text
stringlengths 509
12k
| id
stringlengths 47
47
| dump
stringclasses 6
values | url
stringlengths 15
1.27k
| file_path
stringlengths 125
139
| language
stringclasses 1
value | language_score
float64 0.65
1
| token_count
int64 1.02k
2.05k
| score
float64 2.52
5.06
| int_score
int64 3
5
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tips For Gardening In The Northeast
The US Department of Agriculture's Plant Hardiness Zone Map, based on the average annual minimum temperature, assigns zones 3 through 7 to the Northeastern United States, with the coldest areas having average winter lows of -30 to -35 degrees Fahrenheit.
Included in the Northeastern gardening zone are:
- The District of Columbia
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New York
- Rhode Island
- West Virginia
Gardening in the Northeast has its own challenges, mainly the legendary winters. Plants must be able to withstand the severe temperatures, and gardeners must choose plants suitable to the region, or be willing to replace them each spring. The growing season can be as short as April through October, depending on which part of the northeast you live in.
By sticking with plants that are hardy in the lowest temperatures, you can easily design and maintain a beautiful garden, regardless of winter storms. Here are some excellent choices in each category of garden greenery that will thrive in your Northeastern garden.
By picking roses that tolerate sub-zero temperatures, and protecting them from winter extremes, you can have a beautiful rose garden. Here are five great choices for the Northeast.
- Double Delight - A hybrid tea rose with delicate creamy white blooms edged with pinkish red. The strong scent makes it even more delightful.
- Knockout - A shrub rose with a low, spreading habit, the Knockout roses are very disease resistant, need little deadheading, and are covered with flowers through the summer.
- Gemini - A tall hybrid tea rose, with creamy pink flowers edged with coral orange. Fairly disease resistant.
- Fourth of July - A climbing rose with ruffled, red and white streaked flowers.
- Julia Child - A floribunda with buttery yellow blooms, and a fragrance reminiscent of licorice.
The backbone of your flower garden, perennials bring cheerful color through the spring and summer, die down to the roots over the winter, and return in the spring. Here are five perennials that are tough and hardy enough to survive even the coldest Northeastern winter.
- Coral Bells - A wonderful plant for the shade, coral bells come in an amazing variety of colorful foliage. The flowers are small, and held in gently nodding stalks of color above the low mound of round leaves.
- Astilbe - The feathery stalks of astilbe look delicate waving above the ferny foliage, but astilbe is actually a tough plant that can tolerate shade, and is not picky about soil.
- Bee Balm - Adored by hummingbirds and butterflies, bee balm's shaggy flowers in pink, red or white are an old fashioned addition to your perennial beds.
- Garden Phlox - Another old-fashioned favorite, garden phlox requires little maintenance, holds up to wind and cold, and comes in a wide range of pinks, purples, whites and reds.
- Yarrow - Tough but delicate in appearance, yarrow attracts butterflies, and spreads rapidly to provide plenty of cut flowers. Colors range from yellow to white to pink, red or purple.
For the greenest, lushest, healthiest lawn, a mixture of grass seeds that tolerate cold winters and humid summers will do best.
- Kentucky Bluegrass is usually considered the best grass for Northeastern lawns, but can be improved with the addition of red fescue, which is tolerant of extreme weather, and perennial ryegrass, which germinates quickly to fill in bare spots.
- Soil in the Northeast tends to be acidic, while grass prefers a neutral pH. The addition of lime in the spring, and again in the fall will help counterbalance the pH, and keep your lawn green.
- Fertilize your lawn in the late summer, to encourage strong roots and energy to survive until the next growing season.
Shrubs provide the background of your garden, giving form and balance to the yard. Shrubs can be used to screen out unattractive features, provide privacy, unify an area, or act as a focal point.
- Bottlebrush buckeye has large white flower spikes in the summer, and bright yellow leaves in the fall. A large shrub that reaches 12 feet tall and wide, deer leave it alone, and it makes a nice specimen plant.
- Black chokeberry is a small shrub with pinkish flowers followed by shiny black berries. Red-purple foliage is attractive before falling in autumn. Use chokeberry as a filler or background plant.
- Summersweet has fragrant white or pink flowers, and even blooms in the shade. It can reach 8 feet tall, and spreads into a dense clump. Fall color is golden yellow.
- Chinese witch hazel has colorful fall foliage, and fragrant yellow flowers on its bare stems in late winter. Spreading to 10 feet, Chinese witch hazel makes a great accent in a woodland setting.
- Japanese barberry has arching, spiny branches that color with red berries during the winter. The autumn foliage is brightly colored, and the shrub makes a good hedge or border.
- The balsam fir is not only a popular Christmas tree; it is an attractive evergreen addition to your Northeastern yard. Long cones fall from the tree in September, and deer and songbirds will come to enjoy the seeds.
- Box elder maple is native to the Northeast. The green and white foliage turns to striking colors of red, yellow and orange in the fall. Box elder makes a nice border to line your driveway or property line.
- American white birch is striking with its white bark, punctuated with black markings. The leaves yellow and drop in the fall, leaving the birch to make a dramatic focal point on your lawn.
Though the winters may be cold, your Northeastern garden will survive, and return in the spring to provide bright color. Winter is the perfect time to look through gardening catalogs, and decide on annuals to fill your containers and flowerbeds come spring. | <urn:uuid:4c567570-06c2-406d-baf2-b9df8e677c14> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.idealhomegarden.com/outdoor-living/tips-for-gardening-in-the-northeast/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936459277.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074059-00140-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912397 | 1,270 | 2.84375 | 3 |
FOX (Forkhead box) proteins are a family of transcription factors that play important roles in regulating the expression of genes involved in cell growth, proliferation, differentiation, and longevity. Many FOX proteins are important to embryonic development. FOX proteins also have pioneering transcription activity by being able to bind condensed chromatin during cell differentiation processes.
The defining feature of FOX proteins is the forkhead box, a sequence of 80 to 100 amino acids forming a motif that binds to DNA. This forkhead motif is also known as the winged helix due to the butterfly-like appearance of the loops in the protein structure of the domain. Forkhead genes are a subgroup of the helix-turn-helix class of proteins.
Many genes encoding FOX proteins have been identified. For example, the FOXF2 gene encodes forkhead box F2, one of many human homologues of the Drosophila melanogaster transcription factor forkhead. FOXF2 is expressed in lung and placenta.
Some FOX genes are downstream targets of the hedgehog signaling pathway, which plays a role in the development of basal cell carcinomas. Members of the class O regulate metabolism, cellular proliferation, stress tolerance and possibly lifespan. The activity of FoxO is controlled by post-translational modifications, including phosphorylation, acetylation and ubiquitination.
The founding member and namesake of the FOX family is the fork head transcription factor in Drosophila, discovered by Detlef Weigel and Herbert Jäckle. Since then a large number of family members have been discovered, especially in vertebrates. Originally they were given vastly different names (such as HFH, FREAC, and fkh), but in 2000 a unified nomenclature was introduced that grouped the FOX proteins into subclasses (FOXA-FOXS) based on sequence conservation.
- FOXA1, FOXA2, FOXA3 (See also Hepatocyte nuclear factors)
- FOXB1, FOXB2
- FOXC1 (assoc. with Glaucoma), FOXC2 (varicose veins)
- FOXD1, FOXD2, FOXD3 (vitelligo), FOXD4, FOXD5, FOXD6
- FOXE1 (thyroid), FOXE2, FOXE3 (lens)
- FOXF1 (lung), FOXF2
- FOXG1 (brain)
- FOXH1 (widely expressed)
- FOXI1 (ear), FOXI2
- FOXJ1 (cilia), FOXJ2 (erythroid), FOXJ3
- FOXK1, FOXK2 (HIV, IL-2, adrenal)
- FOXL1 (ovary), FOXL2
- FOXM1 (cell cycle, erythroid, cancer)
- FOXN1 (hair, thymus), FOXN2, FOXN3 (cell cycle checkpoints; widely expressed), FOXN4
- FOXO1 (widely expressed: muscle, liver, pancreas), FOXO3 (apoptosis, erythroid, longevity), FOXO4 (widely expressed), FOXO6
- FOXP1 (pluripotency then brain and lung), FOXP2 (widely expressed? brain; language), FOXP3 (T cells), FOXP4
- FOXR1, FOXR2
- Tuteja G, Kaestner KH (September 2007). "SnapShot: forkhead transcription factors I". Cell 130 (6): 1160. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2007.09.005. PMID 17889656.
- Tuteja G, Kaestner KH (October 2007). "Forkhead transcription factors II". Cell 131 (1): 192. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2007.09.016. PMID 17923097.
- Zaret KS, Carroll JS (November 2011). "Pioneer transcription factors: establishing competence for gene expression". Genes Dev. 25 (21): 2227–41. doi:10.1101/gad.176826.111. PMC 3219227. PMID 22056668.
- Lehmann OJ, Sowden JC, Carlsson P, Jordan T, Bhattacharya SS (2003). "Fox's in development and disease". TRENDS in Genetics 19 (6): 339–344. doi:10.1016/S0168-9525(03)00111-2. PMID 12801727.
- van der Horst A, Burgering BM (June 2007). "Stressing the role of FoxO proteins in lifespan and disease". Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 8 (6): 440–50. doi:10.1038/nrm2190. PMID 17522590.
- Weigel D, Jürgens G, Küttner F, Seifert E, Jäckle H (1989). "The homeotic gene fork head encodes a nuclear protein and is expressed in the terminal regions of the Drosophila embryo". Cell 57 (4): 645–658. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(89)90133-5. PMID 2566386.
- Weigel D, Jäckle H (1990). "The fork head domain, a novel DNA-binding motif of eucaryotic transcription factors?". Cell 63 (3): 455–456. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(90)90439-L. PMID 2225060.
- Kaestner KH, Knochel W, Martinez DE (2000). "Unified nomenclature for the winged helix/forkhead transcription factors". Genes & Development 14 (2): 142–146. doi:10.1101/gad.14.2.142. PMID 10702024. | <urn:uuid:632877b2-c68b-4d29-af6b-188a33bad37f> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOX_proteins | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936463104.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074103-00075-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.711617 | 1,261 | 3.390625 | 3 |
Kids with severe allergies can be at risk for a sudden, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. This reaction can be frightening — a child may feel like his or her throat is closing or might faint, for example.
But the good news is that when treated properly, anaphylaxis can be managed.
Anaphylaxis isn't common, but some kids with allergies are more at risk for it. So if your child has allergies, it's important to know about it and be prepared.
Signs of Anaphylaxis
As with other allergies, anaphylaxis can trigger symptoms in any of these four body systems:
- gastrointestinal system
- respiratory system
- cardiovascular system
An allergic reaction might be a medical emergency if it happens in two or more of these systems — for example, hives on the skin together with stomach pain.
The most common signs that someone might have anaphylaxis after exposure to an allergen are:
- difficulty breathing
- tightness in the throat or feeling like the throat or airways are closing
- hoarseness or trouble speaking
- nasal stuffiness or coughing
- nausea, abdominal pain, or vomiting
- fast heartbeat or pulse
- skin itching, tingling, redness, or swelling
Timely Treatment Needed
Anaphylaxis requires immediate treatment. It can get worse very quickly. This is why doctors usually want people with life-threatening allergies to carry a medication called epinephrine. Epinephrine enters the bloodstream and works quickly against serious allergy symptoms; for example, it decreases swelling and raises blood pressure.
Epinephrine is given as an injection. This isn't as scary as it sounds, though — there's no big needle and plunger involved. Instead, doctors will prescribe an auto injector about the size of a large pen that's easy for parents — and older kids — to carry and use. If your child is prescribed epinephrine, your doctor will show you how to use it.
Your doctor also might instruct you to give your child over-the-counter (OTC) antihistamines, too — but they won't work alone. OTC antihistamines are never a replacement for epinephrine in life-threatening reactions.
If Your Child Has a Serious Reaction
If your child shows signs of a serious allergic reaction, call 911 or seek immediate medical care at a hospital emergency room. And if your child has a known allergy and carries epinephrine, take these steps:
Step 1: Give epinephrine right away. If you are alone with your child, administer this medication first, then call 911. If you are not alone with your child, have someone else call 911 while you administer the medication.
Step 2: Call 911 or get to the nearest emergency room. After your child receives epinephrine, go to an emergency room immediately. Sometimes a child has a second wave of symptoms (called a biphasic reaction). So the hospital will observe your child for at least 4 hours to be sure he or she is OK and provide additional treatment, if needed.
Serious allergies can be alarming. But they're a lot easier to recognize and treat now than in the past, thanks to greater awareness and the availability of epinephrine. Also, make sure that any caregivers, teachers, or coaches know about the allergy and what to do in an emergency.
Reviewed by: Sheelagh M. Stewart, RN, MPH
Date reviewed: February 2012
|American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology offers up-to-date information and a find-an-allergist search tool.|
|The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) The FAAN mession is to raise public awareness, provide advocacy and education and to advance research on behavior for all of those affected by food allergies and anaphylaxis.|
|All About Allergies Up to 50 million Americans, including millions of kids, have an allergy. Find out how allergies are diagnosed and how to keep them under control.|
|First Aid: Allergic Reactions Although most allergic reactions aren't serious, severe reactions can be life-threatening and can require immediate medical attention.|
|Food Allergies Food allergies can cause serious and even deadly reactions in kids, so it's important to know how to feed a child with food allergies and to prevent reactions.|
|Bug Bites and Stings In most cases, bug bites and stings are just nuisances. But in some cases, they can cause infections and allergic reactions. It's important to know the signs, and when to get medical attention.|
|Going to the Emergency Room Knowing what to expect when you need to take your child to the emergency room can help make it a little less stressful.|
|Allergy Shots Many kids battle allergies year-round, and some can't control their symptoms with medications. For them, allergy shots (or allergen immunotherapy) can be beneficial.|
|First Aid: Insect Stings and Bites Being stung by a bug is often just irritating and doesn't require medical treatment. But kids who are highly allergic to stings may need emergency medical care.|
Note: All information is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor.
© 1995-2014 KidsHealth® All rights reserved.
Images provided by iStock, Getty Images, Corbis, Veer, Science Photo Library, Science Source Images, Shutterstock, and Clipart.com | <urn:uuid:ea6d659c-bfdd-4635-b610-43bb6363a373> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.childrensdayton.org/cms/kidshealth/f70100b1e6ddb2ba/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936461216.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074101-00157-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930586 | 1,164 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Weddle's Syndicated Content:
A Talent for All
President John F. Kennedy once said that "all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talents." While he was speaking of his civil rights initiative, his words are also applicable to the challenge of finding a job in today's economy. All of us should have a chance to express and experience our talent at work, but many, maybe even most of us don't. Why? Because we've been taught that we don't have talent and, therefore, don't know what our talent is.
The hidden message in President Kennedy's words is a repudiation of the notion that talent is only found in a select group of "special people." According to this view, talent is reserved for professional athletes, movie stars and the winners of made-for-TV dance contests. And, as the President noted, that's flat wrong.
We are all born with talent. It is an attribute of our species. Talent is the capacity for excellence, and all of us have been endowed with that gift. Like our opposable thumb, it is a characteristic that defines being human. Every single one of us can do superior work.
The challenge for job seekers, therefore, is three-fold:
- First, you have to make sure you have correctly identified your talent.
- Second, you have to make sure you've selected a career field in which you can work successfully with your talent.
- And third, you have to acquire the latest skills and knowledge in your career field so that you can actually use your talent to perform at your peak on-the-job.
Let's look briefly at each of those issues.
First, you have to make sure you have correctly identified your talent.
Talent isn't passion. You can love to play tennis, but never be good enough to pursue a career in the sport. Talent, therefore, is the intersection of passion and practicality. It is what you love to do and do well.
Some of us are lucky and discover our talent easily. We have "a calling" which points the way. For most of us, however, that voice speaks too softly to hear without some work on our part. We have to invest the time and effort to look around inside ourselves.
In The Career Fitness Workbook, I provide three exercises to accomplish this inner search. One explores what most engages you; a second looks into what is most relevant to you; and a third lets you make an unconstrained choice. Your talent lies where those three dynamics overlap.
Second, you have to make sure you've selected a career field in which you can work successfully with your talent.
Not every talent can be used effectively in every occupation. For example, if a person's talent is communicating complex ideas so that everyone can understand them, they are not likely to be successful in a field which requires the talent of athleticism. They can be a sports writer, perhaps, but not a professional basketball player.
Unfortunately, most of us launch off on our careers before we've discovered our talent. As a result, we may become competent or even expert in our profession, craft or trade, but we will never be fulfilled by our work. In fact, more often than not, a lot of us are just plain miserable instead.
How can you figure out if your career field is the right place for your talent? Take a look at the tasks you've performed in each of your previous jobs as you've listed them on your resume. How close do they match what you love to do and do well? If it's less than 90 percent, you're looking for a job in the wrong occupation.
And third, you have to acquire the latest skills and knowledge in your career field so that you can actually use your talent to perform at your peak on-the-job.
Talent is the capacity for excellence, not its achievement. In order to perform at your peak on-the-job, therefore, you have to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to express your talent fully. You must become expert enough to turn your potential for superior work into reality.
A person of talent sees themselves as a "work-in-progress." They are constantly improving their capabilities because each additional increment of expertise enables them to express a greater dimension of their inherent excellence.
To put it another way, they are so respectful of their talent they never stop trying to perfect it. They don't wait for their employer to offer training; they seek it out on their own. They don't put personal development on hold because they are in transition; they use ongoing education to plug the employment gap in their resume.
President Kennedy had it right. We all deserve "an equal opportunity to develop our talents." And, that includes those of us who are looking for a new or better job.
Thanks for reading,
Visit my blog at Weddles.com/WorkStrong.
© Copyright 2012 WEDDLE’s LLC. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:7fa8e33b-17b3-485a-8f6f-18a3c7ac1884> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | https://www.aapm.org/careers/jobseekers/resources/weddles/20120919.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936463104.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074103-00076-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973584 | 1,028 | 2.515625 | 3 |
NPL Site Narrative for Rocky Flats Plant (USDOE)
ROCKY FLATS PLANT (USDOE)
Federal Register Notice: October 04, 1989
Conditions at proposal (October 15, 1984): The Rocky Flats Plant covers approximately 6,550 acres (about 11 square miles) in Jefferson County, near Golden, Colorado. The facility originally covered 2,000 acres, but a 4,550-acre "buffer zone" was added in 1974. The main processing operations are confined to approximately 384 acres within the buffer zone.
The plant began operations in 1952 under the direction of the Atomic Energy Commission. The current owner is the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE). Actual operations at the plant have been performed by contractors. Dow Chemical Co. operated the plant until June 30, 1975, when the current operator, Rockwell International Corp., took over.
Since its establishment, the major operation at the plant has been the fabrication and assembly of components for nuclear weapons. These operations use plutonium, uranium, beryllium, stainless steel, and aluminum. The facility also recovers plutonium and separates and performs research on americium.
Releases of solvents, pesticides, plutonium, and tritium have contaminated soils, surface water sediments, and ground water at various locations on the facility. Plutonium contamination of soils and sediments has also been documented beyond the boundaries of the Federally owned land. Additionally, three evaporation ponds have contributed to nitrate contamination of ground water.
USDOE has completed some remedial work such as capping and removing plutonium-contaminated soils. USDOE is also improving liquid waste treatment systems to reduce discharge of liquid effluents.
Approximately 80,000 people live within 3 miles of the facility. Downtown Denver is approximately 16 miles to the southeast, while Golden and Boulder are approximately 8 miles south and north, respectively.
Status (July 1985): USDOE continues to conduct remedial work by removing "hot spots" of contamination. A recent court settlement requires USDOE to conduct remedial activities on private land east of the plant as a condition of its sale to local governments.
Status (October 4, 1989): On July 31, 1986, EPA, USDOE, and the Colorado Department of Health (CDH) entered into a Federal Facility Compliance Agreement (FFCA). The FFCA defined roles and set schedules for investigation and cleanup of past disposal problems and addressed hazardous and mixed waste compliance issues. Under the FFCA, USDOE started a remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS), identifying 166 on-site and off-site areas and grouping them into 107 high-, medium-, and low-priority areas.
EPA and CDH have been reviewing various draft RI/FS documents and Interim Response Action (IRA) proposals. These review activities have focused on the high (Hillside 881) and medium (903 Pad, East Trenches, Mound) priority areas. Hillside 881 is near the Woman Creek drainage, which eventually discharges into Standly Lake, a major drinking water supply reservoir for several Denver suburbs. A September 1988 USDOE report identified Hillside 881 as the most significant potential risk to populations. This preliminary finding will be reassessed during implementation of USDOE's 5-year Environmental Restoration Plan.
Other surface drainage concerns at Rocky Flats include surface and subsurface migration through North and South Walnut Creek, which eventually discharges to Great Western Reservoir, a major drinking water source for Broomfield. In July 1989, the city constructed a ditch to divert North and South Walnut Creek around the Reservoir because of concern that past spills and other releases of contaminants to the creek may continue.
On May 25, 1989, EPA, CDH, and USDOE started negotiations on an Interagency Agreement (IAG) under CERCLA Section 120. EPA anticipates that the IAG will replace the 1986 FFCA and will establish goals for investigation and cleanup activities at Rocky Flats. EPA also anticipates using the IAG process to define specific roles for EPA, CDH, and USDOE, make decisions regarding potential IRAs, group areas into operable units, and address any areas discovered during the studies. IAG negotiations are scheduled to conclude shortly.
Addressing the 166 contaminated areas identified thus far is estimated to take at least 30 years and cost between $400 million and $2 billion.
For more information about the hazardous substances identified in this narrative summary, including general information regarding the effects of exposure to these substances on human health, please see the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ToxFAQs. ATSDR ToxFAQs can be found on the Internet at ATSDR - ToxFAQs (http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/index.asp) or by telephone at 1-888-42-ATSDR or 1-888-422-8737. | <urn:uuid:5e31ed73-a9c0-4122-8da6-e01c82d41ea0> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/nar865.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936461359.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074101-00179-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93682 | 1,029 | 2.75 | 3 |
Fielding ground balls is a baseball fundamental that seems simple but takes a lot of practice to perfect. You've got to be on your toes - literally - and ready to react quickly when the ball comes shooting toward you. You need to practice getting in the right position, approaching the ball correctly and rising to throw the ball in one smooth motion. See Step 1 to learn how.
Part 1 of 3: Getting in Position
1Assume your "baseball ready" position. Before the pitch is even thrown, you should be standing a ready position. Stand on the balls of your feet with your knees slightly bent and your glove in front of you. Focus on your attention on the batter. As the batter strikes the ball, keep your eye on it the entire time.Ad
2Be ready to move if the ball comes toward you. You'll only have a few seconds to react once the ball is hit, so you've got to be able to reflexively move toward the ball if its yours to field. Some fielders find it helpful to sway from side to side a bit as they wait for the hit. Shifting your weight back and forth can help you feel ready to spring toward the ball quickly.
3Move in front of the ball. When the ball is hit, run as fast as you can to get in front of it. The angle at which you run is dependent on how fast the ball is moving. Here are a few different scenarios:
- If it's a slow moving ball, you might want to charge it. This means running toward the ball at an angle that will help you reach it as quickly as possible.
- If the ball is hit hard and low, it will respond violently to imperfections on the ground. Reaching the ball as quickly as possible is a good way to prevent it from bouncing away from you or at you in a harmful, unexpected way.
- If it's a very fast moving ball, it's more important to run at an angle that will give you time to field the ball with ease, rather than having to dive or stretch your glove at an odd angle. Instead of running toward the ball, run to one side or the other so you can get in position to have the ball coming right at your glove.
- With practice, you'll be able to discern what approach is right for what grounder speed. Timing is everything when it comes to fielding grounders.
4Decide to field it on a long hop or a short hop. Grounders can be difficult to field because each hop they take can make them bounce in an unpredictable direction. Your best bet is to try to field a grounder on as long a hop as possible, because you'll know just where to position your glove to catch it. Fielding a grounder on a short hop is more difficult, because you have less time to react to the ball's bounce. If you let it bounce right in front of your glove, it could easily hop over your shoulder or to your left or right, forcing you to fumble.
- Try to time your fielding so that the ball won't hop right in front of your glove. Catch it after it has hopped several feet away, so you have time to move toward it and catch it.
- If the ball does hop right in front of you, you'll need to have very quick reflexes to catch it. Keep your body in front of the ball. If it skips off your glove, you might be able to stop it with your foot or another body part - anything to keep it from getting past you!
5Angle your body to field it more easily. It's most comfortable to field the ball on the same side of your body as your glove hand. If your right hand is your glove hand, try to position yourself so that the ball is moving slightly toward your right side. If your left hand is your glove hand, position yourself so you can catch it on that side.
- You should still be fairly square with the ball, however. Try to not to put yourself in the position of needing to dive or stretch your arm to catch it.
- If the ball is traveling extremely fast, you won't always have time to get in the ideal fielding position. You may need to dive, stretch, or backhand it to make the catch.
Part 2 of 3: Fielding the Grounder
1Bend your knees and drop your behind to the ground. When the ball is nigh, it's time to get low. If you don't, you stand a very good chance of having it fly between your legs - the most embarrassing fielder's error. Drop into a crouch that'll let you move quickly if you need to catch the ball on a short bounce.
2Extend your glove in front of you. Here's where hand-eye coordination comes into play. Extend your glove toward the ball, keeping your elbow slightly bent. Position your glove so that the ball will roll or hop right into it.
3Keep your other hand close. Make sure it's not in the path of the ball, but it should be close enough that you can easily employ it if need be. Two hands are better than one, so your other hand should be ready to trap the ball when it meets your glove.
4Watch the ball into your glove. The number one rule in baseball, keep your eye on the ball, applies as much to fielding as it does to hitting. Make sure to watch the ball until it's safely nestled in your glove, and be ready to move if it does something unexpected.
5Trap it with your other hand. When the ball is in your glove, close your glove tight and immediately trap the ball with your opposite hand. This puts you in the perfect position to throw the ball where it needs to go as quickly as possible.
Part 3 of 3: Transferring and Throwing the Ball
1Transfer the ball to your throwing hand. When the ball is secure, immediately transfer it to your throwing hand. If you used your throwing hand to trap the ball, you can simply grasp the ball using the right grip to quickly throw it. If you fielded the ball with your glove stretched to one side or if you caught it backhanded, bring your glove to your throwing hand and grab the ball.
- Practice getting a good grip on the ball. Without looking, practice quickly gripping the ball by the seams. Developing this reflex means your throw will more likely be on-target and easy to catch.
- The ball transfer should be done deliberately and quickly. There's still room for fumbling after you've successfully fielded the ball, so the transfer needs to be practiced just as much. Work on your ball transfer. Practice transferring your ball from your glove to your throwing hand. In the dugout when there's nothing to do, or anytime you have a ball handy, practice.
2Rise and move to adjust your footing. Now it's time to quickly get in position to throw the ball. Rise up and step forward with your throwing foot, then with your non-throwing foot, then again with your throwing foot as you throw the ball. Doing these steps quickly results in a quick sequence that looks like skipping. It allows you to get your body in the right position to make an effective throw.
3Throw the ball in one fluid motion. After the flurry of fielding the ball, make sure you stay focused enough to make a good throw. A wild throw will completely negate your good fielding efforts. Throw a solid line drive to the appropriate fielder to make a good play.
- You can also practice throwing from a crouched position, for times when you don't have enough time to rise and do a proper through.
- In other cases you may need to toss or flick the ball to another fielder.
We could really use your help!
hand and finger care?
- Practice thoroughly. Start with slowly hit or rolled balls so you can better your footwork and develop rhythm and timing. Then, gradually increase the pace. At each practice, work on every type of hit you could receive, and always make sure to transfer and throw the ball so that it becomes second nature.
- Try doing some of these drills bare-handed.
- To work on short hops have someone stand in front of you and bounce the ball to you on smooth pavement.
- Always stretch and warm up before you practice.
- Maintain your glove in good condition. Check the laces and tighten them if they're loose--a hard hit ball could get stuck in them or even go through. Check that the pocket is well formed--a floppy pocket might come open on a hard hit ball. The palm of the glove should be as flat and smooth as possible so pound out any bumps, it will help keep the ball from bouncing out.
In other languages:
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 13,879 times. | <urn:uuid:8ee78cfb-1418-41bf-b6bf-0af91fb8a08b> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.wikihow.com/Field-a-Ground-Ball | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936462232.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074102-00310-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958676 | 1,834 | 3.328125 | 3 |
The narrative form is a universal human artifact– every culture has a large body of narratives that serve as origin and creation stories, family genealogies, moral and ethical education. Dr. Clarissa Pinkola-Estés, senior Jungian psychoanalyst and master storyteller, explains it well in her bestseller Women Who Run with the Wolves: “Stories are embedded with instructions which guide us about the complexities of life.” The gods and monsters of myth and religion, the heroes, victims and liminal beings of fairy tales, even the imagery of tarot, astrology, and comic books owe their currency to the power of archetype. Archetypes are simply models or categories, and the concept was first extracted from literature by Carl Jung in his theory of psychology. Later, Joseph Campbell applied the categories to mythology and personal development. Archetypes foster understanding across time and subject matter through common motifs, character roles, and plot structures.
Video is becoming the dominant narrative form of the 21st century, recapturing some of the dynamism of live narrative performance. In the 1980s, music videos on cable TV disrupted radio as the means of pop music distribution. Now, many people gain their first exposure to new music through video uploads on Youtube et al. These sites are also the means by which fans can respond to and interact with the official creative product of the pop music industry, with their own uploads.
Pop culture has always reinforced the signs and symbols of upper class lifestyles. The sets and stages of their performances, whether film, concert stages, or music videos, exploit the presentation of luxury almost to the point of self-parody. Stars themselves are seen as role models for the confidence and power they project, if only through their material possessions. The fact of the accumulated possessions themselves is seen as proof of merit on some undefined grounds.
Monarchies throughout the world have always been fortified by a protocol of symbolism and etiquette meant to distinguish the ruler from the ruled: the golden crown, the ornate throne, velvet and fur, exotic pets (including people), gold jewelry and precious stones. In a democracy, the symbols of wealth attain the aspirational flavor of personal achievement. Cars, houses with swimming pools, cascades of cash, and expensive liquor are the modern, consumer-culture equivalents of monarchical symbols. Both styles of acquisition and prestige are reinforced by hereditary rules.
Motifs of luxury and royalty are the tried and true visual language of hip-hop and pop culture in general. The predominant role for women in videos—whether as star or backup dancer—has typically relied on their overt sexual desirability. So when both Beyoncé and Katy Perry appear in elaborately produced advertisements in 2013, in the costume of a vaguely eighteenth-century queen– Beyoncé in blue, Perry in red– it feels disappointingly banal, rather than vicariously empowering or even novel.
The two different narratives, although using the same queen archetype, show how the two female stars attempted to reclaim the historically masculine visual language of royalty. Beyoncé has merely done a gender reversal, placing herself in the role of monarch, while maintaining the performance and presentation of (male) power and privilege. She fully embraces all the heavy jewelry and robes of state, barely changing her facial expression as a court jester DJs and her courtiers dance exaggeratedly around her.
Perry conspicuously subverts the symbolism of royalty by altering her own gown and walking unattended through the rooms of her castle, suggesting she is not comfortable in the role of monarch, or wants to redefine the role. She wants us to know, by her burlesque wink at her gray-haired male advisors, that she’s not really invested in the monarchical office as defined by men, while she’s simultaneously wearing the crown and holding the scepter, and sitting on the throne, all symbols of male power.
Music video production, like fashion, is both art and capitalism. By using visual narrative studded with the power of archetype, aiming for the psychological jugular of their fandom, the pop-star-as-enterprise can manipulate emotion to transact sales of recordings and merchandise.
Why do fans invest so much personal time, energy, and funds into celebrity devotion? What’s at stake for them is the worship of a hero, the residual glamour of prestige-by-association, the project of studying, organizing and disseminating exclusive, timely information– a form of worship and appeasement. Celebrities are the modern equivalent of the saints and mystics, and by associating with their image and their merchandise, like relics and totems, we hope some of their jing will rub off on us. Tapping the root of the word “glamour”, the glamorous construct of celebrity is a created illusion, a magical enchantment.
And there’s the ethical problem: material goods in excess associated with worth and success; consumption and acquisition offered as acceptable pastimes; autocratic leaders in pretty costumes throwing tantrums– royal symbolism playing to the low-income, high-aspiration citizens of a democracy. (In contrast, see Lorde’s “Royals” or the entire M.I.A. oeuvre.) The material symbols and constructed exclusivity of monarchy are conveniently silent on the fact that they are the spoils of war, oppression, and coercion.
Perhaps the royalty and luxury imagery has been denatured by its overuse by male hip-hop stars. Or perhaps it’s just too easy to see through the costuming– we know very well that a female monarch is the exception to the rule, whether she plays by boys’ club rules, or convinces herself she can make up her own. Katy Perry’s cartoonishly rebellious persona remains unburdened by nuance or logic as she takes charge of her own appearance and then inexplicably topples her own throne. The racial implications of Beyoncé in European royal drag are also worth examining. All this glamorous imagery targeting the most sympathetic parts of our psyche is presented without critique or context.
Dr. Estés cautions about the power of archetype and story: “In dealing with stories, we are handling archetypal energy, which we could metaphorically describe as being like electricity. This electrical power can animate and enlighten, but in the wrong place, wrong time, wrong teller, wrong story […] like any medicine, it will not have the desired effect, or a deleterious one.”
Music videos are sales tools, not instructions for living. But because they explicitly deploy archetypes in a visual narrative form, they tap directly into our emotions, while remaining ethically ambivalent. There are moral and ethical implications to videos that use imagery of high status, and achievement, whether via consumption or heredity. By using the familiar symbols of monarchy, these videos present the message that power, respect, admiration, and self-agency are easily achieved with a costume change and the right props. When Katy Perry and Beyoncé appear as video queens, they are conflating female empowerment with luxury possessions and male employees—an imbalance of power in an equation that is the same old paradigm, written in reverse.
There are implications for racial and economic justice as well as for feminism, and the imagery of video should be approached with much the same degree of literacy as the written word. Apkon in his book on visual literacy, The Age of the Image, declares , “The manipulation of video is shortly to become a global language, and its seductive powers will be on display for all to see. But it is morally neutral. It can be used for good and evil and everything in between.” In an age where most everyone has a mobile phone with a camera, the democratization of visual storytelling can place a revealing mirror in front of the hip-hop kings and pop queens. | <urn:uuid:611c6ac4-1390-4085-a3fa-44e2c45699f8> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.thestylecon.com/2014/07/03/queen-bitch-royalty-meme-pop-music/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936461359.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074101-00178-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946195 | 1,622 | 2.65625 | 3 |
What we talk about when we talk about climate change
Americans have found it hard to have a rational discussion about global warming since 2006. That’s the year the documentary An Inconvenient Truth hit theaters and kick-started a conversation that has polarized our thoughts about this topic. Thanks, Al Gore.
Today, perceptions of climate change tend to leave people concerned, dismissive or uninformed. Vern Grubinger, an Extension professor with the University of Vermont, believes the conversation is important to have nonetheless.
"Some farmers, just like some of the general public, are skeptical that climate change is even real," he says. "Others are doubtful it will affect agriculture, and some don’t even want to bring it up for fear it might generate yet another concern about the environmental impact of farming. Others are already acting to prepare for it."
Dave Changnon, a climate scientist at Northern Illinois University, agrees. "The problem with climate change is it’s so political," he says. "I’ve almost given up talking about it unless the discussion is focused on the science-based aspects."
One thing is clear: Environmental shifts are already subtly affecting crop yields, increasing risks and altering farm management practices.
"The scientific evidence leaves little room for doubt that our climate is changing, and that agriculture will be affected," Grubinger says. "To me, it’s not a political issue but a practical one. Farmers should prepare to manage for changes of any type that have a reasonable chance of affecting them."
Changnon hopes to steer people away from general climate change discussions. Instead, he focuses on measurable occurrences and outcomes, such as what to do if warmer temperatures spike insect populations, or how increased water vapor could affect Midwestern weather patterns.
What’s changing? Corn "knee-high by the Fourth of July" has become laughably out of date in recent years. That’s largely because crop maturity is much further along by July 4 than crops a generation ago. Consider this: According to an Iowa State University study, from 1981 to 2005,
the Midwest saw its average corn planting date advance by 0.40 days per year and the average soybean planting date advance by 0.49 days per year.
Planting dates have slowly but surely increased at a fairly predictable pace for the past 30 years. Less predictable are what the U.S. Global Change Research Program calls "extreme weather events," which the group has tracked since 1960. These events, which shove yields beneath the trend line, occur at random intervals, although the overall incidence is up.
These trends might sound troubling, but public and private researchers alike are striving for new solutions. One good example is the recent introduction of drought-combating corn hybrids, such as DuPont Pioneer’s Optimum AQUAmax and Monsanto’s DroughtGard.
Expect big improvements across the industry in agronomic traits, says Bayer CropScience corn trait research manager Brian Vande Berg.
"Collectively, I think our understanding of plant biology has increased to the point where we can make some logical approaches into our research pipelines to try and improve yield," he says. "The use of genome sequencing and bioinformatics allows us to understand plant biology in more detail than even five years ago."
Shifting pests. With earlier planting dates, crops get a head start. Unfortunately, so do many weeds, insects and diseases that can knock down yields.
Insects are cold-blooded animals, notes Abby Seaman, vegetable IPM coordinator with the New York State Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program at Cornell University. Their body temperature is approximately the same as their environment, and that is an important environmental factor influencing their distribution, development, survival and reproduction, she says.
One example of changing pest patterns is the corn earworm in upstate New York. A network of pheromone traps is used to monitor the flights of the major worm pests of sweet corn. When the network was started nearly 20 years ago, corn earworm, a migratory pest that is not known to overwinter in upstate New York, arrived in the area sometime between late July and late August.
"Now we are seeing a flight early in the season, either from migration or possibly from overwintering in New York, and farmers are having to apply more insecticides to manage them," Seaman says.
The current evidence shows a likelihood of more outbreaks from a wider variety of insects and pathogens, either due to overwintering in new geographies or by migrating from a shorter distance, Seaman explains. "We can’t definitively attribute this to climate change, but whatever the reason, we’re likely to see more unfamiliar pests," she says. "Farmers just need to be vigilant in scouting their fields and keeping records, and current IPM recommendations
already play well into that."
Lewis Ziska, a plant physiologist with USDA–Agricultural Research Service, offers some additional examples of how rising temperatures affect pest migration.
"The current distribution of both Japanese honeysuckle and kudzu is limited by low winter temperatures," he says. "Global warming could extend their northern limits by several hundred miles."
Ziska says he hopes research can continue so farmers are not caught unaware by possible shifting pest populations.
Whether climate change is man-made or driven by Mother Nature, whether it’s fleeting or here to stay is immaterial. If volatile times are ahead, and if unexpected pests are lurking, farmers who are versatile and adaptable will have the most success.
Continued climate change education could even lead to profitable production practices, Grubinger says.
"Many actions that address climate change are simply good management practices," he says. "For example, improved irrigation and drainage systems; efficient use of nitrogen fertilizer and manure; greater farm energy efficiency; cover cropping to add carbon to the soil; and development of local markets to reduce packaging, transportation and storage, which all use energy and create greenhouse gases." | <urn:uuid:04c79459-5d08-499e-a4aa-3e39b570e9bc> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.agweb.com/agday/article/mercury_rising/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936463606.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074103-00189-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945805 | 1,246 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Formicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
Additional images: dorsal view of worker from La Selva (reduced, original); worker from Corcovado (reduced, original).
Costa Rica: Atlantic and southern Pacific lowlands.
Minor worker: Propodeum lacking spines or tubercles of any kind; propodeum somewhat box-like, dorsal and lateral faces flat or nearly flat and meeting at an approximate right angle; dorsal face of propodeum subrectangular; first gastral tergite with very dense, long, bright gold appressed pubescence; abundant gold erect setae cover mesosoma and head; erect setae on first gastral tergite relatively long, intermediate between planatus and brettesi; uniformly dark brown to dark red brown; side of mesosoma densely punctate, not shining; mesosomal profile relatively flat (makes nests of leaves sewn together with silk).
Two workers from Corcovado National Park do not have the same mesosomal profile as material from La Selva. The propodeal shape is like brettesi (dorsal face more sloping, meeting posterior face at more obtuse angle), but the strong golden pubescence and pilosity is like La Selva material. Also, the surface sculpture on these two workers is duller than either La Selva textor or brettesi. Image of worker: (reduced, original).
Similar species: JTL-045, senex.
This species inhabits mature rainforest canopy, where it builds nests by sewing leaves together with larval silk (Forel 1899, 1905, Wheeler 1915, Schremmer 1979, Holldobler and Wilson 1983). This is one of four Camponotus species I know in Costa Rica that exhibit this behavior (see chartifex, JTL-045, nitidior).
I have only seen the silk nests once. At La Selva Biological Station there is a large foot bridge that crosses the Rio Puerto Viejo. On each side of the river the bridge goes through the crowns of canopy trees growing on the banks of the river. One of these is an Inga, and for a while it contained nests of textor. From the side of the bridge I could see two or three of the nests, each a cluster of leaves and silk about the size of a baseball. This was in the early 1990's, but in recent years (late 1990's) I have not seen them.
The species does not seem very common. The only record of textor in 52 canopy fogging samples at La Selva is one dealate queen, and a worker was collected in one Malaise trap sample. I also collected two workers of textor at Sirena in Corcovado National Park. These two workers were stray workers on tree trunks, not associated with silk nests, and given their differences from La Selva textor (see above) may not be conspecific. In general textor seems to be a low density species in Costa Rica, but may have higher densities elsewhere in the Neotropics.
Wheeler (1915) discussed the Camponotus species that build exposed nests of leaves sewn together with silk and use their larvae as a source of silk. He observed that these species tend to have very weak polymorphism. I also have noted the surprising lack of major workers in textor and JTL-045. There is some variation in worker size, but no large major workers. Members of the subgenus Dendromyrmex exhibit no size variation at all. The workers of subgenus Dendromyrmex do not seem at all closely related to C. textor and JTL-045, suggesting that the construction of silk nests and the weak to absent polymorphism have evolved independently in two different lineages.
Forel described senex textor based on a Costa Rican collection by Tonduz. It was collected in a silk nest attached to leaves, and the entire nest, with queen, was sent to Forel. The description includes the dense yellow pubescence and abundant long erect pilosity, and I am confident of this determination.
I used to call this species C. senex Smith 1858, and literature reports refer to senex as a species that builds silk nests. However, examination of Alex Wild's images of the type of senex (Click here) suggest senex is not the silk nest builder, but instead a widespread species that nests in dead wood. See senex.
There is no mention of the nest of senex in Smith's original description nor in Mayr's (1878) redescription. Forel (1879) reviewed the Camponotus species related to senex, and identified a collection from Cordoba, Mexico, as senex. The Mexican collection was from a "paper nest among branches," and Forel noted the similarity of the nest of "senex" with the silk nests of chartifex and nitidior (subgenus Dendromyrmex). Forel later (1905) identified Brazilian material as senex and reported Gldi's observations that the larvae are used to spin silk for the nest. Wheeler (1915) reviewed use of larval silk for nest construction by ants, perpetuating the association of senex with carton nests. This was followed by Wheeler and Wheeler (1953), Schremmer (1979), and Hlldobler and Wilson (1983).
I have concluded that all the observations of "Camponotus senex" using larvae to make exposed silk nests are of other species that are not senex. I am using the name textor for these, but auricomus should be looked at as a potential older name.
Forel, A. 1879. tudes myrmcologiques en 1879 (deuxime partie [1re partie en 1878]). Bull. Soc. Vaudoise Sci. Nat. 16:53-128.
Forel, A. 1899. Biologia Centrali-Americana; or, contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America. Insecta. Hymenoptera. 3 (Formicidae). London. 169 pp.
Forel, A. 1905. Einige biologische Beobachtungen des Herrn Prof. Dr. E. Gldi an brasilianischen Ameisen. Biol. Centralbl. 25:170-181.
Holldobler, B., and E. O. Wilson. 1983. The evolution of communal nest-weaving in ants. American Scientist 71:490-499.
Mayr, G. 1878 ("1877"). Formiciden gesammelt in Brasilien von Professor Trail. Verh. K-K. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien 27:867-878.
Schremmer, F. 1979. Das Nest der neotropischen Weberameise Camponotus (Myrmobrachys) senex Smith (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Zoologischer Anzeiger 203:273-282.
Smith, F. 1858. Catalogue of hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae. London: British Museum, 216 pp.
Wheeler, G. C., Wheeler, J. 1953. The ant larvae of the subfamily Formicinae. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 46:126-171.
Wheeler, W. M. 1915. On the presence and absence of cocoons among ants, the nest-spinning habits of the larvae and the significance of black cocoons among certain Australian species. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 8:323-342.
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.firstname.lastname@example.org
Go to Ants of Costa Rica Homepage | <urn:uuid:6772d5fe-0b7e-46c5-8a7b-7204f85101ff> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://academic.evergreen.edu/projects/ants/genera/camponotus/species/textor/textor.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936462232.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074102-00310-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.871618 | 1,686 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Featuring developments in Federal highway policies, programs, and research and technology.
|This magazine is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information.|
|Federal Highway Administration > Publications > Public Roads > Vol. 62· No. 3 > We‚re on the Eve of Construction|
We‚re on the Eve of Construction
by Mike Jones
Visualize the start of construction on a major public project. Men and women with shiny shovels participate in the symbolic ground-breaking. Bulldozers rumble to life. Crews strap on their hard hats, and the project is underway.
Forgotten in the excitement of the ceremony and in the dust and noise of the construction is the long and often difficult process that led to this point - in particular, the critical last step before construction. That last step is the acquisition of the necessary land and other property rights by the appropriate government agency.
This is a mammoth undertaking. For example, in fiscal year 1997, the acquisition of real property was required in 11,136 transportation projects that received federal-aid funding. For these projects, 53,277 parcels of land were acquired for a total expenditure of almost $1.4 billion, and another $73 million was spent in compensation to the people involved in the 6,487 displacements. These numbers come from statistics provided to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) by state departments of transportation.
But the total cost cannot be measured in numbers. Highways and other federal projects are built on land - land that often has been in the same family for generations. Small and large businesses, built up with years of hard work, are sometimes displaced. Elderly tenants are forced to move. Farms are cut in half. Homes are demolished. It is a wrenching and often painful experience for those who live or work on this land.
But there are protections to cushion the impact and to compensate those who are affected. The most powerful protection is found in the United States Constitution. It is in the Fifth Amendment: " ... nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."
This very basic statement served reasonably well until the latter half of the 20th century, when Congress realized that more specific protections were needed for federal land acquisitions. In 1970, Congress enacted what is popularly referred to as the "Uniform Act" (as amended). Like most federal laws, its true name is a real mouthful: The Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970.
Why Is the Uniform Act So Significant?
All federal, state, and local public agencies and others receiving federal financial assistance for public programs and projects requiring the acquisition of real property must comply with the policies and provisions set forth in the Uniform Act, its amendments, and the implementing regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 49, Part 24. The acquisition itself does not need to be federally funded for the rules to apply. If federal funds are used in any phase of the program or project, the rules of the Uniform Act apply. The rules encourage acquiring agencies to negotiate with property owners promptly and amicably to avoid litigation whenever feasible.
We're the Lead Agency and We're Here to Help You
The mission of FHWA's Office of Real Estate Services (ORES) is to protect the rights of property owners and displaced persons, to promote consistently high-quality program management by public agencies, and to protect the public's interests and investment in real property before and after a project is constructed.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and 16 other federal agencies are subject to the provisions of the Uniform Act. The Uniform Act amendments of 1987 designated DOT as the federal "lead agency" for the Uniform Act. Duties include the development, issuance, and maintenance of the governmentwide regulation; providing assistance to other federal agencies; and reporting to Congress. This responsibility has been delegated to FHWA and is carried out by ORES.
Varied means are used to assist partnering agencies in maintaining Uniform Act compliance and quality assurance. One of the most effective is the provision of technical assistance. Upon request, the ORES staff provides informal training on specific issues relating to real property appraisal, acquisition, and relocation assistance. Additionally, a number of formalized training courses are provided annually by ORES through the National Highway Institute (NHI).
1998 Annual Lead Agency Meeting
As part of its role as the lead agency, ORES hosts an annual meeting of all 17 affected federal agencies. These meetings provide a practical and beneficial forum for representatives of all the agencies to network and to tackle problem areas relating to the Uniform Act. Forty-one people representing the 17 agencies attended the last Lead Agency Meeting on June 25, 1998, at the headquarters of DOT in Washington, D.C.
"Illegal Aliens Act"
This year's dominant issue is a 1997 federal law that generally prohibits the provision of relocation benefits or assistance to known illegal aliens. Public Law 105-117, 111 Stat. 2384, was enacted on Nov. 21, 1997. This law amends the Uniform Act and states that an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States is not eligible for relocation benefits or assistance in accordance with the Uniform Act unless the denial of eligibility would result in an exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to the alien's spouse, parent, or child who is a citizen or is lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States. The amendment applies only to the relocation-assistance provisions of the Uniform Act; it does not apply to the acquisition provisions.
This amendment was enacted in apparent response to a well-publicized case in California in which an illegal immigrant was provided with a sizeable relocation payment. Review of this case by lawmakers led to the discovery that the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 (whose purpose was to deny government benefits to illegal aliens) did not prohibit provision of benefits under the Uniform Act.
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
In compliance with its duty as the lead agency, ORES with the help of the FHWA Office of Chief Counsel prepared a draft regulation to implement the new law. On June 12, 1998, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on this matter appeared in the Federal Register. There is a statutory deadline of Nov. 21, 1998, for issuance of the "Final Rule" on this legislation. To meet this deadline, FHWA actively solicited comments on this issue from all agencies that are subject to the provisions of the Uniform Act. The deadline for those comments was Aug. 11.
The role of the lead agency is a major component of ORES's mission. This role extends the oversight responsibility of ORES beyond FHWA's traditional partners, including the state departments of transportation. ORES works with state DOTs to reach counties, cities, nonprofit organizations, and developers and other private individuals to ensure that all affected persons are treated fairly and equitably by federal agencies and their state and local counterparts.
For more information regarding the Uniform Act or related issues (including technical assistance), see the ORES portion of the FHWA Web site (www.fhwa.dot.gov) or contact the FHWA's Office of Real Estate Services, Room 3221, 400 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20590.
Mike Jones is a realty specialist in FHWA's Office of Real Estate Services (ORES). He is a member of the ORES Real Property Appraisal Team, and he is a certified general real estate appraiser in Maryland. Jones has a bachelor's degree from Towson University.
Page Owner: Office of Corporate Research, Technology, and Innovation Management
Scheduled Update: Archive - No Update
Technical Issues: TFHRC.WebMaster@dot.gov | <urn:uuid:21fae08b-82bc-45ee-816d-63b3d3afa0ef> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/98novdec/eve.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936462426.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074102-00007-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946145 | 1,583 | 2.609375 | 3 |
"Bloody Sunday" refers to the March 7, 1965, civil rights march that was supposed to go from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery to protest the shooting death of activist Jimmy Lee Jackson. The roughly 600 marchers were violently driven back by Alabama State Troopers, Dallas County Sheriff's deputies, and a horse‑mounted posse after they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The state and county officers beat and gassed the unarmed marchers in an attack, and media coverage of the event shocked the nation and led ultimately to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The descriptive term appeared in relation to the events within days in the national media.
The catalyst for the march was the death of 26‑year‑old Jimmy Lee Jackson on February 26. He was shot in the stomach on February 18, 1965, by Alabama State Trooper James Fowler while the troopers were breaking up a peaceful protest in Marion, Perry County. Jackson was then taken the 50 miles to Selma's Good Samaritan Hospital for treatment, where he died eight days later. At a memorial service for Jackson on February 28, Rev. James Bevel of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) called for blacks to follow the example of the biblical Queen Esther, who risked her life by going to the king of Persia to appeal for her people. Bevel stated that the activists must similarly march to Montgomery to demand protection from Gov. George C. Wallace. Two days later, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. offered the support of the SCLC to head up a march from Selma to Montgomery on Sunday, March 7, to protest Jackson's death and to push for voting rights.
The members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) refused to support the march, however, because they believed that the objectives of the march did not justify the danger. But its leaders agreed to let SNCC president John Lewis take part as an individual. Governor Wallace, who had hesitated over whether or not to permit the march, finally decided to direct the Alabama State Troopers to stop the marchers once they had left the city limits of Selma by crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Wallace asked for the city police and county police to assist the troopers. Selma's public safety director Wilson Baker, who was in charge of the city police, refused to let his men join the troopers in what he feared would become a brutal attack on the marchers. He begged Selma mayor Joe Smitherman to let him head off such a clash by arresting the marchers before they crossed the bridge. Smitherman, who had complete faith in Wallace's promise to disperse the marchers without undue violence, refused.
On Sunday, March 7, the state troopers, under the command of Maj. John Cloud, along with Sheriff Jim Clark's deputies and mounted posse, were assembled at the end of the Edmund Pettus Bridge by noon. The march did not begin on time, however, because King had not returned from Atlanta, and there was a good deal of confusion about whether or not to postpone the march. Finally King was reached by phone and gave permission to proceed in his absence. When the marchers first left Brown Chapel AME Church at 1:40 p.m. they were stopped by Wilson Baker, who ordered them to follow the usual rules for suche events: marching two‑by‑two, five feet apart. The demonstrators went to a nearby playground to regroup and set out once again at 2:18 p.m. Under the leadership of Hosea Williams of SCLC and John Lewis of SNCC, they marched south on Sylvan Street (now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) to Alabama Avenue, then west on Alabama to Broad Street, and finally south on Broad across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Major Cloud announced that the governor had forbidden the march and gave the marchers two minutes to turn back. When the marchers did not obey promptly, he ordered the troopers to advance. At first, the troopers simply shoved the marchers back with billy clubs held at both ends, but soon they began lashing out. They deployed 40 canisters of tear gas, 12 cans of smoke, and 8 cans of nausea gas, and began chasing the marchers back across the bridge. (Major Cloud later claimed that Sheriff Clark set off the first canister of tear gas by mistake.) The troopers and the mounted posse pursued the fleeing marchers all the way back to Brown Chapel, beating people as they went.
Wilson Baker then confronted Clark and told him to take control of his men and leave the area. (Baker would be remembered in a positive light for his actions. He defeated Clark in the 1966 race for sheriff with the support of newly enfranchised blacks.) Clark reluctantly withdrew his forces, making it possible for ambulances to pick up the injured and race them to Selma's two black hospitals, Good Samaritan and Burwell Infirmary. Fifty-six patients were treated at the two hospitals, with 18 being admitted overnight, including John Lewis, who had a fractured skull.
The television coverage of the violence shocked the nation. It provoked an outpouring of support for the voting rights movement from whites throughout the country: priests, ministers, nuns, rabbis, labor leaders, students, and ordinary citizens poured into Selma to stand with the marchers. An estimated 800 volunteers from 22 states arrived in Selma in the days after Bloody Sunday. President Lyndon Johnson and key members of Congress who had been dubious about the need for a voting rights bill now committed themselves to its passage. Governor Wallace announced that the violence was not supposed to happen and rebuked Mayor Smitherman and Sheriff Clark for allowing it.
On Tuesday, March 9, the marchers made a second attempt, led by King, but turned back at the end of the bridge, earning the day the nickname "Turnaround Tuesday." A third and successful attempt began under the protection of the Alabama National Guard (which had been placed under federal control by President Johnson) on Sunday, March 21, two weeks after the initial effort. The marchers finally reached Montgomery on Thursday, March 25. The Voting Rights Bill that King, Lewis, and so many other civil rights leaders had sought was signed into law August 6, 1965.
Fager, Charles. Selma 1965: The March That Changed the South . Boston: Beacon Press, 1975.
Thorton, J. Mills III. Dividing Lines, Municipal Politics and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma . Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2002.
Welcome to your free, online resource on Alabama history, culture, geography, and natural environment. This site offers articles on Alabama's famous people, historic events, sports, art, literature, industry, government, plant and animal life, agriculture, recreation, and so much more. | <urn:uuid:72cc2d5f-487e-419f-bb47-b67eb71fcc48> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1876 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936462555.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074102-00029-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969918 | 1,409 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Picture books are one of my favorite things in the world. There can be so much magic inside those 32 illustrated pages, where the words and the images work together to tell stories in a way no other medium can.
But holding that tidy, finished book in your hands disguises all the hard work that went into the making of it. Even after decades of studying the process of illustrating picture books, I didn’t truly understand the process until I was hired to illustrate my first book. Hopefully, I can give you a peek into how a picture book can be made, but as I have said before, the key to illustrative success is to get to work!
Here are the steps to follow for successfully making a picture book dummy.
Step 1: Begin working from a manuscript
When I make books, long before I begin finished art, I am constantly switching from designing characters to writing the story to layouts to art experiments and back to story and characters and so on. Some illustrations appear in my head fully-formed before I’ve even thought up the main character. Sometimes a character keeps showing up in my sketches before I know what story she belongs to. And sometimes the text is clear and beautiful and gives me no ideas about its visual companion until hours of labor and reams of paper have been spent.
Whether you are working on a story of your own, like me, or illustrating the work of another author, the manuscript allows you to navigate through the period of being lost in a sea of nebulous bits of images and / or snippets of unattached text.
Once you have the finished story in writing, begin by reading it aloud several times to feel the rhythm of it. I like to mark up the manuscript with pencil, dividing up the story into spreads (everywhere two pages face each other is called a spread), deciding where to put all those critical page turns, which are the secret to a picture book’s magic.
As I read, in my mind I am picturing the page layouts in broad strokes — a mountain here, the moon up there, the main character creeping through the bushes over there, etc. — all in an effort to plan out the way the book works. The process here is the same as when you are illustrating a story written by someone else. When I’m done, the text is all marked up with ideas and notes and sketches, too.
Step 2: Fitting it to the physical world
At the first pass, just try to feel out the most instinctual page turns, but after you get a loose sense of it, you need to make sure it is going to fit into the traditional picture book lengths of 32 pages or 40 pages*. Keep in mind that you need to leave space for the title page and the copyright and dedication page. There are ways to fudge it, but there are basically two conventions: The “end matter” as these pages are collectively called, can go in the front, taking up three pages, usually, or they can be divided to the front and back, and then they will take up two pages. However, there are always exceptions.
*Note: All books must have pages in multiples of four — this is because the pages are made by folding a sheet of paper in half, which creates a first page outside the fold, two facing pages inside the fold, and then a fourth page on the back.
With the particular book I’m writing, I ended up with seventeen spreads after my first pass. That’s too many for a 32-page book, but not quite enough for 40 pages. I went back through the story and looked for places the story could compress or stretch, and since a 32-page layout felt too cramped, I settled on a 40-page layout, with nineteen spreads and the end matter divided front and back.
In the books I’ve illustrated for others, the editor and I usually agree up-front how many page the book will have, so our job is to fit it all in properly.
Step 3: Move on to storyboarding
Now that you’ve gotten the feel for the story, and you’ve figured out how to fit it to a physical book layout, you need to plan out each page and spread. As is common to most visual storytelling, like film, animation, and comics, I use a storyboard to work out these details.
My storyboards are iterative. I start with a template of small rectangles where I can try out broad ideas. I have a template that works for a vertical page layout, and another for a horizontal layout. As I work out the general page designs and the lights and darks of each spread, I begin to work larger and larger, usually going through the entire story at least three times, adding detail and refining the image at each larger stage. Some pages are easier to figure out than others. Some take a dozen drafts or more.
But all that planning is worth it. All along the way, you’ll be able to get a real sense for exactly how the theoretical book will function once it becomes a real object. You can edit out the parts that aren’t needed and quickly try out details to see if they make the story more clear. In the end, it means that you won’t spend hours or days on a piece of final art that doesn’t work in the finished book.
Step 4: The dummy!
After all the initial planning, you should be ready to make something to show an editor or agent. Also called a “mock-up”, the picture book dummy is the thing you will send off to see if they think your book is publishable.
Typically, a dummy is made up of the story’s full text, and pencil sketches for the majority of the images. Finished art for one to three pages (leaning towards three) gives the recipient a clear idea of what you intend the book’s illustrations to look like. Historically, the dummy would be a physical object, sent in the mail and at least printed out at full-size, if not hand-bound, so it feels and acts like a real picture book. These days, dummies can be sent as PDFs as an email attachment, and most editors and agents can get a good enough sense of things from that digital document.
If you send the dummy directly to an editor, s/he may or may not see it as a good fit for his/her publishing house. If you guess well, the right editor at the right publisher might agree that this is a book s/he can publish, and after that editor gets approval from his/her publishing house, we can make a deal and begin making it into a real book. If you guess poorly, you may have to wait until that editor tells you he can’t use it before you send it off to someone else, and that can take as long as six months or longer.
If you have an agent, his/her job (after giving me his/her best-guess “yea” or “nay” as to the book’s “publishability”) is to help you pitch it to just the right editor at just the right publishing house. A good agent knows the market well enough to show it to the most likely editors and has a friendly relationship with those editors, so they won’t slam the door in your face. The trade off, of course, is that s/he will take a cut if the book sells. But I’m happy for them to get paid for saving me all that time and waiting, especially if the agent then negotiates a good contract for the book.
While an agent is not technically required (there are a few publishers who still maintain a “slush pile“), it is increasingly difficult to get a book made without one. In the best of worlds, a good agent can help an illustrator stay focused on the creative work, while takeing care of the business side of things.
As always, once I get this story put together and into someone else’s hands, it’s time to start working on the next idea. So I’ll start over at the beginning of the process, and do it all again! After all, “If you want to have good ideas you must have many ideas.” – Linus Pauling
Stop talking about wanting to do it, and just get to work! Write it down and start drawing! | <urn:uuid:294be2b9-3baf-44b6-b588-503da6016765> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/08/how-to-make-a-picture-book-dummy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936461988.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074101-00244-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953317 | 1,769 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Patents can be signs of things to come. Of course, all large companies file patents on a regular basis, and they don't always indicate upcoming products. Sometimes those patents simply show ideas that the company researchers had and that they want to protect in case they ever turn out to be good. But sometimes, patents can show what is about to be implemented, and this might just be the case in a new McAfee patent called "Detect and prevent illegal consumption of content on the internet." As the name suggests, it describes a method that the anti-malware giant may implement to help fight online piracy, and what makes it more credible than a lot of other patents is the use of dialog mockups which could well be part of its current security suite.
The patent itself describes a way that a security software could scan URLs as they are entered by the user into a web browser, email client, or anywhere on their system. These addresses would be sent to a central database server and compared with lists of suspected pirate sites, and if they are a match, then the addresses could be handled in a number of ways. One way would be to simply block access, displaying a message saying the address is not available. Another way would be to offer a warning about copyright infringement, and allow an option for the user to keep going anyway. A final method would be to instead offer legal alternatives to buy content.
This type of blocking system is hardly new, with parental software or services like OpenDNS, but up until now the copyright policy has mostly been handled by the RIAA, and MPAA along with these types of industry groups, and those companies have been pushing on Internet providers to implement checks and blocks at the ISP level. But with solutions like this, the Internet censorship could now be done at the user level instead. Obviously, this would require McAfee to be installed, but it already is one of the most popular security solutions out there. It is unlikely that this patent would be implemented as a new product; instead, it would become part of the existing solution. While a computer owner may be able to turn off this system, there are many cases when a user may not be able to do so, whether it is a minor who does not have administrative access to his computer, a school setting, public wi-fi, or any business environment which typically deploys anti-malware solutions from a central server, and employees have no access to modify behavior.
Of course, the question then becomes whether or not this is a good thing. There is no question that many parties out there would like the Internet to become a more walled off garden. Networks and traditional content creators would prefer the Internet to work like cable TV; portal sites and social networks want their users to stay in their own environments; governments want the ability to track and monitor everyone; and so on. The main issue with any type of spying or content filtering at the ISP level is that encryption such as using a VPN or Tor makes it impossible for illegal content to be detected. So having the ability to do this filtering right on the user's computer can be a useful thing. Administrators already use various solutions to do filtering as well, but typically this is done as an added solution. By implementing this feature in something like an anti-malware suite that is as popular as McAfee is, this then allows the concept to become much more widespread. By presenting alternate URLs in a friendly way, it may become an accepted method by the general public as well.
The critics on the other hand will point at the invasion of privacy, since all URLs have to be sent off to a remote server in order for this type of blocking to work. Also, content filtering never works perfectly. There are false positives, and the web changes far too quickly for any list to be always up to date. The Internet was started as an open, free and liberating platform. But as money and powers came into the equation, it has become more walled off every year, whether that is to catch criminals, monitor suspected terrorists, make more money, or prevent copyright infringement. I believe it is only a matter of time before all commercial anti-malware solutions have these types of filtering built-in. If you want to use the core features of the product, you may even one day have to leave this turned on. This would certainly please Hollywood studios.
Whether this is something you should be looking into as a business admin or IT pro is too early to say; it depends how it is implemented. But someday we may no longer need extra software to do packet filtering, should clients ask for it. This may become a well known and accepted feature of any security suite.
Patrick Lambert has been working in the tech industry for over 15 years, both as an online freelancer and in companies around Montreal, Canada. A fan of Star Wars, gaming, technology, and art, he writes for several sites including the art news community TideArt. He's always at the forefront of the latest happening in the world of technology. You can find him online at http://dendory.net or on Twitter at @dendory. | <urn:uuid:6ede489d-ecd9-4c47-b839-487e4d1c2be4> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-security/new-mcafee-patent-hints-at-a-more-walled-off-online-world/?count=25&view=expanded | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936469305.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074109-00165-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965029 | 1,046 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Holy King Vakhtang Gorgasali (†502)
Commemorated November 30/December 13
Memory 30 November (13 December)
After his coronation, the young King Vakhtang summoned his court and addressed his dedicated servants with great wisdom. He said that the sorrowful circumstances in which the nation had found itself were a manifestation of God’s anger at the sins of the king and the people. He called upon everyone to struggle in unity and selflessness on behalf of the Faith and motherland.
King Vakhtang led a victorious campaign against the Ossetians, freed the captive princess (his older sister), and signed several treaties with the Caucasian mountain tribes to secure their cooperation in the struggle against foreign conquerors. Then he carried out another campaign in western Georgia, freed that region from the Byzantines, reinforced the authority of KingGubaz, and returned in triumph to Kartli.
King Vakhtang was remarkable in faith, wisdom, grace, virtue, and appearance (he towered above all others at a stately seven feet ten inches). He spent many nights in prayer and distributed alms to the poor, in this way dedicating his life to God.
King Vakhtang could fight tirelessly in battle. Vested in armor and fully armed, he could carry a war-horse on his shoulders and climb from Mtskheta to the Armazi Fortress in the mountains outside the city. On foot he could outrun a deer. The holy king was judicious in politics, displayed great composure, and preserved a sense of calm even when critical decisions needed to be made.
On the brow of Vakhtang’s military helmet was depicted a wolf, and on the back, a lion. Catching a glimpse of the helmet with the wolf and lion, the Persians would cry out to one another: “Dar’ az gurgsar!” (“Beware of the wolf ’s head!”) This was the source of King Vakhtang’s appellation “Gorgasali.”
During King Vakhtang’s reign the Georgian Church was first recognized as autocephalous. When the holy king banished the pagan fire-worshippers from Georgia, he also sent a certain Bishop Mikael — who was inclined to the Monophysite heresy, which had been planted in Georgia by the Persians — to Constantinople to be tried by the patriarch. The bishop had disgracefully cursed the king and his army for rising up against the Monophysites. In fact, he was so infuriated that when King Vakhtang approached him to receive his blessing, he kicked him in the mouth and broke several of his teeth. The patriarch of Constantinople subsequently defrocked Bishop Mikael and sent him to a monastery to repent.
More importantly perhaps, the patriarch and the Byzantine emperor then sent to the patriarch of Antioch several clergymen whom King Vakhtang had chosen for consecration. In Antioch the patriarch consecrated twelve of these clergymen as bishops and enthroned a certain Petre as the first Catholicos of Georgia.
Vakhtang fulfilled the will of Holy King Mirian by founding the Georgian Holy CrossMonastery in Jerusalem. In addition, he replaced a wooden church that had been built in Mtskheta at the time of St. Nino with a church made of stone. During his reign several new dioceses were founded. King Vakhtang built a cathedral in Nikozi (Inner Kartli) and established a new diocese there, to which he translated the holy relics of the Protomartyr Razhden.
King Vakhtang built fortresses at Tukhari, Artanuji, and Akhiza; founded monasteries in Klarjeti at Artanuji, Mere, Shindobi, and Akhiza; and established many other strongholds, churches, and monasteries as well. He built a new royal residence in Ujarma and laid the foundations of the new Georgian capital, Tbilisi. His political creed consisted of three parts: an equal union of the Georgian Church with the Byzantine Church, national independence, and the unity of the Church and nation.
In the year 502 the sixty-year-old King Vakhtang was obliged to defend his country for the last time. In a battle with the Persians he was fatally wounded when a poisoned arrow pierced him under the arm. Before he died, King Vakhtang summoned the clergy, his family and his court and urged them to be strong in the Faith and to seek death for Christ’s sake in order to gain eternal glory.
All of Georgia mourned the passing of the king. His body was moved from the royal residence in Ujarma to Mtskheta, to Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, which he had himself built. There he was buried with great honor.
Some fifteen centuries later, with the blessing of Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II, an addition was built onto the Sioni Patriarchal Cathedral in Holy King Vakhtang Gorgasali’s name, and a cathedral in his honor was founded in the city of Rustavi.
O Holy and Right-believing Vakhtang Gorgasali, pray to our merciful God to grant remission of our sins and have mercy on our souls!
For further information on the book THE LIVES OF THE GEORGIAN SAINTS by Archpriest Zakaria Machitadze contact St. Herman Press:
St. Herman Press, P.O. Box 70, Platina, CA 96076
17 / 12 / 2007
Also here you can read
St. Lawrence of Chernigov: Some Prophecies and Statements on the Ukrainian Situation
Venerable Werburgh of Mercia, Patroness of Chester
Homily On The Meeting Of The Lord
The Meeting of the Lord in Icons and Frescoes
Sermon on the Day of the Russian New-Martyrs
Venerable Cadoc, Abbot of Llancarfan in Wales
A Miracle of St. Xenia the Fool-for-Christ in France
“I have seen a holy man.” On the Repose Day of Archimandrite John (Krestiankin)
On Actuality and Reality (for the commemoration of St. Anthony the Great)
Venerable Ita of Limerick, “Foster-mother of the Irish Saints”
The Interrogation Before Death Lasted 16 Days and Nights | <urn:uuid:c919c3d1-7eb7-4081-91fe-32f20596c36b> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/7367.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936463460.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074103-00185-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962646 | 1,382 | 2.921875 | 3 |
The back and forth brawl between studies suggesting that cell phones do and don't cause cancer just took a bold step toward the former camp today, with the World Health Organisation classifying cellphones as potential links to brain cancer.
The study, conducted by the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer, stops far short of saying phones cause cancer. Rather, the agency's grouped regular cellphone usage (defined as 30 minutes of talk-time per day) as a "possible" cause of glioma, a malignant form of brain cancer—up to a 40% increased chance, according to one cited study. As one researcher puts it, "There could be some risk, and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between cell phones and cancer risk." This might sound insignificant—the study says chance, as opposed to causation, can't be ruled out—but it's unprecedented. The WHO is a global authority on medicine, and its findings mark the most comprehensive statement on cellular radiation danger. By classifying cellphone usage as a possible, or "Class 2B" carcinogen, your iPhone or Android's now on the same list as DDT, burning coal, herpes, and working in a print factory (among hundreds of other potential carcinogens).
The IARC defines 2B classification—the zone between a definitive cancer cause and inconclusive murk—thusly:
This category is used for agents for which there is limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and less than sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals. It may also be used when there is inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans but there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals. In some instances, an agent for which there is inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and less than sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals together with
supporting evidence from mechanistic and other relevant data may be placed in this group. An agent may be classified in this category solely on the basis of strong evidence from mechanistic and other relevant data.
So it's not a definitive danger. But cellphone use is officially a risk. Luckily, we're decreasingly using them to actually talk into—smartphones might be helping us dodge brain cancer. [via Telegraph, Photo: Shutterstock/Aleksandr Markin]
The IARC's release can be read in full below:
IARC CLASSIFIES RADIOFREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS AS POSSIBLY CARCINOGENIC TO HUMANS
Lyon, France, May 31, 2011 ‐‐ The WHO/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B), based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer1, associated with wireless phone use.
Over the last few years, there has been mounting concern about the possibility of adverse health effects resulting from exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, such as those emitted by wireless communication devices. The number of mobile phone subscriptions is estimated at 5 billion globally.
From May 24–31 2011, a Working Group of 31 scientists from 14 countries has been meeting at IARC in Lyon, France, to assess the potential carcinogenic hazards from exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. These assessments will be published as Volume 102 of the IARC Monographs, which will be the fifth volume in this series to focus on physical agents, after Volume 55 (Solar Radiation), Volume 75 and Volume 78 on ionizing radiation (X‐rays, gamma‐rays, neutrons, radio‐nuclides), and Volume 80 on non‐ionizing radiation (extremely low‐frequency electromagnetic fields).
The IARC Monograph Working Group discussed the possibility that these exposures might induce long‐term health effects, in particular an increased risk for cancer. This has relevance for public health, particularly for users of mobile phones, as the number of users is large and growing, particularly among young adults and children.
The IARC Monograph Working Group discussed and evaluated the available literature on the following exposure categories involving radiofrequency electromagnetic fields:
␣ occupational exposures to radar and to microwaves;
␣ environmental exposures associated with transmission of signals for radio, television and
wireless telecommunication; and
␣ personal exposures associated with the use of wireless telephones.
International experts shared the complex task of tackling the exposure data, the studies of cancer in humans, the studies of cancer in experimental animals, and the mechanistic and other relevant data.
The evidence was reviewed critically, and overall evaluated as being limited2 among users of wireless telephones for glioma and acoustic neuroma, and inadequate3 to draw conclusions for other types of cancers. The evidence from the occupational and environmental exposures mentioned above was similarly judged inadequate. The Working Group did not quantitate the risk; however, one study of past cell phone use (up to the year 2004), showed a 40% increased risk for gliomas in the highest category of heavy users (reported average: 30 minutes per day over a 10‐year period).
Dr Jonathan Samet (University of Southern California, USA), overall Chairman of the Working Group, indicated that "the evidence, while still accumulating, is strong enough to support a conclusion and the 2B classification. The conclusion means that there could be some risk, and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between cell phones and cancer risk."
"Given the potential consequences for public health of this classification and findings," said IARC Director Christopher Wild, "it is important that additional research be conducted into the long‐ term, heavy use of mobile phones. Pending the availability of such information, it is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure such as hands‐free devices or texting. "
The Working Group considered hundreds of scientific articles; the complete list will be published in the Monograph. It is noteworthy to mention that several recent in‐press scientific articles4 resulting from the Interphone study were made available to the working group shortly before it was due to convene, reflecting their acceptance for publication at that time, and were included in the evaluation.
A concise report summarizing the main conclusions of the IARC Working Group and the evaluations of the carcinogenic hazard from radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (including the use of mobile telephones) will be published in The Lancet Oncology in its July 1 issue, and in a few days online.
For more information, please contact Dr Kurt Straif, IARC Monographs Section, at +33 472 738 511, or email@example.com; Dr Robert Baan, IARC Monographs Section, at +33 472 738 659, or firstname.lastname@example.org; or Nicolas Gaudin, IARC Communications Group, at email@example.com (+33 472 738 478)
Link to the audio file posted shortly after the briefing: http://terrance.who.int/mediacentre/audio/press_briefings/ | <urn:uuid:2d8009c4-f899-493a-8d50-3f2a38873687> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://gizmodo.com/5807049/cellphones-deemed-possibly-carcinogenic-by-worlds-leading-cancer-experts?tag=cellphones | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936463444.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074103-00163-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92837 | 1,448 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Conservationists and park officials have managed to protect the Virunga population of highly endangered mountain gorillas despite protracted conflict in and around their habitat, the mountains where Congo-Kinshasa meets Rwanda and Uganda. The population of this group, one of two groups left in the world, has increased by at least 11 percent since the last full count in 1989.
The group grew from 320 to 355 individuals, based on monitoring data from the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP), a joint initiative by the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), Fauna and Flora International and the World Wide Fund for Nature (International), and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGF-I).
IGCP monitors the entire range of the mountain gorillas (both populations). DFGF monitors the research groups of gorillas in Rwanda. Together, these data show that the population has been slowly increasing, despite the war and conflict in the region, and the enormous threats on the habitat. The Virunga population represents more than half the total world population of mountain gorillas. The only other population lives in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda.
"This success proves that even in a region hammered by conflict and crises, there is hope," says Annette Lanjouw, Director of the International Gorilla Conservation Programme. "There is a future for both people and wildlife, when people work together despite political differences." R. Michael Wright, President of AWF, agrees. "The increase in the mountain gorilla's population is indeed a tremendous accomplishment, and African Wildlife Foundation is proud of our role in conservation in the Virunga Heartland," says Wright. "IGCP was the only conservation organization that continuously maintained operations during political and social unrest, and this commitment has certainly proved successful."
Civil unrest, armed conflict and genocide have plagued the Great Lakes region for the last 10 years. The Virunga volcanoes range, the habitat of one of the two populations of mountain gorillas has been in the centre of the fighting and the instability in the region. This forest, straddling the borders between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been repeatedly used by various armed groups, including the infamous Interahamwe, as a transit corridor and a rear base for their military activities.
Over the years, thousands of civilians have sought refuge in the Virungas, and many of them remained in the volcanic forest for long periods of time, relying on hunting for bush meat and small scale farming for their survival. About 15 gorillas are known to have been killed as a direct consequence of this war. Military and militia movements through the forest have certainly affected many of them, and have had a negative impact on the habitat as a whole.
A census of the Virunga population of mountain gorillas, conducted in 1989 by a number of national and international conservation organisations, showed the population to number 320 individuals. From the daily monitoring of the research and tourism gorilla groups, and the sightings of wild groups, it appears that the current population stands at a minimum of 355 known gorillas. This figure is most likely an underestimate, with more individuals to be counted, and it represents a significant increase from the 1989 census. An analysis, currently in preparation by IGCP, DFGF-I, the Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation (ITFC) and the Max Planck Institute will describe in more detail the population increase observed.
Conservationists stress that the increase can be directly traced to the sheer dedication of field staff operating on the ground. Park rangers and trackers, many of whom have been killed or wounded while on duty in Rwanda and DR Congo, have been patrolling the forest continuously throughout the years of civil unrest. This dedicated work has limited the damage to the habitat and the population of gorillas.
The park authorities of the three countries - the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), the Office Rwandais du Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux (ORTPN) and the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) - and their governments, have never relinquished their pledge to protect this endangered and unique subspecies of gorilla. The regional collaboration and monitoring of the forest and gorillas is one of the central activities of these institutions.
The national parks authorities have benefited from the continued support of the above-mentioned international conservation organisations. These organisations have been working together, demonstrating the value of collaborative efforts.
The plight of the mountain gorilla is not over, however. The crisis in the Great Lakes region continues, and threats to the forests, the wildlife and people of this region are becoming increasingly acute. Continued commitment will have to be ensured in order to secure the long-term protection of these forests, and the gorillas. Widespread poverty and continued violence, as well as habitat encroachment, poaching, and lack of resources for conservation are still tangible threats.
Conservation groups estimate that there are approximately 650 mountain gorillas in the world, all of which are in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. They are divided into two populations. One population, in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest of Uganda, numbers approximately 300 individuals. The second population, in the Virunga forest, straddling the borders of Rwanda, DRC and Uganda, numbers at least 350 individuals. The mountain gorilla is one of the rarest of the gorilla subspecies. Gorillas are one of human's closest relatives, living in stable family groups. Their primary threats are from humans, through poaching, habitat destruction, disease transmission and war/conflict.
1400 16th St NW Suite 120
Washington DC, USA
1400 16th St NW Suite 120
Washington DC, USA | <urn:uuid:89e872d2-ba18-4563-bf09-cb54ce845c46> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.awf.org/news/mountain-gorilla-group-grows-despite-decade-armed-conflict | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936463411.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074103-00141-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928401 | 1,167 | 3.546875 | 4 |
March 10, 1999
Listed below are story ideas from Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.
ADULT MONO DIFFICULT TO DIAGNOSE
Men suffering mid-life crises sometimes act like teenagers, zooming around in sports cars, staying out late, and -- coming down with "mono"?
Upwards of 10 percent of adults may be susceptible to the enervating "kissing sickness," and diagnosing it can be tricky, says Paul Auwaerter, M.D., Johns Hopkins infectious disease specialist.
While in teenagers infectious mononucleosis, or "mono," typically begins with fatigue, fever, sore throat and swollen lymph nodes, symptoms in adults vary widely. "When people get in their 30s and older, it no longer resembles typical mono," says Auwaerter. "They usually get the fever but not the other symptoms typical in teenagers. It can masquerade as other syndromes."
That's exactly what happened with a 42-year-old man who had a persistent fever and a series of other ailments, including pneumonia. The man made several trips to the clinic, leaving doctors puzzled when tests for hepatitis and other diseases were negative. When Auwaerter was called in on the case, he inspected the patient's blood and found twisted, deformed white cells -- a telltale sign of mono. A sensitive antibody test confirmed the diagnosis.
Eighty years before Auwaerter solved that minor mystery, when mono was not yet known, two Hopkins pathologists confronted a similar puzzle. After examining the blood of six young patients with the typical symptoms of mono, the physicians saw the misshapen cells. They feared the worst: leukemia. But in a matter of weeks, the six patients recovered without treatment, leading the doctors to conclude an acute, unknown infection was the culprit. They wrote a thorough description of the case -- possibly the first -- and published it in a 1920 issue of the now-defunct Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin.
Today, scientists know infectious mononucleosis is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (which also has been linked to some cancers) and is often spread via saliva. Like chicken pox virus, Epstein-Barr exposure inoculates against further infection, making it uncommon in adults. A description of Auwaerter's case can be found in the Feb. 3 Journal of the American Medical Association.
For more information on infectious mononucleosis, visit http://www.intelihealth.com.
UNLOCKING HEARING'S BIOCHEMICAL BASIS
New research from Johns Hopkins shows that hearing is a biochemical process, not simply a mechanical vibration of the organs of the inner ear. By explaining how tiny hair cells inside the ear respond to different pitches at the molecular level, the work also provides a target for further studies into causes of and cures for hearing loss.
Led by Paul Fuchs, Ph.D., professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, the Hopkins team identified and cloned genes for certain proteins in hair cells, which lie along the spiral-shaped cochlea. One of the proteins, dubbed the beta chain, is spread along the cochlea in a gradient that suggests it is crucial for hearing low frequencies.
The cochlear proteins build small channels that allow potassium ions to flow into and out of the hair cells. Previous work showed that the speed with which these potassium channels open and close is related to the frequency of sound: Lower sound means slower potassium. Fuchs set out to discover why, at the molecular level, this was so.
His team found that one of the channel-building proteins, the alpha chain, occurs in several forms and is distributed evenly across the cochlea. But whenever a beta chain was added to an alpha-chain channel, potassium currents slowed down, "as though the beta chain ought to occur in low frequency hair cells," says Fuchs. Further work showed that the beta chain does indeed bunch up at the wide, floppy end of the organ, the region where low frequency sounds are perceived.
Knowing the structure and genetics of the ion channels is of particular interest because the channels regulate calcium flow into the hair cells. Too much calcium kills the cells, which are essential for hearing.
"We'd like to look at gene products like these potassium channels in the context of aging, to see if they might be involved in age-related hearing loss," said Fuchs.
Along with co-authors Krishnan Ramanathan, Timothy H. Michael, Guo-Jian Jiang and Hakim Hiel, Fuchs published the study in the January 8, 1999, issue of Science.
PREVENT ILLNESS WHEN TRAVELING THIS SPRING
You wouldn't leave home without your suitcase, tickets and itinerary, yet many people travel without another essential -- a medical check-up.
Experts at Johns Hopkins Travel Medicine and Immunization Service, one of the oldest travel clinics in the country, say a pre-departure consultation is the key to decreasing the risk of illness and injury while traveling abroad.
"We practice 100 percent preventative medicine," says Judy Baker, M.P.H., the clinic's assistant director. Bradley Sack, M.D., Baker and the rest of the clinic staff have all lived and worked abroad extensively, offering their hands-on expertise to travelers for 13 years.
The Hopkins clinic offers up-to-date information tailored to each traveler's health past and travel future. Individual, family and group consultations, vaccinations, prescriptions, and reference materials are available, as are post-travel diagnosis and treatment. Baker says of the clinic's 4,000 annual visits, only 5 percent are for post-travel illness.
The clinic continues to prepare all types of travelers, including adventure seekers, disaster relief workers, and a growing number of couples headed abroad to adopt.
The clinic's experts offer these healthy travel tips:
Get immunized -- Diseases that are virtually unknown in northern climes are more common in popular tropical destinations. Vaccines for hepatitis A and B, yellow fever, typhoid and other diseases are available. In addition, medicine to prevent malaria can be prescribed.
Prevent diarrhea -- Bacteria, viruses and parasites can all cause this unwelcome annoyance, which can leave travelers dehydrated and exhausted. Most cases are transmitted through tainted food or water, so drink only bottled or boiled water. Also beware of unpasteurized dairy and uncooked or unpeeled foods. Over-the-counter preparations can counteract symptoms but do not cure diarrhea. Oral rehydration solution and a short course of antibiotics are prescribed for severe cases.
Combat jet lag -- Melatonin, a sleep-regulating hormone sold over-the-counter, can readjust your biological clock when taken at the right times. On the day of departure, take one three to five mg tablet one hour before your destination's bedtime. Then take one tablet for three to five nights, before bedtime, upon arrival.
Plan -- Keep medications in your carry-on luggage, take along a medicine kit, and know where to find help in case of emergencies. Practice safe sex and pack sunscreen.
To schedule an appointment at the clinic, call 410-955-8931.
More information on travel medicine is available on the Internet at www.hopkins-id.edu. Click on "Travel Medicine" at the top of the page.
To arrange an interview with the clinic staff or its traveling patients, call Brian Vastag at (410) 955-8665 or e-mail email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:21b5dcc5-4685-4c89-a28a-f532169c6af0> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://esgweb1.nts.jhu.edu/press/1999/MARCH/990310.HTM | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936535306.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074215-00152-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933055 | 1,571 | 2.90625 | 3 |
On this President’s Day I was thinking about what makes someone a good President of the United States? Is it the age he (or hopefully someday she) was born into? Would Abraham Lincoln have been a less effective chief executive had he governed at the turn of century rather than during the Civil War? Or is it something inherently presidential in the person? Is it just predestined for this one to be a sequoia while another one is kindling wood?
Sometimes I think it is perception. Someone like Harry Truman could say “The Buck Stops Here” and make it sound absolutely presidential; someone like George H. Bush could say “Read my lips” and slip into infamy faster than Charlie Sheen on a bender. I guess it could be the times and world events that shape a presidency, or it may just be that one guy is just better than the other.
I look at presidents and think of accomplishments; I also think family influences us a great deal in thinking about them as well. For example, my uncle always kept a beautiful picture of a young John F. Kennedy on his office wall. I was greatly moved every time I saw that picture, and my uncle’s feelings about the man were also told in stories. While I don’t remember JFK as being president, I know of his legacy from history but also have strong positive feelings about him from family.
I have also heard very negative things from family members about presidents. So growing up and hearing negative things about Herbert Hoover and positive stories about Franklin Delano Roosevelt would probably slant my feelings in a certain way. Also, as a student of history, I was certainly taught very positive things about FDR while the thing that stands clear in my mind about Hoover is the Hoovervilles: the many homeless shantytowns that sprung up all over the nation due to the Great Depression under his watch.
I am very conscious now of how I speak about presidents to my children. Since I remember Watergate vividly, it is hard for me to say anything positive about Richard Nixon, yet I still manage to say something like “he opened the door to China” and even of Jimmy Carter “he brought Israel and Egypt together in the peace process.” While I may personally think of both men as kindling more than presidential timber, I am not going to let those thoughts warp my kids’ perceptions of these men: they’ll get enough of that in school someday.
I have always thought of the great presidents as being larger than life, and those faces on Mount Rushmore provide clear evidence that many other people agree in reference to those four faces etched in stone in South Dakota. Is that monument in and of itself a greater influence than history? Well, many of us grow up with these thoughts: George Washington – Father of Our Country! Thomas Jefferson – Author of the Declaration of Independence! Theodore Roosevelt- Speak softly and carry a big stick! Abraham Lincoln – The Great Emancipator!
Surely, these four men stand out as exemplary presidential timber, yet they were not perfect. Of the four, I have always held Lincoln in the highest regard. Perhaps it was because he kept a divided nation from falling apart, or maybe it was that “Gettysburg Address” I memorized in fifth grade. Without question he has always been the one I have held other presidents up against, and many of them fail to make the cut.
I think JFK may have made his presidency legendary in his Inaugural Address. He uttered one of the greatest lines ever spoken by a president: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country!” Man, that still gives me the shivers as I think about the power of those words. They remain a shining example of what it means to lead and to do so with distinction. The fact that he was cut down by an assassin just as Lincoln was doesn’t hurt our perceptions either, making us feel they were both martyrs for their country.
Our last two presidents – George W. Bush and Barack Obama – have had war become the thing that frames their presidencies. Bush had a relatively quiet first year until 9/11 shook everyone’s world, and nothing (including the presidency) would ever be the same. Bush’s reaction to that event shaped his presidency, forcing him to almost have to recant his campaign slogan “I’m a uniter not a divider” and become the hunter of evildoers. How history will see this man is debatable, but many felt he focused too much on foreign concerns and forgot about the people at home – most notably during the Hurricane Katrina debacle.
Obama had to walk into a wartime presidency. One could say that he knew what he was getting into, but I don’t think anyone knows what it will be like until he has to sit in the Oval Office everyday. Obama has been tough – the strong sequoia against the battering winds – but we have to hope he can stay strong amidst the onslaught of all the negativity that is out there. As we witness the fall of governments in the Middle East (some of which have been staunch allies for the US in the region), you have to wonder what beasts will eventually slouch toward Bethlehem, and how ready Mr. Obama will be for a new world order that could include wars on a large scale across that region. It seems it is going to get a lot harder for Mr. Obama before it gets better.
So what makes outstanding presidential timber? I think it is something innate, some kind of genetic ability to stand tall and strong. Lincoln had it, and in my opinion so did Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Truman, JFK, and Ronald Reagan. Whether I liked or disliked what they did in office, I am able to see them as standing above the rest, the tall sequoia trees above a birch forest.
Barack Obama may one day join that group because I think he has that same innate strength, but he will have to be able to withstand the many axes (both foreign and domestic) that are ready to be plunged against his trunk in the years ahead. Only then will we know if he stays standing or becomes kindling wood for history.
Photo Credit: travelkat.comPowered by Sidelines | <urn:uuid:831866c7-9779-462a-a19c-c22ca6e7b086> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://blogcritics.org/what-makes-someone-presidential-timber-or/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936462232.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074102-00310-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982504 | 1,311 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Arts and Crafts/Thatching
|Arts and Crafts
East Africa Division
|Skill Level Unknown|
|Year of Introduction: Unknown|
The Thatching Honor is a component of the Artisan Master Award .
- 1 1. Make a list of the various tools needed for thatching, stating their uses, and show a "dekspaan" and a "needle" you have made.
- 2 2. State what materials are needed in erecting the framework of a roof ready for thatching. Tell briefly how you go about erecting the framework of a rondavel.
- 3 3. Name the various materials required for thatching, including several kinds of thatching "grasses" and thatching "threads". Show samples of these.
- 4 4. Answer the following questions on the preparation of thatching material:
- 5 5. a. Can any shape of roof be thatched?
- 6 5. b. Which is the easiest roof to thatch?
- 7 5. c. What are some of the advantages of a thatched roof?
- 8 5. d. What are some of the things that damage thatch? How would you protect a thatched roof against such?
- 9 6. Have some practical knowledge on how to thatch and demonstrate ability in laying a few short rows of thatch.
- 10 7. a. How many workers are needed in thatching a rondavel?
- 11 7. b. Describe how you would start thatching a rondavel?
- 12 7. c. Tell, if possible demonstrate, how you would finish off: (1) a round roof (2) a gabled roof
- 13 References
1. Make a list of the various tools needed for thatching, stating their uses, and show a "dekspaan" and a "needle" you have made.
- Thatch comb
- Also called a leggatt, idekspan, grasdekspan or a thatching spade.
- Straight needle
- Curved needle
- Climbing hooks
- Shearing hook
- Eaves knife
- Side rake
- Sheep shears
- Spar knife
2. State what materials are needed in erecting the framework of a roof ready for thatching. Tell briefly how you go about erecting the framework of a rondavel.
3. Name the various materials required for thatching, including several kinds of thatching "grasses" and thatching "threads". Show samples of these.
4. Answer the following questions on the preparation of thatching material:
a. When is the grass cut and how is it stacked for storing?
Grass is cut after it has gone to seed and most of the seed has been dispersed. This is usually after the first frost (in areas where frost occurs), which also stops active growth of the grass.
Grass should be bundled as soon as it is harvested and stacked off the ground and under cover. It needs to be protected from the elements while it cures.
b. How is the grass "combed" and made ready for thatching?
A sickle is run through the bundles to remove any leaves and to straighten the thatch. This will help it to be tightly packed, which is necessary if it is to be water proof and resist fire.
c. How is thatching rope made? What raw materials are used in your locality?
5. a. Can any shape of roof be thatched?
No. A roof needs to have a pitch of at least 45° or steeper, or it is not suited to thatching. Thatched roofs should be as simple as possible, though complex roofs are frequently thatched. Dormers, multiple ridges, and valleys should be avoided, though they can be accommodated.
5. b. Which is the easiest roof to thatch?
A conical roof is easiest to thatch because the thatcher simply starts at the bottom and goes around until he has circled the entire structure. Then the next layer is added. With a conical roof, there are no tricky corners or transitions to worry about except at the peak which is a single point.
5. c. What are some of the advantages of a thatched roof?
Thatched roofs use native materials which avoids the cost and expense of manufacture and transport. Thatch is also a cheap and usually abundant building material which blends well with the house's surrounding environment.
Thatched roofs are not uncommon among luxury homes (especially in the U.K.) because of the aesthetic charm. A well-thatched roof which is well cared for can be expected have a lifespan exceeding 50 years. By comparison, asphalt shingled roofs have an expected lifespan of only 20 to 30 years.
5. d. What are some of the things that damage thatch? How would you protect a thatched roof against such?
The greatest disadvantage of thatch is that when it catches on fire, it is extremely difficult to extinguish. Thatch roofs do not catch on fire any more frequently than other types of combustible roofs, but when they do ignite, damage is extensive. Some insurance companies will not insure a building with a thatched roof because of this, and also because skilled thatchers are sometimes very expensive to hire.
Fire can be abated by treating thatch with a fire retardant. A law was passed in London, England in 1212 requiring all existing thatched roofs to be whitewashed with plaster daub.
The construction of the thatched roof also plays a key role in its susceptibility to fire. Thatch should be densely packed, between 35 to 50 kg/m2, and at least 175 mm thick.
Wire should not be used in the construction of a thatched building, as it is a conductor of lightning. Rather, natural materials should be used to bind the thatch, such as sisal twine.
The building should also be equipped with proper lightning protection.
No wiring should enter the building through the thatch (including electrical, telephone, cable TV, etc.). Rather, it should enter either underground through a conduit, or through a non-thatched wall. Antennas should never be mounted on a thatched roof.
The roof should be regularly groomed so that loose straws (which are easily ignited) are removed.
Thatch is obviously an organic material, and as such, it is susceptible to decay. To protect against this, the thatch should not be harvested until after the first frost has ended its growing season. After it is harvested, it should be stored off the ground and under cover. Leaves should not be allowed to accumulate on the roof of a thatched building, and the roof should be steep - at least 45° - to facilitate the rapid runoff of water. The growth of vegetation on a thatched roof inhibits runoff, so it should be removed quickly if it takes hold.
Thatch may be attacked by all manner of vermin, though their numbers are usually held quite low. Any number of poisons can be sprayed on the thatch to eliminate this problem.
6. Have some practical knowledge on how to thatch and demonstrate ability in laying a few short rows of thatch.
7. a. How many workers are needed in thatching a rondavel?
A rondavel is usually thatched by a team of four people.
The first worker passes the bundles of thatch up to the workers on the roof. Before doing this, he will butt the end of the bundle on a flat surface. This blunts the ends of the straws and lines them up.
Two more people work on top of the roof, and a fourth person works from the inside. | <urn:uuid:c53e69fb-19d3-4292-ae31-4adf27a17c2f> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Adventist_Youth_Honors_Answer_Book/Arts_and_Crafts/Thatching | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936461359.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074101-00179-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955927 | 1,624 | 3.34375 | 3 |
But at a community workshop Tuesday evening about how the road could be made safer for bicyclists, several dozen residents saw a different color: green.
Green bike lanes are rapidly becoming part of Palo Alto's urban roadscape. The rubbery-looking surface marks out a defined bike lane that is hard to miss, even when in the middle of the road, as on Park Boulevard south of California Avenue, residents at the meeting said.
Although some residents said they think the green color is ugly, bicyclists said it is a vast safety improvement over traditional single white-line-striped bike lanes at the road edge or "sharrows" (arrows directing bikers and motorists to share the lane) stenciled with a bike symbol.
Most at the meeting agreed the city should improve Arastradero Road with additions that would change human behavior — whether to slow traffic, make motorists more mindful of pedestrians or reduce student bicyclists' urges to travel in packs instead of single file.
Parent Jessica Rothberg has seen how green bike lanes alter how people act. With her teenage daughter behind the wheel, Rothberg watched in horror as three girls precariously rode their bikes three abreast across El Camino around a pork-chop-shaped cement island in the road.
Common teen etiquette would not leave one girl behind when riding in odd numbers, she said. But when the girls approached a green bike lane near El Camino Way, they switched to safer riding behavior. Two rode side by side and the third rode behind, all staying within the lane, she said.
Elizabeth Bonnet, another parent, also feels the green lanes are safer and more visible.
"It's so much more comfortable. I feel like the green lane is a safe place, like along Park Boulevard," she said. Stenciled sharrows are confusing, though, the parents agreed.
Transportation studies have found that green lanes shift a substantial percentage of bicyclists away from the "door zone," where they are often struck by opening car doors of parked cars. The changes in behavior were more pronounced than those found in studies of sharrows without the green pavement.
Green-lane experiments in Long Beach and Minneapolis documented corresponding decreases in auto-bicycle collision rates, according to a report by the City of Oakland.
Another road feature, green "bike boxes," enable cyclists to move from the right-hand bike lane to a painted green rectangle located directly in front of a vehicle at stop lights. The vividly marked space allows drivers to see the bike; cyclists can easily make left turns without entering the roadway from the driver's blind side, said Penny Ellson, traffic safety representative for Gunn High School.
The Charleston-Arastradero corridor serves 11 schools of all grades. The busy road is an east-west connector between U.S. Highway 101 and Interstate 280. It is the largest arterial in the city's south, serving multiple modes of transportation, from buses and cars to bikes and pedestrians, Ellson said.
And it is a dangerous stretch of roadway for ever-increasing student traffic. At Gunn High School alone, 871 students rode their bikes to school during peak hours, according to an October 2013 count, she said. And more kids on bikes are expected to flock to school. Terman Middle School is adding about 200 new bike racks, she said.
"We've learned that when you build it, they come," Ellson said of the anticipated bike traffic.
The city's consultants and engineers are considering multiple roadway changes, including creating a "cycle track" that is separated from traffic by an island or curb. With streets, driveways, turning lanes, stop lights and lanes that narrow from four to two in places, however, the task is not as simple as adding green paint.
Ellson and others offered other suggestions Tuesday. For instance, a landscaped median island would slow traffic and raise awareness, Ellson said.
"Studies have shown that when you put objects close to peripheral vision, people start scanning for pedestrians, and when they do that, they release pressure from their gas pedals and slow down," she said.
Others suggested that existing "pork chop" islands at El Camino Real and Arastradero, which residents said obstruct the view for drivers and cause a squeeze for bicyclists who must compete with turning cars, be removed.
Jimmy Sims, project engineer for consultant Mark Thomas & Company, Inc., said the firm is currently working on aerial mapping and counting traffic.
Various plans will be presented to the public in August, with a review by the city boards in the fall.
A finalized plan will be developed by fall or winter 2015, followed by an environmental review.
A construction design is scheduled to be completed in winter 2016.
The plan will include left-turn refinements, bulb-out improvements, bike boxes, enhanced crosswalks, widened sidewalks and improved vehicle-traffic flow.
But the actual work could take until 2018 or beyond to complete, Holly Boyd, city senior engineer, said. The city has a $450,000 grant for work on Charleston Road between Alma Street and Middlefield Road; a $1 million grant would cover work on Arastradero between Gunn High School and Georgia Avenue. The remainder would not start until there is funding, she said.
That isn't necessarily a bad thing, considering the confusion and traffic snarls that have been the corridor's legacy in recent years.
"It would not be feasible to construct the entire corridor at one time. That would be a nightmare," she said.
More information and updates on the project are available at cityofpaloalto.org/cacorridor. | <urn:uuid:c7971fe8-9cdc-4ce1-ad77-3664e848a6c4> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.paloaltoonline.com/print/story/2014/05/23/residents-seeing-green-over-charleston-arastradero-bike-boulevard | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936463318.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074103-00119-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961749 | 1,169 | 2.53125 | 3 |
A 3D laser scanner is a high tech device that has the ability to accurately capture the surface of objects and provide real 3D data back to the user.
A 3D laser scanner works because of the principle of laser triangulation. By making a triangle between the scanner lens, laser, and object being scanned accurate 3D data can be obtained. The distance between the scanner lens and laser (parallax base) is known and with the angle of the laser given by the galvanometer, all information is provided to obtain x, y, z coordinates of the objects surface. The laser is swept across the object by the galvanometer, which rotates a small mirror that reflects the laser. The surface of the object is then focused through the lens and captured by the CCD inside the scanner. A dense point cloud is then produced through our software.
We Choose Specifics Based On Your Application
3D imagers are complicated imaging systems and their performance cannot be summed up with a single characteristic. 3D Digital Corp. is one of the few companies that provides a detailed description of the 3D scanner performance and thus allow a user to select a scanner that is ideally suited to their application and to know with high confidence that the scanner will be able to meet their requirements.
3D Laser Scanner Performance Factors
The performance of the 3d laser scanner is determined by a large number of factors. We describe the performance in terms of the following properties:
- Co-ordinate System
- Resolution: the smallest discernible feature on the target. Alternatively, an equivalent definition is the minimum separation between two target features where the two features are distinguishable in the image.
- Accuracy: the standard deviation of the range measurement. This is often referred to as the ‘error’ in the range measurement.
- Point density: The distance between neighboring range measurement points.
- Depth of field: This describes the range over which the 3d laser scanner can obtain an accurate image.
- Field of view: This determines how large a target can be imaged in a single scan.
3D Laser Scanner Co-ordinate System
We define a right handed co-ordinate system with an origin at the center of the 3d laser scanner imaging lens. The x-axis is parallel to the long axis of the scanner front plate (this is horizontal in the usual scanning geometry). The y-axis is parallel to the short axis of the 3d laser scanner front plate (vertical in the usual scanning geometry), and the z-axis is the range, or the distance perpendicular to the scanner front plate. The co-ordinate system is illustrated in the following figure.
3D Laser Scanner Resolution
The resolution of the 3d laser scanner refers to the ability of an imaging system to measure the angular separation between two objects (or object features) that are close together. The resolution is a limitation of the scanner in the x-y dimensions. For example if a target has embossed lettering, and the font size is smaller than the resolution of the scanner then the text will not be legible in the scanned image, regardless of the height (z-depth) of the lettering.
The resolution is determined by three major factors: the laser stripe width, the lens focal length, and the CCD resolution. The resolution is dependent on the target distance and generally gets worse with increasing range.
Accuracy of 3D laser scanners
While the resolution affects the image quality in the x and y dimensions, the accuracy refers to the image quality in the z (or depth, or range) dimension. 3DD scanners calculate the range of each point on the target object. CCD noise, imperfect optics, and fundamental laws of physics all result in some error in the calculated range. It is not possible to design a 3d laser scanner that does not have some error. The accuracy is a measure of this error. It is defined as the standard deviation of the difference between the measured range and the actual range to a target. The range error is approximately Gaussian in nature. This implies that if we scan a perfectly flat plane, at a fixed range of 245mm (10″), and if the accuracy of the scanner is 250microns (0.01″), and we build a histogram of the ranges of each of the points it would look like the one shown in the following figure. 65% of the range points will lie within +/- 1 standard deviation from the mean, i.e.: +/-250microns (+/- 0.01″). 95% of the range points will lie within +/- 2 standard deviations from the mean, i.e.: +/-250microns (+/- 0.02″).
Point Density of 3D laser scanners
Point density refers to the distance between neighboring range measurement points. This will be different in the x and y dimensions. The x density is determined by the number of scan lines, while the y density is determined by the CCD resolution. For example if the user selects to scan with 500 lines and the CCD has 480 vertical pixels the point density is 500 x 480. At a range of 300mm (12″), this corresponds to a point spacing of 0.61mm x 0.64mm (0.024″ x 0.025″).
3D laser scanner Depth of Field
The depth of field or ‘depth of focus’ refers to the range of distances over which a focused image is obtained. As with a normal camera our products are focused for a particular range. Objects outside this range will result in blurred images and inaccurate range data. Therefore the 3D Digital software automatically discards range data for objects outside the design range. This ensures that the output data is all within our specified accuracy. The following figure illustrates the concept of depth of field.
Field of View on 3D laser scanners
The field of view of the scanner determines the largest object that can be imaged using a single scan. The field of view is normally expressed as an angle and it describes the angle of a cone within which an object must be placed for the 3d laser scanner to be able to image it. The field of view cone is illustrated in the following figure. The tip of the cone is at the center of the imaging lens. Obviously the larger the target to be imaged the further away from the scanner it must be placed. A disadvantage of this is that the accuracy of the scanner generally decreases at longer ranges, so a large field of view is generally very attractive as it allows large targets to be imaged with high accuracy.
Learn More about 3D Laser Scanners
Learn more about how the software and 3d laser scanner hardware work together and what it can be used for: | <urn:uuid:d783cd55-ce8f-41a6-b0b9-ae5da6fcb4f6> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.3ddigitalcorp.com/3d-laser-scanner.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936463165.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074103-00098-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923016 | 1,371 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Youth is too beautiful to be wasted on the young. That may have been true in the 19th Century, but in 21st-century San Diego — and elsewhere — being youthful is no longer so beautiful, at least from an economic standpoint. The recession hit young adults harder than other age groups, and they have gained back less ground than older generations in the recovery.
According to the organization Generation Opportunity, the national unemployment rate for people 18 to 29 years of age is 13.1 percent, well above the overall rate. San Diego’s equivalent rate would probably be a bit higher, says Kelly Cunningham, economist for the National University System Institute for Policy Research. Reason: the San Diego economy is weaker than the national economy.
Vince Vasquez, senior policy analyst at the same institute, says that the unemployment rate for San Diego military veterans 18 to 34 years of age is 13.4 percent. But the rate is only 8.1 percent for the next-older cohort, veterans 35 to 54.
Many of today’s millennial generation (ages 18 to 29) have recently entered the job market. Strike one. “Research has shown that workers who enter the labor market during a recession can see long-term negative effects on their employment and earnings,” according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. A Pew Research study last year showed that almost half of people age 18 to 34 took a job they didn’t want so they could pay their bills. Because of the weak economy, more than one-third have gone back to school and almost one-third have postponed getting married or having a baby.
In 1998, fully 65 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds were certain they could get another job if they lost their current post. That plunged to 27 percent in recessionary 2009. It has since bounced back to 43 percent, but that’s a long way from the 1998 level. Early this month, the American Psychological Association released a study indicating that Americans age 18 to 33 are the most stressed-out of any age group. On a 10-point scale, those in that younger generation reported an average stress level of 5.4, compared to the national average of 4.9. Almost 40 percent said their stress levels increased over the past year.
San Diegans of all ages have long lived in an economic squeeze: the cost of living is one of the highest in the nation, but incomes are only moderately higher than those in other metro areas.
“It is no secret that it costs a lot to live in San Diego,” says Margie de Ruyter, senior director of workforce initiatives for the San Diego Workforce Partnership. Data from the partnership tell the story: basic monthly living expenses for a single adult in San Diego County come to $2959; that requires a salary of $35,508 a year.
But look at what average young adults make in the county, according to California Employment Development Department data: The average pay of 14- to 18-year-old people in the county in the fourth quarter of 2011 was $12,576.
For 19- to 21-year-olds, the average yearly pay was $13,990, and the average new hire made $12,828. For 22- to 24-year-olds (including college grads), the average annual wage was $22,944 and the average new hire made $21,888. For those 25 to 34 years old, the yearly wage rose to $44,796, but the average new hire was paid only $36,156.
Not surprisingly, women suffer pay discrimination. For females 22 to 24 in the fourth quarter of 2011, the average annual pay was $21,276, and for new hires, $20,280. In the 25–34 cohort, the average annual pay was $39,516 and for new hires $32,964, or below the minimum requirement for a single adult.
“Few households live off one income,” says Cunningham. Living in this squeeze “takes multiple workers per household, doubling up in housing and often working multiple jobs, full-time as well as part-time. This is particularly true for young people, considering how expensive housing is.” Housing prices have come down 35 percent from pre–Great Recession peaks, “but rents went up.” According to Zillow.com, the median home value in the San Diego County market is $381,900, which is fourth highest among the 30 largest metro areas, and well over double the nation’s $157,400 median. The median rent is $2101 per month, fourth highest among the 30 largest markets and far above the nation’s $1274.
“Teen homelessness is on the rise; more young people are couch-surfing or sleeping at friends’ places,” says de Ruyter.
Older, experienced people are forced to delay or cancel retirement “and take jobs below what they were making before; because they have more experience, they push out young people,” says Cunningham. San Diego is suffering from out-migration, and among those leaving for cheaper areas are the young adults. Similarly, the squeeze on San Diego’s millennial generation inhibits young people from moving here from elsewhere. “Think of those young people with a college degree in liberal arts, saddled with debt, working at a Starbucks.”
The fact that young couples need two incomes inhibits birth of babies; San Diego’s natural population increase (births minus deaths) declines, according to Cunningham’s figures.
In San Diego, remedial steps are being taken. The San Diego Workforce Partnership administers federal job-training funds and raises money elsewhere. The organization trains young low-income people, “foster youth or those transitioning out of foster care, youth with disabilities, gang-affiliated, high school dropouts,” says de Ruyter. The partnership’s job is to help such people with employment. The partnership got $200,000 from City government sources. The money will be used for a youth-hiring program that includes high school dropouts as well as grads, and even some at the college level.
Vasquez, of the National University System Institute for Policy Research, is spearheading, along with a friend, the Military Veteran Scholarship Fund at the University of California San Diego. The group aims to raise $25,000 that will be matched by university alumni.
There is good news. The Social Science Research Council did a study on what percentage of those 16 to 24 were neither working nor in school. They are named “the disconnected.” Among 25 metro areas, San Diego had the third-lowest percentage of disconnected (11.1), including the lowest percentage of disconnected African-Americans (12.1) and second lowest of Latinos (13.3). | <urn:uuid:ac0d7151-16ba-4475-9307-46fd5849aeee> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://m.sandiegoreader.com/news/2013/feb/27/citylights1-couch-surf-or-get-roommate/?templates=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936462700.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074102-00023-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962257 | 1,434 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Hot enough for you? Not as toasty as your car or truck sitting in the summer sun. According to AAA, your vehicle's interior reaches between 131 and 172 degrees when parked in the sun and when the outside temperature is in the low to mid-90s. That's hot enough to roast a hot dog on the front seat. This wasn't always an issue for one simple reason: We used to sweat a lot more in the summer.
The earliest automobiles were open to the elements; catching a breeze was easy. Once the closed car was introduced, keeping cool on a hot day became more of a challenge. Manufacturers equipped closed cars with roll-down windows or windshields that tilted open slightly. By the 1930s, many vehicles also had pop-up vents ahead of the windshield to funnel air to the cabin.
Of course, it wasn't as if you would suddenly become cooler; the air was still hot. And it was filled with dirt, pollen and bugs. Coupled with the engine heat older cars gave off, and their metal and leather interiors, these vehicles could be hot enough to melt your enthusiasm.
General Motors, with help from its Frigidaire division, started working on the problem in 1933. Initially, engineers proposed cooling a car's interior by a mere 10 degrees, as it was feared that any greater cooling would cause passengers to experience thermal shock while stepping into the hot sun from a cool car.
Six years later, GM had a prototype system ready, fitted in the trunk of a Cadillac. But it wasn't GM that made it to market first. That honor went to Cadillac's rival, Packard, which offered the Weather Conditioner as a $274 option.
According to Mohinder Bhatti of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Packard sold 1,500 cars with air-conditioning between 1940 and 1942. Cadillac's system was offered in 1941 models; some 300 were sold. A year later, Chrysler offered its AirTemp system, although few, if any, cars were sold with it.
As with any new technology, these systems suffered from several problems:
• There were no controls on the instrument panel; the system ran constantly. Turning it off meant lifting the hood and removing a belt.
• The units were mounted in the trunk, reducing trunk space.
• Because the units were rear-mounted, it wasn't unusual for condensation to collect above rear-seat passengers. It would then drip down, staining clothes. Meanwhile, little air reached the front seat.
• Unlike later systems, these early units didn't pull in any outside air, a problem in an era when many people smoked.
Given the problems of the system and its expense, it's a wonder any were ordered. Instead, many drivers used swamp coolers, a window- mounted metal tube that would be filled with ice. As air blew over the ice, it was cooled. The chilled air was funneled inside.
Air-conditioning would not become a big player in automobiles until 1953, when GM, Chrysler and Packard introduced new air-conditioning systems. Others soon followed, and by 1956, all major American car companies offered air-conditioning as an option.
The following year, Cadillac offered air-conditioning as standard equipment on the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, an industry first.
Even so, it was rare to find a car back then with factory air. With an average price of $435, just 3.7 percent of cars had it, but that would grow significantly over the next decade as the price dropped. By 1969, more than half of all new cars came with air-conditioning.
For those who couldn't afford factory-installed units, aftermarket units installed under the dashboard were common.
In the 1970s, scientists found that chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, were depleting the earth's ozone layer. Since most auto air-conditioning units used a CFC-based refrigerant named R-12, it fell on automakers to come up with a solution.
It was no small matter.
In 1980, 72 percent of all new cars had air-conditioning. By 1990, 94 percent of cars had it. And all of these systems used R-12.
Preliminary tests on a suitable replacement, R-134a, began in 1978. Once it proved satisfactory a decade later, car manufacturers were required by the U.S. government to switch over to R-134a by 1996. It is still in use.
Today, almost every car and truck comes with air-conditioning, although there are exceptions. They include base models of the Chevrolet Aveo; Honda Civic; Hyundai Accent and Elantra; Jeep Wrangler; Kia Forte and Rio; Mazda 3; Mitsubishi Lancer; Nissan Versa; and Smart ForTwo.
So while finding a car with standard air-conditioning is no sweat, a lot of it was shed to keep you cool in the summer. | <urn:uuid:aa13ef56-80be-4101-b6c6-05b3e3f258cf> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/autos/a-little-schooling-on-auto-cooling/1187943 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936535306.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074215-00152-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980254 | 1,044 | 2.90625 | 3 |
PASADENA, Calif.—Do you have second thoughts when ordering a strange-sounding dish at an exotic restaurant? Afraid you'll get fricasseed eye of newt, or something even worse? If you do, it's because certain neurons in the brain are saying that the potential reward for the risk is unknown. These regions of the brain have now been pinpointed by experimental economists at the California Institute of Technology and the University of Iowa College of Medicine.
In the December 9 issue of the journal Science, Caltech's Axline Professor of Business Economics Colin Camerer and his colleagues report on a series of experiments involving Caltech student volunteers and patients with specific types of brain damage at the University of Iowa. The object of the experiments was to see how the brain responded to degrees of economic uncertainty by having the test subjects make wagers while being scanned by a functional magnetic resonance imager (fMRI).
The results show that there is a definite difference in the brain when the wagers add a degree of ambiguity to the risk. In cases where the game involves a simple wager in which the chance of getting a payoff is very clearly known, the dorsal striatum tends to light up. But in a nearly identical game in which the chances of winning are unknown, the more emotional parts of the brain known as the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) are involved.
According to Camerer, this is a clear advancement in understanding the neural basis of economic decision making. Much is already known about how people deal with risk from the standpoint of social sciences and behavioral ecology, but greater understanding of how the brain structures are involved provides new insights on how certain behaviors are connected.
"The amygdala has been hypothesized as a generalized vigilance module in the brain," he explains. "We know, for example, that anyone with damage to the amygdala cannot pick up certain facial cues that normally allow humans to know whether they should trust someone else."
Problems with the amygdala are also known to be associated with autism, a brain disorder that causes sufferers to have trouble recognizing emotions in other people's faces. One of the authors of the paper, Ralph Adolphs, the Bren Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Caltech, has done extensive work in this area.
As for the OFC, the structure is associated with the integration of emotional and cognitive input. Therefore the OFC and amygdala presumably work together when a person is confronted with a wager for which the odds are unknown-the amygdala sends a "caution" message and the OFC processes the message.
The researchers set up the experiments so that the "risk" games and "ambiguity" games looked similar, to control for activity in the visual system so they could focus only on differences in decision making. In the "risk" games, each test subject was provided an opportunity to either choose a certain amount, like $3, or else choose a card that could be either red or blue. If the card was red, the test subject got $10, but if it came up blue, the test subject got nothing for that particular card.
In the risk games, each test subject was informed that the chance of drawing a red card was 50 percent, that there would be 10 of each color out of the total of 20 cards. Subjects made a series of 24 choices, with different sums of money at risk and different numbers of cards. In the ambiguity games, however, each test subject was told that the deck contained 20 cards, but was told nothing about how many were red and how many were blue.
As predicted from past experiments in which this type of risk was observed in test subjects, the researchers knew that the Caltech subjects with no brain damage would be more likely to draw cards in the risk game than in the ambiguity game, because people dislike betting when they do not know the odds. They were more likely to take sure amounts, which meant that their fear cost them money in expected value terms.
The patients at the University of Iowa Medical School, on the other hand, who had lesions to the OFC, played the game entirely differently. On average, these subjects with damage to the OFC were much more tolerant of risk and ambiguity.
Camerer says that the result with the brain-damaged test subjects fits well with the observation that many have suffered in their personal lives due to reckless financial decisions.
The research also addressed the intensity of the response in the brain as it correlates with degrees of risk. The results for the Caltech students showed more intense activity in the amygdala and OFC when the chance of winning is ambiguous, but there would be no such difference in patients with damage to those areas.
In sum, the results provide an important neurological understanding of how we humans handle risk in the real world, Camerer says.
"If you think about it, how often do you know the probability of success? Probably, the situation we modeled with the risk game is more the exception than the rule," he says. "In most situations, I think you are confronted with a risky choice in which you have little idea of the chances of different payoffs."
Does the study have any applications for society? Camerer says that our knowing what is happening at the most microscopic level in the neurons of the brain could lead to better understanding of bigger social effects. For example, a fear of the economic unknown will also create a strong preference for the familiar. In every country in the world, investors hold too many stocks they are familiar with, from their own countries, and do not diversify their stock holdings enough by buying ambiguous foreign stocks. The opposite of fear of the economic unknown may be driving entrepreneurs, who often thrive under uncertainty.
"It could be that aversion to ambiguity is like a primitive freezing response that we've had for millions of years," Camerer says. "In this case, it would be an economic freezing response."
The study is titled "Neural Systems Responding to Degrees of Uncertainty in Human Decision Making."
In addition to Camerer and Adolphs, the other authors are Ming Hsu and Meghana Bhatt, both graduate students in economics at Caltech; and Daniel Tranel of the University of Iowa College of Medicine. | <urn:uuid:3d57f704-ebc0-4603-97f4-e27c3adc89cb> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.caltech.edu/tags/hss?page=16 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936469305.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074109-00165-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969386 | 1,273 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Discover the War of 1812 on the Star-Spangled Bike Tour
Return to War of 1812 Bicentennial for Commemorative Events, to see objects from the Office of Historic Alexandria collections, and to learn more about the war and occupation.
Alexandria Bike or Walking Tour
Visit places where the events of the five-day British occupation of Alexandria occurred in late August 1814, on this 6.6 mile tour.
This route is part of the National Park Service's Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail. It can be enjoyed on foot or bicycle. Most roadways are low volume, low speed and suitable for cycling except where noted in the cue sheet to go on paths or the sidewalk.
Tour information includes Cue Sheet and printable or interactive maps, through Ride with GPS.
Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail
Discover the War of 1812 on the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail — a path tracing troop movements through historic places, inspiring landscapes, charming waterfront towns, and waterways of the Chesapeake Bay region. Along the way, you’ll follow the story of the United States National Anthem and the citizens, soldiers, and leaders who faced British military might on home territory just thirty years after the American Revolution.
Three Star-Spangled Banner signs are located in Alexandria. "Raise the White Flag" is installed in Waterfront Park. "Plundered" is being installed in the Torpedo Factory arcade, near the Timeline. "Fighting Back" is being placed at the base of Shuter's Hill, across from the Callahan Drive crosswalk.
Alexandria and the War of 1812
On August 24 and 25, the British burned nearly every public building in Washington. From downstream on the Potomac River, the people of Alexandria could see the flames. Within days, a British fleet appeared from the south to take — or destroy — the port of Alexandria.
Militia from Alexandria and the surrounding countryside had been called into action earlier that month, taking nearly all of the arms and artillery with them. With no way to defend the town, its leaders made the painful choice to capitulate. The British occupied Alexandria for five days, from August 29 through September 2. They spared the town in exchange for the peaceful surrender of all naval supplies, ships, and merchandise of every description. They sailed away with a hefty load, including 16,000 barrels of flour, 1,000 hogsheads of tobacco, 150 bales of cotton, and some $5,000 worth of wine, sugar, and other items.
Alexandria Connections on the Star-Spangled Banner Trail
Total round-trip route of approximately 6.6 miles.
This tour, developed by the Alexandria Archaeology Museum in cooperation with the National Park Service, follows scenes from the five-day British occupation of Alexandria in August 1814. Most roads are low volume, low speed, and suitable for cycling except where noted to travel on paths or sidewalks. You can print a turn-by-turn cue sheet at Ride with GPS. Highlights are described below.
- Begin at the foot of Cameron Street on the Potomac River. Look upstream to Washington and the Capitol building, and look across the river to the site of the Mount Welby plantation. From Mount Welby, the DeButts family witnessed the attack on Washington. Mary Welby DeButts wrote, “Our house was shook repeatedly by the firing upon forts & bridges [at Bladensburg], & illuminated by the fires in our Capital.”
- On Fairfax Street, you’ll pass the Carlyle House and Gardens. A Carlyle grandson served in the War of 1812 and fought at the Battle of Bladensburg. A British officer on one of the ships that occupied Alexandria was related to the Carlyle family by marriage. You’ll also past the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum, where business suffered during the war. At the Old Presbyterian Meeting House, in February 1814, Frances Scott Key spoke "for religious spirit instead of party spirit.”
- From South Lee Street, view the harbor where British ships once anchored. Continue into Jones Point Park and look downstream to where the British fleet first appeared on its approach to Alexandria. Then walk the riverfront and enjoy an overlook from the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge.
- Stop by the old Presbyterian Cemetery off Wilkes Street, where Robert Allison, Jr. is buried. Allison, age 27, helped pursue the British as they left Alexandria and died in a conflict along the Potomac on September 5, 1814. He was described as an “affectionate son, a generous friend, and a useful member of society."
- On the cobblestone section of Prince Street, now known as Captain's Row, prosperous sea captains and ship masters built many Federal-style (1780-1830) homes.
- At the lower end of King Street, an American naval officer assaulted a British midshipman who was overseeing the removal of tobacco from a warehouse. The officer had ridden into town looking for a fight and almost provoked the British into destroying the town. | <urn:uuid:0e186da5-0048-4a26-8db2-518c149c970a> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.alexandriava.gov/historic/info/default.aspx?id=78241 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936462839.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074102-00058-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948003 | 1,064 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Since Fidel Castro and his guerrilla army marched into Havana on New Year’s Day 22 years ago Cuba has been a thorn in the side of an often belligerent United States government. From President Kennedy onwards successive US leaders have done everything in their power (and often beyond it) to undercut Cuba’s attempts to follow a radically different development path.
The CIA led a series of bizarre assassination attempts on Castro himself, including trying to poison his famous cigars. A full-scale trade embargo begun in the early 60s continues to this day. The American military still occupies Guantanamo Naval Base on the southeast end of the island-despite repeated Cuban protests about violation of its national sovereignty.
The US press and much of the mass media in other Western nations are almost rabid in their denunciation of Dr. Castro and his associates. Most of the criticism is justified with standard anti-communist argument. The Cuban government is unacceptable because it refuses to play according to the ground rules of the Western liberal democracies. Walking hand in hand with the Soviets on foreign policy and sending troops to the front lines of the liberation struggles in
Africa only confirm the US view of the island as an unsavoury international pariah. And adding insult to injury, the upstarts have the nerve to do all this only scant miles from the Florida beaches in the Caribbean Sea. The US has always treated that stretch of water as a kind of seventh Great Lake, filled with salt water and lined with palm trees.
For almost 100 years Washington has considered the Caribbean Basin part of its sphere of influence. And it’s been none too subtle about methods of keeping a firm hold. The Marines have been one way. Twenty-five thousand troops occupied the Dominican Republic in 1965 when Juan Bosch’s socialist party threatened to win at the polls. American soldiers occupied Haiti from 1915-1934 to ‘stabilize’ the government. The CIA helped organize the botched Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1962.
Washington passed the infamous Platt Amendment in 1902, after the Cuban War of Independence, giving America the ‘right’ to intervene in internal Cuban affairs. Military bases were quickly established. And in the same year, after the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico was annexed outright. The Canal Zone was leased and the Panama Canal built and in 1917 the Danish Virgin Islands were bought, again for ‘security purposes’.
America’s strategic interest in the region is clear-cut. From Haiti to Trinidad the islands stretch like a girdle across the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. There are also important supplies of bauxite (critical for aluminum and the US aerospace industry) in Jamaica, Guyana and Surinam. But the clincher is oil. Half of all American oil imports pass through Caribbean shipping lanes and one-sixth of all US consumption is refined there.
But Cuba is not a military force, at least not one capable of matching American firepower. And treating the island as a threat to US energy supplies is clearly ludicrous. The trade blockade has nipped all economic ties so US business has nothing more to lose. In fact Cuba appears to pose no direct threat at all. So why does the tiny nation of ten million continue to be the whipping boy of American politicians?
The reason is not just that Cuba is run under a different political system, but that by the most basic measures of development it seems to beworking. Health care, food, housing, employment, education: all have improved immeasurably for Cuba’s poor majority over the last two decades. That doesn’t mean there aren’t soft spots in the armour of Dr. Castro’s revolution. There are. From a flabby,self-indulgent bureaucracy to nagging shortages of consumer goods. But when both sides of the ledger are totalled the revolution’s achievements are remarkable. And when compared to other Central American and Caribbean countries, unique. And that, from the point of view of Washington, is worrisome.
In the last two years popular leftist revolutions in Nicaragua and Grenada, civil war in El Salvador and deepening class conflict in Jamaica have made the US sit up and take note of potential Cuban influence. Washington’s response has been typically heavy handed.
The first step was to announce formation of a Caribbean Task Force based in Key West, Florida. Its function is to ‘monitor intelligence and communication’ and supervise increased military manoeuvres. The second step was to increase aid to the English-speaking Caribbean, most of it in the form of military assistance (from $1 million in 1979 to nearly $10 million in 1981). That includes $5 million for Barbados, which seems to be the odds-on choice for most likely client state. Military training funds have also been proposed for the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent. Haiti and the Dominican Republic (the countries closest to Cuba) between them will get almost $1 billion in military assistance in 1981.
But shoring up the military and throwing dollars at the poor has had precious little success in solving poverty. The proof of the pudding is in the eating and all indications are that the portions are going to get smaller for the Caribbean’s poor. Cuba, still heavily dependent on Soviet aid and sugar exports, will face its own problems. But it will remain a symbol of radical changeand an example of independence and resolve against the hemisphere’s dominant superpower. And thatalonewill keep its profile high in the Caribbean.
In the long run by remaining blind to the revolution’s success and by remaining so unbendingly opposed to any hint of socialiststyle change, the US may do more to increase Cuba’s status and influence in the Caribbean than to undercut it. Time will tell.
This first appeared in our award-winning magazine - to read more, subscribe from just £7 | <urn:uuid:069c3004-4781-4a3d-88f6-e63293d40c43> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://newint.org/features/1980/12/01/cuba/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936535306.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074215-00152-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95416 | 1,216 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Project based learning prepares students for engineering careers
March 28, 2012
From gazettextra.com: “Engineering goes back to school” — Seventh-grader Deadrick Vance raised his hands above his head, signaling triumph.
“Success!” he said, turning to give his teacher a high-five.
Vance was among the first to construct a Morse code device for his science class at Janesville’s Edison Middle School recently. He had cut the wire, wrapping it around a nail, connected the paper clips and powered the system with a D-cell battery.
As he pressed down on the paperclip that acted as the key, another paper clip was drawn down onto the nail, which had become an electromagnet.
Later, teacher Andy LaChance would string wire between classrooms and let students take turns sending messages.
Vance had completed one small task in a curriculum that has been infused with a new kind of thinking: That kids can learn science and math with real-world technical skills while in middle and high school.
The curriculum is called Project Lead the Way. It has swept across the country in recent years.
Project Lead the Way seeks to address the concerns of industries that complain they can’t find enough workers with the right skills, as well as the dearth of American college graduates in science, engineering and math, said Ken Maguire, director of the nonprofit organization’s upper Midwest region.
Maguire said Project Lead the Way is growing fast, with a 20 percent increase in the region just in the past year.
But Project Lead the Way doesn’t want schools to jump in without committing themselves to quality.
“If they’re wanting it because a neighboring school has it, if they’re wanting it because voters say they want it, that is the biggest impediment,” Maguire said.
Startup costs might be $25,000 for a high school that has the computers to run the software, Maguire said.
Schools start with one course and add courses until they make a path that leads to classes in engineering in high school, giving them a base for college studies or even college credit.
Project Lead the Way is a part of middle and/or high school curriculums in many school districts in Rock and Walworth counties.
Clinton High School is the most developed program in Rock County, said Janesville’s Steve Huth, director of a countywide consortium that promotes Project Lead the Way.
During a recent visit to Clinton High School, students in one class were using a computer-assisted design program to create a simple, three-dimensional model of a railroad engine. Next door, students in a digital electronics class were using Boolean algebra to design circuits that would spell out a message, similar to the electronics used on a sports scoreboard.
Students who complete the Clinton program get advanced standing at Blackhawk Technical College, while others get credit in four-year programs, such as the Milwaukee School of Engineering, said teacher Tim Thieding.
Thieding said he started the year with 10 digital electronics students. He now has six.
“It’s a tough course,” he said.
Thieding also teaches a computer-integrated manufacturing course that takes students from invention to computer modeling to building a manufacturing process, with milling and robotics thrown in.
“Right now, manufacturing is something we need to build back up in the United States, so we need to get our students not only familiar with it but proficient,” Thieding said.
Clinton also offers certifications in architecture and civil engineering. It plans to introduce bio-medical engineering next year, and there’s talk of extending the program into the elementary grades.
“We’re kind of excited, as small as we are, to offer all those,” Thieding said.
Most Project Lead the Way teachers are certified in science or tech ed. They must go through a reportedly tough summer training program for each course they teach.
Thieding’s tech-ed colleague, Derek Tietz, also teaches Project Lead the Way courses. The pair also offer more traditional tech courses in woodworking, metals and construction.
“Project Lead the Way gives them a chance to see it before they have to really pay for it in college, so they see if they want to do this as a career,” Tietz said.
Two Clinton students have internships at Scot Forge in Clinton, and Scot Forge engineers volunteer with the program. Others are planning to pursue engineering at MSOE or UW-Platteville. Clinton also gets help from Gilbank Construction and Paperchine.
In some states, local industries donate to establish a particular kind of engineering course in local schools, but Maguire wasn’t aware of any relationships like that in Rock County.
Even one Project Lead the Way course might make a difference. It did for 2011 Janesville Parker High School grad Markus Murdy.
Murdy said the principles of engineering course was all he could work into his schedule. He said it helped him combine his interest in aviation with his desire to figure out how things worked.
“It was like, ‘Whoa, there’s a whole field dedicated to this kind of thing,'” Murdy said. “Coming out of that. I had a much better idea of what I wanted to do.”
Murdy is majoring in aerospace engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
At Edison Middle School, LaChance surveyed his students with a smile.
“Look at these guys right now,” he said, referring to a group hovering over one of their devices as the lunch bell sounded. “They’re still working on it. Usually these guys are the first ones in line for lunch.
“I like it. We need more hands-on stuff.”
Project Lead the Way has been introduced in several area schools, according to the Project Lead the Way online locator.
— Beloit Memorial High School and middle schools
— Beloit Turner High School and middle school
— Evansville J.C. McKenna Middle School
— Janesville Parker and Craig high schools and all three middle schools.
— Orfordville Parkview, middle school level
— Delavan-Darien High School and Phoenix Middle School
— Elkhorn Area High School
— Lake Geneva Badger High School
— Whitewater High School and middle school
— Brodhead High School and middle school | <urn:uuid:da499ec7-0815-47e9-9240-bf2b9c18ae96> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | https://wistechcolleges.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/project-based-learning-prepares-students-for-engineering-careers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936463606.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074103-00189-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966497 | 1,375 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Help support New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download or CD-ROM. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more all for only $19.99...
An ascetical writer, b. at Camerino, in the March of Ancona, 9 Apr., 1458; d. there, 31 May, 1527. Her father, Julius Caesar Varano or de Varanis, Duke of Camerino, belonged to an illustrious family; her mother, Joanna Malatesta, was a daughter of Sigismund, Prince of Rimini. At baptism Baptista received the name of Camilla. Of the first ten and the last twenty-three years of her life little or nothing is known; our knowledge of the intervening years is derived almost entirely from her own writings. This revelation of herself was brought about through the influence of her confessor, Blessed Peter of Mogliano, provincial of the Franciscans in the Marches (1490). It seems to have been the eloquence of Mogliano that brought about the "conversion" of Baptista, who, for a time at least, appears to have been captivated by the glamour of the world. Her father did all in his power to force his daughter into a brilliant marriage, even to the extent of imprisoning her. But Baptista resisted his plans so firmly that after two years and a half he restored her to liberty, for fear, as he said, of drawing upon himself the Divine vengeance, and gave his consent to her becoming a nun. On 14 Nov., 1481, Baptista entered the monastery of the Poor Clares at Urbino. Not long afterwards her father founded a new monastery of that order at Camerino, and presented it to his daughter. Baptista introduced the primitive observance of the rule there, and thenceforth her vigorous and impressive personality found scope not only in the administration of this monastery, of which she became the first abbess, but also in the production of various literary works. These include the: "Recordationes et instructiones spirituales novem", which she wrote about 1491; "Opus de doloribus mentalibus D.N.J.C.", written during 1488-91 and first published at Camerino in 1630; "Liber suae conversionis", a story of her life, written in 1491, and first published at Macerata in 1624. These works have been edited by the Bollandists in connection with some of Baptista's letters. But most of her "Epistolae spirituales ad devotas personas" as well as her "Carmina pleraque latina et vulgaria" are still unpublished.
As a whole the writings of Baptista are remarkable for originality of thought, striking spirituality, and vividly pictorial language. Both St. Philip Neri and St. Alphonsus have recorded their admiration for this gifted woman who wrote with equal facility in Latin and Italian, and who was accounted one of the most brilliant and accomplished scholars of her day. Baptista died on the feast of Corpus Christi, and was buried in the choir of her monastery. Thirty years later her body was exhumed and was found in a state of perfect preservation. It was reburied to be again exhumed in 1593. The flesh was then reduced to dust but the tongue still remained quite fresh and red. The immemorial cultus of Baptista was approved by Gregory XVI in 1843, and her feast is kept in the Franciscan Order on 2 June.
Acta SS., May, VII (Antwerp, 1688), 476-514; WADDING, Annales Minorum ad annum 1509, n. 25; IDEM, Scriptores ord. Min. (3rd ed., 1906), 36; SBARALEA, Supplementum, pt. I (1908), 113-114; LEON DE CLARY, Lives of the Saints and Blessed of the Three Orders of St. Francis, II (Taunton, 1886), 315-48; DE RAMBUTEAU, La Bienheureuse Varani, Princesse de Camerino et religieuse franciscaine (Paris, 1906); JORGENSEN, I det Hoje (Copenhagen, 1908), German tr. in Excelsis (Kempten and Munich, 1911), which contains a charming sketch of Baptista and gives us a glimpse of her poetic talent. For an appreciation of her poetry see CRESCIMBENI, Storia della volgare poesia, I, lib. 2, cap. xiii.
APA citation. (1914). Blessed Baptista Varani. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: The Encyclopedia Press. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/16006c.htm
MLA citation. "Blessed Baptista Varani." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 16 (Index). New York: The Encyclopedia Press, 1914. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/16006c.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Herman F. Holbrook. Omnes sanctae Virgines et Viduae, orate pro nobis.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1914. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads. | <urn:uuid:45387279-8550-4c71-acd7-89a47765df4d> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://newadvent.org/cathen/16006c.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936464840.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074104-00209-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940856 | 1,209 | 2.609375 | 3 |
There is more relevance in the above statement with regard to the control of native/exotic invasive plants than one might recognize at first glance. This is particularly true in relation to the control of the exotic plant group commonly referred to as saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima, T. parviflora, T. chinensis ), which has replaced several million acres of native vegetation within southwestern stream and wetland natural areas. Resultant saltcedar-dominated natural areas appear to be affected hydrologically and the saltcedar plant communities subsequently formed have been found to be far less productive, diverse and ecologically functional, than the native plant communities they replace. Several control strategies have been developed to remove saltcedar from natural areas for a variety of management objectives, but vegetative site restoration and maintenance are the only two common elements of those control programs that have been effective over the long term. Vegetative site restoration involves not only restoring the native plant community, terrain and hydrology of a natural area but the ecological processes and disturbance cycles necessary to sustain that native plant community over time. Unfortunately, little has been written as specific guidance for site restoration and maintenance associated with saltcedar control. This document briefly discusses the concept of site restoration and maintenance in relation to saltcedar control and outlines a seven point approach to consider in the implementation of such a control program.
Vegetative site restoration and long-term maintenance of such efforts in any natural area are difficult tasks in and of themselves. When combined with having to do battle with 1) a plant species such as saltcedar that has an incredible capacity to invade, i.e., ability to allocate a large proportion of available resources to seed production and vegetative growth as well as adaptations for both wind and water dispersal of these elements; and 2) native streamside and wetland plant communities that have characteristics of easy invasibility, i.e., areas with a large perimeter to volume ratio, altered natural disturbance regimes, mesic habitat conditions and contact with human activities (Bossard 1992); site restoration and maintenance can prove to be a daunting task.
Major challenges to site restoration and maintenance in natural areas affected by saltcedar control programs often include:
These challenges can appear overwhelming for project managers, but a little creativity and networking can go a long way in meeting these challenges, or at least towards minimizing their influence upon project objectives. Above all, natural area site restoration and maintenance is an evolving management field that should be viewed as a combination of art, experimentation and applied science. Selected techniques, strategies and planning have to be frequently designed from scratch, monitored and modified to fit the needs or realities at a particular site.
Although it has become increasingly obvious that intensive management is required for the maintenance of natural ecosystems (Brussard 1991), the amount of on-the-ground site restoration and maintenance work necessary to achieve effective saltcedar control can range from little effort over an extended time (Neill 1985) to intensive effort on an annual basis (Taylor 1994), depending on whether the particular system is open to water flow or closed, the degree of saltcedar infestation, control/restoration techniques used and the amount of labor/supply resources dedicated to control efforts. Site restoration costs can similarly range from low to high (Egan et al., 1993), with site maintenance costs increasing as site restoration success decreases. Applied restoration techniques have shown both success and failure, but their basis is conceptually sound (Bureau of Reclamation 1990a).
Due to the inherent resilience of streamside and wetland plant communities, site restoration goals can often be achieved with minimal effort if control efforts encompass a large enough area, control efforts are sustained and land management practices are altered to promote conditions conducive to native plants rather than saltcedar (Lovich et al 1994, Dudley and Collins 1995). Long-term maintenance of restored areas in relation to saltcedar in the American Southwest is more problematic, depending foremost upon how open the natural area is to waterborne saltcedar sources; the proximity of windborne saltcedar seed sources; and the degree to which site restoration was effective in establishing both native ground and canopy, vegetative cover.
Site restoration is a relatively young field of natural area management in terms of available empirical information and successfully demonstrated techniques. Each site, each system, is different and we still have a lot to learn. The following seven point approach to site restoration and maintenance is recommended as general guidance for individuals and organizations currently involved in, or contemplating, saltcedar control in natural areas.
1. Look at the entire watershed or system and identify the factors which allow the invader and desired plant species to proliferate, as well as the influence of human activities on the site. Use an historic background if possible. Plan with a long-term vision. Control, restore and maintain strategically.
2. Plan for a sufficiently large restoration site in order to provide for the natural conditions necessary to promote plant and animal community diversity. Focus on a goal of plant community transition zone or "edge" habitat reduction and apply restoration maintenance efforts in such "edge" areas.
3. Make use of natural processes such as flood and fire as well as applied control efforts to assist in site restoration and maintenance when opportunities arise. Two examples include: retention of burnt saltcedar woody material resulting from a controlled fire to create suitable germination sites for seeding; and utilizing floodborne sediment to plant native tree poles.
4. Eliminate livestock grazing, minimize motor vehicle and railroad influences and modify fire suppression efforts in affected natural areas. Minimize soil disturbance, protect native vegetation, utilize fire to assist in saltcedar control and follow suppression efforts with additional control efforts needed to effectively kill burned, invasive plant species capable of resprouting.
5. Minimize recreation conflicts within or near the subject natural area. Be cognizant of the full array of recreational uses that may occur and their associated influences on natural features, upon invasive plant control, site restoration and maintenance goals.
6. Monitor and maintain desired site conditions on a regular basis. Revise control, restoration and maintenance strategies accordingly. Even a minimal monitoring and action effort can ward off stumbling blocks to achieving your restoration goals and is likely to be cost-effective in the long run.
7. Lastly, keep informed. Maintain close liaison with others involved with habitat restoration work, particularly those involved with non-indigenous plant species control.
The principles outlined in the above approach are based upon information summarized in Schierenbeck's 1995 documentary, "The Threat To The California Flora From Invasive Species: Problems And Possible Solutions" as well as a review of saltcedar control efforts to date. This approach is offered specifically for saltcedar control, but may also have applicability in site restoration for other invasive plant control efforts in our nation's natural areas.
Bossard, C.C. 1992. Factors leading to invasiveness and invasibility. Proceedings of the Second California Exotic Pest Plant Symposium. Morro Bay, Calif.
Brussard, P.F. 1991. The role of ecology in biological conservation. Ecological Applications 1 :6-12.
Bureau of Reclamation. 1990a. Vegetation management study-lower Colorado River. Phase 1 Draft. Lower Colorado Region, Boulder City, Nev.
Dudley, T. and B. Collins. 1995. Biological invasions in California wetlands, the impacts and control of non-indigenous species in natural areas. Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security. Oakland, Calif.
Egan, T.B., R.A. Chavez and B.R. West. 1993. Afton Canyon saltcedar removal first year status report. In, L. Smith and J. Stephenson (tech. coords.), Proceedings of the Symposium on Vegetation Management of Hot Desert Rangeland Ecosystems. Phoenix, Ariz.
Lovich, J.E., T.B. Egan and R.C. De Gouvenain. 1994. Tamarisk control on public lands in the desert of Southern California: two case studies. Proceedings of the 46th Annual California Weed Conference, California Weed Science Society. San Jose, Calif.
Neill, W.M. 1985. Tamarisk. Fremontia 12:22-23.
Schierenbeck, K.A. 1995. The threat to the California flora from invasive species: problems and possible solutions. Madrono 42:164-174.
Taylor, J.P. 1994. A comparison of mechanical and herbicide/burn saltcedar control techniques. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Agency Environmental Assessment, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, Socorro County, New Mexico.
Continue on to the paper on Saltcedar Management: A Success Story or return to the Workshop Table of Contents
Conference proceedings hosted by the National Invasive Species Information Center | <urn:uuid:6ae7e7fa-1cbc-4606-9225-05e588ae3b63> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/docs/news/workshopJun96/Paper14.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936464193.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074104-00205-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906961 | 1,827 | 3.078125 | 3 |
End of preview. Expand
in Dataset Viewer.
Total tokens in matching entries: 1_392_312_785
Average tokens per entry: 1392.31
- Downloads last month
- 2