, similar in character to the Poor Men of Lyons, which was won for the cause of Catholic orthodoxy. However, divisions within the order over the issue of poverty led to religious dissidence. The Spirituals held up the ideal of strict poverty as obligatory for Franciscans and, indeed, normative for churchmen; following the Papacy's recognition of the Franciscan order as a property-owning body in 1322-23, their position became one of criticism of the institutional Church as such. Their heresies came to incorporate the millenarian doctrines of the 12th century abbot Joachim of Fiore. He had prophesied a coming age of the Holy Spirit ushered in by Spiritual monks; his heretical followers prophesied a new Spiritual gospel that would supersede the Bible. Joachimite Spiritualists came to see the pope, head of the 'carnal Church', as Antichrist. The main impact of the movement upon the laity was in southern France; in Italy it was an affair of various groups of fraticelli de paupere vita (little friars of the poor life), mainly in the south.
A courtesan of ancient Greece. There may have been one or two hetaira called Lais in ancient Corinth. One was the model of the celebrated painter Apelles.
prepared throne, Preparation of the Throne, ready throne or Throne of the Second Coming is the Christian version of the symbolic subject of the empty throne found in the art of the ancient world. In the Middle Byzantine period, from about 1000, it came to represent more specifically the throne prepared for the Second Coming of Christ, a meaning it has retained in Eastern Orthodox art to the present.
Painting concerned with the representation of scenes from the Bible, history (usually classical history), and classical literature. From the Renaissance to the 19th century it was considered the highest form of painting, its subjects considered morally elevating.
a representation of the Virgin and Child in a fenced garden, sometimes accompanied by a group of female saints. The garden is a symbolic allusion to a phrase in the Song of Songs (4:12): 'A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse'.
group of American landscape painters, working from 1825 to 1875. The 19th-century romantic movements of England, Germany, and France were introduced to the United States by such writers as Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper. At the same time, American painters were studying in Rome, absorbing much of the romantic aesthetic of the European painters. Adapting the European ideas about nature to a growing pride in the beauty of their homeland, for the first time a number of American artists began to devote themselves to landscape painting instead of portraiture. First of the group of artists properly classified with the Hudson River school was Thomas Doughty; his tranquil works greatly influenced later artists of the school. Thomas Cole, whose dramatic and colourful landscapes are among the most impressive of the school, may be said to have been its leader during the group's most active years. Among the other important painters of the school are Asher B. Durand, J. F. Kensett, S. F. B. Morse, Henry Inman, Jasper Cropsey, Frederick E. Church, and, in his earlier work, George Inness.
philosophical movement which started in Italy in the mid-14th century, and which drew on antiquity to make man the focal point. In humanism, the formative spiritual attitude of the Renaissance, the emancipation of man from God took place. It went hand in hand with a search for new insights into the spiritual and scientific workings of this world. The humanists paid particular attention to the rediscovery and nurture of the Greek and Latin languages and literature. To this day the term denotes the supposedly ideal combination of education based on classical erudition and humanity based on observation of reality. | <urn:uuid:8fa305ad-c183-4ce9-8443-401b5e3befd9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wga.hu/database/glossary/glossar2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967775 | 7,788 | 3.015625 | 3 |
A Companion to Latin American History
January 2008, Wiley-Blackwell
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The Companion to Latin American History collects the work of leading experts in the field to create a single-source overview of the diverse history and current trends in the study of Latin America.
- Presents a state-of-the-art overview of the history of Latin America
- Written by the top international experts in the field
- 28 chapters come together as a superlative single source of information for scholars and students
- Recognizes the breadth and diversity of Latin American history by providing systematic chronological and geographical coverage
- Covers both historical trends and new areas of interest | <urn:uuid:fe1faa82-a000-447c-80fd-9368cbc4af42> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405131616,subjectCd-AN50.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.858012 | 187 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Henry Evans is a mute quadriplegic, having suffered a stroke when he was just 40 years old. Following extensive therapy, Henry regained the ability to move his head and use a finger, which allows him to operate computers. Last year, Henry caught a TV interview of Georgia Tech Professor Charlie Kemp showing research with the Willow Garage PR2 robot. Willow Garage and Professor Kemp were contacted by Henry shortly afterwards, and we have been collaborating since then.
We are currently exploring ways for Henry to use a PR2 robot as his surrogate. Every day, people take for granted the simple act of scratching an itch. In Henry's case, 2-3 times every hour of every day he gets an itch he can't scratch. With the aid of a PR2, Henry was able to scratch an itch for himself for the first time in 10 years.
While this is only a first step, it demonstrates how people with severe physical disabilities could use personal robots to gain independence. In another example, Henry recently used the PR2 to shave his cheek. We are actively researching ways for Henry and others to perform tasks like these on a daily basis.
Currently, Henry uses a head tracker to operate a variety of experimental user interfaces. These interfaces allow him to directly move the robot's body, including its arms and head. They also let him invoke autonomous actions, such as navigating in a room and reaching out to a location.
Robots that complement human abilities are extremely valuable, especially when they help us do things that we can't do by ourselves. Our goal is to get robots in homes to help people like Henry and Jane Evans. This is just the beginning.
Leila Takayama Recognized by MIT Technology Review's TR35 Listing of the World's Top Young Innovators for 2012 | <urn:uuid:a598bb26-9bcf-4c37-b446-316a1826452a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.willowgarage.com/blog/2011/07/13/robots-humanity?page=4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968431 | 363 | 3.015625 | 3 |
A California-based company is attempting to introduce
expert crowdsourcing to oncology to try and ensure that each
cancer patient gets the most appropriate treatment.
Commons brings together leading physicians and scientists in
each type of cancer to create an open-source wiki-style database
that will catalogue the different genomic subtypes of each disease
and show how patients are responding to different treatments.
The project is based on the hypothesis that every
patient's tumour is, to some extent, unique. Although most
cancer drugs are tested individually in large-scale clinical
trials, the majority of physicians (70 percent) prescribe cocktails
of drugs based on their individual experience and particular
genomic subtype of the cancer. By capturing, aggregating and
analysing the genomic and results data of these individual drug
experiments -- cross referencing them with the large scale clinical
trials and studies -- physicians might be able to more efficiently
find the most appropriate treatment for their patients.
Cancer Commons was set up by Jay "Marty"
Tenenbaum -- a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and
cancer survivor who founded a range of e-commerce companies
including CommerceNet and Veo Systems. He also
founded Enterprise Integration Technologies, the first company
to conduct a commercial internet transaction, in 1992. More
recently he has focused on transforming healthcare, launching CollabRx, which uses computers
to personalise cancer treatments and accelerate research (and which
powers Cancer Commons).
Tenenbaum argues that there are thousands of studies that are
published each year, with only a handful of them getting national
or international attention. Furthermore, there are hundreds of
thousands of individual "trials" being conducted by doctors (some
30,000 oncologists in the US, where the program is limited to for
the time being) who are experimenting with different cocktails of
drugs on their patients. Without one central place to store
and access these studies, scientific and clinical advancement in
this field is being artificially held back.
A major hurdle for the project is getting researchers to supply
their data to the site, rather than hold out for a career-making
article in a peer-reviewed journal. Tenenbaum is frustrated by how
little data is shared between peers and hopes that Cancer Commons
could mark the dawn of a new era of open-source science.
Tenenbaum told Wired.co.uk: "There is lots of talking in
fragmented silos, but we want to capture all of that in one place
and expedite the process through which science turns into
The first stage of Cancer Commons is to create a database where
each different type of cancer has a "Molecular Disease Model" (MDM)
-- an expert-curated reference node that catalogues the known
molecular subtypes of a particular cancer, linked to relevant
pathways, diagnostic tests, approved and experimental therapies and
current clinical trials. Each is akin to a dynamic research paper
that reflects the latest scientific, clinical and technological
advancements. A rapid submission and dissemination process allows
each MDM to be maintained online and continuously updated by cancer
specialists and moderated by editors.
The project is governed by an editorial board with an impressive
set of credentials. The 18 specialists -- chaired by George
Lundberg, former editor-in-chief of Journal of the American Medical
Association and of WebMD's online properties
and e-Medicine --
include a former FDA Commissioner, a former editor of
Science and a former president of the American Society of
So far, only one model has been created, for melanoma. It
incorporates 78,185 abstracts from research papers and information
relating to some 1016 clinical trials that are ongoing in the
field. Some 11 expert editors have been assigned to that particular
MDM, including Dr David Fisher, the head of the dermatology at
Harvard Medical School and Dr Keith Flaherty, from the department
of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Over the coming year the
plan is to create MDMs for other cancers including lung, breast,
sarcoma, and lymphoma -- each with their own experts overseeing
In order to harness the power of the MDM, CollabRx is developing
apps that tap into the data to aid decision-making. For example,
the "Targeted Therapy Finder" can be used by doctors to help
identify genetic tests that map an individual tumour's unique
characteristics, and then select potential treatments based on the
findings. By entering information about the particular tumour,
they'll be given options of tests that'll help narrow down the
particular subtype of cancer being dealt with (as categorised by
the MDM), and therefore find out which treatments are the most
promising. They can then find information about trials that are
looking for patients with that particular subtype.
The view is to develop further apps that allow doctors and
researchers to submit clinical observations and outcomes and then
collaboratively analyse them to fine-tune the MDMs. Tenenbaum would
also like to see patients report how they're responding to
treatments. He tells Wired.co.uk: "Over time I'd like the
results of lab tests to go directly into the database."
He doesn't underestimate the enormity of the task, admitting
that not all of the details are worked out yet and that the initial
MDMs will "almost certainly be incomplete and wrong in places". He
adds: "We don't pretend that we are going to cure cancer. But we
ought to be able to improve the outcomes for some patients."
Tenenbaum wants to make applications that are so compelling to
doctors that they'll have to use them to stay relevant in their
fields. "I see possibilities to slash time and development of new
drugs and improve patient care." | <urn:uuid:261b3732-bc1b-48c7-9ed5-c7eb4c1cba6d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-02/01/cancer-commons | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930559 | 1,246 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Robb Godshaw, from Syynlabs,
has created a haptic cube that gives you an impression of what the
temperature will be like tomorrow.
The cube, which Godshaw has named the Cryoscope, consists of an
aluminium shell surrounding a Peltier
element, heatsink, cooling fan and an LED, all controlled by an
Arduino. The cube is heated to a "neutral" state of 30C, and then
adjusted by the number of degrees that the next day's forecast
differs from room temperature (23C).
It takes into account wind chill and humidity to give an idea
what the following day will "feel" like, rather than merely
reflecting air temperature. So, for example, if the forecast for
the next day is for 18C, once those factors are all taken into
account, the cube's
temperature will decrease five degrees from 30C to 25C,
resulting in it being slightly cool to the touch.
Godshaw describes it in the video above as a "haptic
weathervane", adding: "Users enter their location into a web app.
The cube then automatically adjusts to the forecasted temperature.
By touching the Cryoscope, the user is able to feel tomorrow's air
You can see
the Cryoscope in action over on Godshaw's website.
Updated 08:29 09/05/2012: Godshaw has
redesigned the Cryoscope and is raising money for full production
over on Kickstarter. | <urn:uuid:dcbce5d9-dd4b-4753-953d-726754de7973> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-02/06/cryoscope | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.894291 | 317 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Odd Wisconsin Archive
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the first AIDS diagnosis, a gruesome fact but one which, like every other, has a historical context. Epidemics have swept through human communities for about 10,000 years, and Wisconsin has had its share.
European diseases probably reached Wisconsin before European explorers themselves. In the fifty years following Hernando de Soto's invasion of the lower Mississippi in 1539, disease killed 90 percent of the Indians living in the middle Mississippi Valley. These were Indians with whom Wisconsin peoples had traded for centuries, since at least the time of Aztalan. Many archaeologists have speculated that epidemics of measles or smallpox may have swept through Indian communities in Wisconsin decades before Jean Nicolet stepped ashore in 1634.
Once Europeans set up permanent settlements and native peoples gathered around them, disease penetrated Indian communities as effectively as metal pots, firearms, or porcelain beads. “Maladies wrought among them more devastation than even war did,” concluded contemporary French writer Bacqueville de la Potherie of the Wisconsin tribes, “and exhalations from the rotting corpses caused great mortality.”
The first clearly documented epidemic in Wisconsin was an act of bioterrorism perpetrated by British traders against Indians who had killed one of their colleagues. Dr. Douglass Houghton, who interviewed the Ojibwe about epidemics in 1832, wrote down their recollection that in 1770, when visiting Mackinac, "a cask of liquor and a flag closely rolled were presented to the Indians as a token of friendship. They were at the same time strictly enjoined neither to break the seal of the cask nor to unroll the flag, until they had reached the heart of their own country.
"This they promised to observe; but while returning, and after having travelled many days, the chief of the deputation made a feast for the Indians of the band at Fond du Lac, Lake Superior, upon which occasion he unsealed the cask and unrolled the flag for the gratification of his guests... and of those Indians then at Fond du Lac, about three hundred in number, nearly the whole were swept off by it. Nor did it stop here; for numbers of those at Fond du Lac at the time the disease made its appearance, took refuge among the neighboring bands; and although it did not extend easterly on Lake Superior, it is believed that not a single band of Chippewas north or west from Fond du Lac escaped its ravages...
"The Indians at this day are firmly of the opinion that the smallpox was at this time communicated through the articles presented to their brethren by the agent of the Fur Company at Mackinac; and that it was done for the purpose of punishing them more severely for their offences." His full account, including other outbreaks after this first one, is here. Houghton estimated that the disease had appeared among the Ojibwe at least five times in the previous 60 years.
Disease is no respecter of race or ethnicity, and the earliest white settlers suffered catastrophically from epidemic outbreaks as well. At Fort Crawford in the summer of 1830, 154 of the 199 soldiers came down with malaria. Cholera broke out among them in August 1833, taking down 23 soldiers and killing six, and other outbreaks swept through the state between 1849 and 1854.
In August of 1895, smallpox swept through the southside of Milwaukee, where the traditions of recent Polish immigrants clashed with modern public health practices. The first patients were segregated at an isolation hospital outside the neighborhood, even though the residents preferred caring for their own sick in their own homes, as they had in the old country. When hospital patients began dying, the residents came to see the hospital as a slaughterhouse -- a place they would never send their loved ones. When city health officials or ambulances attempted to remove patients to protect the uninfected, they were met by barricaded doors and armed uprisings. A protest rally drew nearly 10,000 people to the hospital who stoned the police and fired pistols in the air. The 100 police officers plunged into the crowd swinging billy clubs, cracking heads and driving people back to their homes.
The Spanish Flu epidemic that followed World War I perhaps affected more Wisconsin residents than any other outbreak. Known variously as the "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe," influenza killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide. By the end of 1918, more than 675,000 Americans had died from the flu, most between the ages of 19 and 42, and the Wisconsin Board of Health declared that the "Spanish flu" epidemic would "forever be remembered as the most disastrous calamity that has ever been visited upon the people of Wisconsin." The first cases were reported in southern Wisconsin in September 1918, and by December, influenza had sickened almost 103,000 residents and killed more than 8,000. Read more here, in the autumn 2000 issue of our Wisconsin Magazine of History.
Read more about Wisconsin diseases and epidemics on our Topics in Wisconsin History page.
:: Posted in Curiosities on June 4, 2006 | <urn:uuid:cf438172-3aba-40e2-a8b8-9df5fbeba61e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/002187.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975952 | 1,059 | 3.296875 | 3 |
World Bulletin / News Desk
Wheat experts are stepping up monitoring of a crop disease first found in Africa in 1999 to minimise the spread of a deadly fungus that is also a threat in Asia, experts said on Friday.
A "Rust-Tracker", using data supplied by farmers and scientists, could now monitor the fungus in 27 developing nations across 42 million hectares (103 million acres) of wheat - an area the size of Iraq or California.
"It's the most serious wheat disease," Ronnie Coffman, vice-chair of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI), told Reuters ahead of a meeting of wheat experts in Beijing from Sept. 1-4.
"If it gets started...it's like a biological firestorm," he said. Experts will review progress in combating the disease, with fungicides and 20 new resistant varieties developed in recent years.
The stem rust disease, forming reddish patches on plants like rust on metal, is known as Ug99 after it was found in Uganda in 1999. It has since spread as far as South Africa and north to Yemen and Iran.
The fungus, which can destroy entire wheat fields, is likely eventually to be carried worldwide on the winds. The biggest threat in coming years is a spread across Asia to Pakistan, India and China, the world's top producer, Coffman said.
"Effective control often depends on finding out what is happening in distant regions, and the Rust-Tracker can help scientists assess the status of stem rust and other rust diseases," said Dave Hodson, the developer of Rust-Tracker.
About 85 percent of wheat now in production worldwide was reckoned to be vulnerable to Ug99 and its variants, the BGRI estimated. Rich nations are far less vulnerable because they can afford to switch to new varieties or deploy fungicides.
Among developing nations, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Egypt, India, Kenya, Nepal and Pakistan are on the front line of deploying rust-resistant varieties.
Coffman said that relatively minor amounts of wheat output had been lost so far. "The only country under immediate threat of a dramatic loss of production is Ethiopia," he said.
In Kenya, for instance, Ug99 had been brought largely under control because of shifts to new varieties. Another threat was from yellow rust, which has struck nations from Morocco to Uzbekistan in recent years.
The Ug99 fungus is among threats to food supplies. A U.N. panel of scientists says that heat waves, floods and droughts -- like the one affecting the United States this year -- are likely to become more frequent because of manmade climate change.
Scientists were also studying ways to limit a woody plant known as barberry, where the fungus also lives. Efforts to eradicate the plant in the 20th century seem to have reduced rust.
And the rust had overcome a genetic resistance to the disease developed for wheat in the early 1970s by Norman Borlaug, the father of the "Green Revolution" that introduced higher-yielding crop varieties, Coffman said.
He said that rust had been known at least since Roman times. About 40 percent of the U.S. crop was destroyed in the early 1950s when rust swept up from Mexico. | <urn:uuid:dc0c51bb-cc80-441a-9079-4085b22f183b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=94739 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967435 | 658 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Divers have found 30 bottles of champagne thought to pre-date the French Revolution on the Baltic seabed.
When they opened one, they found the wine - believed to have been made by Clicquot (now Veuve Clicquot) between 1782 and 1788 - was still in good condition.
The bottle - whose shape indicates it was produced in the 18th Century - has now been sent to France for analysis.
If confirmed, it would be the oldest drinkable champagne in the world.
Diver Christian Ekstrom was exploring a shipwreck on the Baltic seabed when he found the bottles.
He took one to the surface, where he opened it and tasted it with his colleagues.
"It was fantastic," he told the Reuters news agency.
"It had a very sweet taste, you could taste oak and it had a very strong tobacco smell. And there were very small bubbles."
According to records, Clicquot champagne was first produced in 1772 but was laid down for 10 years.
Production was disrupted after the French Revolution in 1789.
The wine found on the seabed was perfectly preserved because of the conditions of dark and cold on the seabed.
If the bottles do come from the 1780s, that would make them around 40 years older than the current record-holder, a bottle of Perrier-Jouet from 1825.
Wine experts estimate each bottle would fetch around 500,000 Swedish kronor (£45,000; $69,000) at auction.
The bottles were found off the coast of Aaland, an autonomous part of Finland. The local authorities will decide what is done with the shipwreck - and the champagne. | <urn:uuid:8e144831-e1cc-4075-b944-460eb0935350> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldsbiggests.com/2010/07/world-oldest-champagne-found-on-baltic.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98248 | 359 | 2.71875 | 3 |
French and American scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for their work with light and matter, which may lead the way to superfast computers and "the most precise clocks ever seen," the prize committee said.
Serge Haroche of France and David Wineland of the United States will share the $1.2 million prize, the second of six Nobel Prizes announced this month.
The award surprised those who expected the physics Nobel this year to be related to the discovery of the Higgs boson, considered one of the top scientific achievements of the past 50 years.
Wineland and Haroche work in the field of quantum optics, approaching the same principles from opposite directions. The American uses light particles to measure the properties of matter, whereas his French colleague focuses on tracking light particles by using atoms.
Both Nobel laureates have found ways to isolate the subatomic particles and keep their properties intact at the same time, scientists at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in Stockholm, Sweden.
Usually when these particles interact with the outside world, the properties that scientists would like to directly observe disappear, leaving researchers postulating over what is going on with them.
The two have found a way around this, making direct observation possible. "The new methods allow them to examine, control and count the particles," the academy said.
Haroche is a professor at the College de France and Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, and Wineland is group leader and NIST Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado Boulder.
Their work has some potential side benefits to future technology.
"Their ground-breaking methods have enabled this field of research to take the very first steps towards building a new type of super fast computer based on quantum physics," the academy said. | <urn:uuid:5652996e-b25f-42c5-9282-ece62c5dfdc1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wpbf.com/news/nationalnews/French-American-win-Nobel-Prize-in-physics/-/8788944/16908452/-/jwkir2/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942364 | 365 | 2.59375 | 3 |
On behalf of Gov. Mark Schweiker, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary David E. Hess announced that this month's episode of the Emmy-award-winning television series GreenWorks for Pennsylvania features stories about people working to protect Pennsylvania's watersheds.
"Raising awareness of the role watersheds play in our environment is one of the cornerstones of Pennsylvania's `Growing Greener' program," Hess said. "The current episode of GreenWorks features people of all ages learning about, protecting and restoring Pennsylvania's watersheds.
GreenWorks, produced in a video-magazine format, takes viewers across the Commonwealth to spotlight people doing positive things for the environment. GreenWorks is supported by DEP and the Environmental Fund for Pennsylvania (EFP). The current episode runs through October. This month's episode includes these features.
* The Radnor Middle School Watershed Program in Delaware County, which takes students out of the classroom and into the field to learn about watersheds first hand.
* Members of the Delaware RiverKeepers, who worked on mitigating stream bank erosion by clearing, regrading and covering a stream bank with a biodegradable mesh of coconut fibers allowing native plants to regain a healthy foothold.
* The Pottstown Watershed Alliance, which removed an old dam in the Manatawny Creek in Pottstown, Montgomery County, to improve water quality.
* Members of the Swatara Creek Watershed Association and DEP staff, which cleaned up 33 acres of abandoned mine drainage in Schuylkill County.
* The River Sojourn 2001, where people from all walks of life canoed and kayaked on Pennsylvania rivers to connect with and appreciate the beauty and power of the state's natural water resources.
"We all depend on rivers and watersheds for drinking water and more," EFP Executive Director Timothy J. Schlitzer said. "I hope this program will deepen viewers' understanding and respect for what it takes to protect our precious waterways."
EFP funds environmental education and improvement projects from contributions made through employee payroll-deduction programs established by businesses and the Commonwealth and other donations.
The series reaches more than five million households in Pennsylvania through 83 cable television stations as well as the Public Broadcasting Service.
For a listing of stations carrying GreenWorks and information on particular broadcasts, visit the GreenWorks website through the PA PowerPort at www.state.pa.us, directly at www.GreenWorks.tv, or call EFP at 1-800-PAGREEN ext. 1. | <urn:uuid:8eb9e2b6-423a-4071-a262-e351d76dcaf3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wwdmag.com/igreenworksi-episode-focuses-watersheds | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936065 | 519 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Here's the way the NWS defines it:
Forecasts issued by the National Weather Service routinely include a "PoP" (probability of precipitation) statement, which is often expressed as the "chance of rain" or "chance of precipitation".http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/?n=pop
ZONE FORECASTS FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
119 PM EDT THU MAY 8 2008
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ATLANTA...CONYERS...DECATUR...
119 PM EDT THU MAY x 2008
.THIS AFTERNOON...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WINDY. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 80S. NEAR
STEADY TEMPERATURE IN THE LOWER 80S. SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH.
.TONIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS IN THE EVENING...THEN A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORMS AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOWS IN THE MID 60S. SOUTHWEST
WINDS 5 TO 15 MPH. CHANCE OF RAIN 40 PERCENT.
What does this "40 percent" mean? ...will it rain 40 percent of of the time? ...will it rain over 40 percent of the area?
The "Probability of Precipitation" (PoP) describes the chance of precipitation occurring at any point you select in the area.
How do forecasters arrive at this value?
Mathematically, PoP is defined as follows:
PoP = C x A where "C" = the confidence that precipitation will occur somewhere in the forecast area, and where "A" = the percent of the area that will receive measureable precipitation, if it occurs at all.
So... in the case of the forecast above, if the forecaster knows precipitation is sure to occur ( confidence is 100% ), he/she is expressing how much of the area will receive measurable rain. ( PoP = "C" x "A" or "1" times ".4" which equals .4 or 40%.)
But, most of the time, the forecaster is expressing a combination of degree of confidence and areal coverage. If the forecaster is only 50% sure that precipitation will occur, and expects that, if it does occur, it will produce measurable rain over about 80 percent of the area, the PoP (chance of rain) is 40%. ( PoP = .5 x .8 which equals .4 or 40%. )
In either event, the correct way to interpret the forecast is: there is a 40 percent chance that rain will occur at any given point in the area. | <urn:uuid:64f70112-bac2-48dc-87e7-d1404797fade> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=15160.msg146725 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.838122 | 616 | 3.421875 | 3 |
"Caring, Effective, Middle/High School Math Tutor"
...Sometimes it is just more practice that is needed, but in any case it is very important that students know math facts, operations, decimals, fractions, ratios, percents, and proportions extremely well. They must also have general "number sense." I bring a lot of experience helping students learn these basics, which are the key building blocks of...
10 subjects, including algebra 1 | <urn:uuid:f4f74643-3c40-4c5d-8c6f-610835c3c8b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wyzant.com/Trenton_NJ_Factoring_tutors.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965409 | 95 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Why is my paper pink?
The color of today’s paper is probably quite a shock to many of our readers, and that is just the effect we are hoping for.
Today marks the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and this edition of The Yazoo Herald is dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of early detection and encouraging support for efforts to help find a cure.
Most of us know someone who has been affected by breast cancer. Besides some forms of skin cancer, it is the most common cancer in women.
It doesn’t discriminate. Breast cancer rates are equally high among women of all races. The Center of Disease Control reports that it is the highest cause of death by cancer among Hispanic women and the second-leading cancer cause of death among white and black women. One in eight women in the United States will suffer from invasive breast cancer at some point in their lives.
Fortunately, breast cancer deaths have been decreasing since 1990 as detection and treatment improve, reducing the mortality rate to 3 in 100. If you’re reading this and you haven’t had an examination, it’s time to make an appointment.
Last Updated (Friday, 30 September 2011 18:19) | <urn:uuid:6b5d0ec8-8dc7-4252-be65-524a63366d63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yazooherald.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1607:why-is-my-paper-pink&Itemid=1&el_mcal_month=11&el_mcal_year=2012 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964992 | 249 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Origin: LL exarchus, overseer of monasteries < Gr exarchos, leader, chief (in LGr, prefect, bishop): see ex- & -arch
Origin: < ex- + Gr archē, beginning
See exarch in American Heritage Dictionary 4
Origin: Late Latin exarchus, an overseer
Origin: , from Greek exarkhos
Origin: , from exarkhein, to lead
Origin: : ex-, ex-
Origin: + arkhein, to rule.
Origin: + Greek arkhē, beginning (from arkhein, to rule, begin).
Learn more about exarch | <urn:uuid:b8e8591c-b288-4fef-a3f4-3c1bb155c1fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yourdictionary.com/exarch | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.758441 | 141 | 2.625 | 3 |
|Yoon Jae Kim, yj1dreamer AT gmail.com (A project report written under the guidance of Prof. Raj Jain)||Download|
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a design pattern which is composed of loosely coupled, discoverable, reusable, inter-operable platform agnostic services in which each of these services follow a well defined standard. Each of these services can be bound or unbound at any time and as needed. [Jamil08]However, as defined, SOA has a loosely-coupled feature, which makes SOA open to the challenges of security. It means that SOA must meet several requirements. The main requirements are as follows[Candolin07]: service discovery, service authentication, user authentication, access control, confidentiality, integrity, availability, and privacy. To ensure security in a loosely-coupled SOA environment, the open standards communities that created Web services developed a number of security standards for Web services which is one of the most active and widely adopted implementation of SOA. Figure 1 depicts a notional reference model for Web services security standards. This reference model maps the different standards to the different functional layers of a typical Web service implementation.
As described above, in the Web Services Security Stack the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) and the eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) are the standard for access control which means that when the service is requested by a user the service must enforce the specified security policy related to access control. We focus on access control in the Web Services security and represent what SAML and XACML are, how they work and where they are able to be applied together.
SAML, created by the Security Services Technical Committee of the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), is a an XML-based framework for communicating user authentication, entitlement, and attribute information. As its name suggests, SAML allows business entities to make assertions regarding the identity, attributes, and entitlements of a subject (an entity that is often a human user) to other entities, such as a partner company or another enterprise application. [Madsen05] SAML is a flexible and extensible protocol designed to be used - and customized if necessary - by other standards.
Web Single Sign-On
In web SSO, a user authenticates to one web site and then, without additional authentication, is able to access some personalized or customized resources at another site. SAML enables web SSO through the communication of an authentication assertion from the first site to the second which, if confident of the origin of the assertion, can choose to log in the user as if they had authenticated directly. A principal authenticates at the identity provider and is subsequently appropriately recognized (and given corresponding access/service) at the service provider.[Google]
For example, Google made SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) Service for Google Apps. And Google Apps provides a SAML-based Single Sign-On (SSO) service that offers partner companies with full control over the authorization and authentication of hosted user accounts that can access web-based applications like Gmail or Google Calendar. As the service provider Google offers services as Gmail and Start Pages and partner companies control account information as identity provider.
Similar to the Web SSO scenario, the attribute-based authorization model has one web site communicating identity information about a subject to another web site in support of some transaction.
However, the identity information may be some characteristic of the subject (such as a person's role in a B2B scenario) rather than, or in addition to, information about when and how the person was authenticated. The attribute-based authorization model is important when the individual's particular identity is either not important, should not be shared for privacy reasons, or is insufficient on its own.
Securing Web Services
SAML assertions can be used within SOAP messages in order to convey security and identity information between actors in web service interactions. The SAML Token Profile produced by the OASIS Web Services Security (WSS) TC specifies how SAML assertions should be used for this purpose with the WS-Security framework. The Liberty Alliance's Identity Web Service Framework (ID-WSF) builds on these specifications to use SAML assertions for enabling secure and privacy-respecting access to web services.
WS-Trust, one component of the private WS-* framework initiative, proposes protocols for the exchange and validation of security tokens used as described within WS-Security. SAML assertions are one such supported security token format.
Figure 3 illustrates these actors and information flow. As can be seen in the figure, the PAP writes Polices and PolicySets and makes them available to the PDP. These Policies or PolicySets shows the complete policy for a particular target. The PEP is the component where the request is received when access requester wants to take some action on a resource and make the request. In this part, the attributes in the request may be in the format of the application environment (e.g., SAML, etc.). The PEP sends the request to the Context Handler. Context Handler maps the request and attributes to the XACML Request context and sends the request to the PDP. While evaluating the request, the PDP needs some attributes and sends the attribute queries to the Context Handler. The Context Handler collects these attributes by the help of the PIP from the resources, subjects, and the environment. After evaluation, the PDP sends the XACML Response to the Context Handler and the Context Handler translates the Response context to the native response format of the application environment and sends it to PEP. The PEP fulfills the obligations if they exist and applies the authorization decision that PDP concludes.[Periorellis07]
A Request element contains four components as Subject, Resource, Action, and Environment. One request element has only one collection of resource and action attributes, and at most one collection of environment attributes. But there may be multiple collections of subject attributes. Subject attribute contains subject's details such as name, e-mail, role and so on. Resource attribute details the resource for which access is requested and action attribute specifies the requested action to be performed on resource such as read or wire. Also, Environment attribute is optional and contains attributes of environment.
A Response element represents the authorization decision information made by PDP. It contains one or more Result attributes. Each result includes a Decision such as Permit, Deny, NotApplicable, or Indeterminate, some Status information which gives the errors occurred and their descriptions while evaluating the request and optionally one or more Obligations which specifies tasks in the PolicySet and Policy elements in the policy description which should be performed before granting or denying access.
A Rule element defines the target elements to which the rule is applied and details conditions to apply the rule and has three components such as target, effect, and condition. A target element specifies the resources, subjects, actions and the environment to which the rule is applied. A condition element shows the conditions to apply the rule and a effect is the consequence of the rule as either permit or deny.
A policy is the set of rules which are combined with some algorithms. These algorithms are called Rule-combining algorithms. For instance "Permit Override" algorithm allows the policy to evaluate to "Permit" if any rule in the policy evaluates to "Permit". A policy also contains target elements which shows the subjects, resources, actions, environment that policy is applied.
A PolicySet consists of Policies and PolicySets combined with policy-combined algorithm. It has also target like a Policy.
The XACML context shows how flexible and suitable the XACML is for various application. This feature makes it possible that XACML is applied to access control system with SAML. Section 4 shows the more detailed.
SAML is one standard suitable for providing the assertion and protocol mechanisms and specifies schemas for carrying the security and authorization related information and have the bindings to basic transportation mechanisms. Therefore, OASIS publishes a SAML profile for the XACML (OASIS, 2005)[Anderson05] to carry the XACML messages between the XACML actors. This profile defines the usage of SAML 2.0 to protect, store, transport, request and respond with XACML instances and other information. It contains largely four categories.
First, this profile specifies how to use SAML Attributes in an XACML system. This category contains three standard SAML elements such as SAML Attribute, SAML AttributeStatement and SAML Assertion, two standard SAML protocol such as SAML AttributeQuery and SAML Response, and one new SAML extension element, XACMLAssertion. In an XACML system, SAML Attribute may be used to store and to transmit attribute values and must be transformed into an XACML Attribute before used in an XACML Request Context. Also SAML AttributeStatement may be used to hold SAML Attribute instances. A SAML Assertion may be used to hold SAML AttributeStatement instances in an XACML system, either in an Attribute Repository or in a SAML Response to a SAML AttributeQuery. To transform a SAML Attribute into an XACML Attribute the SAML Assertion includes information that is required and a SAML Assertion or an XACMLAssertion instance contains a SAML Attribute. An XACMLAssertion is an alternative to the SAML Assertion and allows inclusion of XACML Statement instances and inclusion of other XACMLAssertion instance as advice. An XACML PDP or PEP use SAML AttributeQuery to request SAML Attribute instances from an Attribute Authority for use in an XACML Request Context and in response to it SAML Response shall be used to return SAML Attribute instances.
Second, this profile represent the use of SAML for use in requesting, responding with, storing, and transmitting authorization decisions in an XACML system. This category contains XACMLAuthzDecisionStatement, XACMLAssertion, XACMLAuthzDecisionQuery, and XACMLResponse. In this profile, XACMLAuthzDecisionStatement and XACMLAssertion are new SAML extension elements and the others are new SAML extension protocol elements. In an XACML system, XACMLAuthzDecisionSatement may be used to contain XACML authorization decisions for storage or transmission and XACMLAssertion may be used to contain XACMLAuthzDecisionStatement instances for storage or transmission. Also a PEP may use XACMLAuthzDecisionQuery to request an authorization decision from an XACML PDP and an XACML PDP may use XACMLResponse to return authorization decisions in response to an XACMLAuthzDecisionQuery.
Then, this profile shows the use of SAML for use in requesting, responding with, storing and transmitting XACML policies. This category includes four new SAML extensions; XACMLPolicyStatement, XACMLAssertion, XACMLPolicyQuery and XACMLResponse. In an XACML system, XACMLPolicyStatement may hold XACML policies for storage or transmission and XACMLAssertion may hold XACMLPolicySatement instances for storage or transmission. And a PDP or other application uses XACMLPolicyQuery to request XACML from a PAP. Also PAP uses XACMLResponse to return policies in response to an XACMLPolicyQuery.
Finally, this profile details the use of XACMLAssertion instances as advice in other Assertion. This category consists of XACML Advice, which is a new SAML extension element in this profile that may be used for including XACMLAssertion instances as advice in another XACMLAssertion, and XACMLAssertion which is a new SAML extension element that may be used to hold on XACMLAdvice instance along with SAML Statement or XACML extension Statement instance.
Figure 5 describes the XACML use model and the messages that can be used to communicate between the various components. Statements are carried in SAML or XACML Assertions, and Assertions are carried in SAML or XACML Responses. Not all components or messages will be used in every implementation. Next subsection shows the practical example of this model.
The steps of communication between Portal and Web services are described in detail as follows:
Focusing on access control we represent SAML and XACML which are developed by OASIS. SAML is an XML-based framework for exchanging authentication and authorization data. Because SAML has much strength such as platform neutrality, loose coupling of directories, improved online experience for end user, reduced administrative costs for service providers and risk transference. Also SAML is being applied in Web Single Sign-On, Attribute-Based Authorization, and Securing Web Services.
XACML defines XML files which contains access control policy and access control decision request/ response. Policy Decision Point (PDP) looks at the request from Policy Enforcement Point (PEP) and finds some policy applying to the request from Policy Administration Point (PAP) and returns the response about whether access should be granted to PEP.
XACML defines the content of Request/Response messages but does not define protocols or transport mechanisms, which SAML provides by defining schemas for use in requesting and responding with various types of security assertions. This SAML/XACML based access control is a very powerful and practical solution for dynamic and large-scale application domain because it is easier to change and maintain policies. So it can extend the authentication and authorization mechanism within a portal to external Web services.
|[Candolin07]||Candolin, Catharina, "A Security Framework for Service Oriented Architectures", Military Communications Conference, 2007. MILCOM 2007. IEEE, 29-31 Oct. 2007, pp.1-6 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=4455332|
|[Singhal07]||Singhal , Anoop, "Web Services Security: Challenges and Techniques" policy, Eighth IEEE International Workshop on Policies for Distributed Systems and Networks (POLICY'07), 2007, pp.282 http://www2.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/POLICY.2007.50|
|[Madsen05]||Madsen, Paul, et al., "SAML V2.0 Executive Overview", OASIS Committee Draft, 12 April 2005 http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/13525/sstc-saml-exec-overview-2.0-cd-01-2col.pdf|
|[Ragouzis08]||Ragouzis, Nick, et al., "Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) V2.0 Technical Overview", Committee Draft 02, 25, March 2008, http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/27819/sstc-saml-tech-overview-2.0-cd-02.pdf|
|[Sun]||"Sun's XACML Implementation", July 2004, http://sunxacml.sourceforge.net/guide.html|
|[Moses05]||Moses, Tim, et al., "eXtensible Access Control Markup Language(XACML) Version 2.0", OASIS Standard, 1 Feb 2005, http://docs.oasis-open.org/xacml/2.0/access_control-xacml-2.0-core-spec-os.pdf|
|[Periorellis07]||Periorellis,Panos , "Securing Web Services: Practical Usage of Standards and Specifications", Idea Group Inc(IGI), 2007. http://books.google.com/books?id=zX2N7fWTJOUC|
|[YIN07]||Yin, Hao, et al., "A SAML/XACML Based Access Control between Portal and Web Services", Data, Privacy, and E-Commerce, 2007. ISDPE 2007. The First International Symposium on, Nov. 2007, pp 356-360 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=4402710|
|[Anderson05]||Anderson, Anne, et al., "SAML 2.0 profile of XACML v2.0", OASIS Standard, 1 Feb 2005 http://docs.oasis-open.org/xacml/2.0/access_control-xacml-2.0-saml-profile-spec-os.pdf|
|[Jamil08]||Jamil, Ejaz, et al., "What really is SOA. A comparison with Cloud Computing, Web 2.0, SaaS, WOA, Web Services, PassS and others", SOALIB, 12 Dec 2008. http://soalib.com/docs/whitepaper/SoalibWhitePaper_SOAJargon.pdf|
|[Google]||SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) Service for Google Apps, http://code.google.com/apis/apps/sso/saml_reference_implementation.html|
|CORBA||Common Object Request Broker Architecture|
|DCE||Distributed Computing Environment|
|GSA||General Services Administration|
|IDP||General Services Administration|
|J2SE||Java Platform Standard Edition|
|ID-WSF||Identity Web Services Framework|
|LDAP||Lightweight Directory Access Protocol|
|OASIS||the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards|
|PAP||Policy Administration Point|
|PDP||Policy Decision Point|
|PEP||Policy Enforcement Point|
|PIP||Point Information Point|
|SAML||Security Assertion Markup Language|
|SOA||Service Oriented Architecture|
|SOAP||Simple Object Access Protocol|
|SSL||Secure Sockets Layer|
|TLS||Transport Layer Security|
|WSS||Web Security Service|
|XACML||eXtensible Access Control Markup Language|
|XKMS||XML Key Management Specification|
|XML||eXtensible Markup Language|
|XSLT||eXtensible Markup Language|
Last Modified: April, 19, 2009
This and other papers on latest advances in network security are available on line at http://www1.cse .wustl.edu/~jain/cse571-09/index.html
Back to Raj Jain's Home Page | <urn:uuid:510b7760-adee-4ab0-8616-4df3d3b5a317> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www1.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse571-09/ftp/soa/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.857912 | 4,016 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Being An Ethical Hunter
Imagine that you are in the woods during hunting season and you are deer hunting on a piece of property owned by one of your friends. She tells you that there are too many does running around, eating crops and destroying property, and she wants you to help cull the herd. She states that she does not want anyone to shoot the antlered deer just the does. She gives you four special non-antlered damage tags, and you have your own state antlered tags. Does and bucks are legal to harvest. After sitting in the woods for hours, you hear a loud noise. You look over your shoulder and see the biggest antlered deer you have ever seen! He is just over the property line, but appears to be heading towards the fence line. What would you do?
It comes down to a matter of ethics - between what a hunter is allowed to do, and what a hunter should do. The way we think about or judge the right thing to do comes from our surroundings and the people we associate with. The influence on every individual to do the right thing comes from, but is not limited to, the following:
Our individual ethics shape who we are and what we will do...when no one is watching us. It forms our character and defines us as a group of individuals called safe and ethical hunters. Our individual and cultural ethics involving hunting define us - positively or negatively - to other hunters and to the general public who are non-hunters.
Others judge your ethics through your attitude and behavior. | <urn:uuid:18fc9eb9-c8e3-42bc-b367-612130878643> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.huntercourse.com/virginia/study?chapter=12&page=13 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968778 | 316 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Eighteen years ago, the eminent conservation biologist Gary Meffe warned of what he considered to be the greatest problem in human history – humanity’s inexorable and exponential increase in numbers.
Meffe’s paper, entitled ‘Human Population Control: The Missing Agenda’ published in the journal Conservation Biology, outlined the threats posed by an ever-increasing human population to biodiversity in terms of species extinctions, and to the ecosystem services necessary for our survival. These include water and air purification, hydrologic cycling and food production. Not only is humanity’s deluge drowning the creatures we share the Earth with, but it also runs the risk of submerging itself too. But was this ‘missing agenda’ acknowledged? Was a dam constructed to stem our exponential flow?
Nearly two decades later and we see the publication of the UN’s State of World Population report 2011. It announced that on October 31st we reached the population milestone of seven billion people inhabiting our world. Instead of warning of future population growth and the associated negative impact, it had a more positive tone that encouraged us to ask “What can I do to make our world better?” rather than “Are we too many?” This is the United Nations after all, and understandably it has to take a progressive and reassuring stance rather than one of doom and gloom. But the angle taken is perhaps revealing of the prevailing attitude of the global collective consciousness – population growth is inevitable and cannot be stopped. Of course there’s no such thing as a global collective consciousness, explaining in part why Meffe’s view has been largely ignored, because humanity lacks a collective impetus and so anything that requires mass cohesion, for instance only having one child or reducing carbon emissions, is doomed to fail.
Seven billion people – it’s enough to make you feel insignificant. Except it’s not, it’s just a number. A very big number too large to visualise, grasp or comprehend. Incidentally, if you’re ever having trouble feeling insignificant, then listen to what the ‘Woody Allen’ of science, Lawrence Krauss has to say. In his recent lecture on cosmic connections for The School of Life he stated that “you are much more insignificant than you thought” before going on to compete with Brian Cox for the title of ‘King of making outlandish profound points’, by explaining how we are all quite literally “made of stars”. Every atom in our bodies comes from the remnants of an exploded star. It turns out Moby was right (see video below).
This digression aside, the ineffably large human population will continue to increase and even if we wanted to implement population control, doing so would be unethical and practically speaking impossible. Very few people, not even many devout conservationists, would be willing to sacrifice the right to have children. I for one wouldn’t, it is in our evolutionary spirit.
Instead of tackling the so called ‘root cause’ of the population problem by implementing unrealistic, unfavourable, and unwanted population control, efforts have been directed at addressing offshoot issues such as those relating to overconsumption and overexploitation of natural resources. If we can adopt new cleaner technologies and practices to ensure our impact on the environment is neutral or at least negligible, it will be a step in the right direction.
Just this week the production of a ‘microbial fuel cell’ has been announced which can purportedly produce electricity from human urine! Researchers at the University of the West of England (UWE) have found that by utilising anaerobic bacteria as they metabolise organic waste waters, electrons can be harnessed and useful electricity generated. By ‘useful’ it is meant that enough electricity would be generated to charge a battery say, but presumably not enough to heat a home for instance, yet.
For now, no one is suggesting this is the answer to the world’s problems, but switching to technologies that rely less on finite Earth resources and more on recycling waste products will help ameliorate the effects our species has on the planet. Unfortunately though, those who sing the praises of such advances are often branded with the stigma of being too ‘preachy’. Increasing public apathy to important issues such as clean technology, climate change and biodiversity decline should be at least as worrying to everyone as financial crises or global terrorism. | <urn:uuid:64dc3877-7576-45b7-ba6f-426f5ac11fa2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.imperial.ac.uk/blog/studentblogs/christopher-n/2011/12/01/the-human-flood-perceptions-of-the-threats-posed-by-population-growth/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945068 | 920 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Idaho State University researchers study newly discovered earthquake fault in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains
Posted September 28, 2010
While looking at a highly detailed new topographic image of Idaho’s Sawtooth Range, Idaho State University geosciences professor Glenn Thackray had an "eureka moment" when he discovered a previously unknown active earthquake fault about 65 miles, as the crow flies, from Boise.
The researchers examined a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) image. LIDAR is a remote sensing system used to collect topographic data with aircraft-mounted lasers capable of recording elevation measurements at a rate of 25,000 pulses per second and can have a vertical precision of about six inches. The images can be displayed so they don't show an area's vegetation. Four years ago while doing some research on glaciers in the Sawtooth Range, Thackray was examining a high-resolution, "bare-earth" LIDAR image of the mountains: this is when he noticed a line running through the image in the vicinity of Redfish Lake.
"The black line stood out and I thought that it had to be an earthquake fault," Thackray said. "It was long suspected that there was an active fault in the Sawtooths, but without the LIDAR technology it would have been exceptionally hard to find."
Since that time, ISU researchers have been on the ground documenting the fault that is at least 25 miles long and could be as long as 40 miles. It is located on the eastern edge of the range and comes within about five miles from the town of Stanley. A portion of it runs through the upper end of Redfish Lake. It runs along the range approximately from near Stanley Lake to at least as far south as Petitt Lake.
“The reason this discovery is so important is that it is within the heavily visited areas of the Sawtooth National Recreation area, very close to the town of Stanley, and within 65 miles of Idaho’s largest city, Boise, and the most populated area in the state,” Thackray said. “We would like to know how big the earthquakes are along this fault and how active it is.”
Thackray emphasized that the fault is cause for concern, but not alarm, for visitors to and residents of the Stanley-Sawtooth area, and to the residents of the Wood River or Boise valleys. The discovery may have implications for land-use and emergency planning, and perhaps building codes. Depending on the magnitude of a potential earthquake, it could do damage to surrounding areas.
There are few major, active faults in Idaho. Idaho’s three other major faults run along the base of the Lost River Range (where the famous Borah Peak magnitude 7.3 earthquake, the largest ever recorded in Idaho, occurred in 1983), the Lemhi Range and the Beaverhead Range. Faults are break in the earth’s crust, along which rocks and the earth move. Typically, the earth is moving up on one side of the fault, and moving down on the other.
"It's the movement of the rocks that are important. That is what creates an earthquake hazard," Thackray said.
After discovering the fault on the LIDAR image and then confirming its existence on the ground, ISU researchers had to determine whether it was an active fault, defined as a fault that has featured an earthquake within the last 10,000 years. Determining whether the fault was active was a challenge for the researchers because most of the fault is located within the Sawtooth Wilderness and Recreation Area.
"Normally, to test a fault you could take in a Cat or backhoe and dig up sediment and rock and use carbon dating to date the occurrence of previous activity," Thackray said. "But we couldn’t do that because the fault is in a wilderness area."
This is where a little luck and scientific serendipity came into play. Other ISU researchers, biological sciences professor Bruce Finney, postdoctoral researcher Mark Shapley, and ISU geosciences graduate student Eric Johnson, were doing lake sediment core sampling of lakes in the Sawtooths, including Redfish Lake, to study the historical record of sockeye salmon returning to the area. While drilling through the sediment in the upper portion of Redfish Lake the researchers hit levels where there were landslide deposits interrupted the regular accumulation of sediment deposits.
"We were able to date the occurrence of the most recent fault activity by using those drilling samples from the large landslides in Redfish Lake," Thackray said.
"There is a lot that we still don’t know about this fault, but our studies have revealed the outline of its history," he added. | <urn:uuid:b4b03979-f5ce-4753-9873-392b1e355912> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.isu.edu/headlines/?p=2781 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965012 | 982 | 2.90625 | 3 |
When you create an input form in Microsoft Excel, understanding how to make the application work for you can save hours of manual input. If you want to narrow question responses to specific options, you can use a drop-down response menu. These instructions are written for Excel 2010, so the steps may vary slightly if you use a different version.
Enter each of the items that you want to appear in the pull-down list on a new worksheet in your Excel workbook. Place one item per cell with each one listed in an adjacent cell. For example, list the items in columns with one option each in cells A1, A2, A3 and so on. You could also list them in a row with one in each cell, such as A1, B1 and C1, until all your data is listed. The drop-down will be ordered based on the entries, so organize the items accordingly.
Highlight all of the cells in the list. Right-click your mouse and choose "Define Name" from the menu. Create a name for the list and enter it in the "Name" field. Do not use spaces in the name. Click "OK." This name is only used to select the list for the drop-down; it does not appear for users.
Click the cell where you want to create the drop-down menu. Select the "Data Tools" section by clicking "Data." Choose "Data Validation" and click "Settings." Select "List" in the Allow field.
Click the "Source Name" input field and type a "=" followed immediately by the name you assigned to the list on the previous worksheet. For example, if your list was named "options," type "=options" in the source name field.
Click the check box beside "in-cell dropdown" so that the drop menu appears in the cell. If you want to require that responders choose an option, clear the "Ignore blank" check box.
Click "Input Message" to set a message to users when the cell is clicked. This is a good place to explain what selection you want the user to make or other specifics. Leave it blank if you do not want to use this feature.
Navigate to the "Error Alert" tab. Click the check box beside the option to show an error notice if invalid data is entered. Use the provided text fields to set the contents of the message. Clear the check box if you do not want the message to appear. | <urn:uuid:bfcd9859-40dc-4f6e-b9f8-f2b1ad01803d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/create-pulldowns-excel-9107.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.860321 | 512 | 2.921875 | 3 |
As Christo Pantev prowled the halls of Toronto's Baycrest Center for Geriatric Care he was struck, over and over, by the vitality of many of the elderly patients who played a musical instrument.
"I saw much more activity in these people than in the others," says Pantev, a neuroscientist at the center's Rotman Research Institute.
He saw a difference even among those who were slipping over the edge into dementia. Memory begins to fade as the patients slide toward that dark abyss, but the last thing that goes — the last bit of memory — he says, is their ability to remember music.
And he thinks he may know why.
Musician and Scientist
He has developed evidence over the years that the study of music may change the way the human brain is wired. And that has kept him on a course that has guided nearly his entire professional career.
He has a few questions he would like to answer, including: Does learning a skill, like playing the violin, physically change the brain and improve cognitive and perceptive skills among children, and maybe even stave off mental illness among the elderly?
Maybe, he reasons, the intense concentration and the long hours of practice that make someone a skilled musician have benefits that far outweigh the rewards of playing a musical instrument.
Those are tall questions, but Pantev has spent the last few years laying the groundwork for research that is just getting underway at the institute. As a child, Pantev spent years studying the violin, and it became his passion.
Even today, he says, "If I work, I have to hear music."
In time, the violin gave way to neuroscience, but it was to return later as a key player in his research.
While working at the University of Muenster's Institute for Experimental Audiology in Germany, Panlev and a colleague began studying people who had lost a limb to see how their brains adapted to their new environment. It was known that persons who had lost a hand sometimes felt pain, or other sensations, in their fingers, even though the hand was no longer there.
The researchers used sensitive equipment that could measure electric activity and magnetic fields in the brain to see which areas were active when the person reported feeling "phantom pain" in the missing limb. The results, published in a 1995 issue of the journal Nature, showed that other parts of the body commandeered the neurons formerly used by the missing limb.
If the lip took over those neurons, for example, simply biting the lip caused the person to feel pain in the phantom limb.
The research showed that the brain adapted to its new environment by rewiring itself, and that led Pantev to his next question. "Can we modify the functional brain organization by training?" he asks.
Playing Violin, Wearing a Helmet
To answer that, the researchers needed a model, something they could test to see if training had a measurable impact on the brain. Pantev knew from his own experience that playing the violin required far more dexterity in the left hand than the right.
"The right hand is much less involved," he says.
Pantev, the violinist, thus supplied Pantev, the neuroscientist, with "the perfect model."
Like the research into phantom pain, the difference between the use of the left hand as opposed to the right gave the researchers something to measure in the brain. Over time, they reasoned, practicing the violin several hours a day should cause a neurological shift in the brain. | <urn:uuid:95c4b4a0-dcf9-4cd2-98d2-a9cd2283e72f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=97835&page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981038 | 720 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Australian Bureau of Statistics
1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2009–10
Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 04/06/2010
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FEATURE ARTICLE: HOUSEHOLDS AND RENEWABLE ENERGY
Householders have increased their use of energy saving measures in their homes. In 2008, 59% of households had energy saving lighting installed (up from 33% in 2005) (graph 2.40); and energy star ratings were the main household consideration when replacing refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers and clothes dryers. Counteracting this, graph 2.39 shows more households now own coolers (66% in 2008 up from 35% in 1999) and dishwashers (45% in 2008 up from 30% in 1999) and other appliances, such as LCD and plasma televisions, the latter using almost three times the amount of energy compared to a standard television (End note 6).
Types of energy
Electricity is the main energy source used in people's homes. In 2007-08, about half (49%) of the energy used by households was sourced from electricity. Household electricity consumption rose to 210 petajoules (PJ) in 2007-08, up 48% from 1990-91 (ABARE, 2009).
In March 2008, electricity was the primary source throughout Australia for household cooking (three-quarters of ovens used electricity and more than half (56%) of cooktops) and for hot water systems (46%). There has been a fall in the use of electricity for hot water systems between 2002 and 2008 from 61% to 46%.
Of those homes with heaters, electricity was the main source of energy for space heating (45%), followed by gas (41% for mains gas and LPG/bottled together) and wood (13%).
Natural gas is the second most common source of energy used in the home, used by more than six in ten households (61%) in 2008. In total, households used 137 PJ of natural gas in 2007-08, equivalent to almost a third (32%) of total household energy use (ABARE, 2009).
For almost one in three Australian households (31%), gas (mains or LPG/bottled) was the main source of energy for space heating and 37% used gas for hot water systems. In the main gas-producing states of Victoria and Western Australia, gas was used as an energy source in nine out of ten households (90% and 87% respectively, compared with six out of ten households nationally).
Used primarily as a source of heating, wood use by households has declined 26% in the last 10 years, from 82 PJ in 1997-98 to 60 PJ in 2007-08 (ABARE, 2009).
In 2008, 13% of Australian households used wood as a source of energy in the home. More than one-third (35%) of households in Tasmania used wood as an energy source, a decrease from more than half (52%) in 2002 (graph 2.41). Due to air pollution concerns, households have been encouraged to stop using wood for heating or to convert open fires to slow combustion fires, which are more energy efficient and produce less greenhouse emissions than open fires. Firewood collection can have a detrimental effect on Australia's native wildlife, as dead trees and fallen timber provide habitat for a diverse range of fauna including a number of threatened species (End note 7).
A range of government grants and rebates have been made available to households in recent years to encourage people to use solar energy in the home. In 2008, 7% of households used solar energy to heat water, up from 4% of households in 2005. More than half of all households in the Northern Territory used solar energy to heat water (54%) - a much larger proportion than in Western Australia (21%) and no other state or territory exceeded 10% (graph 2.42).
GreenPower provides an option for people to pay a premium for electricity generated from renewable sources that is fed into the national power grid. GreenPower was first established in New South Wales in 1997 and since then has spread to other states and territories. By March 2009, just over 984,000 households were paying for GreenPower, up from 132,300 customers in March 2005 (End note 8).
There has also been an increase in the awareness of GreenPower products in the past decade. In 1999, less than one-fifth (19%) of households were aware of GreenPower. Nearly a decade later, this had risen to more than half (52%) of all households in 2008, including 5% who reported that they were already paying for GreenPower.
Households in the Australian Capital Territory had the highest rate of GreenPower awareness (71%, including 5% who were paying for GreenPower) while Western Australian households had the lowest awareness (39%) (graph 2.43).
Biomass is plant material, vegetation or agricultural waste used as a fuel or energy source. Biomass can also be processed to produce liquid biofuels (biodiesel) or a gas biofuel (biogas).
Hydro-electric power is electricity produced from the energy of falling water using dams, turbines and generators.
Solar/solar photovoltaic: Photovoltaics (PV) convert sunlight directly into electricity. Photovoltaic systems differ from solar hot water systems that absorb sunlight directly into the water-carrying tubes contained in the panel.
Wind turbines can be used to drive a generator to create electricity.
1. Australian Energy Regulator, State of Electricity Market 2008, viewed 22 January 2009, <http://www.aer.gov.au>
2. Department of Climate Change (DCC), Australia's National Greenhouse Accounts: National Inventory by Economic Sector 2007, last viewed 20 October 2009, <http://www.climatechange.gov.au/inventory>
3. Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), Energy Update 2009, electronic datasets, viewed 22 September 2009, <http://www.abare.gov.au>
4. Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), Energy Update 2009, Table f, viewed 22 September 2009, <http://www.abare.gov.au>
5. Department of Climate Change (DCC), Australia's National Greenhouse Accounts: National Inventory by Economic Sector 2007, DCC, 2009, Canberra.
6. Energy Australia, Typical Household Appliance Wattages, viewed 29 January 2009, <http://www.energy.com.au>.
7. Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Land pressures, viewed 28 October 2009, <http://www.environment.gov.au/land>
8. GreenPower, You Can Bank on GreenPower, viewed 26 November 2008, <http://www.greenpower.gov.au>.
This page last updated 21 January 2013
Unless otherwise noted, content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia Licence together with any terms, conditions and exclusions as set out in the website Copyright notice. For permission to do anything beyond the scope of this licence and copyright terms contact us. | <urn:uuid:211b6c3f-1e09-477b-999f-d04f198cf5e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/35B5CD10E6AADA1FCA25773700169C30?opendocument | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939922 | 1,493 | 2.921875 | 3 |
A study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal of 937,943 children finds that boys born in December were 30 percent more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than classmates born in January of the same calendar year. December-born girls were 70 percent more likely to have an ADHD diagnosis. Similar patterns existed for rates of ADHD prescriptions. The cut-off date of birth for school entry in British Columbia is December 31, so children born in December are almost a year younger than classmates born in January.
The researchers were concerned that these younger children were simply acting younger compared with their older classmates and may have been wrongly diagnosed. “These findings raise concerns about the potential harms of overdiagnosis and overprescribing,” they wrote.
For more on the diagnosis of ADHD in Psychiatric News, click here.
(Image: Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com) | <urn:uuid:f191dc54-fc0f-46ed-8262-bc8cdda68da6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alert.psychiatricnews.org/2012/03/adhd-or-just-younger-and-acting.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987018 | 177 | 3.25 | 3 |
Australian National Botanic Gardens
A weekly news sheet prepared by a Gardens' volunteer.
Numbers in square brackets refer to garden bed Sections. Plants in flower are in bold type.
11 February 2005
Rhododendron lochiae - click for larger image
This is a short walk abounding with colourful flowers to suit those with little time. On entering the gardens throught the main gates, the expanse of grasses with tall graceful nodding ochre flower heads is mostly of the kangaroo grass, Themeda australis [Section 175]. In the pots at the entrance to the Visitors Centre, plants include Rhododendron lochiae with bright red trumpet flowers on a low spreading shrub and a ground cover Goodenia sp. with bright yellow flowers. These are seen below the large arching fronds of the Birds Nest Fern, Asplenium australasicum. Against the wall a wattle, Acacia mollifolia [Section 221] is a tall, slender shrub reaching towards the path, with fine divided velvety leaves and sprays of golden fluffy flower balls.
The background to the statue of Sir Joseph Banks is Banksia serrata [Section 172], tall with dark foliage and large cylindrical green-grey flower spikes seen mostly at the tops of these shrubs. Banks Walk is edged with numerous, still colourful, kangaroo paws. They include Anigozanthos Bush Dawn [Section 210] with bright yellow paw flowers on long bare stems, Anigozanthos Bush Noon [Section 210] with yellow-orange coloured flowers and Anigozanthos Bush Glow [Section 210] with flowers coloured red. Prostrate and brilliant, Scaevola New Blue [Section 210, 174] have vivid blue flowers along the dense trailing stems. Below the notice Add colour to your garden with Australian Plants is another prostrate plant, Pelargonium rodneyanum [Section 174] with attractive magenta coloured flowers over the suckering plant.
Anigozanthos 'Bush Glow' - click for larger image
At the corner the attractive small shrubs, Crowea Festival [Section 174] are clad with pink star flowers. In the crescent garden, a suckering herb, Brachyscome formosa [Section 174] bears mauve daisies and Goodenia humilis [Section 174] is small and mounded with its yellow flowers to complement. Dampiera sylvestris [Section 174] is close by with its blue flowers on upright stems. Opposite and in the centre of the garden the glorious orange-red flowers crowning the Eucalyptus ficifolia [Section 174] could not be missed. Cross over the car park to the Tasmanian Section where probably many Gippsland Water Dragons, Physignathus lesueurii howittii [Section 149] can be seen basking in the sun. Entering this section, the NSW Christmas Bush, Ceratopetalum gummiferum [Section 142] displays its renowned reddened swollen calyces which followed the tiny white flowers, mostly at the top of the tall shrub.
This next section is in front of the Café building in the Ellis Rowan Garden where the Grevillea Deua Flame [Section 131] is a rather dense shrub which dangles its lovely red terminal flower clusters from pendulous branches. Opposite, a grouping of Crowea Coopers Hybrid [Section 240] is floriferous with its shade of pink star flowers. On the opposite side of this garden is a colourful patch containing Goodenia macmillanii [Section 240] with small upright stems of pink flowers, surrounded by Scaevola New Blue [Section 240], with its flowers so blue and behind, Senecio sturtianum [Section 240] with deep purple flowers and grey-green foliage on upright stems.
So many flowers to enjoy Barbara Daly. | <urn:uuid:cfd42963-8dc9-416d-890f-f22a2a5b7eef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://anbg.gov.au/gardens/whatson/iftw/iftw-archive/iftw-2005-02-11.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.892029 | 818 | 2.5625 | 3 |
This is the time of year Gulf Coast residents begin watching the weather reports to see if there is a storm and if it is heading their way.
It would be wise if we watched, as well. And prepared accordingly.
Think back to October 1995, when Hurricane Opal hit the Florida Panhandle. It remained a hurricane for the next 12 hours as it roared deep into Alabama. Fifty mph winds were felt as far north as Montgomery. Anniston got more than six inches of rain in a few hours. Power outages erupted throughout the state. The system spun off tornadoes and caused extensive damage all the way to Tennessee.
More recently, Hurricane Ivan, which made landfall near Gulf Shores in September 2004, sent the wind gusting at more than 60 mph in central Alabama and caused more power outages, more tornados and more rain.
Now Ernesto is taking aim at the Gulf Coast.
Although Alabama is not currently in the cone of uncertainty, anyone who follows the weather knows hurricanes can change course. Our ability to predict where and when a storm will strike improves every year, but it is still an imperfect science.
However, this much we do know: It is better to be prepared, just in case.
When serious weather looms, make sure you have working flashlights and a weather radio with plenty of batteries. Keep your cell phones charged, keep gas in your car, and if you have a freezer, and there is room in it, pack in a couple of bags of ice, the most valuable commodity when the power goes out. Some bottled water and non-perishable food would be wise — and an old fashioned can-opener, the kind that does not need electricity. You can figure out the rest.
Little things become big things when you find yourself in the cone of uncertainty. | <urn:uuid:a8b28da9-22bc-4174-af47-867ec6cefeba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://annistonstar.com/view/full_story/19706913/article-When-the-storms-blow-this-way | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966492 | 370 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Genetic model organisms have revolutionized science, and today, with the rapid advances in technology, there is significant potential to launch many more plant species towards model status. However, these new model organisms have to be carefully selected.
Hemerocallis (the daylily) satisfies multiple criteria for selection and deserves serious consideration as a subject of intensive biological investigation. Several attributes of the genus are of great biological interest. These include the strict control of flower opening and, within a short period, the precisely regulated floral death by a programmed cell death system. The self-incompatibility system in Hemerocallis is also noteworthy and deserves more attention. Importantly, the genus is widely cultivated for food, medicinal value and ornamental interest. Hemerocallis has considerable potential as a ‘nutraceutical’ food plant and the source of new compounds with biomedical activity. The genus has also been embraced by ornamental plant breeders and the extraordinary morphological diversity of hybrid cultivars, produced within a relatively short time by amateur enthusiasts, is an exceptional resource for botanical and genetic studies.
This paper in AoB PLANTS explores these points in detail, explaining the reasons why this genus has considerable value – both academic and socio-economic – and deserves new resources devoted to its exploration as a model. Its impact as a future model will be enhanced by its amenability to cultivation in laboratory and field conditions. In addition, established methods for various tissue and cell culture systems as well as transformation will permit maximum exploitation of this genus by science.
Rodriguez-Enriquez, M.J., and Grant-Downton, R.T. (2012) A new day dawning: Hemerocallis (daylily) as a future model organism. AoB Plants 5: pls055 doi: 10.1093/aobpla/pls055 | <urn:uuid:839b33a2-4b73-4c9d-8e99-3c8621037d7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aobblog.com/2013/03/a-new-day-dawning-hemerocallis-as-a-model-organism/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942513 | 386 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2001 July 22
Explanation: The Orion Nebula is visible to the unaided eye as a fuzzy patch near the famous belt of three stars in the Orion. The above picture captures a part of the Orion Nebula that primarily reflects light from bright Orion stars. This reflection nebula appears blue because the blue light from the neighboring stars scatters more efficiently from nebula gas than does red light. The dark lanes are composed of mostly interstellar dust - fine needle-shaped carbon grains.
Authors & editors:
Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U. | <urn:uuid:8eb1ef4b-3d20-4d46-a612-f8b38400e98e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010722.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905601 | 173 | 3.453125 | 3 |
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2001 December 20
Explanation: Viewed from Earth, the solar system's planets do a cosmic dance that is hard to appreciate on any single night. But consider this well planned animated sequence combining 23 pictures taken at approximately 2 week intervals from June 2000 through May 2001. It reveals the graceful looping or retrograde motion of bright wanderers Jupiter (leftmost) and Saturn. Loitering among the background stars are the familiar Pleiades (above right) and V-shaped Hyades (below left) star clusters. The planets didn't actually loop by reversing the direction of their orbits, though. Their apparent retrograde motion is a reflection of the motion of the Earth itself. Retrograde motion can be seen each time Earth overtakes and laps planets orbiting farther from the Sun, Earth moving more rapidly through its own relatively close-in orbit. Astronomer Tunc Tezel captured Jupiter and Saturn's "paired" retrograde loop in this remarkable series made after the close alignment of these gas giants in May 2000. The next opportunity to see these two planets dance such a pas de deux will be in the year 2020.
Authors & editors:
Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U. | <urn:uuid:d63c5514-b017-48fa-baf8-47551b156d49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap011220.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903175 | 305 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2007 August 9
Explanation: Gathered at the center of this sharp skyview are the stars of Messier 67, one of the oldest known open star clusters. In fact, though open star clusters are usually much younger, the stars of M67 are likely around 4 billion years old, about the same age and with about the same elemental abundances as the Sun. Open clusters are almost always younger because they are dispersed over time as they encounter other stars, interstellar clouds, and experience gravitational tides while orbiting the center of our galaxy. Still, M67 contains over 500 stars or so and lies some 2,800 light-years away in the constellation Cancer. At that estimated distance, M67 would be about 12 light-years across.
Authors & editors:
Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U. | <urn:uuid:91f282c4-2e54-47d7-8535-050b5df9e154> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070809.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909622 | 222 | 3.609375 | 4 |
July 31, 1998
Explanation: Do you recognize the constellation Orion? This striking but unfamiliar looking picture of the familiar Orion region of the sky was produced using survey data from the InfraRed Astronomical Satellite (IRAS). It combines information recorded at three different invisible infrared wavelengths in a red, green, and blue color scheme and covers about 30x24 degrees on the sky. Most of Orion's visually impressive stars don't stand out, but bright Betelgeuse does appear as a small purplish dot just above center. Immediately to the right of Betelgeuse and prominent in the IRAS skyview, expanding debris from a stellar explosion, a supernova remnant, is seen as a large bright ring-shaped feature. The famous gas clouds in Orion's sword glow brightly as the yellow regions at the lower right. No longer operational, IRAS used a telescope cooled by liquid helium to detect celestial infrared radiation.
Authors & editors:
NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC
&: Michigan Tech. U. | <urn:uuid:f2519e47-47f4-4694-91cc-e23c91d5d788> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap980731.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.889232 | 227 | 4.0625 | 4 |
|The German inflation of 1923
— one dollar worth trillions of marks.
[This article is excerpted from the book The Age of Inflation, by Hans Sennholz.]
The German inflation of 1914–1923 had an inconspicuous beginning, a creeping rate of one to two percent. On the first day of the war, the German Reichsbank, like the other central banks of the belligerent powers, suspended redeemability of its notes in order to prevent a run on its gold reserves.
Like all the other banks, it offered assistance to the central government in financing the war effort. Since taxes are always unpopular, the German government preferred to borrow the needed amounts of money rather than raise its taxes substantially. To this end it was readily assisted by the Reichsbank, which discounted most treasury obligations.
A growing percentage of government debt thus found its way into the vaults of the central bank and an equivalent amount of printing press money into people’s cash holdings. In short, the central bank was monetizing the growing government debt.
By the end of the war the amount of money in circulation had risen fourfold and prices some 140 percent. Yet the German mark had suffered no more than the British pound, was somewhat weaker than the American dollar but stronger than the French franc. Five years later, in December 1923, the Reichsbank had issued 496.5 quintillion marks, each of which had fallen to one-trillionth of its 1914 gold value.
How stupendous! Practically every economic good and service was costing trillions of marks. The American dollar was quoted at 4.2 trillion marks, the American penny at 42 billion marks. How could a European nation that prided itself on its high levels of education and scholarly knowledge suffer such a thorough destruction of its money? Who would inflict on a great nation such evil which had ominous economic, social, and political ramifications not only for Germany but for the whole world? Was it the victors of World War I who, in diabolical revenge, devastated the vanquished country through ruinous financial manipulation and plunder? Every mark was printed by Germans and issued by a central bank that was governed by Germans under a government that was purely German. It was German political parties, such as the Socialists, the Catholic Centre Party, and the Democrats, forming various coalition governments, that were solely responsible for the policies they conducted. Of course, admission of responsibility for any calamity cannot be expected from any political party.
|How could a European nation that prided itself on its high levels of education and scholarly knowledge suffer such a thorough destruction of its money?|
The reasoning that led these parties to inflate the national currency at such astronomical rates is not only interesting for economic historians, but also very revealing of the rationale for monetary destruction. The doctrines and theories that led to the German monetary destruction have since then caused destruction in many other countries. In fact, they may be at work right now all over the western world. In our judgment, four erroneous doctrines or theories guided the German monetary authorities in those baleful years.
The most amazing economic sophism that was advanced by eminent financiers, politicians, and economists endeavored to show that there was neither monetary nor credit inflation in Germany. These experts readily admitted that the nominal amount of paper money issued was indeed enormous. But the real value of all currency in circulation, that is, the gold value in terms of gold or goods prices, they argued, was much lower than before the war or than that of other industrial countries. | <urn:uuid:190c0303-9df1-4b0e-8950-1d2edf25cb12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archive.mises.org/5817/hyperinflation-in-germany-1914-1923/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973412 | 726 | 3.453125 | 3 |
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Because the imminent demise or depletion of commercially usable natural forests can be so readily foreseen in many Pacific Island countries (Watt 1980, 297), governments and development agencies have in several places promoted either some form of restocking or enrichment of commercially logged areas or the establishment of forest plantations on degraded grassland sites. Not all these efforts can be classified as agroforestry, strictly speaking; but in the Pacific context, as in most of the tropical world, the traditional, if transient, shift of land use back and forth between forest and agriculture on any particular site makes it relevant to consider what at first glance appear to be purely forestry projects.
Many of the timber species institutionally promoted have been exotics such as Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea), West Indian mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), cordia (Cordia alliodora), and Eucalytus spp., although some indigenous Pacific species such as Albizia falcataria, Agathis spp., Araucaria spp., and Endospermum spp. have been successfully established, often as exotics in areas beyond their natural range. Many other species - including West Indian cedar (Cedrela odorata), the silky oak (Grevillea robusta), teak (Tectona grandis), mahogany (Swietenia mahogoni), toon tree ( Toona australis), cadamba (Anthocephalus chinensis), and Albizia lebbeck along with several indigenous trees - have also been the subject of trials, and planted to various degrees throughout the islands.
Firewood and multi-purpose species that have been successfully introduced include Leucaena leucocephala, Erythrina spp., Casuarina spp., and Gliricidia septum, and, to a lesser extent, Securinega samoana and Adenanthera pavonina. Other species, all of which have been planted experimentally and which seem to grow successfully, but which have not yet become so well established, include Cassia, Acacia, and Calliandra spp. Apart from timber and fuel wood, the major multi-purpose objectives of such plantings are site reclamation and amelioration, erosion control, wind protection, shade, multipurpose construction and handicrafts, nurse cropping, fodder, green manure, and food.
The indigenous casuarinas, particularly Casuarina equisetifolia, have also shown considerable promise for reforestation programmes, and have been planted in Tonga in land reclamation projects, in the Cook Islands for the rehabilitation of degraded lands, and on atolls as sources of fuel wood and to protect coconut plantations from saltwater damage. C. oligodon and C. papuana are traditionally used for reforestation and to enrich fallow land in Papua New Guinea, and are now promoted in some areas for land rehabilitation and as shade plants for coffee.
Pine planting in relation to agroforestry
Of the total area of timber plantations in the Pacific, well over 50 per cent is accounted for by Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea). The largest area of pine planting is in Fiji, where that country's Pine Commission together with the Forestry Department has established over 50,000 ha of plantation since 1960, mostly on degraded anthropogenic grasslands (Drysdale 1988a, 110; Watt 1980, 301). Some pine timber is used locally, but the wood was intended mainly for export, and a wood-chipping mill is now in operation. In the mid1960s, under a programme now discontinued, woodlots of Pinus caribaea on smallholder sugar-cane farms were promoted by the colonial government.
Sized from 0.4 to 2 ha, these woodlots were planted on steeper non-cane areas of farms to control erosion, provide on-farm supplies of timber and fuel wood, and for undergrazing by farm animals (Eaton 1988b, personal communication). Apart from this woodlot grazing and grazing of cattle in association with larger pine plantations (described below), there has been no institutional support for any form of intercropping or other agroforestry activities in pine plantations (Drysdale 1988b).
Similarly, in the limited areas of pine planting in New Caledonia, Western Samoa, Tonga, and the Cook Islands, there has been little or no link to agroforestry in such programmes, with the main focus being on creating a timber resource, land improvement, erosion control, and employment creation in rural areas.
In highland Papua New Guinea large areas of degraded grassland have been planted with pines (Pinus spp.) and Araucaria spp. Intercropping activities are few and consist of the intercropping of coffee and cardamon on a trial and demonstration basis (Howcroft 1983).
In Vanuatu, P. caribaea var. hondurensis is the main species planted in forest plantations in seasonally dry and highly degraded sites on the southern islands of Aneityum and Erromango, where some 550 ha had been established up to April 1985. The commercial viability of such plantings is still uncertain, however, due to poor access to markets and high transport costs. On Erromango, high costs of clearing land of the indigenous pioneering species Acacia spirobis has stopped the development of pine plantations. Benefits in the form of erosion control and aiding the local economy through wages were the main motives behind these programmes (Neil 1986a).
Non-pine forestry in relation to agroforestry
To judge from programmes in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, and Western Samoa, there seems to be greater promise and greater institutionalized promotion of intercropping with other, primarily broadleaved evergreen, species than has been the case with pines.
In Papua New Guinea, where extensive areas of Eucalyptus deglupta have been planted, cocoa and coffee have been successfully grown at 4 m x 4 m and 3 m x 3 m spacing, respectively, in conjunction with E. deglupta planted at 10 m x 10 m (Jacovelli and Neil 1984, 10).
Also in Papua New Guinea, severe environmental degradation resulting from rapid urban expansion and associated subsistence gardening and "fuel-wood mining" prompted the cities of Lae and Port Moresby to institute fuel-wood-planting programmes. In Lae, in 1978, it was decided to plant 200 ha of sloping land (20°-30°) in Leucaena leucocephala for firewood and to intercrop fuel-wood species with annual food crops in zones designated for subsistence food gardening. The project, which was allocated K250,000 (US$275,000) over six years, had a management component coupled with a public education programme and a team of local government rangers to control gardening and to police the area (King 1987). Follow-on projects were planned but not carried out because of lack of funding. By 1988 the project had ceased to operate, and the original plantings of some 100 ha of L. Ieucocephala, Acacia auriculformis, and Eucalyptus spp. and 5 ha of "agroforestry plantings" of fuel-wood species with food crops had been cut down or removed completely (King 1987).
In Vanuatu, Cordia alliodora, a hardwood native to Central America, has been the main commercial silvicultural species since the mid-1970s, with over 1,000 ha planted on 12 islands as of 1984 (Neil 1984). Cordia was first planted on various islands in 5-10-ha blocks called Local Supply Plantations (LSP). As the potential contribution of forestry to rural and national development became evident, larger, export-oriented Industrial Forest Plantations (IFP) were established on the islands of Pentecost, Erromango, and Aneityum (Jacovelli and Neil 1984). The rapid expansion of IFPs, sometimes with plantings of up to 200 ha per year on single sites, led to unprecedented demands for land and aroused fears among landowners, especially on Pentecost, that these silvicultural activities would make land unavailable for planting subsistence and commercial crops. This prompted the Vanuatu Forest Service to establish, on Pentecost in 1984, demonstration plots growing a wider range of subsistence and cash crops within forestry plantations of Cordia alliodora (Jacovelli and Neil 1984).
Crops established between line plantings of Cordia alliodora included 8 sweet potato cultivars, 6 cassava cultivars, 13 aroid cultivars from Colocasia esculenta, Xanthosoma sagittifolium, and Alocasia macrorrhiza, 12 yam cultivars, kava (Piper methysticum), and trials with coffee (Arabica and Robusta), cocoa, and cardamon. In addition to these trials, subsistence gardens have also been established under Cordia alliodora by both local landowners and forest workers alike (Jacovelli and Neil 1984, 8).
Because C. alliodora may be severely attacked by root rot (Phelli nus noxius) in some conditions, and does not perform well on some sites, other species currently being tried in Vanuatu include Terminalia brassii, T. calamansanai, Eucalyptus deglupta, Swietenia macrophylla, Toona australis, and Cedrela odorata. However, the barks of both T. brassii and E. deglupta are palatable to cattle (Jacovelli and Neil 1984, 10; MacFarlane 1980). The species showing greatest potential as an alternative species to C. alliodora may be S. macrophylla, and if grown with nurse species to reduce pest problems, intercropping should be possible during the early years of rotation (Neil 1986b).
Several other systematic experiments on tree species, both exotic and indigenous, have been carried out in Vanuatu in a search for species especially suitable for fuel wood, timber, or pulpwood, but none of this research was connected with agroforestry. Research on agroforestry has focused almost exclusively on "cash crops which appear to have great potential, particularly coffee and cocoa, and possibly kava and cocoa" (Jacovelli and Neil 1984, 11).
In Fiji, some 22,953 ha of tropical hardwood forests have been planted as of mid-1986. Of these, 14,987 ha are West Indian mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), 3,058 ha are Cordia alliodora, 2,963 ha are cadamba (Anthocephalus chinensis), 928 ha are Maesopsis eminii, 438 ha are Eucalyptus deglupta, and 202 ha are the indigenous species Endospermum macrophyllum (ADAB 1986). Despite such considerable silvicultural activity, in terms of both hardwood and pines, it is essentially monocultural, and, as the General Manager of the Fiji Pine Commission has stated: "Institutionalized agrosilviculture is non-existent in Fiji at present" (Drysdale 1988b, personal communication).
Tonga's silvicultural activities are more diverse, some being significantly agrosilvicultural. More purely silvicultural activities include a major reforestation programme begun on the island of Eua in the mid-1960s. Over 40 ha of mixed exotic species including Toona australis, Cedrela odorata, Cordia alliodora, Grevillea robusta, Agathis robusta, Pinus caribaea, and Eucalyptus spp., as well as suitable indigenous species, such as Casuarina equisetifolia, Terminalia catappa, and Dysoxylum tongense, were planted on the Eua Forest Farm. Tests of seed stock from throughout the world were also carried out on the farm. Larger areas were subsequently planted, with 104 ha alone being planted in 1979 (Thaman 1984e, 3).
The species most commonly planted in 1984 were Eucalyptus saligna, E. tereticornis, Toona australis, and Pinus caribaea. Seedling pro auction for these species and other timber species, such as Cupressus lusitanica, amounted to 77,491 seedlings (42,427 of which were planted) in 1979 (MAFF 1985, 100-102). Reforestation continues, as the small areas of remaining indigenous forest on Eua are exploited, with the local mill "approaching the end of its productive life as the local hardwood timber supply is cut out and cannot be replaced from the Forest Farm for at least another 10 years" (MAFF 1985, 99). The only truly agroforestry aspect of the Eua silvicultural activities, a taungya system of combined tree-planting and temporary gardens, was phased out because "it has greatly increased pressures for settlement of unsuitable land, and is thus clearly not in the national interest" (MAFF 1985, 100).
A second and continuing agroforestry activity has been the Forestry Extension Programme, which began in the 1960s to produce seedlings for distribution to smallholder farmers for planting in small woodlots or as windbreaks around their agricultural allotments (see chapter 5 on Tongan agroforestry). The major species distributed included Casuarina equisetifolia, Grevillea robusta, Cedrela odorata, Eucalyptus spp., Agathis spp., and Gmelina arborea (Thaman 1984e, 3).
With the establishment of the Extension Nursery at Mataliku on the main island of Tongatapu in 1978, the programme was expanded to include the propagation and distribution of a wide range of timber trees, "cultural" species, and species providing food, medicine, and ornamentation. The considerable interest shown by the people for planting on both rural and town allotments led to a "blossoming of forest extension work" to the point that, in 1978, the nursery could not cope with the demand, which exceeded 8,000 trees per month (MAFF 1979, 99).
According to programme records, as of 1984, at least 155 species had been tested and/or propagated for distribution on Eua and Tongatapu. Of these, 66 were timber species, 45 ornamentals, 32 "cultural" plants of particular importance to the Tongan society, 11 food plants, 6 plants used for coastal protection or land reclamation, 4 for living fences or hedgerows, 3 medicinal plants, and 2 each for windbreaks and firewood. Among the most popular nontimber species were Casuarina equisetifolia (planted as an ornamental, living fence, or wind-break); culturally important sacred or fragrant plants, known locally as akau kakala, such as heilala (Garcinia sessilis), langakali (Aglaia saltatorum), sandalwood, or ahi (Santalum yasi), pua (Fagraea berteriana), pipi (Parinari glaberrima), huni (Phalaria disperma), perfume tree, or mohokoi (Cananga odorata), allspice (Pimenta doica), and Pandanus cultivars; fruit-trees, such as mango, Malay apple (Syzygium malaccense), and macadamia nut (Macadamia integrifolia); and ornamental or shade plants, such as flamboyant, or poinciana (Delonix regia), hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), Cordyline fruticosa, copperleaf, or beefsteak, plant (Acalypha amentacea), bougainvillea (Bougainvillea spp.), poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima), gardenia (Gardenia spp.), and the hedge panaxes (Polyscias spp.) (Thaman 1984e).
The final major area of activity has been the testing and establishment of trees for land reclamation, such as the project to rehabilitate low-lying areas at Sopu to the west of the capital of Nuku'alofa on Tongatapu. Reclamation work at Sopu began in the 1960s, with the planting of Casuarina equisetifolia to stabilize the area, and has continued to the present with extensive plantings of Lumnitzera littorea, Rhizophora mangle, Bruguiera gymnorhiza, Xylocarpus granatum, and other selected species. As recently as 1980, 6 acres of Lumnitzera littorea, 4 acres of Terminalia catappa, and 3 acres of Queensland kauri (Agathis robusta) were planted. The vegetation has reportedly been well-established, with the operation becoming more maintenance than reclamation.
Grazing, usually of cattle, with commercial tree cropping and silviculture consists mainly of the widespread practice of grazing cattle under coconuts or commercial timber species, and the limited grazing of cattle under Leucaena leucocephala or other fuel-wood or multipurpose species.
Livestock under coconuts
The grazing of cattle (primarily beef, but also dairy cattle) under coconuts (in some cases with pasture improvement) is by far the most widespread practice. It has been encouraged throughout the Islands since colonial times, particularly on large coconut estates. In addition to providing meat and dairy products, cattle are seen as effective weed control and fertilization agents, thus facilitating plantation management and the collection of fallen nuts.
Although primarily promoted on large, often foreign or state controlled estates or plantations, some governments, such as those in the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Niue, have encouraged smallholder grazing of cattle under coconuts and other trees. In the case of Tonga, smallholder agriculturalists have been encouraged to fence limited portions of their 3.3 ha bush allotments to graze cattle, and sometimes horses, under coconuts and other tree crops and protected trees, or, alternatively, to tether animals to trees and graze on a rotational basis.
The practice has been particularly important in Vanuatu (both before and after independence in 1980) and New Caledonia, where beef cattle production is a major activity. Beef cattle production became so important in Vanuatu, prior to independence, that some plantations were turned into cattle properties. The importance of cattle grew in the 1950s, when steeply rising labour costs made planters increasingly dependent on cattle to keep their plantations clean. At one period in the 1950s, herds became larger than the plantations could support, especially during dry spells, and by the end of the decade, town butcheries had opened in both Port Vila and Luganville, the two main towns. By the end of the 1960s, copra production had become no more than a sideline on a number of plantations (Brookfield with Hart 1971, 164165).
In Fiji, in 1973, 10.5 per cent of the local beef requirements were supplied by the 9.9 per cent of the cattle population grazed under coconuts (MAF 1973; Manner 1983). This is particularly significant given the large proportion of range-fed cattle raised on extensive large-scale developments in the dry zones of Fiji. Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia in Melanesia, and Western Samoa and French Polynesia have also actively encouraged cattle under coconuts with trials having been conducted on optimum stocking rates and pasture improvement. Much of the Western Samoa Trust Estates (WSTEC) Mulifanua Copra Plantation, reportedly one of the largest copra plantations in the world (Carter 1984), is undergrazed by cattle.
The potential for the formal promotion of large-scale grazing of cattle under coconuts is greatest on the larger islands of Melanesia and Polynesia. On smaller islands, such as those in Tonga and the Cook Islands, where high population densities and land scarcity make more extensive agrosilvipastoral developments less relevant, small-scale rotational undergrazing of tethered animals is more appropriate. In Nine, where population density is low because of emigration to New Zealand, there have been problems of overgrazing and lack of fodder during times of drought- for example, during the severe drought of 1977-1978, when hay had to be imported from New Zealand.
Richardson (1983, 59) cautions that grazing under coconuts can create problems of soil compaction and, especially in the case of free grazing, preclude intercropping, which should take precedence in areas with limited land resources. As shown by studies in Papua New Guinea and elsewhere, smallholder beef cattle production can have harmful impacts on subsistence cropping (Grossman 1981). Where cash cropping or subsistence production is feasible, Richardson (1983, 59) argues that intercropping should take precedence over grazing under coconuts.
Cattle under timber species
The grazing of cattle under commercial timber species has been actively promoted in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Fiji. In Papua New Guinea, reforestation projects in both the highlands and lowlands offer opportunities for beef production, and cattle have been actively promoted to control weeds and reduce fire danger by consuming the fuel. Pinus caribaea planting has also been encouraged in order to provide shade for cattle in open grasslands (Watt 1980, 308). The introduction of pasture legumes into timber plantations and surrounding areas has also been actively encouraged, and the development of pastures, followed by grazing, has been more or less standard practice in a number of forest plantations in Papua New Guinea, where klinki and hoop pine (Araucaria spp.), Pinus caribaea, and Eucalyptus spp. are grown. Government forest plantations are made available to local Braziers who establish adequate fencing and pastures and follow acceptable range management and stocking practices (Howcroft 1974; 1983).
In the Solomon Islands, where there is a "Cattle Under Trees" (CUT) project, cattle have been grazed under Eucalyptus deglupta in forest plantations established by the government in logged forest (Macfarlane and Whiteman 1983; Schirmer 1983, 101; Watt 1980, 308) and in Vanuatu under both "Local Supply Plantations" and "Industrial Supply Plantations" of Cordia alliodora, as well as under Pinus caribaea on Aneityum, Erromango, Pentecost, and Santo (Jacovelli and Neil 1984, 8). Grazing under pines in Vanuatu is seen as a means of reducing the significant fire threat in plantations (Neil 1986a).
It is in Fiji that the practice has probably been tried most exten sively, owing to research undertaken by the Fiji Pine Commission (FPC), a statutory body with the objective of facilitating and developing "an industry based on the growing, harvesting, preserving and marketing of pine and other species of trees grown in Fiji" (CPO 1980, 141). The FPC is responsible for managing over 45,000 ha of Pinus caribaea out of an envisioned gross estate of 80,000 ha on the highly degraded talasiga (sunburnt) soils of the drier leeward grasslands of the two largest islands of Fiji. The relatively infertile and eroded areas are vegetated with a grassland sub-climax of presumed anthropogenic origin, including species such as Pennisetum polystachyon, Pteridium esculentum, Gleichenia liners, Psidium guajava, Dodonaea viscose, and Casuarina equisetifolia. On moister slopes, Miscanthus floridulus forms almost impenetrable thickets. These grasslands are subject to frequent and unauthorized burning.
The FPC undertook research into cattle grazing for two reasons: to examine the effects of cattle grazing on reducing fuel in high fire-risk zones; and to test the use of cattle as a site-preparation tool for clearing the land of Miscanthus floridulus, which proved difficult to eradicate by more conventional means such as slashing and burning (Drysdale 1982). Research has yielded variable results. Vincent (1971) concluded that grazing of cattle under 5- and 6-year-old pine plantations in poor soils had a detrimental effect on the incremental growth of pines, whereas grazing trials in the Nausori Highlands to determine the effect on fire hazard reduction resulted in a reduction in fuel from 2,500 kg per hectare to 800 kg per hectare, an average cattle weight gain of 0.24 kg per day, and no pasture deterioration despite heavy stocking rates (Gregor 1972). At Nawaicoba, Partridge (1977) reported weight gains twice this, when trees were planted at 2 m x 3 m spacing, with two rows in every five missing. In variable spacing trials, Bell (1981) found slight bark damage to trees less than one year old because of trampling, when the trees were spaced 3 m apart within rows and 2.5, 3, 3.5, and 4 m apart between rows, the cattle being introduced into the plantation when the pines were 54 cm high.
In 1982, the FPC reviewed various research projects on cattle under pines and concluded that given "the high overhead and general costs of FPC operations, commercial cattle grazing of unimproved pasture under pines, is an unlikely prospect" (Drysdale 1982, 4). Although fuel loadings were considerably reduced, the cost of using cattle for fuel reduction was "considered unacceptably high compared with alternatives such as burning" (Drysdale 1982, 3). In contrast, the use of cattle as a site-preparation tool where Miscanthus predominates was termed an "outstanding success" (Drysdale 1982, 8) because other methods of clearing the giant grass gave incomplete results, were impractical, or cost too much.
Because of the high cost of fencing, the long-term and extensive grazing of cattle under pines has been found to be an uneconomic proposition for the Fiji Pine Commission, although some 480 cattle are allowed to graze under pines free of charge at Drasa and Tavaka-bo, and some cattle owners unofficially graze their cattle in Fiji Pine Commission forests. Native landowners are also allowed to graze cattle under their own pine plantings, subject to certain restrictions. But cattle owners also are unlikely to find fencing a profitable venture. Open-range grazing with night-time penning may be a possibility. In addition, the economics of cattle grazing on improved pastures under trees in Fiji still needs to be ascertained.
Other silvipastoral activities
Trees such as Leucaena leucocephala are used as fodder in Tonga and Papua New Guinea, where they are browsed by cattle as a dietary supplement (Watt 1980, 308). There is perhaps some scope for the grazing of other animals such as pigs, goats, and chickens on improved legume pastures or fallows under coconuts, commercial timber species, or other trees (Quartermain 1980; Richardson 1983).
In the Pacific, as elsewhere, interest in agroforestry has recently grown rapidly among scientists, land-use experts, conservationists, and the development professionals of national governments and international agencies. As already noted, systems of commercial production that would now be classified as agroforestry were initiated early in the Pacific's colonial past, particularly in the form of multistorey arrangements of coconut palms with other crops or with cattle. With regard to agroforestry systems in the subsistence sphere, this book has sought to demonstrate their prevalence and antiquity in the Pacific Islands. As Yen (1980b, 91) comprehensively expressed it in his discussion of "Pacific Production Systems," there is nothing new about multi-storey cropping even though it has often been suggested to smallholders as an innovative technique they might adopt.
In fact native systems have always involved such techniques in village gardens with descending storeys of palms, trees, productive vines, shrubs, herbaceous root crops, and vegetable plants and ornamentals. Similarly, in swiddens, mixed species and variety plantings are themselves multi-storey. In this case such plantings also take on a successional aspect, for following the root crops, some cultigens such as banana and longer-term plants such as breadfruit and other fruit and nut trees, industrial shrubs, and vines, prolong the production of these gardens.
Geographers and anthropologists who have studied these sorts of indigenous systems find ironic some of the attempts made to introduce institutional agroforestry into the Pacific context. On the other hand, in a time of deforestation and agrodeforestation, it is apt to encourage both of the approaches to agroforestry described in chapter 1- the institutional approach, which generally seeks to introduce commodity-focused systems devised on the basis of modern forms of analysis, and the cultural-ecological approach, which is concerned more with long-standing indigenous systems, empirically devised and deeply embedded in the cultural landscape. Whether or not the two approaches can be usefully meshed remains open to question, although some forms of "progressing with the past" do seem possible (Clarke 1978).
When attention is turned to the future of institutional agroforestry in the Pacific, it can be clearly forecast that if individual smallholders are to benefit over the long term from the introduction of an unfamiliar institutionalized agroforestry system, they will need to receive an ongoing package of inputs and information, which suggests the need for some sort of extension service. Unfortunately, it is acknowledged that extension work in many Pacific countries is generally poor, and extension services often have only secondary ranking within ministries or departments (Hau'ofa et al. 1980, 188-189). How to remedy this deficiency raises several complex but pervasive issues, which have been dealt with at length in a large literature and which can only be superficially treated here.
With regard to the initial introduction of a new agroforestry system, it is easy - given the current popularity of agroforestry in the development world to find funding for workshops and projects, but these by their nature lack continuity, and they are often administered by staff unfamiliar with local agroforestry traditions. The Pacific is littered with projects advanced in support of all sorts of good causes their collapsed remnants remain, like the military paraphernalia rust ing on beaches after World War II. One way to incorporate continuity into projects and to move beyond reliance on inadequate extension services is to form a centralized management system for smallholders (sometimes referred to as a plantation mode of management). Such a system has been successful in several instances, notably the efficient smallholder production of sugar so important in Fiji's economy and also in tobacco production in that same country (Eaton 1988a). Some other attempts have been less successful. The pros and cons of the approach have been cogently summed up by Hardaker et al. (1984a; 1984b) and Ward (1984).
Aside from problems common to any project-based introduction, a specific constraint to the full realization of the potential of agroforestry by institutional means relates to the disciplinary compart-mentalization that characterizes institutions concerned with land use, whereby - as the Director of ICRAF commented - "agriculture and forestry normally fall under different ministries or, if they are under the same ministry, under separate departments,' (Lundgren 1987, 44). Writing specifically of the forestry sector in the South Pacific, Watt (1980, 302-303) noted that "the separation of agricultural and forestry extension services encourages the impression that agriculture and forestry are mutually exclusive alternatives rather than complementary land uses." Following on from and related to this sectoral compartmentalization is each institution's imperative to maximize the individual component that is the focus of that institution. In contrast, as has often been observed:
The subsistence land user's strategy and aims are to use his labour and land resources to optimize, with minimum risk, the production of various products and services required to satisfy all his basic needs. The fundamental inadequacy of conventional-discipline-oriented institutions lies in the failure to acknowledge and understand these basic facts, strategies and aims, and in the inability to adapt to them. The aims, infrastructure, rationale and philosophy of these institutions, as well as the training of their experts, are geared to the maximization of individual components, be they food crops, cash crops, animals or trees. There is little understanding that the land user needs to share out his resources for the production of other commodities or services (Lundgren 1987, 46).
When maximization is aimed at commercial products, as it most frequently is in the Pacific, a set of sometimes contradictory processes comes into play. For example, attempts to produce cash crops while continuing to meet subsistence needs may bring agricultural involution if land is limited, or it may result in an extension of cropping onto marginal sloping lands as cash crops or cattle take over better lands. A specialization in commercial products may not be accompanied by any concomitant increase in labour availability or extension advice (often restricted to larger producers) on how to increase subsistence production (Ward 1986; Yen 1980b).
Even the Fiji-German Forestry Project, which commenced in the mid1980s, appears mainly focused toward facilitating export cash cropping, although its terms of reference suggest a broader approach that includes "providing ecologically sound advisory assistance in the fields of forestry and agroforestry in line with the social, cultural and economic requirements of target groups" (Tuyll 1988, 3). Consultants to the Fiji-German Forestry Project have also made holistic and wide-ranging recommendations, but the Project's current activities, as described earlier in this chapter, are concentrated on improving the production of ginger as a cash crop by introducing exotic trees to prevent erosion and replace artificial fertilizer.
This accomplishment is not to be decried, but the approach, distinguished by its introduction of and experimentation with exotic trees alley-cropped with a cash crop, does little to preserve existing agroforestry systems or to maintain a balance between commercial agroforestry activities and activities that could protect the existing subsistence base. One consultant recommended to the Project that "agroforestry and forestry extension should not attempt to remain with or return to pure forms of subsistence economy but focus on including profitable cash crops at low risks" (von Maydell 1987, 35). This recommendation does indicate an appreciation of the need to minimize risk, but both it and all the other consultants' recommendations to the Project fail to support strongly the maintenance of a viable subsistence base. Another consultant, who had been selected to identify suitable sites for demonstration plots for the Project, was asked to comment on the idea of putting greater emphasis on the subsistence aspects of agroforestry and of analysing existing local agroforestry systems as demonstration plots into which selected improvements could be introduced. He responded that it was quite unrealistic to expect either the Fiji Government or the German funding agency to support such an emphasis in place of an emphasis on using agroforestry as a way to improve monocultural cash cropping.
In summary, export crops, timber trees, and grazing under coconuts have been the continuing focus of almost all official agroforestry activities for the past century. Regardless of whether it has been the colonial or post-colonial agricultural and forestry departments or, re cently, international aid agencies, the focus has been almost exclusively on monocultural, often large-scale production for export or, in the case of timber and fuel-wood production, for import substitution. Even the intercrops are usually cash crops for export or local sale. Consequently, most indigenous wild species and the wide range of traditional cultivars have received little official promotion and have been the focus of only limited research. Few technical experts or development entrepreneurs know enough about traditional mixed agricultural systems and their component plants to be willing or able to promote their expansion or maintenance. It is not only projects intended to develop commercial agriculture and forestry that may displace or degrade traditional agroforestry systems; modern institutional agroforestry projects may themselves play the same role.
Agencies and educational institutions promoting agroforestry
However, there are also movements in support of traditional systems. The growing popularization and recognition worldwide of the value of the "wisdom of the elders" (Knudtson and Suzuki 1992) may motivate increased institutional attention to indigenous polycultural systems of agroforestry in the Pacific. This section provides information on several examples of such attention and on the institutions involved; mention has been made earlier of some of these, but they will be referred to here briefly again to provide a coherent single account.
All the major universities within the Pacific region (University of Guam, both of Papua New Guinea's universities, the University of the South Pacific in Fiji and its School of Agriculture in Western Samoa, University of Hawaii, and the developing francophone institutions in New Caledonia and Tahiti) support staff with interests in traditional matters, including agriculture, agroforestry, and the management of soil and vegetation. Rather than attempt a full listing of course offerings relevant to agroforestry to at least some degree, we note here only that, on the basis of current information at hand, the courses most directly focused on agroforestry are found within the Geography Department at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji, and the Department of Agronomy and Soil Science at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. To the best of our knowledge, the University of Hawaii is distinguished by being the only university in the region to have a named Professor of Agroforestry, who is located in the Department of Agronomy and Soil Science. The Col lege of Micronesia in Pohnpei also has staff with active and direct interests in indigenous agroforestry.
Agroforestry promotion by the Fiji-German Forestry Project, a bilateral agency, has been described in the previous section. A different approach is followed by the South Pacific Forestry Development Programme, which is a multilateral 5-year project funded by UNDP, executed by FAO, and now based in Suva, Fiji. The Programme is concerned with forests and trees in 15 countries, so far particularly with forests in the larger countries, but atoll countries are making enquiries about coconuts and other multi-purpose trees. The role of the Programme is to stimulate activities and provide technical advice, not to operate activities itself. For instance, it facilitated the import of seeds of superior rattan from Malaysia for planting in Pacific forests in order to increase their non-timber production capability. Aside from technical advice, the Programme acts as a focal point for information about forests and trees and publishes the quarterly South Pacific Forestry Newsletter. It is also trying to organize the documentation of local knowledge on indigenous agroforestry, with studies planned or under way in Pohnpei, Fiji, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Tonga, and other island countries.
The Programme has worked cooperatively with the international NGO The Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific (FSP) on a project intended to develop sustainable forestry in local areas while slowing down or stopping rapid conversion of forests by large-scale industrial logging. This objective is based in part on selling small mobile sawmills to rural entrepreneurs and community groups so that they may develop small-scale but profitable and locally utilitarian logging, carried out in ways that avoid major environmental damage and that maintain the essential structure of the forest for traditional uses and ecological services.
A US Government project based in Hawaii is carrying out work related to several aspects of agroforestry in Hawaii, American Micronesia, and American Samoa. Called Agricultural Development in the American Pacific (ADAP), the project has provided agroforestry educational materials to all the public (land grant) colleges and universities in the American-affiliated Pacific. In association with the US Department of Agriculture and the US Forest Service, ADAP is also developing training programmes in agroforestry.
The Environment and Policy Institute of the East-West Center in Hawaii maintained a strong programme of research, seminars, and publication on agroforestry for several years during the 1980s (e.g., Djogo 1992; Nair 1984). Although agroforestry is no longer a principal focus of its work, the Institute remains a repository of a large volume of published and unpublished material on the topic.
Mentioned at the beginning of this chapter was the report (Clements 1988) of a technical meeting on agroforestry in tropical islands held at the Institute for Research, Extension and Training in Agriculture (IRETA), which is part of the University of the South Pacific's School of Agriculture in Western Samoa. IRETA is also involved in research projects to improve or strengthen atoll agroforestry in Kiribati.
In the Melanesian countries, with their comparatively larger natural forests, forest-resource inventories are under way or planned, generally as a cooperative, aid-funded project between the local Forestry Department and overseas technical personnel. The inventories are intended to provide the information base necessary for effective land-use planning and management, but now, unlike some past forest assessments, the inventory process includes collection of data on watershed vulnerability and on the indigenous ethnobotanical value of forest plants, as in the forest-resource inventory now being completed by the Vanuatu Forestry Department with technical assistance from the Queensland (Australia) Forest Service and the Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures of the (Australian) Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).
Finally, mention should be made of the work of ORSTOM, the French organization that promotes French scientific research in the third world, mainly in the tropics. With centres in the Pacific in Nouméa and Tahiti, ORSTOM has sponsored work not only related to many aspects of modern development but also to traditional cultural-ecological matters, for example, with specific relevance to agroforestry, the work on the cultivars of kava (Piper methysticum) in Vanuatu (Lebot and Cabalion 1986).
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PLAGUE ON OUR SHORES
City at War
THE GREAT CHINATOWN FIREOn New Year's Eve one hundred years ago, the first of a number of controlled fires were set in Chinatown as a way of defending Honolulu from bubonic plague, known in history as Black Death. Next to the Pearl Harbor attack, the outbreak of plague was the greatest public-safety disaster in Hawaiian history. The government was determined to do anything to save the city -- even burn it to the ground. Last week we began a four-part series by describing the discovery of plague in Honolulu and the quarantine system set up to contain it. Today's installment chronicles the attitudes that inspired the controlled burning that preceded the Great Chinatown Fire. The series concludes tomorrow.
PART I | II | III | IV | EpilogueBy Burl Burlingame
IT may have been simple bad luck, or it may have have been a white-dominated business conspiracy, or more likely it fell between the two extremes, but the Chinese residents of teeming Chinatown felt unfairly targeted by health authorities when Black Death erupted in Honolulu at the cusp of the century.
Although thousands of Hawaiian and Japanese were uprooted as the Board of Health methodically began to burn out plague infestations in the quarantine zone, it was Chinese-owned businesses that absorbed the brunt of property damage.
Chinese immigration to the island kingdom climbed steadily until the political coup in 1893 that unseated Liliuokalani. By the mid 1890s, one in five residents of Hawaii was of Chinese descent, and they put down firm roots, establishing schools, newspapers, cemeteries, temples and clan societies. Unlike some other groups of immigrants, however, the Chinese did not assimilate into Hawaiian culture, preferring instead to form a separate society.
This sense of separation was expressed in the Honolulu district known as "Chinatown" where small businesses operated by Chinese ex-plantation workers began to flourish in the 1860s. It is roughly the area bordered by Nuuanu, Beretania and King streets. The area was chockablock with Chinese restaurants, Chinese groceries, Chinese dry-goods shops and other small Chinese industries.
In 1886, sparks from a restaurant ignited an enormous fire that leveled most of the district. Excited by the urban clean slate, the Hawaiian government declared new structures had to follow sanitary constraints, were to be made of stone or brick, and considered widening and consolidating the streets. The Advertiser declared they had turned "a national disaster into an ultimate blessing."
It didn't happen. In the 14 years following the fire, Chinatown landowners allowed ramshackle, quickly constructed boomtown wooden buildings to blossom in the area, looming over the narrow dirt streets and overwhelmingly primitive sanitation facilities. The lessons of the 1886 fire were largely ignored.
In 1898, concerned about the swelling tide of Chinese immigration, the Republic of Hawaii evoked the restrictions of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 even though Hawaii was not yet a territory of the United States.
More than 7,000 lived in Chinatown's 50 acres at the turn of the century, in an era when no building rose above two stories. Many were Japanese immigrants, jammed in structures controlled by Chinese landlords, who in turn paid Hawaiian and haole landowners.
And Chinatown had become the center of another kind of Asian-controlled business as well. The census taken in December 1899 revealed the area was brimming with organized prostitution, a niche business that provided economic entre for new immigrants. In 1900, 84 percent of known prostitutes in Honolulu were Japanese, and nearly 100 percent of the pimps were Japanese.
Despite the filthy squalor of living conditions, and the disdain with which Chinatown was viewed by the rest of Honolulu, it was an economic engine, pumping money into the pockets of landowners like Bishop Estate. At a time when a plantation worker made about $18 a month, Japanese prostitutes were making hundreds of dollars .
Although maintaining the status quo was lucrative, the overcrowded living conditions in Chinatown, coupled with a complete lack of urban planning for the area, created a neighborhood that ran with rats and insects, that had sewage and garbage lying unattended in the streets. Other residents of Honolulu turned up their noses at Chinatown, both literally and figuratively, while the residents of Chinatown had little choice but to stay where they were. The Advertiser called the district a "pestilential slum."
When the city finally started to build a sewer line through Chinatown in 1899, workers discovered they were digging through compacted layers of fermenting garbage. The intense odor caused diggers to slow to a near-halt.
With the onset of Black Death, a hastily organized troupe of health inspectors went on field trips into Chinatown as if it were a foreign country, and returned horrified. The district, full to bursting with shanty buildings, boarding houses, livestock corrals and chicken coops, reeking outdoor toilets and backyard cesspools, was swarming with rats, maggots, flies, lice and cockroaches. The only solution, it was argued, was a repeat of the cleansing fire of 1886, but this time applied in scientific manner, coupled with military discipline.
The military model was much admired at the time, following the triumph of American forces over the Spanish, and the new conflict involving Great Britain and the Boers was closely followed in Honolulu newspapers. Virtually all contemporary coverage of Honolulu's plague outbreak refers to the "campaign" against the bacillus as "war." And indeed it was -- a fight to the death.
It was in this atmosphere of indignant public opinion that the notion of burning Chinatown for the public good began to take root. What was missing was a legal excuse. An argument on Smith street provided it. A National Guard soldier stabbed a Japanese civilian in the thigh with his bayonet, and fallout from the incident forced the police and the military to determine their jurisdictions.
As Pvt. Hunt explained it, the Japanese attempted to run the blockade; others claimed Hunt had been prodding the man along. The slight wound triggered a reorganization of civil authority, with far-ranging consequences.
At the bottom line was the question of whether Hunt was legally responsible for his actions, whether civil or martial law reigned. After questioning witnesses, police officials decided martial law had not been declared, and the military was called out to assist the police in carrying out civil statutes. In this scenario, both soldiers and police had authority to use force to enforce the quarantine, but that did not give soldiers permission to commit assaults within the quarantine zone.
When this opinion was presented to the National Guard's Maj. Ziegler, however, the commander decided the military, once called to active duty, cannot be interfered with by civil authorities. The military's authority over the quarantine, and over the Honolulu police, was absolute.
Within hours, all Honolulu police were withdrawn from the quarantine zone, and all questions of authority routed to the National Guard. Although martial law had not been officially declared, soldiers were allowed to proceed as if it had. This made it easier to ignore the rules of civil law during the medical emergency that gripped Honolulu. The Board of Health, civilians appointed by President Sanford Dole, lame-duck head of a temporary republic, had absolute power over questions of life and death.
Chinese residents trapped by the city quarantine feared they were being singled out both in life and after death. Chinese immigrants believed if they died overseas, their bones must be returned to China. The Board of Health's solution to plague deaths -- quick cremation -- left no remains for shipping. Horrified Chinese began to hide their ill friends and relatives from authorities. This practice not only exacerbated contagion, but likely obscured the true numbers of plague victims.
A large delegation of Chinese merchants and Chinese consul Yang Wei Pin and Vice Consul Goo Kim met with Henry Cooper, president of the Board of Health, who insisted any decisions regarding cremation would be made by the board. The Chinese claimed the board was discriminating in favor of Japanese, and Cooper responded no Japanese have been diagnosed with plague, and the body of a white teenager had also been hurridly cremated. Cooper suggested they collect the ashes in urns for shipment back to China.
As Honolulu became a city at war, the battle lines of bureaucracy were being drawn. As the Evening Bulletin editorialized, lacking a clear chain of command while details of the new government were being hammered out, President Dole had the authority to appropriate funds to battle the plague. "Let there be no delay," the paper insisted. "This is a time for action, prompt energetic action. The people are prepared to support the vigorous measures which money will forward and which must be set on foot if the battle against black plague is to be short, sharp and decisive."
Burning was the apparent immediate answer. A committee of businessmen was formed to find warehouse space for goods removed from Chinatown stores that were being burned down, and during the first three weeks of January, 1900, buildings were torched nearly every day.
A photographer hired by the government recorded pictures of each building, and then it was set alight. Honolulu firemen bookended the flames with streams of water; soldiers and police kept crowds in line and watched for looters.
The newspapers kept track with maps and marveled at the "military" precision of the assault on Black Death. Lists of the dead were daily updated like box scores; by late January, dozens had passed away. The new crematorium on Quarantine Island blazed day and night.
Then five plague deaths within a couple of days occurred near the corner of Nuuanu and Beretania. Clearly, this was a hot spot for pestilence and the government decided to burn it out on the morning of Jan. 20. Four fire engines and every fireman in Honolulu were on the scene, but about an hour into the controlled burning, the wind scattered embers across neighboring rooftops. The wooden roof of Kaumakapili Church with its twin spires, the tallest building in the area, erupted into flame beyond the hoses of firemen.
Helpless, they watched flaming embers, carried on a sudden wind, fly unchecked onto the wooden buildings of Chinatown.
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pretty great blocked in germany. irony Artist/Band: Kraftwerk Album: The Man-Machine Year: 1978 Genre: "Synthpop"/Electronic Wikipedia article: http://en.wik...
Man-Machine may refer to:
|This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title.
If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.
A machine is a tool consisting of one or more parts that is constructed to achieve a particular goal. Machines are powered devices, usually mechanically, chemically, thermally or electrically powered, and are frequently motorized. Historically, a device required moving parts to classify as a machine; however, the advent of electronics technology has led to the development of devices without moving parts that are considered machines.
The word "machine" is derived from the Latin word machina, which in turn derives from the Doric Greek μαχανά (machana), Ionic Greek μηχανή (mechane) "contrivance, machine, engine" and that from μῆχος (mechos), "means, expedient, remedy". The meaning of machine is traced by the Oxford English Dictionary to an independently functioning structure and by Merriam-Webster Dictionary to something that has been constructed. This includes human design into the meaning of machine.
A simple machine is a device that simply transforms the direction or magnitude of a force, but a large number of more complex machines exist. Examples include vehicles, electronic systems, molecular machines, computers, television and radio.
|This section requires expansion.|
Perhaps the first example of a human made device designed to manage power is the hand axe, made by chipping flint to form a wedge. A wedge is a simple machine that transforms lateral force and movement of the tool into a transverse splitting force and movement of the workpiece.
The idea of a "simple machine" originated with the Greek philosopher Archimedes around the 3rd century BC, who studied the "Archimedean" simple machines: lever, pulley, and screw. He discovered the principle of mechanical advantage in the lever. Later Greek philosophers defined the classic five simple machines (excluding the inclined plane) and were able to roughly calculate their mechanical advantage. Heron of Alexandria (ca. 10–75 AD) in his work Mechanics lists five mechanisms that can "set a load in motion"; lever, windlass, pulley, wedge, and screw, and describes their fabrication and uses. However the Greeks' understanding was limited to the statics of simple machines; the balance of forces, and did not include dynamics; the tradeoff between force and distance, or the concept of work.
During the Renaissance the dynamics of the Mechanical Powers, as the simple machines were called, began to be studied from the standpoint of how much useful work they could perform, leading eventually to the new concept of mechanical work. In 1586 Flemish engineer Simon Stevin derived the mechanical advantage of the inclined plane, and it was included with the other simple machines. The complete dynamic theory of simple machines was worked out by Italian scientist Galileo Galilei in 1600 in Le Meccaniche ("On Mechanics"). He was the first to understand that simple machines do not create energy, only transform it.
The classic rules of sliding friction in machines were discovered by Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519), but remained unpublished in his notebooks. They were rediscovered by Guillaume Amontons (1699) and were further developed by Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1785).
|Simple machines||Inclined plane, Wheel and axle, Lever, Pulley, Wedge, Screw|
|Mechanical components||Axle, Bearings, Belts, Bucket, Fastener, Gear, Key, Link chains, Rack and pinion, Roller chains, Rope, Seals, Spring, Wheel|
|Clock||Atomic clock, Chronometer, Pendulum clock, Quartz clock|
|Compressors and Pumps||Archimedes' screw, Eductor-jet pump, Hydraulic ram, Pump, Trompe, Vacuum pump|
|Heat engines||External combustion engines||Steam engine, Stirling engine|
|Internal combustion engines||Reciprocating engine, Gas turbine|
|Heat pumps||Absorption refrigerator, Thermoelectric refrigerator, Regenerative cooling|
|Linkages||Pantograph, Cam, Peaucellier-Lipkin|
|Turbine||Gas turbine, Jet engine, Steam turbine, Water turbine, Wind generator, Windmill|
|Aerofoil||Sail, Wing, Rudder, Flap, Propeller|
|Electronic devices||Vacuum tube, Transistor, Diode, Resistor, Capacitor, Inductor, Memristor, Semiconductor, Computer|
|Robots||Actuator, Servo, Servomechanism, Stepper motor, Computer|
|Miscellaneous||Vending machine, Wind tunnel, Check weighing machines, Riveting machines|
The idea that a machine can be broken down into simple movable elements led Archimedes to define the lever, pulley and screw as simple machines. By the time of the Renaissance this list increased to include the wheel and axle, wedge and inclined plane.
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines (such as steam engines) burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion. Electric motors convert electrical energy into mechanical motion, pneumatic motors use compressed air and others, such as wind-up toys use elastic energy. In biological systems, molecular motors like myosins in muscles use chemical energy to create motion.
An electrical machine is the generic name for a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy, converts electrical energy to mechanical energy, or changes alternating current from one voltage level to a different voltage level.
Electronics is the branch of physics, engineering and technology dealing with electrical circuits that involve active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies. The nonlinear behaviour of active components and their ability to control electron flows makes amplification of weak signals possible and is usually applied to information and signal processing. Similarly, the ability of electronic devices to act as switches makes digital information processing possible. Interconnection technologies such as circuit boards, electronics packaging technology, and other varied forms of communication infrastructure complete circuit functionality and transform the mixed components into a working system.
Charles Babbage designed various machines to tabulate logarithms and other functions in 1837. His Difference engine is the first mechanical calculator. This machine is considered to be the forerunner of the modern computer though none of them were built in his lifetime.
Study of the molecules and proteins that are the basis of biological functions has led to the concept of a molecular machine. For example, current models of the operation of the kinesin molecule that transports vesicles inside the cell as well as the myocin molecule that operates against actin to cause muscle contraction; these molecules control movement in response to chemical stimuli.
Researchers in nano-technology are working to construct molecules that perform movement in response to a specific stimulus. In contrast to molecules such as kinesin and myosin, these nano-machines or molecular machines are constructions like traditional machines that are designed to perform in a task.
Machines are assembled from standardized types of components. These elements consist of mechanisms that control movement in various ways such as gear trains, transistor switches, belt or chain drives, linkages, cam and follower systems, brakes and clutches, and structural components such as frame members and fasteners.
Modern machines include sensors, actuators and computer controllers. The shape, texture and color of covers provide a styling and operational interface between the mechanical components of a machine and its users.
Assemblies within a machine that control movement are often called "mechanisms." Mechanisms are generally classified as gears and gear trains, cam and follower mechanisms, and linkages, though there are other special mechanisms such as clamping linkages, indexing mechanisms and friction devices such as brakes and clutches.
Controllers combine sensors, logic, and actuators to maintain the performance of components of a machine. Perhaps the best known is the flyball governor for a steam engine. Examples of these devices range from a thermostat that as temperature rises opens a valve to cooling water to speed controllers such the cruise control system in an automobile. The programmable logic controller replaced relays and specialized control mechanisms with a programmable computer. Servomotors that accurately position a shaft in response to an electrical command are the actuators that make robotic systems possible.
Design plays an important role in all three of the major phases of a product lifecycle:
The Industrial Revolution was a period from 1750 to 1850 where changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times. It began in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spread throughout Western Europe, North America, Japan, and eventually the rest of the world.
Starting in the later part of the 18th century, there began a transition in parts of Great Britain's previously manual labour and draft-animal–based economy towards machine-based manufacturing. It started with the mechanisation of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal.
Mechanization or mechanisation (BE) is providing human operators with machinery that assists them with the muscular requirements of work or displaces muscular work. In some fields, mechanization includes the use of hand tools. In modern usage, such as in engineering or economics, mechanization implies machinery more complex than hand tools and would not include simple devices such as an un-geared horse or donkey mill. Devices that cause speed changes or changes to or from reciprocating to rotary motion, using means such as gears, pulleys or sheaves and belts, shafts, cams and cranks, usually are considered machines. After electrification, when most small machinery was no longer hand powered, mechanization was synonymous with motorized machines.
Automation is the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization. Whereas mechanization provides human operators with machinery to assist them with the muscular requirements of work, automation greatly decreases the need for human sensory and mental requirements as well. Automation plays an increasingly important role in the world economy and in daily experience.
An automaton (plural: automata or automatons) is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.
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By Dr. Mercola
Junk food is contributing to skyrocketing rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, and even strokes -- and not just among adults.
Food and beverage companies spend $2 billion a year promoting unhealthy foods to kids, and while ultimately it's the parents' responsibility to feed their children healthy foods, junk food ads make this much more difficult than it should be.
A new campaign, We're Not Buying It, is now underway to help expose deceptive marketing to children, debunk industry claims, and highlight the latest research, in the hopes of ending this assault on today's youth, and I'll explain how you can get involved, too, below.
Does Your Child Recognize the "Golden Arches"?
Most toddlers recognize the sign of McDonald's "golden arches" long before they are speaking in full sentences.
Because they are often raised on French fries, fast-food hamburgers and orange soda, or if "raised" is a bit of a stretch, are taught that French fries, chicken fingers and soda is an acceptable meal. Have you noticed that even in "regular" restaurants the kids' menu options are almost always entirely junk food like pizza, macaroni and cheese or fried chicken strips?
Of course kids will probably prefer these foods if that's what they're offered; these foods are manufactured to taste good, and most kids aren't going to opt for a spear of broccoli over a French fry -- until they're old enough to understand the implications of the choice, and assuming you have taught them about the importance of eating healthy foods along the way.
In many ways society is set up against you on this one. As The Interagency Working Group on Foods Marketed to Children (IWG) reports:
- The fast-food industry spends more than $5 million every day marketing unhealthy foods to children.
- Kids watch an average of over 10 food-related ads every day (nearly 4,000/year).
- Nearly all (98 percent) of food advertisements viewed by children are for products that are high in fat, sugar or sodium. Most (79 percent) are low in fiber.
So even under the best circumstances, your kids will probably be exposed to the latest "cool" kid foods, and this is what marketers are banking on. Then, when you go to the grocery store, your child will have a meltdown if you don't give in and buy the cereal with their favorite cartoon character on the box, or the cookies with brightly colored chips. If you're a parent, it's certainly easier to just give in, but it's imperative to be strong as shaping your child's eating habits starts very early on …
Your Child's Taste Preferences are Created by Age 3
Research shows when parents fed their preschool-aged children junk foods high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats, it had a lasting impact on their taste preferences. All of the children tested showed preferences for junk foods, and all (even those who were just 3 years old!) were also able to recognize some soda, fast food and junk food brands.
The researchers concluded what you probably already suspect: kids who were exposed to junk food, soda and fast food, via advertising and also because their parents fed them these foods, learned to recognize and prefer these foods over healthier choices. This does have an impact on their health, as nutrients from quality foods are critical in helping your child reach his or her fullest potential!
One study from British researchers revealed that kids who ate a predominantly processed food diet at age 3 had lower IQ scores at age 8.5. For each measured increase in processed foods, participants had a 1.67-point decrease in IQ.
As you might suspect, the opposite also held true, with those eating healthier diets experiencing higher IQ levels. For each measured increase in dietary score, which meant the child was eating more fruits and vegetables for instance, there was a 1.2-point increase in IQ.
The reality is, the best time to shape your kids' eating habits is while they're still young. This means starting from birth with breast milk and then transitioning to solid foods that have valuable nutrients, like egg yolk, avocado and sweet potatoes. (You can easily cross any form of grain-based infant cereal off of this list.)
From there, ideally you will feed your child healthy foods that your family is also eating -- grass-fed meats, organic veggies, vegetable juice, raw dairy and nuts, and so on. These are the foods your child will thrive on, and it's important they learn what real, healthy food is right from the get-go. This way, when they become tweens and teenagers, they may eat junk food here and there at a friend's house, but they will return to real food as the foundation of their diet -- and that habit will continue on with them for a lifetime.
This is What Happens When You Let Marketers Dictate Your Kid's Diet …
The state of most kids' diets in the United States is not easy to swallow. As IWG reported:
- Nearly 40% of children's diets come from added sugars and unhealthy fats.
- Only 21% of youth age 6-19 eat the recommended five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day
This is a veritable recipe for disease, and is a primary reason why today's kids are arguably less healthy than many prior generations. Obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure -- these are diseases that once appeared only in middle-age and beyond, but are now impacting children. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that by 2050, one in three U.S. adults will have diabetes -- one of them could be your child if you do not take steps to cancel out the messages junk-food marketers are sending and instead teach them healthy eating habits.
Make no mistake, the advertisers are doing all they can to lure your child in.
In fact, last year the food and beverage industry spent more than $40 billion, yes billion, lobbying congress against regulations that would decrease the marketing of unhealthy foods to kids. You can do a lot of persuading with $40 billion, which may explain why food manufacturers are allowed to get away with so much -- like putting pictures of fruit all over product packaging when the product actually contains no fruit.
A 2011 study by the Prevention Institute even found that 84 percent of food packages that contain symbols specifically intended to help people choose healthier foods did not meet even basic nutritional standards! In fact, 57 percent of these "Better-for-You" children's foods were high in sugar, 95 percent contained added sugar, and 21 percent contained artificial colors. So you need to be very wary when buying any processed foods for your kids, even the "healthy" ones, as they will most certainly contain large amounts of fructose with very little to offer in the way of healthy nutrition.
Help Fight Back Against Junk-Food Marketers and Stand Up for Kids' Health
The Prevention Institute's "We're Not Buying It" campaign is petitioning President Obama to put voluntary, science-based nutrition guidelines into place for companies that market foods to kids. You can sign this petition now, but I urge you to go a step further and stop supporting the companies that are marketing junk foods to your children today.
Ideally, you and your family will want to vote with your pocketbook and avoid as much processed food as possible and use unprocessed raw, organic and/or locally grown foods as much as possible. Your children should be eating the same wholesome foods you are -- they don't need bright-blue juice or deep-fried "nuggets" any more than you do.
If you and your kids are absolutely hooked on fast food and other processed foods, you're going to need some help and most likely some support from friends and family if you want to kick the junk-food lifestyle. Besides surrounding yourself with supportive, like-minded people, you can also review my article "How to Wean Yourself Off Processed Foods in 7 Steps" or read the book I wrote on the subject, called Generation XL: Raising Healthy, Intelligent Kids in a High-Tech, Junk-Food World.
Finally, my nutrition plan offers a step-by-step guide to feed your family right, and I encourage you to read through it now. You need to first educate yourself about proper nutrition and the dangers of junk food and processed foods in order to change the food culture of your entire family. To give your child the best start at life, and help instill healthy habits that will last a lifetime, you must lead by example. Children will simply not know which foods are healthy unless you, as a parent, teach it to them first. | <urn:uuid:f212f6fc-c358-4ebf-b694-a8eb315dfe06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/24/stop-junk-food-marketing-to-kids.aspx?x_cid=021412Care2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968758 | 1,797 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Atlas Faust, MD
Dark Matter and Dark Energy
These are two words you often hear thrown around and more often that not I come across people who don’t know precisely what they are or even that they are two quite different things. So here we go.
When you take a look at a galaxy you see a certain characteristic known as gravitational lensing where light is warped in a certain way by mass. From this you can deduce an estimate of the mass of the galaxy. However when we compare this to the mass we estimated based on the concentration, size and distribution of visible mass within the galaxy we find the two numbers to be at odds and not only this but the greatest curving of space time is found in the spaces between objects where nothing can be seen. The difference in masses is believed to be caused by the elusive dark matter, so called because it warps spacetime like regular matter but is completely invisible (hence the dark). All in all dark matter constitutes 23% of the mass-energy density of the universe and a worrying 83% of the total amount of matter. The universe is made chiefly of stuff you cannot see.
Dark energy is also the answer to a problem, behaving somewhat like the x value in an algebraic equation we’re forced to solve. The problem lays in the fact that the universe is continuing to expand at an ever increasing rate and we have no idea why. When you think about it it really doesn’t make any sense, you would expect the universe’s expansion to slow down or at least stay constant but unfortunately this isn’t the case. Thus we call this mysterious energy that is causing the increasing the rate at which the universe expands “dark energy”.
We really know so very little. | <urn:uuid:2b8252a2-53c9-4e87-a5d2-72a3fc331a65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://atlas-md.tumblr.com/tagged/the-universe | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951853 | 364 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Australian Museum Marine Invertebrate Collections
The Marine Invertebrate collection contains specimens from all invertebrate groups except molluscs, insects and spiders.
Crustaceans are animals that have:
- a segmented body with a hardened shell
- seven or more pairs of appendages for feeding, moving and reproduction
- limbs which generally have two branches
- two pairs of antennae
- gills for breathing
Polychaetes are animals that typically have:
- a long, basically cylindrical body
- a body segmented both internally and externally
- a pair of leg-like appendages (not jointed) attached to every body segment
About the collection
The current focus of the collection is on polychaetes (segmented worms) and crustaceans (lobsters, crayfish, prawns, crabs, seed shrimps, barnacles, slaters and pill bugs) which reflects the research interests of the marine invertebrate staff.
The Marine Invertebrate collections contain registered specimens, microscope slides, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) preparations and photographic images. They include various marine invertebrates, and all other invertebrates except molluscs, insects and spiders, including freshwater and terrestrial representatives. The specimens contained in the collections are predominantly from New South Wales, Australia and the Indo-Pacific
The type collection comprises more than 9000 type lots, including more than 2000 primary types (types are the original specimens on which the first description of a species is based).
In addition to the registered collections there are also additional unsorted and unidentified collections, categorised by various taxonomic levels.
Combined with the Australian Museum Research Library the section also houses one of the largest collections of books and journal reprints in Australia providing taxonomic information on many invertebrate groups. This resource is available for use by scientists, students and the public by appointment. The reprint collection is currently being entered onto a computerised bibliographic database.
Marine Invertebrate Collections - Overview of taxonomic groups held
Dr Stephen Keable , Collection Manager, Marine Invertebrates | <urn:uuid:35678d88-fc35-4da5-83b8-3bf331289ba4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://australianmuseum.net.au/Australian-Museum-Invertebrate-Collections | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.895191 | 446 | 2.921875 | 3 |
It's hard to understand from our knowledge of Greek, Egyptian, and other early civilizations with written records how such a magnificent site could not have been discovered by the Spanish. Yet until its discovery in the 1911, Machu Picchu, "the lost city of the Incas," remained forgotten for 400 years.
Actually, Machu Picchu was not a city at all. It was probably built by Pachacuti Inca as a royal estate and religious retreat in 1460-70. Its location—on a remote secondary road in nearly impassable terrain high above the Urubamba River canyon cloud forest—almost ensured that it would have no administrative, commercial or military use. Any movement in that direction to or from Cusco and the Sacred valley upriver would have been by other Inca roads, either the high road near Salcantay or by the Lucumayo valley road. Travel was restricted on these roads except by Inca decree.
After Pachacuti Inca's death, Machu Picchu remained the property of his allus, or kinship group, who were responsible for maintenance, administration and continued building. As an extraordinary sacred site (location as well as buildings), it surely was visited by Topa Inca and the last great ruler, Huayna Capac, although each in turn built their own estates and palaces. But few outside the Inca's retainers would have known of its existence.
The Inca: "Information's Gotta Be Restricted"
Of course the compound would have required a steady supply of outside goods. Machu Picchu, like most Inca sites was undergoing constant construction and must of had a resident crew of builders as well as attendants, planters, and others. So in order to really understand how Machu Picchu remained a secret, it's necessary to understand how Inca culture constricted travel and information.
The Inca were a completely ordered an regimented society. Although great numbers of people were moved around for corporate state projects and resettlement, once at a location, they didn't move. The royal roads were reserved for official travel. The Incas were able to control their remarkable state system through a pyramidal hierarchy with information and direction flowing down through 10 overseers to 100, to 1000 and so on. We know from historical writing and the archaeological record that the Incas did not possess a written language, although, they must have used some symbols and perhaps diagrams. We also know that the Quipu (collection of colored strings and knots) was extensively used for accounting and record keeping. But Quipus need highly trained interpreters to read them, and the Spanish were unable to locate or interrogate even one of these specialists. The Inca also maintained a class or guild of verbal historians. But with the catastrophic collapse of Inca state structure following the arrival of the Spanish, these historians were scattered and forgotten.
But Machu Picchu was mostly forgotten even before the Spanish came. Small pox was the conquistadores' advance guard. Huayna Capac and an estimated 50 percent of the population died of small pox sometime around 1527. Inca government suffered, and after a period of turmoil, the empire fell into civil war over Inca secession. Machu Picchu was probably abandoned at this time—both because it was expensive to maintain and with most of the population dead from war or epidemic, it was hard to find the labor to keep it up.
Conquistadores: If It Ain't Gold, We Don't Care
The Pizarros arrived in Cusco in 1532. The first wave of Spanish were mostly illiterate, uneducated adventurers who had little interest in anything besides wealth and power. By the time scholars and administrators arrived, knowledge of Machu Picchu had been lost.
Manco Inca staged a country wide rebellion in 1536. After a failed siege of Cusco, Manco, along with remnants of the court, army and followers, abandoned his headquarters at Ollantaytambo. Fleeing back into the remote Vilcabamba beyond Machu Picchu, He burned and destroyed Inca settlements and sites accessible to the Spanish including Llatapata at the start of the trail to Machu Picchu from the Urubamba River.
But by that point it hardly mattered. The Machu Picchu trail and the site itself would have been long overgrown and the approach blocked by seasonal landslides that so hinder backcountry travel in Peru.
Beyond personal observations and many trips to Machu Picchu, I have borrowed heavily from the excellent work of John Hemming, John Rowe and Johan Reinhart. Their writings are a must for anyone attempting an understanding of the Inca and the centuries of cultural development that preceded them.
Lost City of the Incas: The Story of Machu Picchu and its Builders, Hiram Bingham, Atheneum, 1972.
The Incas and Their Ancestors, Michael Moseley, Thames and Hudson, 1992
The Conquest of Peru, William H. Prescott, New American Library, 1961. A CLASSIC.
The Conquest of the Incas, John Hemming, Hartcourt Brace 1970.
Machu Picchu, The Sacred Center, Johan Reinhard, Nuevas Imagenes, Lima. 1991.
Details mentioned in this article were accurate at the time of publication | <urn:uuid:5529fe87-9159-4a23-a56e-628776aa5e99> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://away.com/weekend-guide/travel-ta-machu-picchu-inca-trail-peru-ecotourism-sidwcmdev_054407.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970042 | 1,112 | 3.65625 | 4 |
An Inside Glimpse of Thomas Point Lighthouse Historytesttest
Great August 4 article on the Bay’s beacons and guardians for safety. The city of Annapolis holds title to the Thomas Point Light. When I was mayor, I was fortunate to sign the special papers for transfer from the federal government to the city with the Secretary of the Interior in a ceremony at City Dock.
Saving the lighthouse by the city was controversial with the Council, several opining it would cost us money. I visited Rose Island Light in Newport, Rhode Island, owned by that city. In 30 years, they had not spent any money. Management was under a non-profit that raised funds for its upkeep.
We used the same model. The city holds title to protect the lighthouse. A consortium of Bay lighthouse volunteers, including the Annapolis Maritime Museum, are the keepers of the light. I feel privileged to have been a part of this transaction and to have my name on the deed. Thought you would be interested in the rest of the story on Thomas Point Light, a real Bay icon. | <urn:uuid:1290d235-32bc-4fa2-a0b9-85ecb2a7a359> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bayweekly.com/articles/correspondence/article/inside-glimpse-thomas-point-lighthouse-history | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974236 | 222 | 2.625 | 3 |