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The origins of Black History Month began when Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915 and one year later, the Journal of Negro History. Woodson was a Harvard-trained historian. He believed that publishing scientific history about the black race would produce facts that would prove to the world that Africa and its people had played a crucial role in the development of civilization. That Scientific history, he believed, would counter racial falsehoods. That reason would prevail over prejudice truth would trickle down to the public, and the race problem would gradually disappear. In the 1920s Woodson began urging black civic organizations to promote the achievements that researchers were uncovering. In 1924 he created the Negro History and Literature Week with help of his fraternity brothers at Omega Psi Phi to take up the work. This later renamed Negro Achievement Week. Woodson selected the week of February that encompassed the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation that moved the nation away from slavery. Frederick Douglass had been a great leader of African Americans. In selecting February, Woodson’s sought to promote his belief that African Americans history was American history. By 1925 the Association broadened its focus to include whites and black and anyone interested in history, not just historians and other scholars. In the years that followed Black history clubs sprang up. Demand for materials from teachers soared. In response the Association published photographs and portraits of important black people. It published plays to dramatize black history. It also formed branches to bring people into the organization. Woodson died in 1950. By that time Negro History Week had become a central part of African American life. In cities across the country, mayors issued proclamations noting Negro History Week. In the 1960s African Americans entered into mainstream colleges and in the tradition of the Freedom Schools established during the civil rights era which included the study of Black history, they demanded that Black Studies and Black history became a central feature. Increasingly there were cries for more than a week to study Black history. In 1976, fifty yearsafter the first celebration, the Association held the first Black History Month. Since then all American presidents, Republicans and Democrats alike, haveissued Black History Month proclamations. Check the sites below for more educational information and upcoming events. Follow HarlemCondoLife on Twitter @HarlemHCL Your Gateway To Harlem.
Aug. 30, 2012 Inspired by the twitching whiskers of common rats and Etruscan shrews, EU-funded researchers have developed rodent-like robots and an innovative tactile sensor system that could be used to help find people in burning buildings, make vacuum cleaners more efficient and eventually improve keyhole surgery. Sensor systems that replicate the sense of touch have been the focus of increasing research in recent years, largely for robotics applications. But the focus has normally been on developing sensors that in some way or another replicate the way humans touch and sense the world: with our skin and particularly our fingertips. 'The main reason people explored fingertip-like sensors is because we have fingertips, but any kind of tactile sensor has to interact with objects and surfaces -- and fingertips have a big problem with wear and tear,' explains Tony Prescott, a professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. Nature, however, has devised a much more robust, and often much more sensitive, kind of tactile sensing device: whiskers. 'If you look at the natural world, almost all mammals except humans have whiskers -- it's actually us that have lost them. Whiskers are a natural way to sense things with touch,' Prof. Prescott says. And, it turns out, just like their biological counterparts, artificial whiskers offer some big advantages over other approaches to tactile sensing as Prof. Prescott and a team of researchers from seven countries have proved in the Biotact (1) project. Supported by EUR 5.4 million in research funding from the European Commission, the researchers studied rats and mice, tiny Etruscan shrews and other mammals and attempted to replicate the way they use their whiskers, or 'vibrissae', to sense their environment, detect objects and follow prey. Their work has led to the development of an active vibrissal tactile sensor array and a series of rat-like robots that can move around by touch alone. The technology could potentially be used commercially for applications as diverse as search and rescue, consumer appliances, product testing or medicine. 'To begin with we had to understand how mammals use their whiskers. Around one third of the project was therefore dedicated to behavioural neuroscience, including filming rats and shrews using high-speed cameras to see how they use their whiskers whilst monitoring patterns of neural activity,' Prof. Prescott, the Biotact project coordinator, explains. The team then worked out how to replicate natural vibrissal sensing in an artificial system. Their system works by measuring the vibration at the base of the shaft of a whisker caused by it coming into contact with an object or surface. Miniature motors enable individual whiskers or arrays of hundreds of whiskers to be moved and brushed against objects in much the same way that rodents move their whiskers back-and-forth at high speed. Software and powerful processing algorithms analyse the feedback from the whiskers to determine, for example, whether a surface is rough or smooth, if there is a corner or wall, how far away an object is or even if an object is moving. For rodents, most of which have poor eyesight, active control of the whiskers allows the animal to accurately position the tip of the whiskers as well as control how the whisker moves in order to gain as much information as possible about an object or surface. In this way, they can rely on touch alone to explore and even hunt for food. Robust robotic rodents for search and rescue Applied to robotic devices, this same kind of active sensing approach greatly improves the accuracy and effectiveness of the sensors, enabling a robot to delicately feel its way around, rather than clumsily bumping into objects. In addition, while finger-like robotic probes can easily be damaged because the sensing components are directly exposed to the environment, with the Biotact technology the delicate electronic components are at the base of the whisker and do not come into direct contact with objects or surfaces. And artificial whiskers, just like their natural counterparts, continue to function even if they are broken or damaged, and they can be cheaply and easily replaced. Several generations of sensors and robots developed by the Biotact team prove just how effective the approach can be. Shrewbot, the latest incarnation, looks a little like its namesake and can navigate its way around by touch alone. 'Shrewbot can even follow a moving object simply by using its whiskers. It has no visual sensors or any other type of sensing device,' Prof. Prescott says. 'Because the Biotact artificial whisker is modular, it can be used for a lot of different robots and devices, we've used it with a range of educational robots including the Lego Mindstorms robot, we have also produced a miniaturised version that uses a new kind of polymer-based actuator to move the whiskers.' 'We wanted to ensure that these sensors can be used as universally as possible, so you could go into a store and buy one much like you can buy a webcam today and mount it on any robot or any device,' Prof. Prescott adds. 'At the moment, the price of the technology is still relatively high, but we envisage that coming down over time and we've talked to some manufacturers -- there's definitely interest in this.' Indeed, the range of applications for the technology is extensive. A Shrewbot-like robot could be used, for example, to help fire-fighters find people in burning buildings or other environments, where smoke, dust or darkness impede visual sensing. An aquatic version, which members of the Biotact team are looking to develop in a planned follow up project, could be used to inspect murky underwater environments. 'Instead of rats and shrews, it would be more like seals and walruses which also use their whiskers underwater,' the project coordinator says. 'Companies involved in nuclear decommissioning have expressed interest in this as they need devices that can inspect nuclear waste ponds, there are also potential applications in the oil-industry and in underwater archaeology.' In medicine, vibrissal sensors could eventually, after further research, provide highly sensitive tactile feedback to doctors performing keyhole surgery, detecting different kinds of tissues or bone for example. In manufacturing, the sensing technology could be used to test product quality or sort products by analysing the texture of materials. And in vacuum cleaners, the system could automatically detect different surfaces and switch settings to ensure the most effective cleaning, depending on whether a floor is tiled or carpeted. In a slightly different application of the sensing and actuator technology developed in Biotact, the University of Sheffield is currently working with South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue to develop a helmet for fire fighters that combines ultrasound sensors for navigation in smoke-filled environments with actuators to provide tactile feedback to the wearer. Biotact received research funding under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) as part of the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) sub-programme. The results from Biotact illustrate how this type of long-term, foundational research can lead to research in other areas and use the techniques to solve problems elsewhere. Other social bookmarking and sharing tools: Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Christmas Has a Dark Side Micah Watson, Assistant Professor of Political Science & Director, Center for Religion and Politics Dec 18, 2009 There has always been a darker side to Christmas. Simeon warned Mary that her son would cause the rise and fall of many in Israel, and that a sword would pierce her soul. Joseph and Mary's furtive escape to Egypt wasn't recreational in nature. Think for a moment about the carrying out of Herod's order to kill every male child under 2 years old in the vicinity of Bethlehem. It should be no less horrific merely because so many centuries have passed and the story is so familiar to us. The familiarity is a problem. It was not all angels singing to shepherds, guiding stars, wise men bearing gifts and a newborn cuddled safely with his mother and father. Those things are also part of the story, and rightly so. They are plot details that we can't do without, but they are also central in part because they are so safely told, and retold, in pageants and sermons and nativity scenes. We understandably shy away from remembering the darker parts of the story ourselves, let alone try and explain them to our children. Yet we miss the full import of the real Christmas narrative if we do not even occasionally dwell in the shadows of the original narrative. The gospel - literally, good news - only makes sense as good news if the audience for its proclamation is familiar with hardship, oppression and, at times, terror. Good news doesn't make sense unless there is also bad news. Much of the bad news would have been understood by the Jews of Jesus' time as political. Joseph and Mary were traveling despite her pregnancy in response to the census order of an occupying government. Herod's slaughter of the innocents stemmed from his own insecurity given a prophecy about a future king who might challenge his power. And Jesus' ministry made the political and religious powers increasingly uneasy. Of course the Christian message is that the bad news was not merely political. Deeper than any diseased politics that elicited hopes for a political savior is the fundamental disordering of the human condition itself. The good news of Jesus' birth was bad news for the powers that be, but nevertheless still good news for those who recognize they are sick and need more than earthly politics and earthly medicine. This is what is truly offensive about the Christmas message today. It is not necessarily that God became man, or the difficulty of believing in miracles, but that there is wrong in the world that needs to be set right, and fundamentally it is not the government or the economy. It is you. And me. Theologically this leads us back to the darker side of Christmas, for even the nativity scenes that decorate many of our homes point forward not to the celebration of the New Year, but another dark day with a hill and three crosses that also has become all too familiar. This message is all the more potent because there is still a darker side to Christmas. In some parts of the world parents still fear for the lives of their children as they venture out to worship in house churches. Closer to home, Christmas is a terribly difficult time for many. Perhaps it is the first Christmas without a loved one. Or past wounds resurface with familiar songs and memories. It can be an awfully trying season for some amidst the good and wonderful traditions enjoyed by others. Given this, it makes sense to tell the whole Christmas story and not just the "feel good" moments. Thus Christians would do well this season to rethink the setting of the original Christmas, and consider whether these less pleasant details render the story and teachings of their faith that much more remarkable. Moreover, non-Christians might even see some daylight between the Christo-American holiday focused on primarily on tinsel and credit cards and the genuinely Christian celebration of a light beginning to shine in what had been darkness. This article originally appeared in the Dec. 18 edition of the Jackson Sun
Mission 3: Space Matters This programme from ESA switches between scenes filmed in space and on Earth to demonstrate basic scientific principles in ways that children can relate to. Filmed during the Eneide Mission in 2005, ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev are shown investigating the nature of matter from on board the ISS, while students from schools in Italy, Greece, Portugal and Norway present their own inventive ways of exploring the subject. The video looks at protons, neutrons and electrons, inside atoms, with some ideas about the relative distances within the atom. Charge due to the imbalance of protons and electrons is discussed. Elements and compounds are examined, with specific reference to the growth of crystals. The main three states of matter and changes of state are compared on Earth and on the ISS. Solubility, density, how fluids mix and surface tension are investigated Many of the simple experiments performed in the schools can easily be repeated in the classroom. HEALTH and SAFETY Any use of a resource that includes a practical activity must include a risk assessment. Please note that collections may contain ARCHIVE resources, which were developed at a much earlier date. Since that time there have been significant changes in the rules and guidance affecting laboratory practical work. Further information is provided in our Health and Safety guidance.
WebMD Health News Louise Chang, MD Oct. 3, 2008 -- Wouldn't it be sweet if honey could help heal cuts and burns? Researchers who analyzed existing studies on whether honey can help heal wounds are cautiously optimistic that this ancient treatment may help in some cases. The study, published in The Cochrane Library, reviewed 19 trials on 2,554 people. The authors were not able to collectively analyze the data of the different trials, but summarized some of the major findings. The researchers conclude that honey may improve healing times in mild to moderate superficial and partial thickness burns compared with some conventional dressings. Honey does not seem to help with chronic leg ulcer treatments. But the researchers warn that the potential for bias in some of the trials was moderate to high and the results should be read with caution. Separate studies on animals have shown honey to be helpful in healing wounds. Honey may also be a potent antibiotic. There are several reasons honey could help with the healing process, according to the report. Honey appears to draw fluid from the underlying circulation, providing both a moist environment and topical nutrition that enhances tissue growth. Honey also may spur debridement -- the removal of dead tissue around a wound to make way for healthy tissue. Researchers call for more scientific trials to measure the effectiveness of honey in treating wounds. SOURCE:Jull, A.B. The Cochrane Library, 2008, Issue 4. The Health News section does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information.
Birding in South Carolina Hundreds of species for you to see year round! Bring your binoculars and your birding list. South Carolina's many varied habitats are home to a diversity of birdlife unmatched by many larger Atlantic States. With over 375 species, birders from around the world flock to South Carolina to view migrating coastal birds, the South Carolina state bird, the Carolina Wren, the Bachman's sparrow, Swainson's warbler, swallow-tailed kite, Mississippi kite, red-cockaded woodpecker, painted bunting and other remarkable South Carolina birds. Habitats of South Carolina Birds The swamps and streams, maritime hardwood forest, upland pine stands, urban areas and agricultural tracts of the Palmetto State provide habitats for species as varied as the South Carolina state bird, the Carolina wren, the endangered wood stork, the tiny ruby-throated hummingbird and even the majestic bald eagle. Premier Birding Destinations With such great birding destinations as the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge, Huntington Beach State Park and Caesars Head, you won't find better birding on the Atlantic Coast of America. Guided field studies offer birders access to South Carolina birds in areas not regularly open to the public. Use the links and South Carolina birding listings below for more information on birding in South Carolina. Click on a birding destination for more information on that location.
Back to Menu The area originally selected for a cemetery was known as Copley Knob, located in the southwestern part of town near Western Kentucky University. It was considered no longer a desirable site due to the Civil War. Trees were down, cannons were everywhere and bayonets lay all over the ground. In 1864, 30 acres were purchased from William McNeal for $100.00 per acre along Cemetery Pike. This is now known as Fairview Cemetery .Two Revolutionary War heroes are also buried here and the Confederate Monument was erected in 1875. The Bloch Memorial Chapel is a beautiful old English country church of the Gothic period. The City currently owns, maintains and operates 109 acres for burial rights. 1209 Fairview Ave. Home / E-Newsletter / THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE KENTUCKY DEPARTMENT OF TRAVEL Capital Plaza Tower 22nd Floor, 500 Mero Street, Frankfort, KY 40601 2013, Kentucky Department of Travel. All rights reserved. Web Design & Search Engine Optimization by Aristotle ® Kentucky State Parks
The importance of having inverse functions leads us to the introduction to logarithms as the inverses of exponential functions. Solving exponential equations often involves using the ideas presented in the introduction to logarithms to simplify or access the variable for manipulation. To take the log of an exponential function helps us to use the exponentiated term. So for this episode what I want to do is take a look at the graph of f of x is equal to 2x. Okay, so I have my exponential function and I have a rough sketch of the graph. So looking at this we know that this graph is a function because for every x there's only one y. We also know that it is 1:1 because for every y there is one x. So because there it's 1:1, we know that the this graph, this function will have an inverse. What I want to do is find out what that inverse is. So if you remember back to our inverses, what we do is f of x is the same thing as y, so that y is equal to 2x and then to find the inverse we just switch our x and our y. So we end up with x is equal to 2 to the y. Okay. Our last step in finding the inverse was to solve this for y. The problem is, is that using the methods that we know there is no way to solve this for y. Okay? So what has been done is we have introduced a new function altogether. A logarithm function, okay? And how that works is this is the log base 2 of x is equal to y. These two statements are exactly the same, okay? This is called exponential form and this one over here is logarithmic form. And I'm a horrible speller, do hopefully I got that right. Key thing to remember, okay, and it's kind of hard to get used to this new log based this is a little subscript, sort of a new form but basically it's the exact same thing as this. What I do to remember this, okay, is two things. First is number 2 is called the base when you're dealing with exponential forms. The base of our exponential form becomes the base of our log, okay? So the base stays the base. The other way I tend to remember this is that if I'm putting something away from log formula. exponential form and we're going to spend some time going back and forth between these two, is that the 2 just sort of comes up and under the y and bumps the y up. So the 2 will come over up the y up and the log falls out, okay? So those are sort of the 2 ways you can remember it. The base stays the base and then then the 2 so that the base sort of comes up and under bumps the other side up, log falls away. Okay? Little bit of lingo to go along with this just so you know how to talk about this form. This is this is log base 2 of x, and obviously the 2 in this case is a completely random number. It could be a 3, it could be a 7, it could be 124 but basically, you say log, base number of whatever your inside function is in order to talk about this, okay. So starting with our exponential graph, we found the inverse. We couldn't solve for y so we invented this new way of writing it, okay? The 2 different ways of writing it and just thought of one other thing I want to talk about this [IB] number over here, is log base a of xy is basically [IB] of x so this side is the power to which you raise a to get x. Okay? Just in sense form I know that often [IB] hard to distinguish especially when I subtract like this but basically this is the same the sense is the same thing as this. We're trying to figure out a to what power will give us x. Okay? So logarithms. Basically it's the inverse of an exponential we cancel out for it so we had to invent this new function in order to deal with it. But hopefully as you deal with it you'll sort of understand how the whole logarithm thing works and it's not something too scary.
\|Scientific Name:\|\|Centranthus trinervis\| \|Species Authority:\|\|(Viv.) Bég.\| \|Taxonomic Notes:\|\|The Sardinian taxon has been renamed C. amazonum Fridl. & A. Raynal.\| \|Red List Category & Criteria:\|\|Endangered D ver 3.1\| \|Assessor/s:\|\|Buord, S. & Gigot, G.\| \|Reviewer/s:\|\|Hugot, L., de Montmollin, B. & Bilz, M.\| \|Contributor/s:\|\|Fridlender, A., Jeanmonod, D. & Peraza Zurita, M.D.\| Centranthus trinervis is a herbaceous species endemic to Corsica where only a single subpopulation with 140 individuals remains. It is protected at regional, national and international level but a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors could rapidly lead to the extinction of this species in its natural habitat. However, the population and the cliff habitat it survives on are currently stable and the species is therefore assessed as Endangered D. Centranthus trinervis is endemic to Corsica, and is only known from a single population on the granitic boulders of Trinité near Bonifacio in the southwest of the island. It can be found at sea level. The extent of occurrence is 140 km² and the area of occupancy is less than 10 km². \|Range Map:\|\|Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.\| \|Population:\|\|The single locality holds 140 individuals. Habitat and population are stable. There was an extreme population fluctuation in 1994 when a fire destroyed 80% of the population but it regenerated afterwards (Montmollin and Strahm 2005).\| \|Habitat and Ecology:\|\| This herbaceous species grows in the shade of rock crevices and along cliff terraces. Only the woody base of this plant persists throughout the entire year, as other above-ground parts dry up at the beginning of summer or are broken by autumn storms. The single subpopulation grows on a cliff. After a fire, partially burned individuals may regenerate from small suckers at the base. The fruits are dispersed by wind, although regeneration has not been observed outside its present location. It can be found in Habitats Directive listed habitat 8220 "Siliceous rocky slopes with chasmophytic vegetation" (Commission of the European Communities 2009). Grazing by goats is a minor threat in lower occurrences of the population and it tends to decrease. In 1994 a fire destroyed 80% of the population but it regenerated afterwards (Montmollin and Strahm 2005). On the other hand, natural fires have been reported to have positive effects on potential competitive species such as Smilax aspera. Although C. ruber has not yet shown signs of being particularly invasive on Corsica, it could hybridize with C. trinervis in the future. A further potential threat could be human disturbance as the population is not far from already developed urban areas. Climbing was reported as a threat in the past as a "via ferrata" was installed at the cliff but this is not the case anymore. Actions in Place Internationally, it is included in Annexes II and IV of the Habitats Directive and in Appendix I of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention). This species is legally protected in La liste des espèces végétales protégées en région Corse complétant la liste nationale (Journal officiel du 15 août 1986) and listed in La liste des espèces végétales protégées sur l'ensemble du territoire français métropolitain (Annex I). In situ: This species' habitat is included in the Natura 2000 network, it should be managed in a way that favours the conservation of this species. Climbing equipments on the cliff has been removed, population is regularly monitored. The Conservatoire du Littoral bought the area where this species is present as a way to keep the population protected. Ex situ: Seeds of this species are preserved in several seed banks (e.g. Porquerolles), and cultivated in the botanical gardens of Brest, Porquerolles and in the Jardin Botanique de Lyon (France) and Geneva (Switzerland). Most urgently, the unique site where this species is found needs to be managed to allow the population to increase. It is essential that the habitat be kept open by clearing competing species such as Smilax aspera, and by eliminating the cultivation of Centranthus ruber and other invasive species grown in the area. Climbing associations as well as the general public need to be made aware about the conservation status of rare plant species in the region. More field studies and regular monitoring are needed to understand the effect of vegetation cover and density, fires and storms on this species. A replanting programme from seeds collected in situ and plants grown in botanical gardens should be launched. \|Citation:\|\|Buord, S. & Gigot, G. 2011. Centranthus trinervis. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 19 June 2013.\| \|Feedback:\|\|If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please fill in the feedback form so that we can correct or extend the information provided\|
Meet the Bombyx Mori in its caterpillar, larva or “worm” state — silkworm to be specific (though it’s not a worm at all). There’s an entire series of videos online showing the Bombyx Mori’s life cycle from egg to larva (small and larger) to pupa to its emergence as an adult moth. But the thing that makes this insect stand out is the silkworm’s creation of a unique cocoon made from its saliva: a one mile long single strand of silk. After they have molted four times (i.e., in the fifth instar phase), their bodies become slightly yellow and the skin become tighter. The larvae will then enter the pupa phase of their life cycle and enclose themselves in a cocoon made up of raw silk produced by the salivary glands. The cocoon provides a vital layer of protection during the vulnerable, almost motionless pupal state. The moth that emerges from the cocoon is furry, white, doesn’t fly, but of course, starts the cycle all over again.
Evaluation of market systems Market-based economic systems have many advantages in comparison with command-based ones. These include: Resources are allocated towards the satisfaction of the consumer, who is 'king' (sovereign) - firms can only survive if they consistently satisfy consumer demand. The more they satisfy the consumer, the greater their profits. Firms may compete with each by offering different products, providing consumers with a wide choice. Price and non-price competition Competition keeps prices down and drives up the quality of goods and services. The price mechanism works automatically, as prices convey information about relative scarcity without the need for a government. Prices fulfil a vital role in terms of rationing scarce resources - the greater the scarcity, the higher the price, and the more it is conserved. Utility and profit The price mechanism allocates resources towards products that provide the highest utility and the greatest profit, hence benefiting consumers and producers. All participants have incentives to be at their most efficient. The production of goods is efficient because firms need to keep costs as low as possible. There is a considerable incentive for the owners of factors of production to be as efficient as they can be so that they can command the highest incomes. Firms usually need to innovate to retain consumer loyalty and win new customers from rivals. The disadvantages of market-based systems However, market systems have disadvantages, including: Under-valuing non-traded services Some goods and services cannot easily be traded in markets, such as healthcare, education, and defence. With these goods, the value attached by market forces is unlikely to be the 'real' value of the service. There is the problem of missing markets, which arises when consumers have a need or a want but where no firms are able to enter the market to supply, and markets do not form, as in the case of public goods. There is also the problem of incomplete markets, which arises when firms only supply a part of the whole market demand, such as the case of merit goods. Some goods and services generate costs and benefits that are not taken account by consumers and producers. These costs and benefits are called externalities. Lack of purchasing power Some consumers have no purchasing power, such as the disabled, because they are not able to work in the labour market. Without work, they cannot derive an income, and are unable to purchase goods and services. The case for mixed economies Mixed economies combine aspects of market systems and central planning. It is accepted that mixed economies provide a more optimal allocation of scarce resources because: Markets can be used to allocate resources to producing goods and services in which they excel, such as private consumer goods like cars, computers and holidays. Planning can be used to allocate resources to those goods and services that markets fail to produce sufficiently, such as education and policing – and solve the problem of missing and incomplete markets. Governments can regulate markets to ensure that they work effectively in the interests of consumers. Governments can allocate resources towards the unemployed, and provide a basic purchasing power, via a benefits system, to the disabled and others who cannot sell their labour.
Theory of justification Theory of justification is a part of epistemology that attempts to understand the justification of propositions and beliefs. Epistemologists are concerned with various epistemic features of belief, which include the ideas of justification, warrant, rationality, and probability. Of these four terms, the term that has been most widely used and discussed by the early 21st century is "warrant". Loosely speaking, justification is the reason that someone (properly) holds a belief. If A makes a claim, and B then casts doubt on it, A's next move would normally be to provide justification. Empiricism (the evidence of the senses), authoritative testimony (the appeal to criteria and authority), and logical deduction are often involved in justification. Justification-based theories of knowledge can be divided into: - irrationalism, which appeals to irrational criteria and authorities (such as feelings) and - panrationalism, which appeals to rational criteria and authorities (such as observation or reasoning). Subjects of justification Many things can be justified: beliefs, actions, emotions, claims, laws, theories and so on. Epistemology focuses on beliefs. This is in part because of the influence of the definition of knowledge as "justified true belief" often associated with a theory discussed near the end of the Socratic dialogue Theaetetus. More generally, theories of justification focus on the justification of statements or propositions. Justifications and explanations Justification is the reason why someone properly holds a belief, the explanation as to why the belief is a true one, or an account of how one knows what one knows. In much the same way arguments and explanations may be confused with each other, as may explanations and justifications. Statements which are justifications of some action take the form of arguments. For example attempts to justify a theft usually explain the motives (e.g., to feed a starving family). It is important to be aware when an explanation is not a justification. A criminal profiler may offer an explanation of a suspect's behavior (e.g.; the person lost his or her job, the person got evicted, etc.), and such statements may help us understand why the person committed the crime. An uncritical listener may believe the speaker is trying to gain sympathy for the person and his or her actions, but it does not follow that a person proposing an explanation has any sympathy for the views or actions being explained. This is an important distinction because we need to be able to understand and explain terrible events and behavior in attempting to discourage it. Justification is a normative activity One way of explaining the theory of justification is to say that a justified belief is one that we are "within our rights" in holding. The rights in question are neither political nor moral, however, but intellectual. In some way, each of us is responsible for what we believe. Beliefs are not typically formed completely at random, and thus we have an intellectual responsibility, or obligation, to try to believe what is true and to avoid believing what is false. An intellectually responsible act is within one's intellectual rights in believing something; performing it, one is justified in one's belief. Thus, justification is a normative notion. The standard definition is that a concept is normative if it is a concept regarding or depending on the norms, or obligations and permissions (very broadly construed), involved in human conduct. It is generally accepted that the concept of justification is normative, because it is defined as a concept regarding the norms of belief. Theories of justification There are several different views as to what entails justification, mostly focusing on the question "How sure do we need to be that our beliefs correspond to the actual world?" Different theories of justification require different amounts and types of evidence before a belief can be considered justified. Interestingly, theories of justification generally include other aspects of epistemology, such as knowledge. The main theories of justification include: - Coherentism - Beliefs are justified if they cohere with other beliefs a person holds, each belief is justified if it coheres with the overall system of beliefs. - Externalism - Outside sources of knowledge can be used to justify a belief. - Foundationalism - Self-evident basic beliefs justify other non-basic beliefs. - Foundherentism - A combination of foundationalism and coherentism, proposed by Susan Haack. - Infinitism - Beliefs are justified by infinite chains of reasons. - Internalism - The believer must be able to justify a belief through internal knowledge. Minority viewpoints include: - Reformed epistemology - Beliefs are warranted by proper cognitive function, proposed by Alvin Plantinga. - Skepticism - A variety of viewpoints questioning the possibility of knowledge. - truth skepticism - Questions the possibility of true knowledge, but not of justified knowledge - epistemological skepticism - Questions the possibility of justified knowledge, but not true knowledge - Evidentialism - Beliefs depend solely on the evidence for them If a belief is justified, there is something that justifies it. The thing that justifies a belief can be called its "justifier". If a belief is justified, then it has at least one justifier. An example of a justifier would be an item of evidence. For example, if a woman is aware of the fact that her husband returned from a business trip smelling like perfume, and that his shirt has smudged lipstick on its collar, the perfume and the lipstick can be evidence for her belief that her husband is having an affair. In that case, the justifiers are the woman's awareness of the perfume and the lipstick, and the belief that is justified is her belief that her husband is having an affair. Not all justifiers have to be what can properly be called "evidence"; there may be some substantially different kinds of justifiers available to us. Regardless, to be justified, a belief has to have a justifier. But this raises an important question: what sort of thing can be a justifier? Three things that have been suggested are: - Beliefs only. - Beliefs together with other conscious mental states. - Beliefs, conscious mental states, and other facts about us and our environment (which we may or may not have access to). At least sometimes, the justifier of a belief is another belief. When, to return to the earlier example, the woman believes that her husband is having an affair, she bases that belief on other beliefs—namely, beliefs about the lipstick and perfume. Strictly speaking, her belief isn't based on the evidence itself—after all, what if she did not believe it? What if she thought that all of that evidence were just a hoax? What if her husband commonly wears perfume and lipstick on business trips? For that matter, what if the evidence existed, but she did not know about it? Then, of course, her belief that her husband is having an affair wouldn't be based on that evidence, because she did not know it was there at all; or, if she thought that the evidence were a hoax, then surely her belief couldn't be based on that evidence. Consider a belief P. Either P is justified or P is not justified. If P is justified, then another belief Q may be justified by P. If P is not justified, then P cannot be a justifier for any other belief: neither for Q, nor for Q's negation. For example, suppose someone might believe that there is intelligent life on Mars, and base this belief on a further belief, that there is a feature on the surface of Mars that looks like a face, and that this face could only have been made by intelligent life. So the justifying belief is: that face-like feature on Mars could only have been made by intelligent life. And the justified belief is: there is intelligent life on Mars. But suppose further that the justifying belief is itself unjustified. It would in no way be one's intellectual right to suppose that this face-like feature on Mars could have only been made by intelligent life; that view would be irresponsible, intellectually speaking. Such a belief would be unjustified. It has a justifier, but the justifier is itself not justified. In fact, more recent observations have shown that the "helmeted face" does not look the same up close, nor when viewed from the side. Commonly used justifiers - Abductive reasoning - Occam's Razor - Probability theory - Scientific method - Logical positivism The major opposition against the theory of justification (also called ‘justificationism’ in this context) is nonjustificational criticism (a synthesis of skepticism and absolutism) which is most notably held by some of the proponents of critical rationalism: W. W. Bartley, David Miller and Karl Popper. (But not all proponents of critical rationalism oppose justificationism; it is supported most prominently by John W. N. Watkins.) In justificationism, criticism consists of trying to show that a claim cannot be reduced to the authority or criteria that it appeals to. That is, it regards the justification of a claim as primary, while the claim itself is secondary. By contrast, nonjustificational criticism works towards attacking claims themselves. Bartley also refers to a third position, which he calls critical rationalism in a more specific sense, claimed to have been Popper's view in his Open Society. It has given up justification, but not yet adopted nonjustificational criticism. Instead of appealing to criteria and authorities, it attempts to describe and explicate them. Fogelin claims to detect a suspicious resemblance between the Theories of Justification and Agrippa's five modes leading to the suspension of belief. He concludes that the modern proponents have made no significant progress in responding to the ancient modes of pyrrhonic skepticism. - Critical Thinking, Parker and Moore - Robert J. Fogelin, Pyrrhonian Reflections on Knowledge and Justification, Oxford University Press, 1994, ISBN 978-0-19-508987-5 \|\|This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. (December 2007)\| - David Stove. Popper and After: Four Modern Irrationalists. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1982. - Richard Swinburne: Epistemic justification (2001) - William W. Bartley: Rationality versus the theory of rationality. In Mario Bunge (Ed.): The Critical Approach to Science and Philosophy (The Free Press of Glencoe, 1964) - David Miller: A critique of good reasons. Critical rationalism (1994) - David Miller: Sokal and Bricmont: Back to the Frying Pan. Pli 9 (2000), 156–73. - David Miller: Overcoming the Justificationist Addiction. (2007) - Karl Popper: On the sources of knowledge and ignorance. Conjectures and Refutations (1963). - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Foundationalist Theories of Epistemic Justification - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Epistemology, 2. What is Justification? - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Public Justification - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Internalist vs. Externalist Conceptions of Epistemic Justification - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Coherentist Theories of Epistemic Justification
Researchers Closer to Cure for Multiple Sclerosis and Other Myelin-related Diseases Medical News Keywords MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, MYELIN, NERVOUS SYSTEM, SPINAL CORD, MS Available for logged-in reporters only A breakthrough finding on the mechanism of myelin formation by Jonah Chan, assistant professor of cell and neurobiology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, could have a major impact on the treatment of diseases such as multiple sclerosis and demyelination as a result of spinal cord injuries. Newswise — A breakthrough finding on the mechanism of myelin formation by Jonah Chan, assistant professor of cell and neurobiology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, could have a major impact on the treatment of diseases such as multiple sclerosis and demyelination as a result of spinal cord injuries. Myelin, the white matter that coats all nerves, allows long-distance communication in the nervous system. "It plays a vital role in the overall health and function of the nervous system, and its degeneration plays a role in a number of diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, peripheral neuropathies, and even in spinal cord injury," Chan explained. The study, "The Polarity Protein Par-3 Directly Interacts with p75NTR to Regulate Myelination", appears in the Nov. 3 issue of Science. Chan, who works at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, collaborated on the study with Michel Cayouette and researchers at the Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montreal in Canada. At a basic level, the nervous system functions like a collection of wires that transmit electrical signals encoding our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Just as an electrical wire needs insulation, myelin is wrapped around axons - the wire-like extensions of neurons that make up nerve fibers. The sheath helps to propagate the electrical signal and maximize the efficiency and velocity of these signals in our brain and body. Diseases and injuries that compromise the integrity of myelin, such as multiple sclerosis or peripheral neuropathies, have dramatic consequences like paralysis, uncoordinated movements, and neuropathic pain. Chan's study sheds light on the mechanisms that control how myelin is formed during development of the nerves. The article constitutes an important step forward in understanding the process of myelination and opens the way to new research in this field. Chan showed that a protein, Par-3, is at the base of the myelination process. This protein becomes localized to one side of the myelin-forming cells, known as Schwann cells, upon contact with the axon that is to be myelinated. Par-3 acts almost as a molecular scaffold to set-up an "organizing centre", which brings together key proteins essential for myelination, in particular a receptor for a molecule secreted by the neurons. The researchers found that when they disrupted this organizing centre, cells could not form myelin normally. Importantly, their discovery demonstrates that Schwann cells need to become polarized so that they know which side is in contact with the axon to initiate wrapping and to bring essential molecules to this critical interface. These studies open the way to new research, said Chan, which should help to identify other components that are recruited at the organizing center set-up by Par-3. In multiple sclerosis, or after injury, Schwann cells can re-myelinate axons of the central nervous system to some degree. Therefore, these experiments bring about the possibility that manipulating the Par-3 pathway might allow for more efficient re-myelination of damaged or diseased nerves. This work was supported by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Career Transition Award and the Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation Award to Jonah Chan, and the Canadian Institute of Health Research to Michel Cayouette. Chan, J. R., Jolicoeur, C., Yamauchi, J, Elliott, J, Fawcett, J. P., Ng, B. K., and Cayouette, M. ,"The Polarity Protein Par-3 Directly Interacts with p75NTR to Regulate Myelination," Science, Nov. 3, 2006.
Skip to main content More Search Options A member of our team will call you back within one business day. Headache pain can start in different structures in the head. The brain itself doesn't hurt, but other parts of the head do. Headache is a common symptom of illness, such as a cold or the flu. At other times, headaches occur without seeming to be connected to any illness. Very rarely are headaches a sign of a serious medical problem. Referred pain has its source in one place but is felt in another. For example, pain behind the eyes may actually be caused by tense muscles in the neck and shoulders. This means that the place that hurts may not be the part of the head that needs treatment.
\|Egyptian MiG-21 PFM\| \|First flight\|\|14 February 1955 (Ye-2)\| \|Status\|\|In active service (see list)\| \|Primary users\|\|Soviet Air Force Indian Air Force Romanian Air Force Polish Air Force \|Produced\|\|1959 (MiG-21F) to 1985 (MiG-21bis)\| (10,645 produced in the USSR, 657 in India, 194 in Czechoslovakia) The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (Russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. It was popularly nicknamed "Balalaika", from the aircraft's planform-view resemblance to the Russian stringed musical instrument or ołówek (English: pencil) by Polish pilots due to the shape of its fuselage. Early versions are considered second-generation jet fighters, while later versions are considered to be third-generation jet fighters. Some 50 countries over four continents have flown the MiG-21, and it still serves many nations a half-century after its maiden flight. The fighter made aviation records. At least by name, it is the most-produced supersonic jet aircraft in aviation history and the most-produced combat aircraft since the Korean War, and it had the longest production run of a combat aircraft (1959 to 1985 over all variants). The MiG-21 jet fighter was a continuation of Soviet jet fighters, starting with the subsonic MiG-15 and MiG-17, and the supersonic MiG-19. A number of experimental Mach 2 Soviet designs were based on nose intakes with either swept-back wings, such as the Sukhoi Su-7, or tailed deltas, of which the MiG-21 would be the most successful. Development of what would become the MiG-21 began in the early 1950s, when Mikoyan OKB finished a preliminary design study for a prototype designated Ye-1 in 1954. This project was very quickly reworked when it was determined that the planned engine was underpowered; the redesign led to the second prototype, the Ye-2. Both these and other early prototypes featured swept wings—the first prototype with delta wings as found on production variants was the Ye-4. The Ye-4 made its maiden flight on 16 June 1955 and made its first public appearance during the Soviet Aviation Day display at Moscow's Tushino airfield in July 1956. In the West, due to the lack of available information, early details of the MiG-21 often were confused with those of similar Soviet fighters of the era. In one instance, Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1960–1961 listed the "Fishbed" as a Sukhoi design and used an illustration of the Su-9 'Fishpot'. The MiG-21 was the first successful Soviet aircraft combining fighter and interceptor characteristics in a single aircraft. It was a lightweight fighter, achieving Mach 2 with a relatively low-powered afterburning turbojet, and is thus comparable to the American Lockheed F-104 Starfighter and Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter and the French Dassault Mirage III. Its basic layout was used for numerous other Soviet designs; delta-winged aircraft included Su-9 interceptor and the fast E-150 prototype from MiG bureau while the mass-produced successful front fighter Su-7 and Mikoyan's I-75 experimental interceptor combined a similar fuselage shape with swept-back wings. However, the characteristic layout with the shock cone and front air intake did not see widespread use outside the USSR and finally proved to have limited development potential, mainly because of the very small space available for the radar. Like many aircraft designed as interceptors, the MiG-21 had a short range. This was not helped by a design defect where the center of gravity shifted rearwards once two-thirds of the fuel had been used. This had the effect of making the plane uncontrollable, resulting in an endurance of only 45 minutes in clean condition. The issue of the short endurance and low fuel capacity of the MiG-21F, PF, PFM, S/SM and M/MF variants—though each had a somewhat greater fuel capacity than its predecessor—led to the development of the MT and SMT variants. These had a range increase of 250 km (155 mi) compared to the MiG-21SM, but at the cost of worsening all other performance figures (such as a lower service ceiling and slower time to altitude). The delta wing, while excellent for a fast-climbing interceptor, meant any form of turning combat led to a rapid loss of speed. However, the light loading of the aircraft could mean that a climb rate of 235 m/s (46,250 ft/min) was possible with a combat-loaded MiG-21bis, not far short of the performance of the later F-16A. Given a skilled pilot and capable missiles, it could give a good account of itself against contemporary fighters. Its G-limits were increased from +7Gs in initial variants to +8.5Gs in the latest variants. It was replaced by the newer variable-geometry MiG-23 and MiG-27 for ground support duties. However, not until the MiG-29 would the Soviet Union ultimately replace the MiG-21 as a maneuvering dogfighter to counter new American air superiority types. The MiG-21 was exported widely and continues to be used. The aircraft's simple controls, engine, weapons, and avionics were typical of Soviet-era military designs. The use of a tail with the delta wing aids stability and control at the extremes of the flight envelope, enhancing safety for lower-skilled pilots; this in turn enhanced its marketability in exports to developing countries with limited training programs and restricted pilot pools. While technologically inferior to the more advanced fighters it often faced, low production and maintenance costs made it a favorite of nations buying Eastern Bloc military hardware. Several Russian, Israeli and Romanian firms have begun to offer upgrade packages to MiG-21 operators, designed to bring the aircraft up to a modern standard, with greatly upgraded avionics and armaments. A total of 10,645 aircraft were built in the USSR. They were produced in three factories: GAZ 30[N 1] (3,203 aircraft) in Moscow (also known as Znamya Truda), GAZ 21 (5,765 aircraft) in Gorky [N 2] and at GAZ 31 (1,678 aircraft) in Tbilisi. Generally, Gorky built single-seaters for the Soviet forces. Moscow constructed single-seaters for export, and Tbilisi manufactured the twin-seaters both for export and for the USSR, though there were exceptions. The MiG-21R and MiG-21bis for export and for the USSR were built in Gorky, 17 single-seaters were helmed in Tbilisi (MiG-21 and MiG-21F), the MiG-21MF was first constructed in Moscow and then Gorky, and the MiG-21U was built in Moscow as well as in Tbilisi. \|Gorky\|\|83 MiG-21F; 513 MiG-21F-13; 525 MiG-21PF; 233 MiG-21PFL; 944 MiG-21PFS/PFM; 448 MiG-21R; 145 MiG-21S/SN; 349 MiG-21SM; 281 MiG-21SMT; 2013 MiG-21bis; 231 MiG-21MF\| \|Moscow\|\|MiG-21U (all export units); MiG-21PF (all export units); MiG-21FL (all units not built by HAL); MiG-21M (all); 15 MiG-21MT (all)\| \|Tbilisi\|\|17 MiG-21 and MiG-21F; 181 MiG-21U izdeliye 66–400 and 66–600 (1962–1966); 347 MiG-21US (1966–1970); 1133 MiG-21UM (1971 to end)\| A total of 194 MiG-21F-13s were built under licence in Czechoslovakia, and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. of India built 657 MiG-21FL, MiG-21M and MiG-21bis (of which 225 were bis) \|This section does not cite any references or sources. (October 2011)\| The MiG-21 has a delta wing. The sweep angle on the leading edge is 57° with a TsAGI S-12 airfoil. The angle of incidence is 0° while the dihedral angle is −2°. On the trailing edge there are ailerons with an area of 1.18 m², and flaps with an area of 1.87 m². In front of the ailerons there are small wing fences. The fuselage is semi-monocoque with an elliptical profile and a maximum width of 1.24 m (4 ft 1 in). The air flow to the engine is regulated by a cone in the air intake. On early model MiG-21s, the intake cone has three positions. For speeds up to Mach 1.5 the cone is fully retracted to the maximum aft position. For speeds between Mach 1.5 and Mach 1.9 the cone moves to the middle position. For speeds higher than Mach 1.9 the cone moves to the maximum forward position. On the later model MiG-21PF, the intake cone moves to a position based on the actual speed. The cone position for a given speed is calculated by the UVD-2M system using air pressures from in front and behind the compressor of the engine. On both sides of the nose there are gills to supply the engine with more air while on the ground and during takeoff. In the first variant of the MiG-21, the pitot tube is attached to the bottom of the nose. After the MiG-21P variant, this tube is attached to the top of the air intake. The cabin is pressurized and air conditioned. On variants prior to the MiG-21PFM, the cabin canopy is hinged at the front. When ejecting, the SK-1 ejection seat connects with the canopy to make a capsule that encloses the pilot. The capsule protects the pilot from the high speed airflow encountered during high speed ejections. After ejection, the capsule opens to allow the pilot to parachute to the ground. However, ejecting at low altitudes can cause the canopy to take too long to separate. Some pilots have been killed after ejecting at low altitudes. On the MiG-21PFM, the canopy is hinged on the right side of the cockpit. On the under side of the aircraft there are three air brakes, two at the front and one at the back. The front air brakes have an area of 0.76 m², and a deflection angle of 35°. The back air brake has an area of 0.46 m² and a deflection angle of 40°. The back air brake is blocked if the airplane carries an external fuel tank. Behind the air brakes are the bays for the main landing gear. Also on the under side of the airplane, just behind the trailing edge of the wing are attachment points for two JATO rockets. The front section of the fuselage ends at former #28. The back section of the fuselage starts at former #28a and is removable for engine maintenance. The empennage of the MiG-21 consists of a vertical stabilizer, a stabilator and a small fin on the bottom of the tail to improve yaw control. The vertical stabilizer has a sweep angle of 60° and an area of 5.32 m² (on earlier version 3.8 m²) and a rudder. The stabilator has a sweep angle of 57°, an area of 3.94 m² and a span of 2.6 m. The MiG-21 uses a tricycle type undercarriage. On most variants the main landing gear uses tires that are 800 mm in diameter and 200 mm in width. Only the MiG-21F variants use tires with the size 660x200 mm. The wheels of the main landing gear retract into the fuselage after rotating 87° and the shock absorbers retract into the wing. The nose gear retracts forward into the fuselage under the radar. Operational history In 1961, the Indian Air Force (IAF) opted to purchase the MiG-21 over several other Western competitors. As part of the deal, the Soviet Union offered India full transfer of technology and rights for local assembly. In 1964, the MiG-21 became the first supersonic fighter jet to enter service with the IAF. Due to limited induction numbers and lack of pilot training, the IAF MiG-21 played a limited role in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. However, the IAF gained valuable experience while operating the MiG-21 for defensive sorties during the war. The positive feedback from IAF pilots during the 1965 war prompted India to place more orders for the fighter jet and also invest heavily in building the MiG-21's maintenance infrastructure and pilot training programs. By 1969, India had acquired more than 120 MiG-21s from the Soviet Union. Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 The expansion of IAF MiG-21 fleet marked a growing India-Soviet Union military partnership which enabled India to field a formidable air force to counter Chinese and Pakistani threats. The capabilities of the MiG-21 were put to the test during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. During the war, the MiG-21s played a crucial role in giving the IAF air superiority over vital points and areas in the western theater of the conflict. The 1971 war witnessed the first supersonic air combat in the subcontinent when an Indian MiG-21FLs claimed a PAF F-104 Starfighter with its GSh-23 twin-barrelled 23 mm cannon. By the time the hostilities came to an end, the IAF MiG-21s had claimed four PAF F-104s, two PAF F.6, one PAF North American F-86 Sabre and one PAF Lockheed C-130 Hercules. According to one Western military analyst, the MiG-21s had clearly "won" the much anticipated air combat between the MiG-21 and the F-104 Starfighter. Because of the formidable performance of the MiG-21s, several nations, including Iraq, approached India for MiG-21 pilot training. By the early 1970s, more than 120 Iraqi pilots were being trained by the Indian Air Force. Kargil War and Atlantique Incident It was also used as late as 1999 in the Kargil War, in which one Indian Air Force MiG-21 was shot down. The MiG-21's last known kill took place in 1999 during the Atlantique Incident, when two MiG-21 aircraft of the Indian Air Force intercepted and shot down an Breguet Atlantique reconnaissance aircraft of the Pakistani Navy with the R-60MK (AA-8 Aphid) air-to-air missile. \|Date\|\|Aircraft Scoring Kill\|\|Squadron\|\|Pilot\|\|Victim\| \|4 September 1965\|\|IAF MiG-21F-13\|\|PAF F-86E\| \|4 December 1971\|\|IAF MiG-21FL\|\|28 Squadron (First Supersonics)\|\|Manbir Singh\|\|PAF Sabre Mk.6\| \|6 December 1971\|\|IAF MiG-21FL\|\|S B Shah\|\|PAF F-6\| \|11 December 1971\|\|IAF MiG-21FL\|\|IAF MiG-21FL (Fratricide)\| \|12 December 1971\|\|IAF MiG-21FL\|\|28 Squadron (First Supersonics)\|\|B B Soni\|\|PAF F-104A\| \|16 December 1971\|\|IAF MiG-21FL\|\|29 Squadron (Scorpios)\|\|S B Shah\|\|PAF F-6\| \|17 December 1971\|\|IAF MiG-21FL\|\|29 Squadron (Scorpios)\|\|N Kukreja\|\|PAF F-104A\| \|17 December 1971\|\|IAF MiG-21FL\|\|29 Squadron (Scorpios)\|\|I S Bindra\|\|PAF F-104A\| \|17 December 1971\|\|IAF MiG-21FL\|\|29 Squadron (Scorpios)\|\|A K Datta\|\|PAF F-104A\| \|17 December 1971\|\|IAF MiG-21FL\|\|29 Squadron (Scorpios)\|\|S B Shah\|\|PAF F-104A (Damaged)\| \|1997\|\|IAF MiG-21bis\|\|PAF AV (Damaged)\| \|10 August 1999\|\|IAF MiG-21bis\|\|45 Squadron (Winged Swords)\|\|P K Bundela\|\|PAF Br.1150 Atlantic\| The Indonesian Air Force purchased 22 MiG-21s. In 1962, 20 MiG-21F-13s and MiG-21Us were received during Operation Trikora in the Western New Guinea conflict. Indonesian MiG-21s never fought in any dogfight. Right after the U.S. backed anti-communist forces took over the government, the entire Indonesian MiG-21 fleet (also MiG-17 and MiG-19) were delivered to the U.S. in exchange for T-33, UH-34D, and later, F-5 and OV-10 aircraft. The MiGs then formed "Red Eagles", a U.S. OPFOR squadron at Groom Lake. As may be seen from its range figures, the MiG-21 was designed for very short ground-controlled interception (GCI) missions. It became renowned for this type of mission in the skies over North Vietnam. The first MiG-21s arrived directly from the Soviet Union by ship in April 1966. After being unloaded and assembled they were given to North Vietnam's oldest fighter unit, the 921st Fighter Regiment which was created on 3 February 1964 as a MiG-17 unit. Because the North Vietnamese Air Force's 923rd FR was newer and less experienced, they would continue to operate MiG-17s while the arrival of the MiG-19s (J6 versions) from Communist China in 1969 would create North Vietnam's only MiG-19 unit, the 925th FR. On 3 February 1972, North Vietnam commissioned their fourth and last Fighter Regiment created during the war with the Republic of Vietnam, the MiG-21PFM (Type 94) equipped 927th Fighter Regiment. Although 13 of North Vietnam's flying aces attained their status while flying the MiG-21 (cf. three in the MiG-17) many North Vietnamese pilots preferred the MiG-17 because the high wing loading of the MiG-21 made it relatively less maneuverable and the lighter framed canopy of the MiG-17 gave better visibility. However, this is not the impression perceived by British author Roger Boniface when he interviewed Pham Ngoc Lan and ace Nguyễn Nhật Chiêu (who scored victories flying both MiG-17 and MiG-21). Pham Ngoc Lan told Boniface that "The MiG-21 was much faster, and it had two ATOLL missiles which were very accurate and reliable when fired between 1,000 and 1,200 yards." And Chiêu asserted that "...for me personally I preferred the MiG-21 because it was superior in all specifications in climb, speed and armament. The ATOLL missile was very accurate and I scored four kills with the ATOLL. [...] In general combat conditions I was always confident of a kill over a F-4 Phantom when flying a MiG-21." Although the MiG-21 lacked the long-range radar, missiles, and heavy bomb load of its contemporary multi-mission U.S. fighters, with its RP-21 Sapfir radar it proved a challenging adversary in the hands of experienced pilots, especially when used in high speed hit and run attacks under GCI control. MiG-21 intercepts of Republic F-105 Thunderchief strike groups were effective in downing US aircraft or forcing them to jettison their bomb loads. \|Date/Year\|\|MiG-21 Unit\|\|MiG-21 Weapon\|\|Aircraft Destroyed\|\|Destroyed Aircraft Unit/Remarks\| \|10-5-1966\|\|NVAF 921st Fighter Regiment (FR)\|\|AA-2 Atoll (K-13) air to air missile\|\|F-4C Phantom II\|\|USAF 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS)\| \|12-14-66\|\|921st FR\|\|AA-2 Atoll\|\|F-105D Thunderchief\|\|USAF 357th TFS\| \|1967\|\|921st FR\|\|30mm cannon/AA-2 Atoll\|\|(7) F-105D, (3) F-105F, (5) F-4D, (2) F-4B, (1) RF-101 Voodoo\|\|USAF 13th TFS, 20th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (TRS), 34th TFS, 44th TFS, 333rd TFS, 354th TFS, 357th TFS, 435th TFS, 469th TFS, 555th TFS. (1) F-4D from 555th TFS and (2) USN F-4Bs from VF-151 downed by unknown MiG units. (1) F-105D from 44th TFS downed by MiG-21 30mm cannon fire. (1) F-4B from VF-151 probably downed by MiG-21 cannon fire.\| \|1968\|\|921st FR\|\|AA-2 Atoll\|\|(3) F-105D, (1) F-4B, (1) F-4D, (1) F-4J\|\|USAF 34th TFS, 469th TFS, 497th TFS. USN VF-92 and VF-102.\| \|01-14-68\|\|921st FR\|\|AA-2 Atoll\|\|EB-66C Destroyer\|\|USAF 41st Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron (TEWS)\| \|02-03-68\|\|921st FR\|\|AA-2 Atoll\|\|F-102A Delta Dagger\|\|USAF 509th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (FIS)\| \|1971\|\|921st FR\|\|AA-2 Atoll\|\|(2) F-4Ds\|\|USAF 13th TFS and 555th TFS\| \|1972\|\|921st FR\|\|AA-2 Atoll\|\|(1) F-4B, (1) F-4D, (7) F-4E, (1) RA-5C Vigilante\|\|USAF 4th TFS, 13th TFS, 308th TFS, 334th TFS, 555th TFS, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW). USN VF-51 and RVAH-13.\| \|05-11-72\|\|927th FR\|\|AA-2 Atoll\|\|F-105G\|\|USAF 17th Wild Weasel Squadron (WWS)\| \|1972\|\|927th FR\|\|30mm cannon/AA-2 Atoll\|\|(4) F-4D, (10) F-4E\|\|USAF 4th TFS, 25th TFS, 34th TFS, 307th TFS, 308th TFSs, 335th TFS, 336th TFS, 421st TFS, 469th TFS, 523rd TFS, 555th TFS. (1) F-4E from the 307th TFS was downed by possible MiG-21 cannon fire.\| \|08-26-72\|\|927th FR\|\|AA-2 Atoll\|\|F-4J\|\|USMC VMFA-232\| \|Total Aircraft Destroyed:\|\|56\| After a million sorties and nearly 1,000 US aircraft losses, Operation Rolling Thunder came to an end on 1 November 1968. A poor air-to-air combat loss-exchange ratios against the smaller, more agile enemy MiGs during the early part of the Vietnam War eventually led the USN to create their Navy Fighter Weapons School, also known as "Top Gun" at Miramar Naval Air Station on 3 March 1969. The USAF quickly followed with their own version, titled the Dissimilar Air Combat Training (sometimes referred to as Red Flag) program. These two programs employed the subsonic Douglas A-4 Skyhawk and the supersonic F-5 Tiger II, as well as the Mach 2.4-capable USAF Convair F-106 Delta Dart, which mimicked the MiG-21. Over the course of the air war, between 3 April 1965 and 8 January 1973, each side would ultimately claim favorable kill ratios. One MiG-21 was shot down on 21 February 1972 by an U.S. Air Force F-4 Phantom piloted by Major Lodge with Lt. Roger Locher as his RIO based at Udorn, Thailand. This was claimed to be the first ever U.S. Air Force MiG kill at night, and the first in four years at that time. The intercept occurred near the Fish's Mouth region of the Laos, North Vietnam border. Two MiG-21s were claimed shot down by U.S. Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress tail gunners; the only confirmed air-to-air kills made by the B-52. The first aerial victory occurred on 18 December 1972, kill awarded to tail gunner SSgt Samuel Turner, who was awarded the Silver Star for his feat. The second air-to-air kill took place on 24 December 1972, kill awarded to A1C Albert E. Moore for downing a MiG-21 over the Thai Nguyen railroad yards. Both actions occurred during Operation Linebacker II (also known as the Christmas Bombings). These air-to-air kills were not confirmed by VPAF. The biggest threat to North Vietnam during the war had always been the Strategic Air Command's B-52 Stratofortress. Hanoi's MiG-17 and MiG-19 interceptors could not deal with those bombers at their flying altitude. In the summer of 1972 the NVAF was directed to train 12 MiG-21 pilots for the specific mission of attacking and shooting down B-52 bombers; with two-thirds of those pilots specifically trained in the night attack. On 26 December 1972, just two days after Tail gunner Albert Moore downed his MiG-21, a VPAF (North Vietnamese Air Force) MiG-21MF (number 5121) from the 921st Fighter Regiment, flown by Major Phạm Tuân over Hanoi, North Vietnam claimed responsibility for the first aerial combat kill of a U.S. Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress in aviation history. The Stratofortress had been above Hanoi at over 30,000 feet (9,100 m) during Operation Linebacker II, when Major Tuân launched two Atoll missiles from 2 kilometres, claiming to have destroyed one of the bombers flying in the three plane formation. Other sources argue that his missiles failed to hit their mark, but as he was disengaging, a B-52 from a three-bomber cell in front of his target took a hit from a SAM, exploding in mid-air: this may have caused Tuan to think his missiles destroyed the target he had been aiming for. The Vietnamese side also claims another kill to have taken place on 28 December 1972 by a MiG-21 from the 921st FR, this time flown by Vu Xuan Thieu. Thieu is said to have perished in the explosion of a B-52 hit by his own missiles, having approached the target too closely. In this case the Vietnamese version appears to be erroneous: while one MiG-21 kill was claimed by Phantoms that night (this may have been Thieu's MiG), no B-52s were lost to any cause on the date of the claimed kill. Year-by-Year Kill Claims involving MiG-21s - 1966: U.S. claimed six MiG-21s destroyed; North Vietnam claimed seven F-4 Phantom IIs and 11 F-105 Thunderchiefs shot down by MiG-21s. - 1967: U.S. claimed 21 MiG-21s destroyed; North Vietnam claimed 17 F-105 Thunderchiefs, 11 F-4 Phantom IIs, two McDonnell RF-101 Voodoos, one Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, one Vought F-8 Crusader, one EB-66 Destroyer and three unidentified types shot down by MiG-21s. - 1968: U.S. claimed nine MiG-21s destroyed; North Vietnam claimed 17 US aircraft shot down by MiG-21s. - 1969: U.S. destroyed three MiG-21s; one Firebee UAV destroyed by a MiG-21. - 1970: U.S. destroyed two MiG-21s; North Vietnam claimed one F-4 Phantom and one CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter shot down by MiG-21s. - 1972: U.S. claimed 51 MiG-21s destroyed; North Vietnam claimed 53 US aircraft shot down by MiG-21s, including two B-52 Stratofortress bombers. Soviet General Fesenko, the main Soviet adviser to the North Vietnamese Air Force in 1972, recorded 34 MiG-21s, nine MiG-17s, and nine MiG-19s destroyed in 1972. Egyptian-Syrian-Israeli conflicts The MiG-21 was also used extensively in the Middle East conflicts of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s by the air forces of Egypt, Syria and Iraq. The MiG-21 first encountered Israeli Mirage IIICs on 14 November 1964, but it was not until 14 July 1966 that the first MiG-21 was shot down. Another six Syrian MiG-21s were shot down by Israeli Mirages on 7 April 1967. The MiG-21 would also face McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs and Douglas A-4 Skyhawks, but was later outclassed by the more modern McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle and General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, which were acquired by Israel beginning in the mid-1970s. During the opening attacks of the 1967 Six Day War, the Israeli Air Force struck Arab air forces in four attack waves. In the first wave, IDF aircraft claimed to have destroyed eight Egyptian aircraft in air-to-air combat, of which seven were MiG-21s; Egypt claims 10 Israeli aircraft destroyed, four or five of which were scored by MiG-21PFs. During the second wave the Israelis claimed four MiG-21s downed in air-to-air combat, and the third wave resulted in two Syrian and one Iraqi MiG-21s claimed destroyed in the air. The fourth wave destroyed some more Syrian MiG-21s on the ground. Overall, the Egyptians lost around 100 out of about 110 MiG-21s they had, almost all on the ground; the Syrians lost 35 of 60 MiG-21F-13s and MiG-21PFs in the air and on the ground. \|This section's factual accuracy is disputed. (October 2009)\| \|\|The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (December 2011)\| Between the end of the Six Day War and the start of the War of Attrition, IDF Mirage fighters had six confirmed kills of Egyptian MiG-21s, in exchange for Egyptian MiG-21s scoring two confirmed and three probable kills against Israeli aircraft. During the War of Attrition itself, the Israelis claimed 56 confirmed kills against Egyptian MiG-21s, while Egyptian MiG-21s claimed 14 confirmed and 12 probable kills against IDF aircraft. During this same time period, from the end of the Six Day War to the end of the War of Attrition, the Israelis claimed a total of 25 Syrian MiG-21s destroyed; the Syrians claimed three confirmed and four probable kills of Israel aircraft. High losses to Egyptian aircraft and continuous bombing during the War of Attrition caused the Egyptians to ask the Soviet Union for help. In June 1970, Soviet pilots and SAM crews arrived with their equipment. On 22 June 1970, a Soviet pilot flying a MiG-21MF shot down an Israeli A-4E. After some more successful intercepts by Soviet pilots and another Israeli A-4 being shot down on 25 July, the Israelis decided to plan an ambush in response. On 30 July Israeli F-4s lured Soviet MiG-21s into an area where they were ambushed by Mirages. Asher Snir, flying a Mirage IIICJ, destroyed a Soviet MiG-21; Avihu Ben-Nun and Aviam Sela, both piloting F-4Es, each got a kill, and an unidentified pilot in another Mirage scored the fourth kill against the Soviet-flown MiG-21s. Three Soviet pilots were killed and the Soviets were alarmed by the losses. However, Soviet MiG-21 pilots and SAM crews destroyed a total of 21 Israeli aircraft, which helped to convince the Israelis to sign a ceasefire agreement. In September 1973, a large air battle erupted between the Syrians and the Israelis; the Israelis claimed a total of 12 Syrian MiG-21s destroyed, while the Syrians claimed eight kills scored by MiG-21s and admitted five losses. During the Yom Kippur War, the Israelis claimed a total of 73 kills of Egyptian MiG-21s. Egypt claimed 27 kills of Israeli aircraft by its MiG-21s, plus eight probables. However, according to most reliable sources, these were exaggerated claims as Israeli air-to-air combat losses for the entire war did not exceed five to eight. On the Syrian front of the war, 6 October 1973 saw a flight of Syrian MiG-21MFs shoot down an IDF A-4E and a Mirage IIICJ while losing three of their own to Israeli IAI Neshers. On 7 October, Syrian MiG-21MFs downed two Israeli F-4Es, three Mirage IIICJs and an A-4E while losing two of their MiGs to Neshers and one to an F-4E, plus two to friendly SAM fire. Iraqi MiG-21PFs also operated on this front, and on that same day destroyed two A-4Es while losing one MiG. On 8 October 1973, Syrian MiG-21PFMs downed three F-4Es, but six of their MiG-21s were lost. By the end of the war, Syrian MiG-21s claimed a total of 30 confirmed kills against Israeli aircraft; 29 MiG-21s were claimed as destroyed by the IDF. Between the end of the Yom Kippur War and the start of the 1982 Lebanon War, the Israelis had received modern F-15s and F-16s, which were far superior to the old Syrian MiG-21MFs. According to the IDF, these new aircraft accounted for the destruction of 24 Syrian MiG-21s over this time period, though the Syrians did claim five kills against IDF aircraft with their MiG-21s armed with outdated K-13 missiles. The 1982 Lebanon War started on 6 June 1982, and in the course of that war the IDF claimed to have destroyed about 45 Syrian MiG-21MFs. The Syrians claimed two confirmed and 15 probable kills of Israeli aircraft. This air battle was the largest to occur since the Korean War. Other Middle East conflicts Egypt would be shipped some American Sidewinder missiles, and these were fitted to their MiG-21s and successfully used in combat against Libyan MiG-23s during the brief Libyan-Egyptian War of July 1977. \|Date\|\|Aircraft Scoring Kill\|\|Victim\| \|22 July 1977\|\|LARAF Mirage 5DE\|\|EAF MiG-21MF\| \|23 July 1977\|\|EAF MiG-21MFs\|\|3 (or 4) LARAF Mirage + 1 LARAF MiG-23MS\| \|1979\|\|EAF MiG-21MF\|\|LARAF MiG-23MS\| Iran–Iraq War During the Iran–Iraq War, 23 Iraqi MiG-21s were shot down by Iranian F-14s, confirmed by the Iranian, Western and Iraqi sources and 29 MiG-21s by F-4s. However, from 1980 to 1988, the Iraqi Mig-21 downed 43 Iranian airplanes, against 49 Mig-21 losses in the same period. Libyan MiG-21s saw limited service during the 2011 Libyan civil war. On 15 March 2011, one MiG-21bis and one MiG-21UM flown by defector Libyan air force pilots who joined the rebellion, flew from Ghardabiya AB (near Sirte) and landed at Benina airport to became part of the Free Libyan Air Force. On 17 March 2011 the MiG-21UM suffered a technical fault and crashed after takeoff from Benina airport. Syrian Civil War (2011-Ongoing) Starting from the final week of July, the involvement of the Syrian Air Force in the Syrian civil war, dramatically increased with videos showing that SyAF L-39 combat trainers, MIG-21 and MiG-23 fixed wing fighter jets started bombing rebel held areas. Up to that point only helicopters, mostly Mi-8/17 were captured on videos on strike missions, while few jets used as reconnaissance aircraft. Abu ad Duhur Air Base, home of a MiG-21 regiment, became an important focus for the rebel forces to deny this new threat posed by the loyalist Air Force. The base was put under siege with mortar shelling and antiaircraft guns at the end of August. On 30 August 2012, a Syrian Air Force MiG-21bis (s/n 2271) was shot down while taking off from Abu ad Duhur Air Base on a mission to provide air support for the loyalist forces. The aircraft was hit by the rebels’ antiaircraft heavy machine gun fire while at low altitude and speed after the take off. The pilot ejected successfully, but was killed by the rebels. 11 more were claimed to have been destroyed on the ground.<ref"Syrian MiG ‘shot down’ - 8,000 regime forces killed." Arab Times, 30 August 2012.</ref> On 4 September 2012, another Syrian Air Force MiG-21bis (s/n 2280) crashed during a landing approach to Abu al-Dahur air base. Since the base was under siege by insurgent forces, the pilot tried a hazardous maneuver which led the pilot to lose control of the MiG. The pilot ejected at low altitude, but the parachute did not deploy on time and the pilot was killed. Horn of Africa During the Ogaden War of 1977–78, American-supplied Ethiopian F-5As met Somalian MiG-21MFs in combat several times. In one lopsided incident, two F-5As piloted by Israelis engaged four MiG-21MFs that were armed only with bombs. The pilots destroyed two and then watched as the two remaining MiG-21s collided with each other while trying to avoid an AIM-9 fired by the F-5. The Ethiopian F-5As claimed 10 Somali MiG-21MFs; in return, Somali MiG-21MFs claimed four Ethiopian MiG-21MFs, three F-5Es, one Canberra bomber and three Douglas DC-3s. Ironically, Ethiopia also received MiG-21s. The Ethiopian MiG-21s were used to bomb Somali forces in the final Ethiopian counter-attack. Southern Africa One of the more notable uses of MiG-21s in combat occurred during the Angolan Civil War in the hands of the People's Air and Air Defence Force of Angola. Cuban Air Force pilots also flew MiG-21s over Angola during the war. MiG-21s were used as fighter-bombers and most losses were due to ground fire. However, both Angolan and Cuban MiG-21s often had encounters with South African Air Force Mirages. On 6 November 1981, Major Johann Rankin, flying a Mirage F.1CZ, scored the SAAF's first kill since the Korean War, downing the MiG-21MF of Lt. Danacio Valdez. On 5 October 1982, a SAAF Mirage IIICZ damaged a MiG-21MF with cannon fire, but the MiG managed to return to base safely. The SAAF acquired a MiG-21bis from the Angolan Air Force No. 340 through defection and the aircraft currently resides on display at the South African Air Force Museum, Swartkops Air Force Base in Pretoria. Yugoslavia purchased its first batch of MiG-21s in 1962 from the Soviet Union. In the period from 1962 to the early 1980s Yugoslavia had purchased up to 216 MiG-21s in nine variants. From 1964 to 1992, about 80 aircraft had been lost in accidents. Yugoslav Air force units that operated MiG-21 were the 204th fighter-aviation regiment at Batajnica Air Base (126th, 127th and 128th fighter-aviation squadrons), 117th fighter-aviation regiment at Željava Air Base (124th and 125th fighter-aviation squadron and 352nd recon squadron), 83rd fighter-aviation regiment at Slatina Air Base (123rd and 130th fighter aviation squadron), 185th fighter-bomber-aviation squadron (129th fighter-aviation squadron) at Pula and 129th training center at Batajnica air base. During the early stages of the 1991–1995 Yugoslav wars the Yugoslav People's Army used MiG-21s in a ground-attack role, while Croatian and Slovenian forces did not have air forces at the beginning of the war. Aircraft from air bases in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were relocated to air bases in Serbia. Detailed records show at least seven MiG-21s were shot down by AA defenses in Croatia and Bosnia. A MiG-21 shot down an EC helicopter in 1992. Croatia acquired three MiG-21s in 1992 through defections by Croatian pilots serving with the JNA, two of which were lost in subsequent actions – one to Serbian air defenses, the other in a friendly fire accident. In 1993, Croatia purchased about 40 MiG-21s in violation of an arms embargo, but only about 20 of these entered service, while the rest were used for spare parts. Croatia used them alongside the sole remaining defector for ground attack missions in operations Flash (during which one was lost) and Storm. The only air-to-air action for Croatian MiGs was an attempt by two of them to intercept Soko J-22 Oraos of Republika Srpska Air Force on ground attack mission on 7 August 1995. After some maneuvering, both sides disengaged without firing. Remaining Yugoslav MiG-21s were flown to Serbia by 1992 and continued their service in the newly created Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. During the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, 33 MiG-21s were destroyed on the ground. Beginning in 1993, Russia did not offer spare parts for the MiG-23 and MiG-29 for the Romanian Air Force. Initially, this was the context for the modernization of the Romanian MiG-21s with Elbit Systems, and because it was easier for the Romanians to maintain these fighter jets. A total of 110 MiG-21s were modernized under the LanceR designation. Today, only 48 LanceRs are operational for the RoAF. It can use both Western and Eastern armament such as the R-60M, R-73, Magic 2, or Python III missiles. They will be replaced by F-16s in the late 2010s. However due to lack of funds the MiG-21 LanceR may fly for years longer. From September 1963 the 19th Fighter Regiment of the Air Force received 12 units MiG-21F-13. Later some of these aircraft were converted for reconnaissance in the modification MiG-21F-13R, which were submitted to the 26th Reconnaissance Regiment in 1988. In January 1965 the 18th Fighter Regiment received a squadron of 12 pcs. MiG-21PF, some of which also were converted and used as a reconnaissance aircraft MiG-oboznachevnieto 21PFR. Submitted for operation in 26 Regiment reconnaissance planes from this squadron were removed from service in 1991, the army of the 15 Fighter Regiment in 1965 received another 12 fighters MiG-21PF and in 1977-1978 were submitted to operate another 36 refurbished aircraft. This modification regiment received two more planes in 1984 and operated by Aviation Regiment in 1992 For the purposes of intelligence reconnaissance regiment received 26 6 pcs. specialized reconnaissance MiG-21R in 1962 1969-1970 19 Fighter Aviation Regiment gets a weapons 15 pcs. MiG-21m, which operated in 21 Fighter Aviation Regiment and were removed from active service in 1990, 12 MiG-21MF number received in 1974-1975, but worked a reconnaissance version of the MiG-21MFR were submitted to the 26th Reconnaissance Regiment and eksloatirani until 2000, when removed from active service. From 1983 to 1990 Bulgaria Air Force received 72 pcs. aircraft MiG-21bis modification. Of them (30 pcs. 6 new and renovated) are under option with ACS and submitted to the 19th Fighter Regiment rest are equipped with the "Lazur". This batch was taken out of service in 2000 Besides war fighters, the Air Force has received training 39 MiG-21U (1 pc. In 1966.) MiG-21US (5 pcs. During 1969-1970) and MiG-21UM (27 new and during 1974-1980 6 refurbished Soviet in 1990). In 1982 the number of three MiG-21UM school were sold to Cambodia and in 1994 another 10 units. MiG-21UM were sold to India. Recent training aircraft were removed from active service in 2000 during the operation suffered a crash and lost 38 fighters. Bulgaria received a total of 224 aircraft. Known MiG-21 aces Several pilots have attained ace status (five or more aerial victories/kills) while flying the MiG-21. Nguyễn Văn Cốc of the Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF; also referred to as the NVAF), who scored nine kills in MiG-21s is regarded as the most successful. Twelve other VPAF pilots were credited with five or more aerial victories while flying the MiG-21: Phạm Thanh Ngân, Nguyễn Hồng Nhị and Mai Văn Cường (both eight kills); Đặng Ngọc Ngự (seven kills), Vũ Ngọc Đỉnh, Nguyễn Ngọc Độ, Nguyễn Nhật Chiêu, Lê Thanh Đạo, Nguyễn Đăng Kỉnh, Nguyễn Đức Soát, and Nguyễn Tiến Sâm (six kills each), and Nguyễn Văn Nghĩa (five kills). Additionally, three Syrian pilots are known to have attained ace status while flying the MiG-21. Syrian airmen: M. Mansour recorded five solo kills (with one additional probable), B. Hamshu scored five solo kills, and A. el-Gar tallied four solo and one shared kill, all three during the 1973–1974 engagements against Israel. Due to the incomplete nature of available records, there are several pilots who have un-confirmed aerial victories (probable kills), which when confirmed would award them "Ace" Status: S. A. Razak of the Iraqi Air Force with four known kills scored during the Iran-Iraq War (until 1991; sometimes referred to as the Persian Gulf War), A. Wafai of the Egyptian Air Force with four known kills against Israel. For specific information on kills scored by and against MiG-21s sorted by country see the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 operators page. See also List of Syrian flying aces Current operators - Bulgaria - Croatia To be upgraded in 2013 and fly until 2018-2020 - India to be retired in 2015 - North Korea - Romania will be replaced by F16's in 2017 - South Africa - Civilian use only - United States - Civilian use only Former operators - Abkhazia - Abkhazian Air Force, Abkhazia was reported having 1 in service from 2001 to 2007 - Burkina Faso - Cambodia - China (Replaced by similar-looking Chengdu J-7. Other than Mig-21F13 supplied by Soviet Union, China also traded a small amount of Mig-21MFs with J-7 export variations, then developed J-7C/D based on Mig-21MFs. The deal was between China and a certain Middle Eastern country.) - Congo, Republic of the - Congo, Democratic Republic of - Czechoslovakia (Passed on to the Czech Republic and Slovakia.) - Czech Republic - East Germany (Passed on to Germany after reunification.) - Eritrea - Germany - Iran (Ex-Iraqi MiG-21 received after Iran-Iraq War) - Iraq (As of Saddam's Era) - Kyrgyzstan (Still houses some 100 partly dismantled fighters.) - Mongolia - Slovakia In 1993, after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, Slovak Air Force obtained 13 MiG-21MAs, 36 MiG-21MFs, eight MiG-21Rs, two MiG-21USs and 11 MiG-21UMs. They were withdrawn in 2003. Some of them are in museums across the country, some are stored and will be used if needed. - Soviet Union (Passed on to successor states.) - United States - Retired from United States Air Force after evaluation flights - North Yemen (Passed on to Yemen after reunification.) - South Yemen (Passed on to Yemen after reunification.) - Yugoslavia (Passed on to successor states.) - Zaire (Four were sold to the Zairean government by FR Yugoslavia.) Civil operators According to the FAA there are currently 44 privately owned MiG-21s in the U.S. There are companies that purchase MiG-21s, MiG-15s and MiG-17s from Russia and other countries for sale to civilians for around $US450,000. Draken International, located in Lakeland Florida is one of the largest private owners of MiG-21 aircraft. Draken International is a company based in Lakeland Florida, the CEO, Jared Isaacman has being arrested on a "fugitive warrant" in 2010 by U.S. Customs and Border patrol. Use as space launch platform Premier Space Systems in Hillsboro, Oregon is currently conducting flight tests for NanoLaunch, a project to launch suborbital sounding rockets from MiG-21s flying over the Pacific Ocean. Specifications (Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21-93) Data from - Crew: 1 - Length: 14.5 (with pitot) m (47 ft 6.86 in) - Wingspan: 7.154 m (23 ft 5.66 in) - Height: 4.125 m (13 ft 6.41 in) - Wing area: 23.0 m2 (247.3 ft2) - Gross weight: 8,825 kg (19,425 lb) - Powerplant: 1 × Tumansky R25-300, 40.21 kN (9,040 lbf) thrust dry, 69.62 kN (15,650 lbf) with afterburner each - Maximum speed: 2,228 km/h (1,468 mph) - Maximum speed: Mach 2.00 - Range: (internal fuel) 1,210 km (751 miles) - Service ceiling: 17,800 m (58,400 ft) - Rate of climb: 225 m/s (44,280 ft/min) - 2x 500 kg (1,102 lbs) bombs See also - Related development - Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era - Dassault Mirage III - Dassault Mirage F-1 - Lockheed F-104 Starfighter - Northrop F-5A/B Freedom Fighter & F-5E/F Tiger-II - Saab 35 Draken - Related lists - "GAZ" - abbreviation for Russian "Государственный Авиационный Завод" - ГАЗ (State Aviation Plant). - Now called Nizhny Novgorod. - Gordon, Yefim. MiG-21 (Russian Fighters). Earl Shilton, Leicester, UK: Midland Publishing Ltd., 2008. ISBN 978-1-85780-257-3. - "MiG-21 – naddźwiękowy ołówek" (in Polish). lotniczapolska.pl, 6 September 2007. Retrieved: 1 December 2010. - Král, Martin. "MiG-21BIS." Soviet Hammer, 6 April 2012. Retrieved: 28 June 2012. - Mehrotra, Santosh. India and the Soviet Union: Trade and Technology Transfer. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-36202-3. - Rakshak, Bharat. "The Canberra and the MiG-21." bharat-rakshak.com. Retrieved: 1 December 2010. - Sharma, Shri Ram. India-USSR Relations: 1947–1971. Delhi: Discovery Publishing House, 1999. ISBN 978-81-7141-486-4. - Till, Geoffrey. Globalisation and Defence in the Asia-Pacific. London: Taylor & Francis, 2008. ISBN 978-0-415-44048-6. - "Air Force History." Globalsecurity. Retrieved: 1 December 2010. - "The 1971 Liberation War: Supersonic Air Combat." Bharat-Rakshak.com. Retrieved: 1 December 2010. - Coggins, Ed. Wings That Stay on. Nashville, Kentucky: Turner Publishing Company, 2000. ISBN 978-1-56311-568-4. - Cooper 2004[page needed]. - "Indian pilot 'killed in cold blood'." BBC, 30 May 1999. Retrieved: 1 December 2010. - "Indian Air-to-Air Victories since 1948." acig.org. Retrieved: 1 December 2010. - Davies 2012, p. 48. - Michel 1997, p. 81. - Toperczer 2001, pp. 6, 77. - Toperczer 2001, p. 27. - Toperczer #25 2001, p. 12. - Toperczer #25 2001, p. 88. - Toperczer #29 2001, p. 84. - Boniface 2005, p. 190. - Michel 1997, pp. 41, 78, 153. - Boniface 2005, p. 192. - Michel 1997, p. 83, 155. - Hobson 2001, p. 271. - Toperczer #29 2001, pp. 85–87. - Michel 1997, p. 40. - Hobson 2001, p. 97. - Hobson 2001, p. 126. - Hobson 2001, p. 238. - Michel 1997, p. 149. - Michel 1997, p. 186. - Michel 1997, p. 187. - Anderton 1987, pp. 70–71. - "The plaque on SSgt Turner's grave." waymarking.com. Retrieved: 1 December 2010. - "Linebacker II." The Colorado Springs Gazette, 16 July 2007. - Toperczer #25 2001, p. 61. - Toperczer #25 2001, p. 66 photo. - Toperczer #25 2001, p. 66. - Michel 2002, pp. 205–206. - Toperczer #25 2001, p. 67. - Michel 2002, p. 213. - Pollack 2004, p. 124. - Herzog 1975, p. 259. - Cooper and Bishop, 2004, pp. 85-88. - Cooper and Bishop 2004, pp. 87—88. - Gordon and Dexter 2008, pp. 390–392. - "Libyan Conflict: Fixed-wing Combat Aircraft make an Appearance." The Boresight, 20 March 2011. Retrieved: 9 May 2011. - "MiG-21UM/bis Fishbed K." Aviation Safety Net. Retrieved: 9 May 2011. - Cenciotti, David. "L-39 Albatros jet trainer spotted over Aleppo, Syria." The Aviationist, 25 July 2012. Retrieved: 13 September 2012. - "MiG-21bis." Aviation Safety Network,30 August 2012. Retrieved: 13 September 2012. - "MiG-21 shot down in Idlib." Brown Moses Blog, 4 September 2012. Retrieved: 13 September 2012. - "Russina revolt." Skywar.ru. Retrieved: 19 May 2013. - Cooper, Tom and Gianfranco Lanini. "Ogaden War, 1977-1978." Aciq, 10 February 2008. Retrieved: 13 September 2012. - Avijacija bez granica (Serbian) avijacijabezgranica.com. Retrieved: 1 December 2010. - "Austrian Radar Plots." acig.org. Retrieved: 1 December 2010. - "MiGs Over Croatia." acig.org. Retrieved: 1 December 2010. - Jan de Ridder, Dirk and Menso van Westrhenen. "Young at 95!" Air Forces Monthly magazine, February 2009 issue, p. 54. - "North Vietnamese Aces." AcePilots.com. Retrieved: 1 December 2010. - "Syrian Air-to-Air Victories since 1948." acig.org. Retrieved: 1 December 2010. - "Iraqi Air-to-Air Victories since 1967." acig.org.Retrieved: 1 December 2010. - "Egyptian Air-to-Air Victories since 1948." acig.org. Retrieved: 1 December 2010. - Hoyle Flight International 11–17 December 2012, p. 46. - Hoyle Flight International 11–17 December 2012, p. 45. - Krumova, Elli. "MIG-21 goes into retirement in show." Europost, 12 October 2012. Retrieved: 19 May 2013. - Hoyle Flight International 11–17 December 2012, p. 49. - Hoyle Flight International 11–17 December 2012, p. 50. - Hoyle Flight International 11–17 December 2012, p. 52. - Hoyle Flight International 11–17 December 2012, p. 54. - Hoyle Flight International 11–17 December 2012, p. 55. - Hoyle Flight International 11–17 December 2012, p. 56. - Hoyle Flight International 11–17 December 2012, p. 58. - Hoyle Flight International 11–17 December 2012, p. 59. - MiG-21 Supersonic Flight in South Africa - Hoyle Flight International 11–17 December 2012, p. 61. - Hoyle Flight International 11–17 December 2012, p. 62. - Hoyle Flight International 11–17 December 2012, p. 64. - "Cambodia". Scramble magazine. Retrieved: 19 May 2013. - "China Mig-21MF Trade." AirForceWorld.com. Retrieveda; 5 November 2011. - "Eritrea". Scramble magazine. Retrieved: 19 May 2013. - Culak, Josef. " (in Slovak). culak.blog. Retrieved: 13 September 2012. - Cooper, Tom and Pit Weinert. "Zaire/DR Congo since 1980." "Aciq, 2 September 2003. Retrieved: 13 September 2012. - "MiG-21 in U.S." FAA Registry. Retrieved: 13 September 2012. - "Nevada Fugitive Captured at Canadian Border." CBC, 19 November 2010. - "Vintage fighters return as launch platforms." citizensinspace.org, March 2012. Retrieved: 13 September 2012. - Anderton, David A. North American F-100 Super Sabre. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing Limited, 1987. ISBN 0-85045-662-2 . - Boniface, Roger. Fighter Pilots of North Vietnam: An Account of their Combats 1965 to 1975. Gamlingay, Sandy, UK: Authors On Line, 2005. ISBN 978-0-7552-0203-4. - Cooper, Tom. Arab MiG-19 and MiG-21 Units in Combat. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2004. ISBN 978-1-84176-655-3. - Cooper, Tom and Farzad Bishop. Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2004. ISBN 978-1-78200-709-8. - Davies, Steve. Red Eagles: America's Secret MiGs. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing Limited, 2012. ISBN 978-1-84603-970-6. - Eden, Paul. The Encyclopedia of Modern Military Aircraft, London: Amber Books, 2004. ISBN 1-904687-84-9 - Gordon, Yefim. Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15: The Soviet Union's Long-Lived Korean War Fighter. Hinckley, UK: Midland, 2001. ISBN 1-85780-105-9. - Gordon, Yefim. Mikoyan MiG-21 (Famous Russian aircraft). Hinckley, UK: Midland, 2008. ISBN 978-1-85780-257-3. - Gordon, Yefim and Keith Dexter.Mikoyan Mig-21 (Famous Russian Aircraft). London: Ian Allan Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-85780-257-3. - Herzog, Chaim. The War of Atonement. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1975. ISBN 0-316-35900-9. - Hobson, Chris. Vietnam Air Losses, United States Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps Fixed-Wing Aircraft Losses in Southeast Asia 1961-1973. Midland Publishing, England; 2001. ISBN 1-85780-115-6. - Hoyle, Craig. "World Air Forces Directory". Flight International. Vol. 180, No. 5321, 13–19 December 2011, pp. 26–52. ISSN 0015-3710. - Hoyle, Craig. "World Air Forces Directory". Flight International. Vol. 182, No. 5321, 11–17 December 2012, pp. 40–64. ISSN 0015-3710. - Michel III, Marshall L. Clashes; Air Combat Over North Vietnam 1965–1972. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press, 2007, First edition 1997. ISBN 1-59114-519-8. - Michel III, Marshall L. The 11 days of Christmas. New York: Encounter Books, 2002. ISBN 1-893554-27-9. - Pollack, Kenneth M. Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948–1991 London: Bison Books, 2004. ISBN 0-8032-8783-6. - Toperczer, Istvan. MiG-17 and MiG-19 Units of the Vietnam War. (Osprey Combat Aircraft, 25). Oxford, UK: 2001. ISBN 978-1-84176-162-6. - Toperczer, István. MiG-21 Units of the Vietnam War (Osprey Combat Aircraft, 29). Oxford, UK: Osprey Pub, 2001. ISBN 1-84176-263-6. - Wilson, Stewart. Combat Aircraft since 1945. Fyshwick, Australia: Aerospace Publications, 2000. ISBN 1-875671-50-1. \|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21\| - MIG-21 Fishbed from Russian Military Analysis - MiG-21 Fishbed from Global Security.org - Warbird Alley: MiG-21 page – Information about privately owned MiG-21s
To shoot a simple sequence you need at least three shots - - A master shot showing the person engaged in their activity - A shot of the person's face - A close up of the activity CLOSE UP ON ACTIVITY - If you are covering an activity that can be repeated, I'd suggest your first shot is the "Master Shot". This is a good insurance shot. Then, if all else fails, you can just use the master! - The master shot should be wide enough to show the whole action – which (if repeatable) should be recorded from beginning to end. - As you get better at sequences you won't need to record the action from beginning to end. You'll know where you want to cut and therefore know when to: stop the action; change shot; and restart the action with - Keep a close eye on what the subject is doing – which hand did they use to pick up the phone – continuity errors can spoil a good sequence. - You must offer the editor a variety of shots (at least three remember) – this entails changing either: » the camera lens angle e.g. wide shot, mid shot,close up » camera position e.g. over the shoulder, profile, head » camera height e.g. high angle, eye height, low angle - The average shot is about 4 seconds long. BUT, you must shoot enough to leave the editor some flexibility- as a general rule record shots that are at least 10 seconds long. - Ensure that you record the complete action e.g. Frame up on a telephone, start recording and keep recording as the hand comes in to pick up the receiver - then put the receiver back - the hand goes out of shot - hold - then stop recording. Now your editor has flexibility to start (or end) the shot at any given point in the action. - You must try not to cross the line. Be clear in your mind where the line of action runs and stay one side of the line. - Don't forget to shoot the cutaways, e.g. if someone is using the photocopier, appropriate cutaways might be: » the buttons being pressed » the copy coming out of the machine - Of your three sequence shots, the shot of your subject's face concentrating on what they are doing is very important. This can be edited in almost anywhere – and may get you over a continuity problem. - If your subject is concentrating hard, then get in close. For simpler activities, an MCU will probably be - It doesn't look good to edit into or out of moving shots. Keep zooming, panning and tilting to a minimum. Hold the camera steady and let the subject provide the movement and visual interest. - Letting your subject enter shot or exit, acts as a reason to edit. A kind of visual full stop. - If you let your subject leave shot, then you can change location and see them enter shot for the next sequence. - If the sequence is being used to introduce an interviewee - make sure they leave the last shot (eg their hands leaving shot after putting down the phone). It will look strange if you go from a shot of a person on the phone straight to a shot of them being interviewed. Back to the top. CROSSING THE LINE When I ask people who come on my course whether they understand crossing the line - most look back with an expression that says I think so - but don't expect me to explain it. One person summed it up brilliantly. It's like the off side rule in soccer, we under stand it is important but couldn't really explain it. To do crossing the line justice I'm going have to take some pictures and make sure I get the words right. Please be patient. The answer will be here soon - it is so important I really want to make the effort to explain it well. 2000 - 2010
The Arctic is ground zero for the impacts of climate change . Defenders of Wildlife is actively involved in a number of policy initiatives that will help species like polar bears , wolverines and walruses adapt to the realities of a warming planet. How We’re Helping Defenders participates in regular planning workshops and provide input to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s draft Polar Bear Conservation/Recovery Plan. As the “poster child” of climate change in the U.S., polar bears and their habitat have become a natural focus as we work to help the many species affected by climate change. We also provide technical assistance and policy guidance to a number of state and national agencies to ensure wildlife and habitat considerations are deliberately and appropriately factored into land management and planning decisions in Alaska, particularly in such sensitive areas as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge , the Chugach National Forest and the Kenai Peninsula .
By: Kayla Falcinelli When the Presidential election roles around every four years it is time to decide who gets your vote. Although this is true, many people say, “Why bother?” “It’s not like my vote means anything.” There are others who simply don't care. Does your vote really make a difference? Looking at how many people vote it is hard to believe that one person not showing up to the polls is really going to matter. There are about 300 million people living in the United States. Out of those 300 million approximately 200 million are over 18 years of age, and are eligible to vote. This number seems very large but remember only about 60% of these people will actually vote. It is hard to decide your one vote matters when you are up against a million others. The answer is simple; yes your vote does matter. Can you imagine if everyone thought his or her vote wasn’t important? No one would show up for Election Day and you wouldn’t be able to voice your opinion. It is important to vote for a candidate you feel capable to run this country. Our country's economy isn’t doing well and it could use a president who knows what they are doing. Our country gives us the right to vote and we should take advantage of it. If you are feeling indifferent about the candidates then simply get online and inform yourself about each one. Looking deeper might reveal one you prefer. Your vote does make a difference! Your vote does matter! Make sure to register; your deadline is October 30th by person, and October 23rd postmarked by mail. Be there November 6th at you local voting station to cast your vote! To help promote the 2012 election, WCSU students in the Writing, Linguistics and Creative Process Department's Advertising, Copywriting and Promotions class created a Twitter page. Also check out their blogs at www.danbury.patch.com. Get educated on whom to vote for by visiting our Facebook page.
The data can be found here. Description of region codes: Cornwall, Devon and Pembrokeshire were pooled to represent the South/West (SW) and the area that could be considered the closest surrogate to the Ancient British. Kent, Norfolk and Lincolnshire were pooled to represent the East (E) and the area most directly influenced by the Anglo-Saxon invasions. Cumbria, Yorkshire and the North East were pooled broadly to represent the North of England (N); Oxfordshire and the Forest of Dean were combined to represent the Central region of England (CN); and Orkney was kept separate from the others, largely because of the known substantial Norse Viking influence in Orkney. Of interest are the NRY haplogroup data: The SW seems to have the lowest R1a1 frequency (1.3%). This is in agreement with the Dodecad v3 results for Cornwall (1.8% East European). The E seems to have an intermediate frequency (3.5%), again in agreement with Dodecad v3 for Kent (3.7%). Orkney has the highest R1a1 frequency (34.2%) and also the highest East European component in Dodecad v3 (11%). So, it does seem that R1a1 frequency tracks an eastern population element in the British isles. R1xR1a1 has its lowest values in E and OR; this is probably consistent with the idea that Germanic invaders from the east possessed less of this haplogroup than the pre-Germanic population. The minor alleles in MC1R are associated with red hair, and it seems that this is maximized in Orkney. The admixture estimates are also quite interesting, showing a dependence on the use of local (L) vs. non-local (N) surnames; the results do suggest non-trivial shifts in genetic composition since the adoption of surnames. Also of interest: A British approach to samplingEuropean Journal of Human Genetics advance online publication 10 August 2011; doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2011.127 People of the British Isles: preliminary analysis of genotypes and surnames in a UK-control population Bruce Winney et al. There is a great deal of interest in a fine-scale population structure in the UK, both as a signature of historical immigration events and because of the effect population structure may have on disease association studies. Although population structure appears to have a minor impact on the current generation of genome-wide association studies, it is likely to have a significant part in the next generation of studies designed to search for rare variants. A powerful way of detecting such structure is to control and document carefully the provenance of the samples involved. In this study, we describe the collection of a cohort of rural UK samples (The People of the British Isles), aimed at providing a well-characterised UK-control population that can be used as a resource by the research community, as well as providing a fine-scale genetic information on the British population. So far, some 4000 samples have been collected, the majority of which fit the criteria of coming from a rural area and having all four grandparents from approximately the same area. Analysis of the first 3865 samples that have been geocoded indicates that 75% have a mean distance between grandparental places of birth of 37.3 km, and that about 70% of grandparental places of birth can be classed as rural. Preliminary genotyping of 1057 samples demonstrates the value of these samples for investigating a fine-scale population structure within the UK, and shows how this can be enhanced by the use of surnames.
8 September 2009. Eight universities, including the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid through its Facultad de Informática, are participating in the European DynaLearn Project, part of the Seventh Framework Programme for Information and Communications Technologies (FP7-ICT). This project is to develop an interactive learning environment enabling students to individually or collaboratively build conceptual models of the scientific subjects under study. The ultimate aim of this project is to play a role, through the integration of well-established technological developments, in raising European youth’s interest in studying scientific disciplines. It is important for human beings to understand how things work. It is vital to be able to explain and predict their behaviour to use the accessible educational resources for the benefit of humanity. Therefore, society needs to find effective instruments to improve individual education in different fields. However, there is a clear decline in science education. The number of students is dropping sharply, as fewer and fewer students are opting for a science education and, of those that do, more and more are dropping out. Recent surveys, like Osborne’s 2003 study, offer extensive information on this problem and identify under-commitment and under-motivation in science education as one of its main causes. They also pinpoint the under-use of information technologies for the purpose that they are really most necessary, that is, as tools for dealing interactively with the theoretical concepts explaining all sorts of different natural phenomena. These educational needs are what are behind the DynaLearn project. DynaLearn sets out to integrate well-established but currently independent technological developments and utilize the resulting added value from their integration to meet such needs and alleviate these problems. The priority objective of DynaLearn is to develop an interactive learning environment enabling students to build conceptual models of the scientific subjects individually or in a collaborative environment. This environment will have three key features: it will tailor the use of the conceptual knowledge to the learning experience, it will appeal to students and it will react to each student’s individual learning requirements. Students will handle graphical elements to build the knowledge models and interact with other students and experts (teachers) to exchange knowledge on different subjects. The resulting technology will have the potential of becoming a secondary and higher education standard for knowledge acquisition across a wide range of subjects. The developed software will significantly improve students’ ability to understand and explain scientific system behaviour. Also, avatars will encourage students to use the software, getting them to collaborate and compete with each other and stimulating the social side of learning. Finally, thanks to semantic technology, students will be able to automatically compare their results against the models created by other students and by teachers. This will provide information on how to improve their models and advice on an individualized learning itinerary. DynaLearn is a European Union Seventh Framework Programme Project for Research on Information and Communications Technologies (FP7-ICT), coordinated by the University of Amsterdam and partnered by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Facultad de Informática’s Ontological Engineering Group, the University of Augsburg, the University of Brasilia, Tel Aviv University, the University of Hull, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the University of Natural Resources and Applied Science of Vienna. This news item on other websites Espacio Madrileño de Enseñanza Superior 16.09.2009 Consumer EROSKI 12.09.2009 ACM Tech News 09.09.2009 Cordis (english) 09.09.2009 Alpha Galileo (english) 08.09.2009 Alpha Galileo 08.09.2009
Railroad officially arrived at Temuco the very first day of 1893. It is believed that the first locomotive depot was located a few meters to the north of the present one, in lots handed over to the State Railroad Company by mapuche people. Temuco turned into an important railroad center, where long-run trains changed locomotives. That depot also housed the locomotives of the trains covering the branch lines to towns such as Carahue, Cunco and Cherquenco. During the first decades of this century, complex locomotive repair and maintenance works were perfommed in the Temuco locomotive depot. After the San Bernardo Machine Shop started operating in 1920, the Temuco depot kept on doing uncomplicated repairs. By 1930, the insufficiency of the original depot became ever so evident, so the construction of a new one -that existing at present- was decided. The construction was made in two stages, between 1937 and 1941; at first, the new depot complemented, without replacing, the old one. Until 1954, only steam locomotives were serviced in Temuco; from that year on, diesel machines started being repaired. By 1980, the permanent allocation of the complex consisted in two type 56 steam locomotives, eleven type 57, one type 58, nine type 70, and fourteen type 80. In 1982, the State Railroad Company's management ordered the constitution of a steam-drive reserve fleet with base in Temuco. On account of this, during the following years, tens of locomotives there housed were repaired. The fireboxes of the last locomotives went out definitively by the end of 1983, fact which, in turn, signaled the end of the locomotive depot's normal operation. The precincts kept on being used for doing minor repairs and for the remarshall of diesel locomotives, type D-16000 and others, and as operational base for tracks maintenance works. The Temuco depot was the steam locomotives operational base that ceased to operate later in the country. The locomotive depot and the rolling stock it houses are property of the State Railroad Company. It occupies an area of about 19 hectares, one kilometer to the north of the Temuco Railroad Station. It is a railroad complex whose essential component is the round, roofed depot made of concrete. It has 34 tracks su rrounding a 27 meters long tu rntable . capable of rotating a type 80 locomotive, with tender, weighing over 160 tons. Near to the round depot there are a repair workshop, administrative offices, dressing rooms for the personnel, a large coal elevator for charging fuel into the locomotives' tenders, a coal deposit, and a coach repair shop.
Mechanical Elements of Reports This resource is an updated version of Muriel Harris’s handbook Report Formats: a Self-instruction Module on Writing Skills for Engineers, written in 1981. The primary resources for the editing process were Paul Anderson’s Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach (6th ed.) and the existing OWL PowerPoint presentation, HATS: A Design Procedure for Routine Business Documents. Contributors:Elizabeth Cember, Alisha Heavilon, Mike Seip, Lei Shi, and Allen Brizee Last Edited: 2013-03-11 11:43:19 The mechanical elements of your report are largely included to make sure your information was useful and accessible as possible for your readers. It is especially important to incorporate the HATS methodology (headings, access, typography, spacing) when designing your mechanical elements, as that will make your documents easier to read, and it will give your documents a professional appearance. Title or Cover page The title or cover page includes the title, the name of the person authorizing the report, the name of the author(s), the name and address of the institution or company issuing the report, and the date. Letter of transmittal The letter of transmittal explains why the report was prepared and its purpose, mentions the title and the period of work, and states the results and recommendations. The letter of transmittal may be separate from the report, but it is usually bound into the report immediately before the table of contents. Evaluating a letter of transmittal - Does it achieve the purpose of a letter of transmittal? - Does it offer enough specific information? - Is it well written? The acknowledgments section includes material which is irrelevant to the actual report but is required for the record or for acknowledgment purposes. The acknowledgments may include, for example, the names of people who made technical contributions, notices of permission to use copyrighted materials, and so on. Table of contents The table of contents contains a guide to the contents of the whole report. It lists the preliminary pages such as the letter of transmittal and the acknowledgements, and it includes all headings and subheadings used in the report, exactly as they appear in the report. The table of contents also includes the page numbers for all parts. Use lower case roman numerals (i, ii, iii, etc.) for all preliminary pages and arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) for all pages in the body of the report, starting with page 1 for the introduction of the body. Lists of tables and figures In some situations, especially if the report contains only a few figures and tables, all of the figures and tables, with their complete titles, are listed in the table of contents. In that format, tables and figures are listed separately even though they are mixed together in the report. In most situations, tables and figures are listed on separate pages, with the figures and their complete titles listed on one page and the tables and their complete titles listed on a separate page. If you follow this format, list the headings for each page in the table of contents. Graphics are all the tables and figures used in a report as visual aids for the reader. They are useful, important parts of a report and must be accurate. They should also be clear so the reader can interpret them easily. Tables are all lists of data presented in rows and columns. Place the numbers and titles above the tables. Figures are any other visual presentations. Place the numbers and titles below the figures. When tables or figures are discussed in the text, cite their numbers and the pages on which they appear. Either number them consecutively through the report or number them according to the section in which they appear (2.1, 2.2, 2.3, etc.). Put all units in the tables, and don’t make the tables too long. If necessary, break them up into several short tabulations. This will help your tables be more visually appealing and will encourage your readers to look at them. Types of illustrations: - Line graphs—for representing continuous processes - Bar graphs—for representing absolutes - Pie graphs—for showing percentages - Flow charts—for illustrating stages in a process - Schematics—the same as flow charts, but usually used for illustrating more abstract concepts References are used to cite your sources and give credit to the written work of others that you have read and used. When you refer to these published works in the text of your report, you can choose one of several formats. See the following handouts on the Purdue OWL for more information on references. Attachments or appendices An appendix is like a storage warehouse, the place to put material that needs to be included in the report, but is not essential. Putting material (such as raw data, processed data, analytical procedures, details of equipment, etc.) at the end keeps the report from being buried in a mass of detail, but keeps all that detail available if needed by any of your various readers. Each appendix is numbered or lettered consecutively and given a title.
- n. Plural form of foible. “In 1866, as Concord was putting up its stone tribute to the war dead, John Hay — a kind of mini-Seward in his merriment and sophisticated tastes — concluded, not implausibly, that "Lincoln with all his foibles is the greatest character since Christ.” “For, let it not be forgotten that the Hindu regards what we call our foibles of petulance, arrogance, and intolerance, with the same disapprobation and disgust as we do their more frequent violation of the seventh, eighth, and ninth commandments of the Decalogue.” “One of the reasons that I frequently write on humanity's foibles is because about eight months back, I got a big horse's kick to the head that told me that I needed to change my life.” “It will be important to feel our way through it, and realize that the power we have to learn about each others’ lives and minds and feelings and foibles, is just the beginning of the changes the new environment is bringing about.” ““Marusek, showing a potentially volatile synergy of technology and human foibles, is a writer who gives the impression that he’s been to the future, seen it work, and has come back to tell us all about it.”” “His foibles are a boon for the TV talking heads, and since there's nobody to put them in check, it's easy to ramble on about what Tiger should be doing, how he's only going to get one chance to make his come back, and how he has to make the BIG apology.” “She inherited such of her father's virtues as compose the proper ornament of her sex; and with regard to what are termed the foibles of great souls, her highness had in no wise degenerated.” “When I am far away and something recalls my foibles and my faults, remember that in spite of them, my heart was true to you; that I have but one wife and one darling boy to whom my heart clings as its anchor and to whom it will continue to cling while I live.” “But the proposal caught Edouard on his foible, his vanity, to wit; and our foibles are our manias.” “R. was not happy, but knows my little 'foibles' and agreed to take J. and get the book.” These user-created lists contain the word ‘foibles’. Nouns that are common in plural form but are non-existent or rarely used in singular form. All my favourite words that I come across! The path meanders through the vineyards Just a bunch of words I like and wish I used more often in everyday speech. Looking for tweets for foibles.
Canada's #IdleNoMore marches on Canada's #IdleNoMore marches onCanadian indigenous movement receives global support on day of action. The Canadian indigenous rights movement known as "Idle No More" held a global day of protest on Friday as Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with First Nations chiefs in Ottawa. The protests, which have been going on since December, were initially sparked by a controversial bill that opponents say would erode indigenous land and treaty rights. The movement has since grown into a wider call for the Canadian government to also address disproportionate poverty rates among aboriginal groups as well as environmental and sovereignty rights. But indigenous leaders in Canada have been divided over the meeting with Harper. One prominent figure, Chief Theresa Spence (@ChiefTheresa), has been on hunger strike since December 11 and said she would not agree to a meeting unless Canada's Governor General is also present. Along with protests across Canada, support for "Idle No More" has also poured in from around the world. Below is a map of events planned for Friday:
Creeping Charlie, ground ivy or gill-over-the-ground (Glechoma hederacea) Appearance: Perennial herbaceous plant with creeping square stems (indicates member of the mint family) that grow about 2' long, flowering stems are erect. Leaves: Opposite, long stalked and bluntly toothed, bright green and shiny with palmate veins. Flowers: Light blue to bluish-purple, tubular, directed to one side of the stem. They bloom from April to June. Seeds: Small flat nutlets. Roots: Roots grow from each leaf node that creeps along the soil surface spreading vegetatively as well.
Animal Behavior: Orientation and Navigation Animal behaviors often involve the relationship between an individual and its environment. Such behaviors, ranging from movement to synchronization with daily, monthly, and yearly environmental cycles, require that an animal be able to observe aspects of its environment and respond appropriately to them. Movement, the simplest example of an animal's interaction with its environment, falls into two general categories, kinesis and taxis. Kinesis refers to random, undirected movement, while taxis refers to movement in relation to a stimulus. Taxis is stimulus dependent: different stimuli produce different types of taxis. Some common types of taxis include phototaxis (a reaction to light), chemotaxis (reaction to chemicals), and magnetotaxis (reaction to magnetism). Movement toward a stimulus is called positive taxis and movement away from a stimulus is called negative taxis. Circadian rhythms and other cyclical behaviors are more complex examples of behavior tuned to the environment. In general, cyclical behaviors are regulated by endogenous time-keeping mechanisms, called biological clocks, which are in turn regulated by external environmental stimuli that act to set the internal clock. Such stimuli are known as Zeitgebers and can include patterns of light and darkness and temperature variations.
Glossary of Terms Bellows - a popular accessory to help boost combustion in wood fires, feeding air to the flames as it is forced out of an expandable bladder. Though unnecessary for a gas hearth where the combustion level is easily controlled with the turn of a knob, bellows' lovely finish in attractive blends of fine woods with vinyl or leather makes them a decorative accessory. BTUs - British Thermal Unit, the primary heat measurement unit used by the hearth industry. It is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 lb. of water by 1 degree F. Catalytic Combustor - a device used on some wood stoves to increase combustion efficiency by lowering flue gas ignition temperatures. Clearance - the distance required by manufacturers and building codes between stove, connector pipe or chimney and any combustible materials. Creosote – deposits of condensed wood smoke in the chimney and connector pipe resulting from incomplete combustion. It can ignite and cause a chimney fire. Direct Vent – an appliance with a sealed, specifically designed venting system, that draws combustion air from outdoors and exhausts its combustion products to the outdoors, eliminating the need for a standard chimney system. A glass panel in direct vent units is critical to keeping the combustion system sealed from the home. Emissions – unburned gases and particles as a result of incomplete combustion. EPA Regulations - government regulations of wood-burning appliances mandating that products sold after July 1, 1992, emit no more than 4.1 grams of particulate matter per hour for catalytic-equipped units and no more than 7.5 grams for non-catalytic-equipped units. Firebacks - protect fireplace masonry and mortar, shielding them from extreme heat of the flames. Cast-iron firebacks store heat from the fire and radiate it into the room after the fire has died down. Firebacks work just as well in a modern gas fireplace as they do in a traditional wood burning one. Fireplace Inserts - heating units that retrofit into an existing fireplace (masonry or factory-built). They burn wood, gas or wood pellets and offer superior efficiency. Flue – the passageway in a chimney for conveying gases to the outdoors. Freestanding Stove - a heating appliance normally on legs or a pedestal. Gas Logs – an open flame appliance with ceramic or ceramic fiber logs placed over a burner to provide dramatic realism of a traditional flame. Manufactured log sets have a burner that uses either natural gas or propane. Glass Doors – doors attached to a fireplace to close off the opening of the hearth from the home to prevent heat from escaping up the chimney and prevent cold air from entering the home when the fireplace is not being used. Grate – a metal frame used to hold and contain burning fuel in a fireplace. Hearth - traditionally refers to the floor of a fireplace on which a blaze is built. Today it is also used to refer to all the devices and equipment used in connection with the fireplace and the stove industry. Heat Shield - a noncombustible protector used around appliances, smoke pipes or chimneys to protect combustibles from heat sources. Hopper - a container attached to an appliance in which fuel, either coal, nuggets or wood pellets, is stored and from which the fuel is fed to the burner. Island Fireplace - a fireplace that has four sides of glass, for viewing from any angle. Kindling - thin, dry wood used to start a fire. Liquid Propane - liquefied petroleum gas, available in cylinders, for home use. Mantle - an ornamental facing surrounding the fireplace or simply a shelf above a fireplace. Metal Liner - used primarily with fireplace inserts and placed inside an existing chimney (usually masonry) to reduce the diameter of the flue for more rapid exit of smoke and combustion gases. Also used when an existing chimney is unlimited or deteriorating. Natural draft (B-vent) Appliances - a gas-burning appliance that takes in combustion air from the home and vents byproducts of combustion outside the home. Natural Gas - clean-burning fossil fuel transported to homes via an extensive pipeline network. Pellets - are made of 100% compressed wood sawdust with no additives. A renewable fuel source made from sawdust or wood chips otherwise destined for landfills. Peninsula Fireplace - a fireplace that has three sides of glass. Seasoned - refers to cordwood that has been allowed to dry before burning. Seasoning generally takes six to 12 months. Wood burns much more efficiently when its moisture content has been reduced. Unvented or Vent-Free Appliance - an appliance that draws combustion air from inside the home. The appliance is designed to burn so efficiently that it eliminates the need for venting. Zero-Clearance Fireplace - a factory-built fireplace that is constructed so that it can be placed, safely, with close clearances to combustible materials.
FRACTIONS: Jog, Tempo, Sprint\| Formula for Success Learning is more fun when you combine it with writing and art, but add running and you create a learning experience that kids will never forget. - Carol Goodrow Teaching fractions to first graders is challenging in itself but this year we had to teach more than "parts of a pizza". We had a new skill to learn which involved parts of a group or set. So we decided that the quickest way to learn something new would be to create a running game. Today 'Jog, Tempo, Sprint' was born. Here's what we did. First each child drew a set of two, three or four objects. Then the child turned the picture into a representation of the fractions: 1/2, 1/3, or 1/4, by drawing an arrow to one of the set or circling one of the set, to show the numerator of one or to show that we are talking about 1 of the set. This was the new learning for a child - that a whole object can be a fraction of a set of objects. For older children you could show 2/4 by drawing 4 flowers and circling (or drawing arrows to) 2 of them. You could show 3/4 by drawing 4 stars and circling (or drawing arrows to) 3 of them. This part was not as easy as it seems. The kids had to follow directions and if they didn't make a clear picture that others could understand, they had to redo their pictures. Next they made the pink cards. On one side of the pink card the student wrote a fraction and on the other side each student printed ( in their very best printing, of course) either, "Sprint, Tempo, or Jog." Later in the day we played the game. Here is how we played according to the kids. A collage of their journal writings follows. We played "Finding Fractions". You play outside. The teacher puts the yellow cards with the pictures on 6 clipboards (it was windy so we needed to clamp the cards down). Then she puts the clipboards all around the blacktop. Next, the teacher gives you a pink card. There's a fraction and one of the words, "Sprint, tempo, and jog." You have to do the kind of running that the card tells you and you have to look for a picture that matches the fraction. After you find it, you sprint, tempo run or jog back to the teacher. She checks it and you get to go again. Some kids got to be "runners". They got to take the yellow cards back to the clipboards and clamp them on. It was a lot of fun. I wish we can do it again. It was easy for me the first time. I got to do two sprints and one tempo run. We stretched before we played the game today. The kids loved this game and they knew their fractions. Almost everyone retrieved a picture that matched the fraction. A game like this also makes kids keep running. No one tired for the half hour we played the game and they cheered andjumped for joy when they received a card that said, "SPRINT!" A Windy Day! Another note by the editor (teacher): This game worked so well for many reasons: the kids love to run, they particularly love to sprint short distances and they had invested a lot in the game by creating it, as well as by making the materials, but there was another important reason why it went so well. They followed the rules which were: 1. Be careful while you run. Don't get too close to another runner. Watch where you are going! 2. When you get to a clipboard, you must clamp the cards you are not using back on when you are finished. 3. If someone else is at that clipboard, you must wait until they are completely finished clamping the cards back on, before you look for your card. 4. Do the kind of running that the pink card says. Be a good sport if you get 'jog' and you really wanted to do a tempo run. You'll get lots of turns so make sure that you are playing fair. This was a game without a winner. The kids just had fun playing. In fact not one kid even asked, "Who won?" It was just a great day for all that they will always remember. If you have a running game you play, please share it with us. We'd love to hear all about it. Also, if you play or adapt our game, please share your version of our fun, fun running game.
People's lives often depend on the quick reaction and competent care of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics. Incidents as varied as automobile accidents, heart attacks, slips and falls, childbirth, and gunshot wounds require immediate medical attention. EMTs and paramedics provide this vital service as they care for and transport the sick or injured to a medical facility. In an emergency, EMTs and paramedics are typically dispatched by a 911 operator to the scene, where they often work with police and fire fighters. Once they arrive, EMTs and paramedics assess the nature of the patient's condition, while trying to determine whether the patient has any pre-existing medical conditions. Following protocols and guidelines, they provide emergency care and transport the patient to a medical facility. EMTs and paramedics operate in emergency medical services systems where a physician provides medical direction and oversight. EMTs and paramedics use special equipment, such as backboards, to immobilize patients before placing them on stretchers and securing them in the ambulance for transport to a medical facility. These workers generally work in teams. During the transport of a patient, one EMT or paramedic drives, while the other monitors the patient's vital signs and gives additional care, as needed. Some paramedics work as part of a helicopter's flight crew to quickly transport critically ill or injured patients to hospital trauma centers. At the medical facility, EMTs and paramedics help transfer patients to the emergency department, report their observations and actions to emergency department staff, and may provide additional emergency treatment. After each run, EMTs and paramedics document the trip, replace used supplies and check equipment. If a transported patient has a contagious disease, EMTs and paramedics decontaminate the interior of the ambulance and report cases to the proper authorities. EMTs and paramedics also provide transportation for patients from one medical facility to another, particularly if they work for private ambulance services. Patients often need to be transferred to a hospital that specializes in treating their injury or illness or to facility that provides long-term care, like nursing homes. Beyond these general duties, the specific responsibilities of EMTs and paramedics depend on their level of qualification and training. The National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) certifies emergency medical service providers at five levels: First Responder; EMT-Basic; EMT-Intermediate (which has two levels called 1985 and 1999) and Paramedic. Some States, however, have their own certification programs and use distinct names and titles. The EMT-Basic represents the first response of the emergency medical system. An EMT trained at this level is prepared to care for patients at the scene of an accident and while transporting patients by ambulance to the hospital under the direction of more highly trained medical personnel. The EMT-Basic has the emergency skills to assess a patient's condition and manage respiratory, cardiac, and trauma emergencies. The EMT-Intermediate has more advanced training. However, the specific tasks that those certified at this level are allowed to perform varies greatly from State to State. Paramedics provide more extensive pre-hospital care than do EMTs. In addition to carrying out the procedures of the other levels, paramedics administer medications orally and intravenously, interpret electrocardiograms (EKGs), perform endotracheal intubations, and use monitors and other complex equipment. However, like the EMT-Intermediate level, what paramedics are permitted to do varies by State. EMTs and paramedics work both indoors and out, in all types of weather. They are required to do considerable kneeling, bending, and heavy lifting. These workers are at a higher risk for contracting illnesses or experiencing injuries on the job than workers in other occupations. They risk noise-induced hearing loss from sirens and back injuries from lifting patients. In addition, EMTs and paramedics may be exposed to communicable diseases, such as hepatitis-B and AIDS, as well as to violence from mentally unstable or combative patients. The work is not only physically strenuous but can be stressful, sometimes involving life-or-death situations and suffering patients. Nonetheless, many people find the work exciting and challenging and enjoy the opportunity to help others. These workers experienced a larger than average number of work-related injuries or illnesses Many EMTs and paramedics are required to work more than 40 hours a week. Because emergency services function 24 hours a day, EMTs and paramedics may have irregular working hours. \|1.\|\|Administer first-aid treatment and life-support care to sick or injured persons in prehospital setting.\| \|2.\|\|Perform emergency diagnostic and treatment procedures, such as stomach suction, airway management or heart monitoring, during ambulance ride.\| \|3.\|\|Observe, record, and report to physician the patient's condition or injury, the treatment provided, and reactions to drugs and treatment.\| \|4.\|\|Immobilize patient for placement on stretcher and ambulance transport, using backboard or other spinal immobilization device.\| \|5.\|\|Maintain vehicles and medical and communication equipment, and replenish first-aid equipment and supplies.\| \|6.\|\|Assess nature and extent of illness or injury to establish and prioritize medical procedures.\| \|7.\|\|Communicate with dispatchers and treatment center personnel to provide information about situation, to arrange reception of victims, and to receive instructions for further treatment.\| \|8.\|\|Comfort and reassure patients.\| \|9.\|\|Decontaminate ambulance interior following treatment of patient with infectious disease and report case to proper authorities.\| \|10.\|\|Operate equipment such as electrocardiograms (EKGs), external defibrillators and bag-valve mask resuscitators in advanced life-support environments.\| \|11.\|\|Drive mobile intensive care unit to specified location, following instructions from emergency medical dispatcher.\| \|12.\|\|Coordinate with treatment center personnel to obtain patients' vital statistics and medical history, to determine the circumstances of the emergency, and to administer emergency treatment.\| \|13.\|\|Coordinate work with other emergency medical team members and police and fire department personnel.\| \|14.\|\|Attend training classes to maintain certification licensure, keep abreast of new developments in the field, or maintain existing knowledge.\| \|15.\|\|Administer drugs, orally or by injection, and perform intravenous procedures under a physician's direction.\| [Back to Top]
Effects of stroke Changes after your stroke may be mild or severe, brief or long-lasting. This depends on the area of your brain affected by the stroke and how extensive the damage is. After having a stroke, you may find that doing everyday activities may be difficult. If the stroke damaged parts of your brain that control behavior, you may not be able to control your emotions. You may also feel anxious or depressed. Physical effects on either side of the brain Changes that may happen after a stroke on either side of the brain include abnormal muscle tone, bladder and bowel changes, problems with understanding and coordination. The right side of the brain controls the ability to pay attention, recognize things you see, hear or touch, and be aware of your own body. Left-sided stroke: Aphasia and language apraxia The left side of the brain controls the ability to speak and understand language in most people. Posterior CVA (cerebrovascular accident) A posterior circulation stroke means the stroke affects the back area of your brain. A multiple CVA (cerebrovascular accident) means several small strokes happen in a short time on both sides of your brain.
last modified: Monday, December 19, 2005 10:19 AM Downtown Development Authorities as a Catalyst to Development: A Case Study of Local economic development in many communities has focused on either creating or revitalizing the city’s downtown district. Attracting businesses, shoppers, and residents to the downtown has become an important part of many cities’ strategy. To aid in these efforts, many cities have established a Downtown Development Authority (DDA) to help attract and promote business in the downtown. This paper looks at the city of DDA Leads Downtown Revitalization The goal of any DDA is to increase the business activity of the city. One way to do this is to bring in well-known national chains as a means of spurring growth. However, these chains often have specific criteria that must be matched in order for them to open a new store. These criteria can involve demographic requirements such as population density or income levels, as well as physical requirements like building size or number of parking spaces. Because of these requirements many of Sheppard-Decius’ early attempts were unsuccessful. For example, Starbucks and Borders both declined the opportunity to open in Sheppard-Decius decided to tap into the local business networks to increase downtown business activity. The DDA played an important role in helping many local business owners through the process of starting their own business. The success of these small, independent stores varied, but as time passed, certain niches began to emerge. Unique clothing and shoe stores, independent record stores, and restaurants and cafes were succeeding, and the downtown slowly came back to life. The vacancy rate dropped from 30% to around 3%. The revitalization of According to Sheppard-Decius, it is important to be aware of those differences when targeting potential businesses. A city would not want to bring in a store that is not likely to do well, and likewise a store owner wants to open in a location where it is most likely to succeed. Building on the success of its downtown, Sheppard-Decius initiated events to highlight local businesses. The DDA took over control of the annual Dream Sheppard-Decius’ experiences illustrate two important aspects to creating an effective DDA. The first is to accept the situation a city finds itself in, and determine the best way to build off of that. An example is It is also important to recognize the importance of knowing “who you are” as a city and using marketing as a way to make it grow. As the downtown took shape, Sheppard-Decius identified certain groups that frequented downtown Limitations on a Development Authority’s Effectiveness It is often noted that determining the effectiveness of economic development programs can be difficult. In this case, it is difficult to gauge how much of a business’s or shopper’s decision is based on the actions of the DDA and what their decisions would be in the absence of any policy. There are also variable outside the control of the city or DDA that can have a large influence on the vitality of the local business. Fluctuations in the national and regional economy play an important role. For example, the automobile industry’s troubles will have an impact throughout southeast Sheppard-Decius faces other difficulties as well. The first is the size of the downtown district. As mentioned earlier, the primary business district is located along Another challenge is the buildings themselves. Many of the buildings are older compared to buildings in other communities. While this may allow for lower rents, business owners may prefer to locate somewhere else.
(Phys.org)—Research that sheds new light on the microscopic chemical physics driving one of the most important reaction sequences in atmospheric chemistry is published in Science today by Dr David Glowacki from the University of Bristol's School of Chemistry, in collaboration with an international team including experimentalists and theoreticians based in Leeds, Cambridge, and Chicago. The Earth's atmosphere is a huge chemical reactor where sunlight (rather than heat) starts off chemical chain reactions that ultimately control the fate of greenhouse gases and atmospheric pollutants. Within the Earth's atmosphere (and more generally), one of the most important classes of chemical reactions are so-called 'association reactions', where one molecule (call it A) reacts with another molecule (call it B). Chemical physicists have known for a long time that molecules can exist in both high energy and low energy quantum states, often referred to as 'equilibrium' and 'non-equilibrium' states, respectively. For arbitrary A + B reactions taking place in the Earth's atmosphere, the nearly universal assumption is that, prior to reaction, both A and B are in their equilibrium states. Earth's atmosphere is composed of 20 per cent O2, meaning that O2 is a participant in most atmospheric reaction sequences. Contrary to the assumption that atmospheric association reactions always involve reactants in equilibrium states, Dr Glowacki and colleagues show that, for association reactions of the type O2 + B, there is a high probability that O2 'intercepts' B before its non-equilibrium quantum states have relaxed to equilibrium. The authors present compelling experimental and computational evidence showing that this occurs during the atmospheric degradation of acetylene, which is an important tracer of atmospheric pollution and also plays an important role in the formation of atmospheric particulates. Furthermore, Dr Glowacki and colleagues show that that the products produced when O2 intercepts another molecule's non-equilibrium quantum states are different from those produced when the states are in equilibrium. Using detailed mathematical models to unravel the timescales of non-equilibrium quantum state relaxation, the researchers speculate that the interception of non-equilibrium quantum states by O2 is likely to be important for a range of chemical reactions in Earth's atmosphere, with possibly unexpected chemical reaction outcomes. Dr Glowacki said: "Ultimately, this work improves our fundamental understanding of the microscopic chemical physics driving one of the most important reaction sequences in atmospheric chemistry, and paves the way for further studies of non-equilibrium systems within nature." Explore further: Searching for oxygen in space More information: 'Interception of excited vibrational quantum states by O2 in atmospheric association reactions' by D. R. Glowacki et al in Science.
Human case of Streptococcus suis serotype 16 infection.Streptococcus suis infection is an emerging zoonosis Zoonosis Definition Zoonosis, also called zoonotic disease refers to diseases that can be passed from animals, whether wild or domesticated, to humans. in Southeast Asia. We report a fatal case of S. suis serotype 16 infection in a Vietnamese man in 2001. Streptococcus suis is a gram-positive, facultatively anerobic coccus coccus Spherical bacterium. Many species have characteristic arrangements that are useful in identification. Pairs of cocci are called diplococci; rows or chains, streptococci (see streptococcus); grapelike clusters, staphylococci (see that may cause pneumonia, meningitis, septicemia septicemia (sĕptĭsē`mēə), invasion of the bloodstream by virulent bacteria that multiply and discharge their toxic products. The disorder, which is serious and sometimes fatal, is commonly known as blood poisoning. , and arthritis in pigs. The pig can also be a healthy carrier of S. suis in the upper respiratory tract (particularly the tonsils tonsils, name commonly referring to the palatine tonsils, two ovoid masses of lymphoid tissue situated on either side of the throat at the back of the tongue. and nasal cavities), the genital tract, and the alimentary tract (1,2). The first case of S. suis infection in humans was reported in Denmark in 1968. Since then, increasing numbers of cases have been reported in many countries, including the Netherlands; the United Kingdom; France; Hong Kong Special Administrative Region A special administrative region may be: The Hospital for Tropical Diseases (HTD) in Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, city (1997 pop. 5,250,000), on the right bank of the Saigon River, a tributary of the Dong Nai, Vietnam. , Vietnam (N.T.H Mai et al., unpub, data). The number of cases is likely underreported and will likely increase further with increased awareness and enhanced capacity to culture and identify S. suis. A 57-year-old unemployed man from Long An Province, southern Vietnam, who had a history of alcohol abuse, had a 10-day history of abdominal pain, jaundice, anorexia, and weight loss. At the time of admission to HTD in 2001, the patient was lethargic, his vital signs were stable, and his neck was not stiff. Physical examination showed cutaneous spider naevi, jaundice, hepatosplenomegaly, and ascites. Leukocyte count was 15.3 x 103 cells/[mu]L (70% neutrophils), blood urea nitrogen blood urea nitrogen n. Abbr. BUN Nitrogen in the form of urea in the blood or serum, used as a indicator of kidney function. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) 12.1 mmol/L (reference range 3.57-7.14 mmol/L), creatinine 150 gmol/L (< 115 mmol/L), sodium 127 mmol/L (135-145 mmol/L), potassium 6.67 mmol/L (3.5-5.1 mmol/L), serum aspartate aminotransferase 87 IU/L (12-30 IU/L), serum alamine aminotransferase 41 IU/L (13-40 IU/L), and albumin 20 g/L (35-52 g/L). An abdominal ultrasound examination showed hepatosplenomegaly and ascites. Ascitic fluid was cloudy and contained 5 g/L protein. Results of Gram stain and culture of ascitic fluid were negative. A diagnosis of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis spontaneous bacterial peritonitis Spontaneous peritonitis Critical care A severe acute infection of the peritoneum that accompanies end-stage liver disease and ascites Agents E coli, Klebsiella spp, S pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecalis associated with alcoholic liver cirrhosis was made, and the patient was treated with 2 g/day of ceftriaxone. Twenty-four hours after admission, acute respiratory distress developed. The patient's family decided to take him home because they were unable to pay for further treatment; the patient died on the same day. The blood culture (BACTEC 9050 system; Becton Dickinson Microbiology Systems, Sparks, MD, USA), which was taken at the time of admission, grew S. suis 24 hours after collection. Further inquiries into potential pig exposure, after the blood culture results were reported, indicated that the patient kept pigs near his house and was known to regularly consume portions of the pig that had a high risk of being contaminated, such as the intestine. S. suis was identified on the basis of colony morphology, negative katalase reaction, optochin resistance, and APlStrep (bioM6rieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France). Serotyping was performed by slide agglutination agglutination, in biochemistry agglutination, in biochemistry: see immunity. agglutination, in linguistics agglutination, in linguistics: see inflection. using specific antisera (Statens Serum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark) and was positive for serotype 16. Confirmation of the serotype was performed at the International Reference Laboratory for S. suis Serotyping, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada (M. Gottschalk). This strain was susceptible to penicillin (MIC 0.032 mg/L), ceftriaxone (0.064 mg/L), rifampin (0.032 mg/L), chloramphenicol chloramphenicol (klōr'ămfĕn`əkŏl'), antibiotic effective against a wide range of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria (see Gram's stain). It was originally isolated from a species of Streptomyces bacteria. (2 mg/L), erythromycin erythromycin (ĭrĭth'rōmī`sĭn), any of several related antibiotic drugs produced by bacteria of the genus Streptomyces (see antibiotic). (0.064 mg/L), levofloxacin (0.38 mg/L), and vancomycin (0.5 mg/L) but resistant to tetracycline (64 mg/L) by E-test (AB-Biodisk, Solna, Sweden) when Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute breakpoints were used. On pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) that used restriction enzyme SmaI, this strain showed little similarity with a representative set of serotype 2 isolates from Vietnam (Figure). Multilocus sequence typing Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) is a technique in molecular biology for the typing of multiple loci. The procedure characterizes isolates of bacterial species using the DNA sequences of internal fragments of multiple (usually seven) housekeeping genes. (MLST) (www.mlst.net) showed that the sequence of 5 of 7 alleles of the included housekeeping genes had not been previously described. Thus, this strain was assigned the new sequence type 106. On eBURST analysis (www.mlst.net), this sequence type does not belong to any of the clonal complexes but is a singleton. PCR PCR polymerase chain reaction. polymerase chain reaction Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for detection of the genes encoding the putative virulence factors extracellular protein factor (EF) and suilysin were negative. Results of Western blot for detection of muramidase-released protein (MRP) and EF, using rabbit polyclonal antibody against MRP and EF (provided by H. Smith, the Netherlands), were also negative. S. suis serotype 2 strains 31533 and 89-1591 (provided by M. Gottschalk, Canada) were used as positive and negative controls respectively. The total number of human S. suis infections reported until August 2006 was [approximately equal to] 400, and nearly 90% of these cases occurred in China, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Netherlands (4). These data did not include at least 200 cases of S. suis infection in Vietnam (C. Schultsz, unpub. data). At present, 33 capsular serotypes of S. suis have been recognized (1,4). S. suis serotype 2 is considered to be the most pathogenic to pigs and humans. All human cases of S. suis infection for which serotyping was available were caused by S. suis serotype 2, except for 1 case of serotype 1 (9), l case of serotype 4 (3), and 1 case of serotype 14 (6). Among 116 cases of S. suis meningitis seen at HTD from 1997 through 2005, 115 were caused by serotype 2 and 1 by serotype 14. S. suis serotype 2 can cause meningitis, septicemia and septic shock, arthritis, endocarditis endocarditis (ĕn'dōkärdī`tĭs), bacterial or fungal infection of the endocardium (inner lining of the heart) that can be either acute or subacute. , pneumonia, endophthalmitis, and cellulitis Cellulitis Definition Cellulitis is a spreading bacterial infection just below the skin surface. It is most commonly caused by Streptococcus pyogenes or Staphylococcus aureus. in humans (3,5,8). The mortality rate for S. suis serotype 2 meningitis is <10% (10), but it can reach 70% among patients with septicemia and septic shock (11). The exact route of infection for humans is not known. Cases have been linked to accidental inoculation through skin injuries, for example, during occupational exposure to pigs and pork, but inhalation of aerosols and ingestion of contaminated food have also been suggested (3,9,11,12). Preexisting pre·ex·ist or pre-ex·ist v. pre·ex·ist·ed, pre·ex·ist·ing, pre·ex·ists To exist before (something); precede: Dinosaurs preexisted humans. v.intr. medical conditions, such as alcoholism and liver cirrhosis, as was present in our patient, or a prior splenectomy Splenectomy Definition Splenectomy is the surgical removal of the spleen, which is an organ that is part of the lymphatic system. The spleen is a dark-purple, bean-shaped organ located in the upper left side of the abdomen, just behind the bottom of the may predispose to severe infection. Serotype 16 has never been isolated from humans and, to our knowledge, has also rarely been reported as a cause of invasive disease in pigs. One isolate of S. suis serotype 16 was reported from a diseased pig in Germany and 4 isolates from slaughter pigs in South Korea (13,14). The S. suis serotype 16 strain was sensitive to all antimicrobial agents tested except tetracycline, as has been reported for serotype 2 isolates (5). PFGE results showed that this human serotype 16 isolate was unrelated to human serotype 2 isolates. On MLST, this isolate had a new sequence type that did not belong to any of the clonal complexes. In contrast, most serotype 2 isolates reported so far belong to clonal complex 1 (www.mlst.net). Taken together, these results suggest that capsule switch, such as has been observed for S. pneumoniae, does not explain the emergence of invasive isolates of a different serotype. In addition, the PCR and Western blot analyses indicate that the serotype 2 capsule, EF, MRP, or suilysin is not required for virulence or S. suis in humans, as has also been shown in pigs. S. suis infection is an emerging zoonosis in Asia. Strains with serotype 16 are among those capable of infecting humans. This study was supported by The Wellcome Trust. Dr Nghia is an infectious disease specialist. His research interests include the epidemiology, diagnosis, clinical manifestations, and treatment of Streptococcus suis infection in Vietnam. (1.) Gottsehalk M, Segura M. The pathogenesis of the meningitis caused by Streptococcus suis: the unresolved questions. Vet Microbiol. 2000;76:259-72. (2.) Staats JJ, Feder I, Okwumabua O, Chengappa MM. Streptococcus suis: past and present. Vet Res Commun. 1997;21:381-407. (3.) Arends JP, Zanen HC. Meningitis caused by Streptococcus suis in humans. Rev Infect Dis. 1988;10:131 7. (4.) Lun ZR, Wang QP, Chen XG, Li AX, Zhu XQ. Streptococcus suis: an emerging zoonotic Zoonotic A disease which can be spread from animals to humans. Mentioned in: Zoonosis pathogen. Lancet Infect Dis. 2007;7:201-9. (5.) Wangkaew S, Chaiwarith R, Tharavichitkul P, Supparatpinyo K. Streptococcus suis infection: a series of 41 cases from Chiang Mai University Chiang Mai University (Thai: มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่) was the first provincial university established in Thailand and the first to be named after the city it is in. Hospital. J Infect. 2006;52:455-60. (6.) Watkins EJ, Brooksby P, Schweiger MS, Enright SM. Septicaemia septicaemia or septicemia an infection of the blood which develops in a wound [Greek sēptos decayed + haima blood] septicemia, septicaemia in a pig-farm worker. Lancet. 2001;357:38. (7.) Willenburg KS, Sentochnik DE, Zadoks RN. Human Streptococcus suis meningitis in the United States. N Engl J Med. 2006;354:1325. (8.) Yu H, Jing jing (jing) [Chinese] one of the basic substances that according to traditional Chinese medicine pervade the body, usually translated as "essence"; the body reserves or constitutional makeup, replenished by food and rest, that supports H, Chen Z, Zheng H, Zhu X, Wang H, et al. Human Streptococcus suis outbreak, Sichuan, China. Emerg Infect Dis. 2006;12:914-20. (9.) Vilaichone RK, Vilaichone W, Nunthapisud P, Wilde H. Streptococcus suis infection in Thailand. J Med Assoc Thai. 2002;85(Suppl 1): S109-17. (10.) Suankratay C, Intalapaporn P, Nunthapisud P, Arunyingmongkol K, Wilde H. Streptococcus suis meningitis in Thailand. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 2004;35:868-76. (11.) Tang J, Wang C, Feng Y, Yang W, Song H, Chen Z, et al. Streptococcal streptococcal /strep·to·coc·cal/ (-kok´al) pertaining to or caused by a streptococcus. Pertaining to any of the Streptococcus bacteria. toxic shock syndrome toxic shock syndrome (TSS). acute, sometimes fatal, disease characterized by high fever, nausea, diarrhea, lethargy, blotchy rash, and sudden drop in blood pressure. It is caused by Staphylococcus aureus, an exotoxin-producing bacteria (see toxin). caused by Streptococcus suis serotype 2. PLoS Med. 2006;3:e151. (12.) Sriskandan S, Slater JD. Invasive disease and toxic shock due to zoonotic Streptococcus suis: an emerging infection in the East? PLoS Med. 2006;3:e187. (13.) Han DU, Choi C, Ham HJ, Jung JH, Cho WS, Kim J, et al. Prevalence, capsular type and antimicrobial susceptibility of Streptococcus suis isolated from slaughter pigs in Korea. Can J Vet Res. 2001;65:151-5. (14.) Wisselink HJ, Smith HE, Stockhofe-Zurwieden N, Peperkamp K, Vecht U. Distribution of capsular types and production of muramidase-released protein (MRP) and extracellular factor (EF) of Streptococcus suis strains isolated from diseased pigs in seven European countries. Vet Microbiol. 2000;74:237-48. Ho Dang Trung Nghia, * Ngo Thi Hoa, * Le Dieu Linh, * James Campbell, * To Song Diep, ([dagger]) Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, ([dagger]) Nguyen Thi Hoang Mai, * Tran Tinh Hien, ([dagger]) Brian Spratt, ([double dagger]) Jeremy Farrar, * and Constance Schultsz * * Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; ([dagger]) Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and ([double dagger]) Imperial College London History Imperial College was founded in 1907, with the merger of the City and Guilds College, the Royal School of Mines and the Royal College of Science (all of which had been founded between 1845 and 1878) with these entities continuing to exist as "constituent colleges". , London, United Kingdom Address for correspondence: Constance Schultsz, Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, The Hospital for Tropical Diseases, 190 Ben Ham Tu, Quan 5, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam; email: [email protected]
Straw Bale Construction/Glossary Glossary of Terms - Bale Needle - A pointed metal rod or plate with a handle at one end and a hole at the other used to push twine through the bales and stitch them from one side to the other, holding mesh tightly to each surface. - BTU or British Thermal Unit - This is a unit for measuring energy which is now mostly replaced by the joule. One BTU is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound avoirdupois of water by one degree Fahrenheit. One BTU is approximately 1054–1060 joules. - Cold bridge - If a structure is made a various materials some of which insulate more than others, any part of the structure which is a potential path warmth can use to escape is a cold bridge. A common example is a well insulated house with solid aluminium windows which transfer large amounts of heat throght the structure. - Ecological footprint - The land, air and water that a city or nation needs to produce all of its resources and to dispose of all its waste. It is a way to determine if the lifestyle of a community is sustainable. It shows if a city or nation is utilizing more or less than its fair sustainable share of the world’s resources. - Embodied energy - The total energy used to bring a product or material to its present phase in its life cycle. It includes the energy required to extract or produce raw materials, their transport to the place of production, and the energy used for manufacturing. It can also include the energy used in the distribution and retail chain, for maintenance processes, for repair, etc. It is measured in MJ per kg or GJ per tonne. There is a list of the embodied energy of verious material on the Embodied energy page of Australians Governments Your Home Design Guide. - End-of-Life (EoL) - The moment when a product ceases to fulfil the tasks it was designed for. The end-of-life of a product is not the end of its life cycle, since its environmental impact has not yet come to an end; the disassembly, recycling, incineration, and/or disposal phases still remain. - A metal cage full of some hard material, typically stones. Often used for retaining wall especially on river sides. Can be succesfully used as part of a building foundation. - Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning. - Straw bales used between the vertical elements of a structure to form non-bearing walls and act as insulation. Often an option where building regulations are otherwise too restrictive. - Life Cycle Analysis or Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) - A calculation of the environmental impact of a product over its complete life cycle. It starts with an inventory of the ’input’ (all resources and energy consumption) and ’output’ (emissions, solid waste, waste water). The elements in this inventory are grouped into environmental categories, which are quantified according to their environmental impact. The goal is to compare different design strategies within a category. - A load bearing wall is one where all or most of the weight of the building is taken by the straw bale walls. The walls are 'bearing' the 'load'. - Modified Post and Beam - See Post and Beam. Modified simply means that the dimensions are modified to suit the dimensions of your straw bales. - Post and Beam - A construction using vertical elements (posts) and horizontal elements (beams) to form a structural framework. The term often refers to using a smaller number of larger than normal timbers compared to conventional 'baloon' timber framing. - R value - Standard insulation value which measures the Resistance in a material to the passage of heat. An R-value is the inverse of a U-value which measures the conductance in a material of heat. - Rubble trench foundation - A trench dug into the ground and filled with a rigid material such as demolition rubble, gravel or sea shells. Important functions of such a wall are: it cannot be further compressed, and moisture will not rise through the rubble into the wall. - When stress it put into your structure some elements will be compressed. Pre-compression adds this stress to the building before it is finished to stop the structure suddenly settling, or the plaster suddely cracking, once finished. - Stem walls - A stemwall is the part of the foundation between the floor level and ground level, and may rest on and be attached to a rubble trench or whatever else is in the ground. It can be made of concrete blocks or such or be concrete poured into forms. Think raised foundation. - The ground of the site and anything below the surface. Subgrade foundation insulations is therefore insulation below the finished ground level to insulate the foundation from the surrounding temperature. - Top Plate - plate (normally wood) used to precompress bale wall, use as a roof connection, and help distribute roof weight. - A beam made up of a large number of small elements, typically in a criss-cross pattern, which together perform as one large beam. These heating specific definitions should be edited and added into the rest alphabetically A.F.U.E.: Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency represents the percentage of fuel that is converted into usable heating energy - the balance is vented through your chimney or other venting systems. It is an industry agreed upon standard. All furnaces and brands are tested the same way to provide "apples to apples" comparisons. Air Conditioner - a device used to decrease the temperature and humidity of air, which moves through it. Typical air conditioners include central air conditioning which utilizes existing forced air ductwork and “Ductless Splits”. Anode Rod - a sacrificial metal used to protect against corrosion in a hot water heater. Baseboard Heating - heating elements located around the perimeter of a room, used to warm room air by transferring the heat from the hot water circulating through them. Blower – an air handling device used with a furnace to circulate air through a network of ducts. Boiler: A heating appliance that heats water to a pre-set temperature and feeds it to a circulator, which transfers the water to radiant heating units including some or all of cast iron radiators, slim baseboard radiators, under floor tubing or wall panels. Some boilers produce steam for heating purposes. B.T.U.: British Thermal Units are the standard efficiency comparison between heating fuels. One BTU is the amount of heating energy that will raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. B.T.U./Hr.: British Thermal Units Per Hour. Used to express capacities of furnaces and boilers. Burner - a device which supplies a mixture of air and fuel to the combustion area. Cast Iron - a durable metal with an exceptional capability to hold and transfer heat. Chimney Liner: A clay-tile or metal liner that is inserted into a chimney. Chimney Venting - a vertical vent used to transfer products of combustion from a furnace or boiler to the outdoors. Combustion - the process of converting fuel into heat. This requires oxygen. Combustion Air: An air supply brought into the furnace's combustion chamber - supplied from within the basement, or from outdoors. Combustion air is necessary to burn fuel. Controls: Devices such as a thermostat that regulate a heating or cooling system. Convection: The transfer of heat through a moving gas (air) and a surface, or the transfer of heat from one point to another within a gas. In hydronic heating, cool air falls to the floor where it is heated by metal fins in a baseboard radiator and then rises to transfer heat to the environment through natural convection. Convective Heat: the natural circulation of air across a heat source to heat the air. Degree Days: A system by which heating oil dealers measure and record the daily temperature. This information is compared to what they know about your heating system to ensure automatic delivery before your system uses all of the oil in the storage tank. Direct Venting: A process in which the products of combustion are vented to the outdoors via sidewall venting, (without the use of a chimney). Direct Vent - a furnace or boiler design where all the air for combustion is taken from the outdoors and all exhaust products are released to the outdoors, also known as sealed combustion. Direct Vent is also known as balanced flue venting in oil furnaces and boilers. Distribution System: The component of a heating or cooling system that delivers warmed or cooled air, or warmed water, to the living space. Draft Hood - a device that prevents a backdraft from entering the heating unit or excessive chimney draw from affecting the operation of the boiler or furnace. Ductless Split A/C System - A system that cools and dehumidifies air without the use of conventional duct work. The equipment location is split, with the condenser and heat pump outside of the home and the air handler and controls inside. Efficiency Rating - the ratio of heat actually generated versus the amount of heat Theoretically possible from the amount of fuel inputted. Flame Retention Burner: A modern oil burner which retains the flame near the mouth of the burner, for improved efficiency and operational savings. Flue: An enclosed passage that is designed to convey hot flue gases. (Also known as a breech). Flue Gases: The gases (eg. carbon dioxide, water vapour and nitrogen) that are formed when the fuel oil, natural gas, or propane is burned with the air. (Products of combustion are technically all of the flue gases less the nitrogen that was present before combustion). Forced Air: A distribution system in which a fan circulates air from the heating or cooling unit to the rooms through a network of supply air and return air ducts. Furnace: A heating appliance that warms air around a heat exchanger. The air is conveyed by fan, into a central duct system to distribute warm air to all areas of the home or building. Heat Exchanger: A structure that transfers heat from the hot combustion gases inside the furnace heat exchanger to the circulating room air flowing across the exterior of the heat exchanger. Heat Loss: Term used for all areas of your home where heated air may escape due to construction styles, age of house, windows, weather-stripping, etc. All homes will experience some level of heat loss. Heat Loss Calculation: This is the means by which a heating contractor will determine the required capacity of a furnace or boiler to adequately heat the home (or building). Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV): A device used in central ventilation systems to reduce the amount of heat that is lost as household air is replaced with outside air. As fresh air enters the house, it is warmed as it passes through a heat exchanger, heated by the warm outgoing air stream. Heat Transfer: the transmission of heat from the source (flame) to air or water. Heating Capacity: the amount of usable heat produced by a heating unit. High-boy: a term used to describe a furnace which has a small "footprint" but is tall. The blower is under the heat exchanger. This is also known as an upflow furnace. Hot Water Boiler: a heating unit that uses water circulated throughout the home in a system of baseboard heating units, radiators, and/or in-floor radiant tubing. Hot Water Heater: a unit with its own energy source that generates and stores hot water. Hydronics: Hydronics, or heating with water, consists of a compact boiler (fired by any fuel) that heats water, which is distributed to a network of slim baseboard, panel or space radiators, or under floor tubing by a circulator. This term also applies to the science of heating (or cooling) with water. Indirect Hot Water Storage Tank: a unit that works in conjunction with a boiler to generate and store domestic hot water, it does not require its own energy source. In-floor Radiant Tubing: tubing, typically plastic or rubber, used in conjunction with heated boiler water to heat floors. Low-boy: a term used to describe a furnace which has a low profile. The blower is located on the same level plane as the heat exchanger. This furnace style has both the return air plenum and the supply air plenum on the top of the furnace. This furnace style is sometimes called a console style furnace. Low Water Cut-off: a device used to shut down a boiler in the event that a low water condition exists. This is required whenever radiators are located at a lower level than the boiler. Some jurisdictions require them on all boiler installations. Natural Gas: any gas found in the earth (e.g. methane gas) as opposed to gases which are manufactured. Nozzle: A burner component that atomizes, meters and patterns fuel oil into the heat exchanger / fire-pot. Oil Heating: the production of heat by burning oil. Propane: a manufactured gas typically used for cooking or heating. This is also known as L.P. gas. (liquid petroleum). Push Nipples: machined metal sleeves used to join adjacent sections of a boiler. Radiant Floor Heating: Under floor heat is provided by flexible, long-lasting tubing. The continuous tubing can be placed under any flooring, and circulated hot water provides invisible heat anywhere in the home, swimming pool or driveway. Radiant Heating: the method of heating the walls, floors or ceilings in order to transfer heat to the occupants of a room. Radiator: a heating element, typically metal, used in conjunction with water or steam to give off heat. Retrofit: Replacement of one or more components of an existing system. Safety Shut-off Device: any device used to shut down a heating appliance in the event an unsafe condition exists. Seasonal Efficiency: A performance rating that considers the heat actually delivered to the living space, the total energy available in the fuel consumed, and the impact the equipment itself has on the total heating load through an entire heating season. S.E.E.R.: Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating. The standards by which equipment is measured. The higher the S.E.E.R., the more efficient the equipment (especially air conditioning). Sealed Combustion: a furnace or boiler design where all the air for combustion is taken from the outside atmosphere and all exhaust products are released to the outside atmosphere, also known as direct vent. Steam Boiler: a heating unit designed to heat by boiling water, producing steam, and circulating it to radiators or steam baseboard units throughout the home. Stack Damper: a device installed in the venting system that will automatically close when the appliance shuts down. This device is used to reduce the amount of warm indoor air being drawn up the chimney between heating cycles. Supply Tapping: opening in a boiler by which hot water enters the heating system. Setback Thermostat: A programmable thermostat with a built-in timer. You can adjust it to vary household temperature automatically. Tankless Heater: a copper coil submerged into the heated boiler water used to transfer heat to domestic water. Venting: An opening for combustion gases to exit the house. Can be a chimney or a vent through the wall of the house. Includes all parts of the venting system - vent connector, chimney, etc. Zone Control: A heating control system in which the space to be heated is divided into zones and each zone is controlled by a separate thermostat.
Learning about what doctors do, what a hospital is and all the reasons why we go see doctors or visit the hospital is best introduced when a child is not ill. Using pretend and role play to learn more about these anxious topics parents can minimize the fear when a child has a check up or is sick. We played doctor a lot before my son had to go for a long visit to the pediatric cardiologist last December, and it was smooth sailing. But even that one visit left a lasting impression, over 6 months later my son still talks about it. Yesterday we built on that experience by making our own box hospital ! - Gather your materials. You will need a large box, some black, read and white construction paper, scissors, red glitter paint, white paint, a large sponge, and glue. - Start by cutting the box so that you have one open side. Cut a door or two into it. We made 2 one for the emergency ward and one for the main doors. - Grab the white paint and sponge and start painting. Do not expect toddlers to stick around to paint the whole thing, encourage yes but don’t force. My son did one side , took a break while I did the others and joined me for the last. - While the white paint dries write out the word hospital and emergency in uppercase letters. I did this on the cardboard I cut from the box. BAD choice, the cardboard was too think and I have a blister from cutting the letters out. Learn from my oops and use plain construction paper. - Add red glitter glue and spread it to cover the letters. - Make some crosses and do the same. - Cut out some dark colored windows in squares and rectangles. - Make a helipad if you wish – it was a must for out medical helicopter! - When the white paint is dry, add glue for the helipad. - Add the helipad. - Add the windows and the Emergency ward sign. - When the glitter is dry cut out the letters for the hospital sign and crosses. - Add your sign and crosses. Let dry. - Grab some ambulances and get to playing! Pretend Play!It’s all the rage in our house right now. Take a few dolls and have your little doctor give them a check up. I was amazed at how well my son knew the routine procedures, considering he’s normally fidgeting on my lap when he is the patient. Have fun and take times like these to ask questions and calm fears. Harry Goes to the Hospital: A Story for Children about What It’s Like to Be in the Hospital by Howard J. Bennett MD is a wonderfully informative book. It’s long , I read each page but skipped some of the text while reading it to my 2 year old. Of all the what to expect when you are going to the hospital books I’ve read I think this is the best. What makes me say that is that Harry goes into the ER for dehydration after throwing up, which is a very common reason. He gets and IV , some tests but nothing else is wrong with him. It goes into great detail about everything and is really geared towards 4-5 year olds. Still the pictures and info can easily be used with younger kids.
A Caribbean fish known as the French grunt is infested with gnathiid isopods. The late Jamaican reggae star Bob Marley is the latest celebrity to be honored with a scientific species name. It's not the most glamorous species — in fact, it's a blood-feeding fish parasite — but there's no question that Gnathia marleyi knows how to "stir it up" in Caribbean coral reefs. It's the Caribbean connection that prompted the name, which is listed along with a description of the species in the June 6 issue of the journal Zootaxa. "I named this species, which is truly a natural wonder, after Marley because of my respect and admiration for Marley's music," Paul Sikkel, a marine biologist at Arkansas State University, said in a news release from the National Science Foundation. "Plus, this species is as uniquely Caribbean as was Marley." G. marleyi is a type of gnathiid isopod, a small crustacean that hides in corners of eastern Caribbean coral reefs. When the right kinds of fish come by, the juveniles jump out and attach themselves to suck their blood. But when they grow into adults, they stop feeding. "We believe that adults subsist for two to three weeks on the last feedings they had as juveniles and then die, hopefully after they have reproduced," Sikkel said. Sikkel and his colleagues found specimens of the tiny isopods about 10 years ago in the U.S. Virgin Islands. They're so common there that Sikkel assumed that the species had already been described — but after he sent a specimen to another member of his research team, Nico J. Smit of South Africa's North-West University, he received word that the critter hadn't been written up in the literature. John Artim / Arkansas State Univ. This close-up shows an adult male gnathiid. The adult males look entirely different from the juveniles and are used by taxonomists to identify species. Researchers went through the laborious process of raising the juvenile isopods up to adulthood so they could be properly described. Specimens of G. marleyi will be housed indefinitely at the American Museum of Natural History in New York for reference. The reason why Sikkel and his colleagues have been spending so time with Caribbean coral-reef parasites is because they suspect that such species may serve as an indicator of coral-reef health. Coral degradation may create habitats more conducive for parasites to attack their fishy hosts. Those parasites, in turn, may transmit blood-borne diseases and accelerate the decline of fish communities. That's not to say that G. marleyi is all bad: Sikkel points out that they are "the most important food item for cleaner fishes, and thus key to understanding marine cleaning symbioses." (It's worth noting that other breeds of isopods can grow to horror-movie dimensions.) Bob Marley died of cancer in 1981, at the age of 36, and it's an open question whether he would have welcomed having a parasite named in his honor. As cartoonist Gary Larson said after a species of louse was named Strigiphilus garylarsoni, "You have to grab these opportunities when they come along." But even if Marley fans are not also fans of gnathiid isopods, they can take heart in the fact that Marley has other critters named after him — such as the "Bob Marley sponge" (Pipestela candelabra), which is found in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. More about celebrity species names: - The Hoff just loves his crabs - What's in a scientific name? (Scroll down) - One way to get a species named after you - Rename Homo sapiens? The idea seems unwise Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) 1998-1999 survey, over 2.6 million girls participated in high school athletics compared with 3.8 million boys. The NFHS began keeping records in 1971, when fewer than 300,000 girls participated in high school athletics and 3.6 million boys competed. The NFHS surveys reveal an increase of nearly 2.3 million in girls' high school sports participation in the last 30 years. This dramatic increase is due largely to Title IX, which was passed in 1972 and prohibits discrimination against girls and women in federally-funded education, including in athletics programs. John Gillis, NFHS administrator said that girls' participation ought to continue increasing in the 21st Century because their opportunities will continue to rise. Media Resources: Toledo Blade - January 1, 2000 and Feminist Majority Foundation
Go to previous article Go to next article Return to 1999 Conference Table of Contents Donald B. Egolf, Ph.D. Department of Communication 1117 Cathedral of Learning University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15260 (412) 624-6763 FAX (412) 624-1878 One common way of categorizing the messages of human discourse is to place them in either the verbal or nonverbal category. Getting the most attention in the field of augmentative communication has been the verbal category, a move understandable, of course, considering the immediate educational, interpersonal, and vocational needs of nonspeaking persons. At the same time, however, there is the other side of the communication coin, the nonverbal side, and it is this side that is the focus of the current research. Specifically, the research focused on facial expressions and sought to answer several basic questions in the area with specific reference to nonspeakers who use assistive communication devices. Two studies were conducted. The first study dealt with perception; the second with expression. The purpose of Study 1 was to find answers to the following two questions: Four groups, comprised of the following 95 subjects, participated. Group 1, the target group, was comprised of ten adult, cerebral palsied, nonspeakers who used assistive devices. Of these subjects, nine were wheelchair users. All were enrolled in an independent living program. Group 2, the first control group, was comprised of ten adult, cerebral palsied speakers. These individuals came from the same program as did the members of the target group and seven were wheelchair users. Members of Groups 1 and 2 successfully passed vision and hearing screens and were literate. Group 3, the second control group, was comprised of fourteen adult, foreign nationals. Group 4, the third control group, was comprised of 61 college undergraduates. The students were included to represent native and non-disabled communicators. Each subject was shown thirty, shuffled photographs that were taken from "Unmasking the Human Face" (Ekman and Friesen, 1975). The photographs depicted six basic facially-expressed emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. From cross-cultural studies, Ekman and Friesen determined that these six emotions were basically universal in meaning, and from other studies they determined that the same six emotions were the most reliably identified. Subjects were told that each picture shown to them depicted one the six emotions. No additional expressions were introduced during the course of the study. There were five photographs for each of the six emotions. Subjects had as much time as they needed to decide upon the emotion being expressed, but could choose only one of the six emotions. After each subject completed identifying all thirty photographs, the pictures were reshuffled. This was done to control for any ordering and expectancy effects. Arrangements were made to have subjects respond by a method that was physically possible for them. For each subject an accuracy score was computed. The highest possible score was 30--equivalent to identifying correctly each of the 30 emotions presented. Group means were computed and the data showed that each successive group had a higher mean. In other words, cerebral palsied nonspeakers who used assistive communication devices scored lowest (M=17.10), succeeded by cerebral palsied speakers (M=19.40), followed by foreign nationals (M=21.86), and then by native, nondisabled communicators (M=23.85). Accuracy data was analyzed using a one-way ANOVA with a resultant F(3,91) = 18.57 (p<.0001). Therefore the groups were significantly different from one another. When the data were examined to see if the groups were similar with respect to which emotions they found to be most and least difficult to identify, they were found to be very much alike. All groups found happiness the easiest to identify and disgust to be the most difficult. In answer to Question 2 of Study 1, it was found that nonspeakers were similar to the control groups in confusions. For example, with two emotions, fear and disgust, the most common confusions for all groups were surprise and anger respectively. Study 2 posed two questions: Three groups participated; two were expressers and the third served as judges. Group 1 consisted of six, cerebral palsied, nonspeaking adults who used assistive communication devices. This group was recruited from the same independent living program mentioned in Study 1. Group 2 consisted of six college undergraduate natural speakers. Group 3 consisted of 77 undergraduates. All subjects were asked to portray facially the emotions of happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust. The portrayals were photographed and shown to the judges who recorded the emotion they thought was portrayed. For each subject an accuracy portrayal score was computed. It was an average score with a range of 0 through 6, representing six emotions. Group means and variances were computed: nonspeakers (M=2.26; V=0.2) and speakers (M=4.01; V=2.44). A t-test (df=10) for independent groups showed significance at the .05 level. The two groups differed significantly from one another. To answer to question posed by Question 2 of Study 2, confusion matrices were created showing the emotions portrayed by each of the subject groups versus the emotions perceived by the judges. Analysis of these matrices showed nonspeakers performing extremely well portraying happiness (83.8%); moderately well portraying sadness (52.3%) and surprise (45.6%); and poorly on fear, anger, and disgust (each below 23%). The normal speakers portrayed every emotion more accurately by an average of 29.8%. Study 1 showed that nonspeakers, who use assistive communication devices, scored lowest as a group in identifying emotions expressed by the face. One observation made of the nonspeaking group in free interaction was that the members spent much of their time looking at their assistive communication devices, and in doing so, were not observing the faces of their communication partners. Focus and concentration on the device is of course necessary, but focusing almost exclusively on the device and not on the communication partner may impede the development of perceptual skills or dull those extant. Therefore one suggestion emerging from this study is that users of assistive communication devices should learn to visually shift their gazes from their devices to their discourse partners. Another suggestion from Study 1 is that the nonspeakers' ability to perceive nonverbal emotional expressions differs from other groups in degree but not in kind. In other words, nonspeakers' confusions are, more often than not, similar to the control groups. The consequence of this finding would seem to be that nonspeakers can indeed improve their "face-reading" skills. Study 2 sought to determine if nonspeakers, who use assistive communication devices, can facially express emotions as accurately as a control group, and were judges' confusions of nonspeakers' expressions similar to those of the control group of speakers. Results showed that the nonspeakers expressed significantly more poorly than did the controls. The types of confusions made by the judges perceiving the two groups' expressions were in moderate agreement. It is the case that with neuromuscular problems many nonspeakers will have difficulty facially expressing emotions with accuracy. Compensatory strategies have to be devised. It is here where the assistive communication device should be recruited for compensatory purposes. Devices can be programmed to generate sounds (both words and non-words) to reflect not only the six emotions listed by Ekman and Friesen, but other emotions as well. When the face cannot produce an emotional expression, the auditory output of the communication device must "step-in." And, just as the face can quickly produce an array of fast changing expressions or frames, so must the device be programmed accordingly. One user, for example, in his repertoire of emotional expressions, has programmed into his device the currently popular, "yada, yada, yada ..." to express boredom. This emotion can be quickly changed to one of interest with a preprogrammed, "OK-now we're getting somewhere." Programming assistive communication devices with the structures of language is very important, but at the same time, the nonverbal side of the communication coin must not be forgotten. Ekman, P., & Friesen, W., (1975). UNMASKING THE HUMAN FACE: A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING EMOTIONS FROM FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-hall, 1975. Go to previous article Go to next article Return to 1999 Conference Table of Contents Return to Table of Proceedings
Bacon’s Castle: Bacon’s Rebellion The name "Bacon's Castle" is derived from an event in 1676. That year, Nathaniel Bacon and his men led an uprising in Virginia against the Colonial government. After burning Jamestown to the ground, Bacon's forces retreated to Gloucester. He sent William Rookings and seventy men to establish a stronghold in Surry County. Rookings took over Arthur Allen's home and occupied it for four months. Allen had previously fled the county because he supported the Governor. The men ate Allen's cattle and depleted his stock of wine as well as looting linens and other household supplies. Archaeological evidence of this occupation was discovered on site and visitors to Bacon's Castle can see some of the wine bottles and bones that may have been eaten and drunk by Bacon's men! The Rebellion came to an end when Bacon died of an illness at his headquarters in Gloucester. His men deserted their posts at the house allowing the family to return. Allen later sued the men who had occupied the house for the damages incurred. The name of Bacon's Castle seems to date from the 19th century. Major Allen certainly wouldn't have approved! During his lifetime the house was known as "Allen's Brick House" because it was one of only a few houses made of the expensive material in the Colony.
The Imperial warehouses Posted by ampontan on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 THE SMITHSONIAN in Washington D.C. is sometimes referred to as America’s attic. While it is primarily the repository for items of historical value, it is also the storage place for objects that are more curiosity than treasure and part of the country’s cultural legacy only in the aggregate. There is a group of buildings in Japan that serve a similar function, though they are not open to the public and not widely known. That’s the Gyofu, a cluster of wooden warehouses on the southern end of the Fukiage Gardens in the Imperial Palace. They were originally used to store the spoils of war. Each of the five buildings in the group has a name that ends with the suffix –fu. In each of the five was kept the booty taken from overseas in military campaigns. Specifically, the Shintenfu was the repository for items from the Japan-China war, the Kaienfu was for items from the North China Incident (the start of the second war with China), the Kenanfu stored the items from the Japan-Russia war, the Junmeifu held the spoils from the Siberian Intervention (1918-1925), and the Kenchufu was the warehouse for the plunder and souvenirs from the Manchurian and Shanghai incidents. The Korosei Rock, a symbol of the relationship between T’ang Dynasty China and Bohai (a kingdom that existed in Northern China and the Korean Peninsula from 698-926), was taken from China to Japan during the Japan-Russia War and is still standing in the front garden of the Kenanfu (the building shown in the photo). All the other items from overseas were returned to their countries of origin after the war. The buildings of the Gyofu still serve as warehouses, however; they are used for the storage of the possessions of the current emperor, some of the art donated to the country by the Imperial Household after the death of the Showa Emperor, and the implements used for palace ceremonies. According to those who have gotten a glimpse of the interior of these buildings, they just have an open space with no dividing walls or shelving. All the stored items are placed seemingly at random inside. Though the buildings are old, they were solidly built and are still in good shape. The people responsible for their design and construction were part of the Takumiryo, a group of builders and craftsmen in the former Imperial Household Ministry. That group was also involved with the construction of other parts of the Imperial Palace and the Tokyo National Museum. The Gyofu are located in a part of the palace grounds where entry is highly restricted, so they are almost never seen by anyone without a reason for being there. But there is one exception: the Suwa teahouse in the East Gardens, a popular site for strollers that is open to the public. The building is actually the Kaienfu, which was moved to this location and rebuilt. It was decided to move it in 1968 when the plans for the East Garden were formulated because its distinctively Japanese appearance was thought to blend in well with the surrounding area. It’s a shame the rest aren’t available for viewing by the public, but they are just storehouses, so they wouldn’t be the most appropriate place for public exhibitions. Then again, there’s no reason why the Korosei Rock should still be there. It should have been returned to China long ago. The Chinese would like to have it back, of course, but to their credit, they seem to be asking for the return in the spirit of bilateral friendship rather than making strident demands. Here’s the Japanese-language explanation of the history of the object and the Chinese viewpoint on the website of the Chinese Embassy in Japan, as written by Xinhua. China sent a team to this country to examine the rock, but the Imperial Household Agency, perhaps the most backward government organization in the country, refused to let them see it. They gave the team photographs instead. It’s an object of historical and cultural importance from China that belongs in China. Why should it be sitting on a plot of land in Japan that most Japanese aren’t allowed to see? Indeed, returning it would be of great benefit to Japan, if only for the positive publicity it would generate among the Chinese. Keeping it there does not reflect well on the Japanese government. I suspect the Japanese public would agree–if they knew about it.
a device that searches a band of radio frequencies for the presence of radio signals. See Real Time Analyzer (RTA). SPL (sound pressure level) The level or intensity at a point in a sound field (loudness). The deviation above and below normal atmospheric pressure. The unit of measurement of Sound Pressure... the microbar. One microbar is equal to the sound pressure of 1 dyne per square centimeter, which is a sound level of 74 dB above the threshold of hearing (0.0002 microbar.) It is also equal to approximately one-millionth of normal atmospheric pressure. Sound pressure levels are stated in decibels as follows: Where P is the RMS sound pressure in microbars, and the reference is the threshold of hearing of 0.0002 microbars (50% of young men, 1 to 4 kHz). SPLITTER A box into which one microphone or signal is connected and has two or more individual outputs available for that signal. Used when a separate monitor mix is required. An instrument that identifies the amplitude of signals at various frequencies. a analyzers frequency selective power meter that our on levels source power a device that is used to examine the waveforms of spectral composition of optical, acoustic or electrical data a device which reads and video-displays the broadcast spectrum a heterodyned, synthesized instrument with a tracking source a laboratory instrument that displays signal amplitude (strength) as it varies by signal frequency a light weight, compact and easy to use portable analyzer ideally suited for field or bench use a light weight, compact and easy to use portable analyzer i ------------------ Your prompt reply is appreciated a low frequency, high performance analyzer an invaluable tool for examining the components of a signal spectrum a receiver that automatically plots the signals in a frequency span on a display screen for analysis a suitable instrument for this type of measurement a tool (may be hardware of software) which shows the frequency content within a sound (or radio wave or whatever) a tremendously helpful tool for comparing EQ curves, and there are now affordable, software-based ones a valuable tool for evaluating fixture effectiveness, and we have a few to choose from a versatile RF troubleshooting test instrument that can troubleshoot these problems Device that measures the frequency components of a radio signal. It provides a visual image of how the amplitude of a radio signal varies in relation to its frequency. an instrument used for measuring radiofrequency signal intensity and frequency. When used with a calibrated antenna, a spectrum analyzer is capable of measuring power density. An instrument which can be used to view signals across a wide range of frequencies. A measuring instrument capable of displaying the distribution of energy in a signal or sound. With contemporary techniques, frequency resolution can be almost whatever one wants, from 1 Hz (or many other fixed-bandwith options) to a variety of percentage-bandwidth options, such as fractional-octave displays. Most employ FFT methods, and some can display results in 'real time', others not. See: FFT, Real-Time Analyzer. An electronic device that can show the spectrum of an electric signal. An instrument which displays the frequency spectrum of an input signal. An electronic device for automatically displaying the spectrum of the electromagnetic radiation from one or more devices. A cathode ray tube display is commonly used to display this power-versus frequency spectrum. [ Test Equipment Manufacturers A spectrum analyzer is a series of vertical light bars that "dance" according to the output of different frequency bands. Digital equalizers include a spectrum analyzer on the display to give you an idea of how your response curve looks. A spectrum analyzer also adds a bit of flair to your system as it moves to the beat of the music. A scanning receiver with a display that, among other capabilities, shows a graph of frequency versus amplitude of the signals being measured. Electronic device that measures a particular spectrum or frequency band and displays information about that particular spectrum or band. A spectrum analyzer is an instrument used to analyze the frequency content and characteristics of a signal. a device that shows the energy level within each section of a given frequency band (or spectrum). An instrument that measures the frequency spectrum of a signal. Spectrum analyzers are used over a range of frequencies, and may have different names, depending on their applications. Instrument used to display the frequency domain of a waveform plotting amplitude against frequency. A device that displays a frequency response curve, in real time, as the curve, changes. A spectrum analyzer is a device used to examine the spectral composition of some electrical, acoustic, or optical waveform.
Listen now 30 mins Episode 1 of 2 The first of two programmes which follows the engineers and astronomers who worked on the biggest telescope ever sent to space, in one of the most important missions in the history of European spaceflight. Jonathon Amos joins Professor Matt Griffin of Cardiff University and his international team as they aimed to peer through the areas in space that are invisible to other telescopes. This is the story of their aims to solve the mystery behind galaxy and star formation and how these processes eventually gave rise to life-bearing planets like Earth. In this episode, first broadcast in 2009, the team are approaching the biggest milestone in their twenty year project - the launch of their work on a rocket from a spaceport in French Guiana. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
This week, world leaders will gather in Geneva to commemorate 60 years of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Yet it is an anniversary that the world’s 15.1 million refugees have little reason to celebrate. Today, states are increasingly shutting their borders and restricting the assistance they give to refugees and people seeking asylum. By Christopher Stokes, MSF Belgium General Director Read the briefing paper: The 60th anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention: refugee crises in 2011 and challenges for the future \|Refugees from the recent conflict in Libya are assessed by MSF staff in Lampedusa, Italy. Photo: Mattia Insolera\| At the core of the Refugee Convention lies the idea of asylum. The increasingly restrictive policies of governments – while not necessarily in contravention of international,regional or national legislation – violate the spirit of the convention and the meaning of asylum. In turning their back on refugees, states end up playing a repressive rather than a protective role. In South Africa, Médecins Sans Frontières has witnessed Zimbabweans without passports being barred entry at the main border post, denying them the possibility of applying for asylum. As a result, many seek an unofficial route into South Africa, exposing them to myriad dangers, from drowning in the Limpopo river, to attack by crocodiles, to falling victim to violent criminal gangs who roam the borderlands. In the first six months of 2011 alone, our staff treated 42 people who had been raped by gang members while trying to cross the border. We fear there are many more victims who did not seek our assistance. Europe, which was the focus of the Refugee Convention at its inception in 1951, performs no better in its treatment of asylum seekers. This year, the popular uprisings in North Africa pushed some 57,000 refugees, asylum seekers and migrants to flee across the Mediterranean to Italy and Malta. Perhaps as many as 2,000 people perished at sea. Those who survived the journey found themselves detained in reception centres in appalling conditions. In March this year, 3,000 new arrivals were forced to sleep on the docks on the island of Lampedusa for several days, sharing 16 toilets and surviving on just 1.5 litres of water per day. Aiming to curb the landings on its coasts, the Italian government quickly moved to sign bilateral agreements with the new Tunisian interim government and the Libyan Transitional Council, despite the ongoing war in Libya. These agreements amounted to pushing back potential asylum seekers from Europe’s shores to North Africa. Italy, along with several other European countries, was party to the Libyan conflict, and thus bore an even greater responsibility to ensure that people fleeing the war were given decent reception conditions and access to an efficient and fair asylum procedure. Even for those who are successful in their applications for asylum, refugee status is often not enough to survive. Shunned and deprived of assistance, many refugees are condemned to migrate further, in search of a way to provide for themselves and their families. Today this is more true than ever as – unlike 60 years ago – developing countries now host the vast majority of the world’s refugee population. \|Somali refugees take apart their makeshift shelter in the outskirts of Dagahaley camp in Dadaab. They are preparing to be moved to Ifo 2 camp. Photo: Lynsey Addario/\| Medical and humanitarian activities have a tangible, but ultimately limited, impact on the welfare of refugees, asylum seekers and all those fleeing violence or economic collapse in their home country. Wider questions of assistance, protection and long term solutions urgently need to be addressed. People are increasingly mobile, and their motivations to cross borders are diverse. Governments need to come up with solutions that do not see migration management working at cross-purposes with refugee protection. In the meantime, the Refugee Convention remains the most important tool for refugee protection and assistance. When all states actively demonstrate their commitment to refugees through policies that are in line with the spirit of the convention, then world leaders and refugees alike will really have something to celebrate.
by Melissa Brunner Kansas ranks among the top 10 in a new study on government transparency, accountability and anti-corruption mechanisms. That might sound good, until you consider that a grade of "C" was good enough to place that high. Not only that, but Kansas received an "F" grade in lobbying disclosure and state insurance commission, and a "D-" for ethics enforcement agencies. The study was conducted by the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity, Public Radio International and Global Integrity. They reviewed what they term "corruption indicators." No state received an "A," so it's not like Kansas is alone in taking its knocks from the group. Bottom line, the group says, there are no winners. The group says its investigation "is a test of the structure that governs the government, documenting the laws on the books and investigating the actions that enforce those laws." You can find the complete results here: http://www.stateintegrity.org/ Meantime, what do you believe would make a truly transparent government? I say let's start with easy to understand web sites with access to meeting agendas, minutes, bill/ordinance language and more. Oh, and with a search function that works! Your ideas? Designed by Gray Digital Media
American Indian Storytelling By Jefferson Currie II Reprinted with permission from the Tar Heel Junior Historian, Spring 2002. Tar Heel Junior Historian Association, NC Museum of History "Shhhhhhhh!" Legend has it that Coharie Indian mothers would make that sound when outsiders would approach their village, hoping to quiet their children until the strangers passed. The Coharie were trying to stay on the fringe of European settlement, maintaining anonymity from the larger outside community. The "shhhhhhhh" sound is also the sound of wind whispering through the pine trees of eastern North Carolina. To this day, when the wind blows through the trees, Coharie people hear two things—the wind and their past. This story uses the environment to tell us part of the history of the Coharie people, but the story also has another meaning. When passed down from parent to child to grandchild, this story affirms Coharie cultural identity. It says, "This is who we are." In American Indian communities, people tell legends, folktales, and fables. They tell these stories for many reasons: to recount the history of the people, to tell where they came from, or to relate the exploits of a particular hero. Often stories are told to educate children about cultural morals and values. Stories also help to explain the supernatural and peculiar aspects of animals and the environment. The stories of an Indian group make that group unique, but stories will be known only as long as they are told. When someone ceases to tell a story, part of the cultural knowledge is gone. Storytelling also allows people to get to know one another. Cherokee storyteller Freeman Owle says that storytelling is "two-way interaction" between the listener and the storyteller. He says that when the children of today watch television, they get only oneway interaction. "They have no input, they have no identity, they have no place, and they have no one there with them." In American Indian communities, as long as the stories are being told, that identity will exist, that sense of knowing who you are and where you came from. Tribal history is important to the Haliwa-Saponi Indians in Halifax and Warren counties, and they have a story that tells how the people came to live in an area that they call the Meadows. After the Tuscarora fought a war with the North Carolina colonists in the early 1700s, many of the defeated Tuscarora started moving north to join other Iroquoian tribes in New York. On their way to New York, some of the Tuscarora camped near Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. With many of their people wounded and sick, and their children crying, the Tuscarora decided not to go north. These people moved to the Meadows, a place where they would be away from the colonists, a place where they could live in peace. Over time, more Indian people moved into the Meadows area, forming what is today the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe. Such stories help children to know who they are and where they came from. The story shows the long history of the people and makes the bonds within the community stronger. Stories can also teach strength of character, as in the many fables (morality tales using animals) from the Cherokee of western North Carolina. One of these fables, told by Kathi Smith Littlejohn, describes how the opossum lost its tail. Back many years ago, the opossum had a very beautiful tail, but he loved his tail too much, not noticing that other animals had tails just as beautiful. The other animals didn't like how the opossum acted, so they decided to get rid of his tail. The opossum was chosen to be the lead dancer at the next dance, so he went to the cricket to get his tail made more beautiful. The cricket started to comb the opossum's tail, and the opossum fell asleep. As the opossum slept, the cricket shaved his tail and put a big bow on the end of it, telling the opossum to remove the bow at the dance, and the tail would be beautifully done. When the opossum started dancing, he removed the bow, and all the other animals laughed at what was now a very ugly, bony tail. The opossum was so embarrassed that he rolled over and played dead. The story above offers a lesson. It indicates that conceitedness is not a good characteristic to have and that it will ham us if it continues. Such stories are told purposely but are often dropped into the middle of a conversation so that a person will not be embarrassed by his or her behavior. Cherokee stories often discuss spirit beings called the Little People. The Little People, or Nunnehi, are, in the words of Robert Busyhead, protectors. Kathi Smith Littlejohn describes the Nunnehi as being like us but smaller. The Nunnehi help us, but they also play tricks on us, "so you'll laugh and keep young in your heart." In the Lumbee community in Robeson County, many stories concern the legendary folk hero and outlaw Henry Berry Lowry. Lowry disappeared in 1872, but many stories say that for years after his disappearance, Lowry would often be seen visiting friends or going to funerals. Because no one knows what became of Lowry (although some say he was killed, and some say he just left the area), the stories of his appearances in the community make his legend even more impressive. Throughout North Carolina's American Indian communities, stories are being told. Passed down from generation to generation, these stories serve to strengthen the bonds within the community. We hope that, through the stories of their elders and their own eyes on the world around them, North Carolina's American Indian people will continue to keep alive the old tales and to create new ones. At the time of this article's publication, Jefferson Currie worked as an assistant curator at the North Carolina Museum of History. Eagle Walking Turtle. 1997. Full moon stories: thirteen native American legends. New York: Hyperion Books for Children. Macfarlan, Allan A. 2001. North American Indian legends. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications. Schwartz, April, and Tim Tingle. 2004. American Indian story telling protecting, preserving, and sharing the flame. [La Crescenta, Calif.]: Content Management Corp. 1 January 2005 \| Currie, Jefferson
- Year Published: 1866 - Language: English - Country of Origin: Russia - Source: Dostoyevsky, F. (1866). Crime and Punishment. Moscow, Russia: The Russian Messenger. - Flesch–Kincaid Level: 7.2 - Word Count: 4,888 Dostoyevsky, F. (1866). Part 3, Chapter 2. Crime and Punishment (Lit2Go Edition). Retrieved May 22, 2013, from Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. "Part 3, Chapter 2." Crime and Punishment. Lit2Go Edition. 1866. Web. <>. May 22, 2013. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, "Part 3, Chapter 2," Crime and Punishment, Lit2Go Edition, (1866), accessed May 22, 2013,. Razumihin waked up next morning at eight o’clock, troubled and serious. He found himself confronted with many new and unlooked-for perplexities. He had never expected that he would ever wake up feeling like that. He remembered every detail of the previous day and he knew that a perfectly novel experience had befallen him, that he had received an impression unlike anything he had known before. At the same time he recognised clearly that the dream which had fired his imagination was hopelessly unattainable—so unattainable that he felt positively ashamed of it, and he hastened to pass to the other more practical cares and difficulties bequeathed him by that “thrice accursed yesterday.” The most awful recollection of the previous day was the way he had shown himself “base and mean,” not only because he had been drunk, but because he had taken advantage of the young girl’s position to abuse her fiancé in his stupid jealousy, knowing nothing of their mutual relations and obligations and next to nothing of the man himself. And what right had he to criticise him in that hasty and unguarded manner? Who had asked for his opinion? Was it thinkable that such a creature as Avdotya Romanovna would be marrying an unworthy man for money? So there must be something in him. The lodgings? But after all how could he know the character of the lodgings? He was furnishing a flat… Foo! how despicable it all was! And what justification was it that he was drunk? Such a stupid excuse was even more degrading! In wine is truth, and the truth had all come out, “that is, all the uncleanness of his coarse and envious heart”! And would such a dream ever be permissible to him, Razumihin? What was he beside such a girl—he, the drunken noisy braggart of last night? Was it possible to imagine so absurd and cynical a juxtaposition? Razumihin blushed desperately at the very idea and suddenly the recollection forced itself vividly upon him of how he had said last night on the stairs that the landlady would be jealous of Avdotya Romanovna… that was simply intolerable. He brought his fist down heavily on the kitchen stove, hurt his hand and sent one of the bricks flying. “Of course,” he muttered to himself a minute later with a feeling of self-abasement, “of course, all these infamies can never be wiped out or smoothed over… and so it’s useless even to think of it, and I must go to them in silence and do my duty… in silence, too… and not ask forgiveness, and say nothing… for all is lost now!” And yet as he dressed he examined his attire more carefully than usual. He hadn’t another suit—if he had had, perhaps he wouldn’t have put it on. “I would have made a point of not putting it on.” But in any case he could not remain a cynic and a dirty sloven; he had no right to offend the feelings of others, especially when they were in need of his assistance and asking him to see them. He brushed his clothes carefully. His linen was always decent; in that respect he was especially clean. He washed that morning scrupulously—he got some soap from Nastasya—he washed his hair, his neck and especially his hands. When it came to the question whether to shave his stubbly chin or not (Praskovya Pavlovna had capital razors that had been left by her late husband), the question was angrily answered in the negative. “Let it stay as it is! What if they think that I shaved on purpose to…? They certainly would think so! Not on any account!” “And… the worst of it was he was so coarse, so dirty, he had the manners of a pothouse; and… and even admitting that he knew he had some of the essentials of a gentleman… what was there in that to be proud of? Everyone ought to be a gentleman and more than that… and all the same (he remembered) he, too, had done little things… not exactly dishonest, and yet…. And what thoughts he sometimes had; hm… and to set all that beside Avdotya Romanovna! Confound it! So be it! Well, he’d make a point then of being dirty, greasy, pothouse in his manners and he wouldn’t care! He’d be worse!” He was engaged in such monologues when Zossimov, who had spent the night in Praskovya Pavlovna’s parlour, came in. He was going home and was in a hurry to look at the invalid first. Razumihin informed him that Raskolnikov was sleeping like a dormouse. Zossimov gave orders that they shouldn’t wake him and promised to see him again about eleven. “If he is still at home,” he added. “Damn it all! If one can’t control one’s patients, how is one to cure them? Do you know whether he will go to them, or whether they are coming here?” “They are coming, I think,” said Razumihin, understanding the object of the question, “and they will discuss their family affairs, no doubt. I’ll be off. You, as the doctor, have more right to be here than I.” “But I am not a father confessor; I shall come and go away; I’ve plenty to do besides looking after them.” “One thing worries me,” interposed Razumihin, frowning. “On the way home I talked a lot of drunken nonsense to him… all sorts of things… and amongst them that you were afraid that he… might become insane.” “You told the ladies so, too.” “I know it was stupid! You may beat me if you like! Did you think so seriously?” “That’s nonsense, I tell you, how could I think it seriously? You, yourself, described him as a monomaniac when you fetched me to him… and we added fuel to the fire yesterday, you did, that is, with your story about the painter; it was a nice conversation, when he was, perhaps, mad on that very point! If only I’d known what happened then at the police station and that some wretch… had insulted him with this suspicion! Hm… I would not have allowed that conversation yesterday. These monomaniacs will make a mountain out of a mole-hill… and see their fancies as solid realities…. As far as I remember, it was Zametov’s story that cleared up half the mystery, to my mind. Why, I know one case in which a hypochondriac, a man of forty, cut the throat of a little boy of eight, because he couldn’t endure the jokes he made every day at table! And in this case his rags, the insolent police officer, the fever and this suspicion! All that working upon a man half frantic with hypochondria, and with his morbid exceptional vanity! That may well have been the starting-point of illness. Well, bother it all!... And, by the way, that Zametov certainly is a nice fellow, but hm… he shouldn’t have told all that last night. He is an awful chatterbox!” “But whom did he tell it to? You and me?” “What does that matter?” “And, by the way, have you any influence on them, his mother and sister? Tell them to be more careful with him to-day….” “They’ll get on all right!” Razumihin answered reluctantly. “Why is he so set against this Luzhin? A man with money and she doesn’t seem to dislike him… and they haven’t a farthing, I suppose? eh?” “But what business is it of yours?” Razumihin cried with annoyance. “How can I tell whether they’ve a farthing? Ask them yourself and perhaps you’ll find out….” “Foo! what an ass you are sometimes! Last night’s wine has not gone off yet…. Good-bye; thank your Praskovya Pavlovna from me for my night’s lodging. She locked herself in, made no reply to my bonjour through the door; she was up at seven o’clock, the samovar was taken into her from the kitchen. I was not vouchsafed a personal interview….” At nine o’clock precisely Razumihin reached the lodgings at Bakaleyev’s house. Both ladies were waiting for him with nervous impatience. They had risen at seven o’clock or earlier. He entered looking as black as night, bowed awkwardly and was at once furious with himself for it. He had reckoned without his host: Pulcheria Alexandrovna fairly rushed at him, seized him by both hands and was almost kissing them. He glanced timidly at Avdotya Romanovna, but her proud countenance wore at that moment an expression of such gratitude and friendliness, such complete and unlooked-for respect (in place of the sneering looks and ill-disguised contempt he had expected), that it threw him into greater confusion than if he had been met with abuse. Fortunately there was a subject for conversation, and he made haste to snatch at it. Hearing that everything was going well and that Rodya had not yet waked, Pulcheria Alexandrovna declared that she was glad to hear it, because “she had something which it was very, very necessary to talk over beforehand.” Then followed an inquiry about breakfast and an invitation to have it with them; they had waited to have it with him. Avdotya Romanovna rang the bell: it was answered by a ragged dirty waiter, and they asked him to bring tea which was served at last, but in such a dirty and disorderly way that the ladies were ashamed. Razumihin vigorously attacked the lodgings, but, remembering Luzhin, stopped in embarrassment and was greatly relieved by Pulcheria Alexandrovna’s questions, which showered in a continual stream upon him. He talked for three quarters of an hour, being constantly interrupted by their questions, and succeeded in describing to them all the most important facts he knew of the last year of Raskolnikov’s life, concluding with a circumstantial account of his illness. He omitted, however, many things, which were better omitted, including the scene at the police station with all its consequences. They listened eagerly to his story, and, when he thought he had finished and satisfied his listeners, he found that they considered he had hardly begun. “Tell me, tell me! What do you think…? Excuse me, I still don’t know your name!” Pulcheria Alexandrovna put in hastily. “I should like very, very much to know, Dmitri Prokofitch… how he looks… on things in general now, that is, how can I explain, what are his likes and dislikes? Is he always so irritable? Tell me, if you can, what are his hopes and, so to say, his dreams? Under what influences is he now? In a word, I should like…” “Ah, mother, how can he answer all that at once?” observed Dounia. “Good heavens, I had not expected to find him in the least like this, Dmitri Prokofitch!” “Naturally,” answered Razumihin. “I have no mother, but my uncle comes every year and almost every time he can scarcely recognise me, even in appearance, though he is a clever man; and your three years’ separation means a great deal. What am I to tell you? I have known Rodion for a year and a half; he is morose, gloomy, proud and haughty, and of late—and perhaps for a long time before—he has been suspicious and fanciful. He has a noble nature and a kind heart. He does not like showing his feelings and would rather do a cruel thing than open his heart freely. Sometimes, though, he is not at all morbid, but simply cold and inhumanly callous; it’s as though he were alternating between two characters. Sometimes he is fearfully reserved! He says he is so busy that everything is a hindrance, and yet he lies in bed doing nothing. He doesn’t jeer at things, not because he hasn’t the wit, but as though he hadn’t time to waste on such trifles. He never listens to what is said to him. He is never interested in what interests other people at any given moment. He thinks very highly of himself and perhaps he is right. Well, what more? I think your arrival will have a most beneficial influence upon him.” “God grant it may,” cried Pulcheria Alexandrovna, distressed by Razumihin’s account of her Rodya. And Razumihin ventured to look more boldly at Avdotya Romanovna at last. He glanced at her often while he was talking, but only for a moment and looked away again at once. Avdotya Romanovna sat at the table, listening attentively, then got up again and began walking to and fro with her arms folded and her lips compressed, occasionally putting in a question, without stopping her walk. She had the same habit of not listening to what was said. She was wearing a dress of thin dark stuff and she had a white transparent scarf round her neck. Razumihin soon detected signs of extreme poverty in their belongings. Had Avdotya Romanovna been dressed like a queen, he felt that he would not be afraid of her, but perhaps just because she was poorly dressed and that he noticed all the misery of her surroundings, his heart was filled with dread and he began to be afraid of every word he uttered, every gesture he made, which was very trying for a man who already felt diffident. “You’ve told us a great deal that is interesting about my brother’s character… and have told it impartially. I am glad. I thought that you were too uncritically devoted to him,” observed Avdotya Romanovna with a smile. “I think you are right that he needs a woman’s care,” she added thoughtfully. “I didn’t say so; but I daresay you are right, only…” “He loves no one and perhaps he never will,” Razumihin declared decisively. “You mean he is not capable of love?” “Do you know, Avdotya Romanovna, you are awfully like your brother, in everything, indeed!” he blurted out suddenly to his own surprise, but remembering at once what he had just before said of her brother, he turned as red as a crab and was overcome with confusion. Avdotya Romanovna couldn’t help laughing when she looked at him. “You may both be mistaken about Rodya,” Pulcheria Alexandrovna remarked, slightly piqued. “I am not talking of our present difficulty, Dounia. What Pyotr Petrovitch writes in this letter and what you and I have supposed may be mistaken, but you can’t imagine, Dmitri Prokofitch, how moody and, so to say, capricious he is. I never could depend on what he would do when he was only fifteen. And I am sure that he might do something now that nobody else would think of doing… Well, for instance, do you know how a year and a half ago he astounded me and gave me a shock that nearly killed me, when he had the idea of marrying that girl—what was her name—his landlady’s daughter?” “Did you hear about that affair?” asked Avdotya Romanovna. “Do you suppose——” Pulcheria Alexandrovna continued warmly. “Do you suppose that my tears, my entreaties, my illness, my possible death from grief, our poverty would have made him pause? No, he would calmly have disregarded all obstacles. And yet it isn’t that he doesn’t love us!” “He has never spoken a word of that affair to me,” Razumihin answered cautiously. “But I did hear something from Praskovya Pavlovna herself, though she is by no means a gossip. And what I heard certainly was rather strange.” “And what did you hear?” both the ladies asked at once. “Well, nothing very special. I only learned that the marriage, which only failed to take place through the girl’s death, was not at all to Praskovya Pavlovna’s liking. They say, too, the girl was not at all pretty, in fact I am told positively ugly… and such an invalid… and queer. But she seems to have had some good qualities. She must have had some good qualities or it’s quite inexplicable…. She had no money either and he wouldn’t have considered her money…. But it’s always difficult to judge in such matters.” “I am sure she was a good girl,” Avdotya Romanovna observed briefly. “God forgive me, I simply rejoiced at her death. Though I don’t know which of them would have caused most misery to the other—he to her or she to him,” Pulcheria Alexandrovna concluded. Then she began tentatively questioning him about the scene on the previous day with Luzhin, hesitating and continually glancing at Dounia, obviously to the latter’s annoyance. This incident more than all the rest evidently caused her uneasiness, even consternation. Razumihin described it in detail again, but this time he added his own conclusions: he openly blamed Raskolnikov for intentionally insulting Pyotr Petrovitch, not seeking to excuse him on the score of his illness. “He had planned it before his illness,” he added. “I think so, too,” Pulcheria Alexandrovna agreed with a dejected air. But she was very much surprised at hearing Razumihin express himself so carefully and even with a certain respect about Pyotr Petrovitch. Avdotya Romanovna, too, was struck by it. “So this is your opinion of Pyotr Petrovitch?” Pulcheria Alexandrovna could not resist asking. “I can have no other opinion of your daughter’s future husband,” Razumihin answered firmly and with warmth, “and I don’t say it simply from vulgar politeness, but because… simply because Avdotya Romanovna has of her own free will deigned to accept this man. If I spoke so rudely of him last night, it was because I was disgustingly drunk and… mad besides; yes, mad, crazy, I lost my head completely… and this morning I am ashamed of it.” He crimsoned and ceased speaking. Avdotya Romanovna flushed, but did not break the silence. She had not uttered a word from the moment they began to speak of Luzhin. Without her support Pulcheria Alexandrovna obviously did not know what to do. At last, faltering and continually glancing at her daughter, she confessed that she was exceedingly worried by one circumstance. “You see, Dmitri Prokofitch,” she began. “I’ll be perfectly open with Dmitri Prokofitch, Dounia?” “Of course, mother,” said Avdotya Romanovna emphatically. “This is what it is,” she began in haste, as though the permission to speak of her trouble lifted a weight off her mind. “Very early this morning we got a note from Pyotr Petrovitch in reply to our letter announcing our arrival. He promised to meet us at the station, you know; instead of that he sent a servant to bring us the address of these lodgings and to show us the way; and he sent a message that he would be here himself this morning. But this morning this note came from him. You’d better read it yourself; there is one point in it which worries me very much… you will soon see what that is, and… tell me your candid opinion, Dmitri Prokofitch! You know Rodya’s character better than anyone and no one can advise us better than you can. Dounia, I must tell you, made her decision at once, but I still don’t feel sure how to act and I… I’ve been waiting for your opinion.” Razumihin opened the note which was dated the previous evening and read as follows: “Dear Madam, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, I have the honour to inform you that owing to unforeseen obstacles I was rendered unable to meet you at the railway station; I sent a very competent person with the same object in view. I likewise shall be deprived of the honour of an interview with you to-morrow morning by business in the Senate that does not admit of delay, and also that I may not intrude on your family circle while you are meeting your son, and Avdotya Romanovna her brother. I shall have the honour of visiting you and paying you my respects at your lodgings not later than to-morrow evening at eight o’clock precisely, and herewith I venture to present my earnest and, I may add, imperative request that Rodion Romanovitch may not be present at our interview—as he offered me a gross and unprecedented affront on the occasion of my visit to him in his illness yesterday, and, moreover, since I desire from you personally an indispensable and circumstantial explanation upon a certain point, in regard to which I wish to learn your own interpretation. I have the honour to inform you, in anticipation, that if, in spite of my request, I meet Rodion Romanovitch, I shall be compelled to withdraw immediately and then you have only yourself to blame. I write on the assumption that Rodion Romanovitch who appeared so ill at my visit, suddenly recovered two hours later and so, being able to leave the house, may visit you also. I was confirmed in that belief by the testimony of my own eyes in the lodging of a drunken man who was run over and has since died, to whose daughter, a young woman of notorious behaviour, he gave twenty-five roubles on the pretext of the funeral, which gravely surprised me knowing what pains you were at to raise that sum. Herewith expressing my special respect to your estimable daughter, Avdotya Romanovna, I beg you to accept the respectful homage of “Your humble servant, “What am I to do now, Dmitri Prokofitch?” began Pulcheria Alexandrovna, almost weeping. “How can I ask Rodya not to come? Yesterday he insisted so earnestly on our refusing Pyotr Petrovitch and now we are ordered not to receive Rodya! He will come on purpose if he knows, and… what will happen then?” “Act on Avdotya Romanovna’s decision,” Razumihin answered calmly at once. “Oh, dear me! She says… goodness knows what she says, she doesn’t explain her object! She says that it would be best, at least, not that it would be best, but that it’s absolutely necessary that Rodya should make a point of being here at eight o’clock and that they must meet…. I didn’t want even to show him the letter, but to prevent him from coming by some stratagem with your help… because he is so irritable…. Besides I don’t understand about that drunkard who died and that daughter, and how he could have given the daughter all the money… which…” “Which cost you such sacrifice, mother,” put in Avdotya Romanovna. “He was not himself yesterday,” Razumihin said thoughtfully, “if you only knew what he was up to in a restaurant yesterday, though there was sense in it too…. Hm! He did say something, as we were going home yesterday evening, about a dead man and a girl, but I didn’t understand a word…. But last night, I myself…” “The best thing, mother, will be for us to go to him ourselves and there I assure you we shall see at once what’s to be done. Besides, it’s getting late—good heavens, it’s past ten,” she cried looking at a splendid gold enamelled watch which hung round her neck on a thin Venetian chain, and looked entirely out of keeping with the rest of her dress. “A present from her fiancé,” thought Razumihin. “We must start, Dounia, we must start,” her mother cried in a flutter. “He will be thinking we are still angry after yesterday, from our coming so late. Merciful heavens!” While she said this she was hurriedly putting on her hat and mantle; Dounia, too, put on her things. Her gloves, as Razumihin noticed, were not merely shabby but had holes in them, and yet this evident poverty gave the two ladies an air of special dignity, which is always found in people who know how to wear poor clothes. Razumihin looked reverently at Dounia and felt proud of escorting her. “The queen who mended her stockings in prison,” he thought, “must have looked then every inch a queen and even more a queen than at sumptuous banquets and levées.” “My God!” exclaimed Pulcheria Alexandrovna, “little did I think that I should ever fear seeing my son, my darling, darling Rodya! I am afraid, Dmitri Prokofitch,” she added, glancing at him timidly. “Don’t be afraid, mother,” said Dounia, kissing her, “better have faith in him.” “Oh, dear, I have faith in him, but I haven’t slept all night,” exclaimed the poor woman. They came out into the street. “Do you know, Dounia, when I dozed a little this morning I dreamed of Marfa Petrovna… she was all in white… she came up to me, took my hand, and shook her head at me, but so sternly as though she were blaming me…. Is that a good omen? Oh, dear me! You don’t know, Dmitri Prokofitch, that Marfa Petrovna’s dead!” “No, I didn’t know; who is Marfa Petrovna?” “She died suddenly; and only fancy…” “Afterwards, mamma,” put in Dounia. “He doesn’t know who Marfa Petrovna is.” “Ah, you don’t know? And I was thinking that you knew all about us. Forgive me, Dmitri Prokofitch, I don’t know what I am thinking about these last few days. I look upon you really as a providence for us, and so I took it for granted that you knew all about us. I look on you as a relation…. Don’t be angry with me for saying so. Dear me, what’s the matter with your right hand? Have you knocked it?” “Yes, I bruised it,” muttered Razumihin overjoyed. “I sometimes speak too much from the heart, so that Dounia finds fault with me…. But, dear me, what a cupboard he lives in! I wonder whether he is awake? Does this woman, his landlady, consider it a room? Listen, you say he does not like to show his feelings, so perhaps I shall annoy him with my… weaknesses? Do advise me, Dmitri Prokofitch, how am I to treat him? I feel quite distracted, you know.” “Don’t question him too much about anything if you see him frown; don’t ask him too much about his health; he doesn’t like that.” “Ah, Dmitri Prokofitch, how hard it is to be a mother! But here are the stairs…. What an awful staircase!” “Mother, you are quite pale, don’t distress yourself, darling,” said Dounia caressing her, then with flashing eyes she added: “He ought to be happy at seeing you, and you are tormenting yourself so.” “Wait, I’ll peep in and see whether he has waked up.” The ladies slowly followed Razumihin, who went on before, and when they reached the landlady’s door on the fourth storey, they noticed that her door was a tiny crack open and that two keen black eyes were watching them from the darkness within. When their eyes met, the door was suddenly shut with such a slam that Pulcheria Alexandrovna almost cried out.
October 24, 2003 10:26 AM PDT Solar flare may zing satellites, wireless networks A report issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a unit of the U.S. Department of Commerce, said that researchers at its Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colo., observed increased activity in two areas of the sun Wednesday morning. NOAA warned that a storm of this magnitude could disrupt satellite and other spacecraft operations, as well as power systems, high-frequency communications systems and navigation systems. Among the potential effects could be intermittent performance of high-frequency radios, which could interfere with some of the world's wireless communications networks. The storm could also compromise satellite and low-frequency radio navigation systems and cause surface changes on satellite components that could increase drag on low-Earth-orbit spacecrafts. Some satellites may also experience orientation problems, and false alarms could be triggered in protection devices built into some of Earth's power systems. A NOAA researcher said the volatile area of the sun has developed rapidly over the last three or four days. Typically, solar activity cycles of varying size occur about every eleven years, said Larry Combs, a forecaster with the NOAA Space Environment Center?s Space Weather Operations. Combs said another, similar area of activity could be increasing in size on the other side of the sun. According to NOAA, similar eruptions could occur in the nearby regions of the sun over the next two weeks. The so-called sunspot cluster is roughly 10 times larger than Earth. The same area, located near the center of the sun, produced a major flare in October that caused a radio blackout on Earth. NOAA said the region continues to grow, and it reported that additional flare activity is likely.
Growing Native Plants Correa 'Dusky Bells' nom. cult. APNI Correa 'Dusky Bells' ACRA Registration Correa ‘ Dusky Bells ’ belongs to the Rutaceae family which includes the commercial citrus fruits. The Australian endemic genus Correa is a small group within this family. The genus Correa is named after the Portuguese botanist Correia de Serra. Correa ‘ Dusky Bells ’ is a probable hybrid of C. reflexa and C. pulchella. It is thought that it may have been cultivated for at least 50 years. In 1986, its registration with Australian Cultivar Registration Authority (ACRA) was applied for by W. R. and G. M. Elliott, though the cultivar was received by the authority in 1980. Its synonyms are: Correa ‘Pink Bells’, Correa ‘Carmine Bells’, Correa ‘Rubra’ and Correa sp. (Pink). Correa reflexa, a parent species of Correa ‘Dusky Bells’, ranges from southern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, eastern South Australia and Tasmania. Correa pulchella is pretty much restricted to South Australia. Both of the parent species are mostly distributed in temperate regions. Therefore, it can be inferred that Correa ‘Dusky Bells’ is not likely to grow well in the hot tropics such as northern Queensland. It is an attractive evergreen shrub which grows to 1m high and to 2-4 m in diameter. The entire plant is stellate hairy. Leaves have stellate hairs and the older leaves lose hairs. The leaves are to 4.5 cm long, and 2.5 cm wide; narrow oval (elliptic) or lance-shaped (lanceolate) to egg-shaped leaf (ovate). The beautiful bell-shaped flowers are up to 2.5cm long. The four fused petals are pale carmine pink. Hybrid Correas have a tendency to be more compact and heavy flowering than the wild species, which makes them a desirable gardening plant. Correa ‘Dusky Bells’ is drought and frost tolerant. It is great for a shaded environment. It prefers somewhat shady situations rather than full sun. It also attracts birds to the gardens. Many of the Correa species are pollinated by birds such as honey eaters as it normally has a lot of nectar. Flowering time is from March to September. However, it also flowers sporadically displaying its lovely bell-shaped flowers throughout a year. In general, growing Correa ’Dusky Bells’ is easy. It prefers moist soil, though it is drought tolerant. It grows wells on friable, well-drained and fertile loam. Propagation of this plant is possible by cutting. If it grows tall or wide, you can prune the plant. Regular pruning is good for the plant. As you could see from the distribution map it is not likely to grow well in the tropics. It is best to avoid humid areas. Scale infestation of Correa due to insidious black smut was reported, but it is not common. Correa ‘Dusky Bells’ is an excellent evergreen garden plant. It is easy-to-grow, drought and frost tolerant and beautiful. Correa – after Correia de Serra, a Portuguese botanist and diplomat (1751 – 1823) 'Dusky Bells' – was a name used in the nursery industry for this cultivar for many years, and adoped when it was formally registered with ACRA. Text by BoKyung Choi (2007 Botanical Intern) McCarthy, N. 2001. Correas-Wild Fuchsia, Native Plants for New South Wales 36 (1): 19 Payne, B. 1999. Pacific Horticulture 60(3): 20 Elliot, W. 1984. Encyclopedia of Australian Plants Vol. 3: 96-97, Lothian Publishing Company, Melbourne ACRA: Australian Cultivar Registration Authority. Available at http://www.anbg.gov.au/acra [accessed February 5th, 2007]
Canis Major, the Big Dog Plus the planets for March. Our sky during winter evenings has some of the brightest constellations in the heavens. Orion, Taurus, Canis Minor and Gemini all have first-magnitude stars that light up our cold, chilly nights. But the constellation with the brightest star in the sky is Canis Major, the Big Dog, with its brilliant star Sirius. The name Sirius is derived from the Ancient Greek Seirios ("glowing" or "scorcher"), and at magnitude -1.4, it is a scorcher to the eye. Sirius is a slightly variable spectral class A1 star that is twice the mass of our Sun, but puts out 25 times the light and heat. But the thing that really makes this star shine in our sky is that it is only 8.6 light-years away from us. The Egyptians based their calendar on the helical rising of Sirius, the first day that Sirius appears in the morning just before the Sun. This always signaled the annual flooding of the Nile River. In Greek mythology, Canis Major and Canis Minor are the big and little hunting dogs belonging to the great hunter, Orion. Both dogs are ready to help Orion find and catch his prey, which may be Lepus, the Hare, which crouches at Orion's feet. It is also possible that Canis Major is helping Orion fight Taurus, the Bull, who is also nearby. One of the few deep-sky objects in Canis Major is NGC 2359 (New General Catalog number 2359), known more commonly as Thor's Helmet. This nebula is an emission nebula that is shaped like a helmet, with vertical sides and a rounded top. It also sports two wings, one on either side, similar to the helmet that the Norse god Thor is often pictured wearing. It is eight minutes-of-arc by eight minutes-of-arc in size, roughly a quarter of the size of the Moon in our sky. At the center of the Thor's Helmet nebula is a Wolf-Rayet star. This type of star is massive, some 20 times the mass of our Sun or more. It has already passed the stable part of its life on the main sequence (where our Sun is now) and is starting down the road to being a supernova. As it gets older, a star starts blowing off the gas in its outer atmosphere. The gas travels outward at a high speed as a stellar wind until it encounters the gas and dust that exists throughout our galaxy. Thor's Helmet is the bubble formed by the stellar wind, with the surface of the bubble composed of the galactic gas and dust piling up as the bubble's surface expands into space, pushed by the stellar wind. Wolf-Rayet stars get their name from astronomers Charles Wolf and Georges Rayet. In 1867, they were surveying the spectra of the stars in Cygnus with the 16-inch Foucault telescope at the Paris Observatory. They discovered three stars that had continuous spectra with broad emission lines. The light from a star can be broken up into its different colors. An incandescent light bulb has a continuous spectrum, looking much like a rainbow with no bright or dark lines. This is what Wolf and Rayet saw in the spectra of these three stars, but they also saw bright areas in the spectrum, like broad lines at specific colors. Bright lines in a spectrum are generated by the atoms of specific elements (like hydrogen, helium, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen) that are excited by ultraviolet light from the star and release light in the particular color associated with that element. The lines are broadened by the rapid motion of the atoms in the gas, indicating that the gas around a Wolf-Rayet star was moving at an amazing 180 to 1,500 miles per second. Normally, an element would glow in one very specific color (narrow spectrum line). But when you have that element's gas atoms moving at many different high speeds, each atom will have a different Doppler shift depending on its speed along our line of sight. If the atom happens to be moving perpendicular to our line of sight, its line-of-sight speed is zero; it will have no Doppler shift and the color is the element's normal color. An atom coming straight at us has all its speed, causing a large Doppler shift of the element's color toward the blue. An atom traveling directly away from us shifts the color toward the red. Atoms traveling at angles between directly toward us, perpendicular to us and directly away from us all spread out the narrow spectrum line into the broad spectrum lines seen in Wolf-Rayet stars. The Planets for March 2013 This month we have two planets too near the Sun to be seen. Mars and Venus are both on the other side of the Sun from us and will not be visible for a few months. Still high in the western sky as it gets dark is the planet Jupiter. Moving slowly eastward just north of the Hyades star cluster in Taurus, Jupiter shines at magnitude -2.3. Jupiter's disc is 37.3 seconds-of-arc across. The King of the Planets sets around 1 a.m. MDT. Saturn is moving westward in western Libra. Glowing with its characteristic yellowish light, the magnitude +0.3 Ringed Planet rises around 10:45 p.m. MDT and is visible the rest of the night. Saturn's disc is 18.2 seconds-of-arc across and the Rings are 41.3 seconds-of-arc across. They are tilted down 19.1 degrees from our line of sight with the northern face showing. Mercury is in the morning sky during the later half of the month. Having been in the evening sky last month, Mercury passes between the Sun and the Earth on March 4. The next day it leaves Pisces and enters central Aquarius, where it spends the rest of the month. Mercury will reach its greatest distance from the Sun on March 31, when it can be found eight degrees above the east-southeast horizon as it gets dark. At that time, it will be magnitude +0.3. The Messenger of the Gods' disc will be 7.6 seconds-of-arc across and 50% illuminated (half full). As we go into April it will become more illuminated (fuller). Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) will be in our evening sky this month. This comet. named after the telescope that discovered it in June 2011, has been moving up from the south and should be visible low in the west around March 12. Then it will be four degrees left of the 2% illuminated crescent Moon, just 10 degrees above the western horizon as it gets dark. PANSTARRS is expected to be first magnitude and sport a visible tail. This comet is "new" in that this is its first time in the inner Solar System, making its appearance very unpredictable. It could break apart and fizzle out, or produce a large quantity of dust, creating a spectacular tail. For the rest of the month, it will continues to move northward (to the right) as it moves away from the Sun and rapidly to fades from sight. The astronomical season of spring begins on March 20, when the Sun passes through the celestial equator going north. In the southern hemisphere, the season of fall begins as the Sun becomes lower in their sky. But for us, denizens of the northern hemisphere, the days are getting longer and the nights shorter, so maker the most of the shortening nights and "keep watching the sky"! Watch the Skies March 4, 6 a.m. — Mercury between Earth and Sun (inferior conjunction) 2:53 p.m. — Last Quarter Moon March 10, 2 a.m. — Daylight Savings Time begins March 11, 1:51 p.m. — New Moon March 19, 11:27 a.m. — First Quarter Moon March 20, 5:02 a.m. — March Equinox, spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere March 27, 3:27 a.m. — Full Moon March 31, 4 p.m. — Mercury greatest distance west of Sun (28 degrees) An amateur astronomer for more than 40 years, Bert Stevens is co-director of Desert Moon Observatory in Las Cruces.
A computer is a piece of hardware that's used to surf the Internet, type reports, play games and do other tasks such as storing photos, business plans and other types of media. The first technical computer was created in 1946 and weighed approximately 30 tons. While the first computer weighed 30 tons, the first personal computer was much smaller and became available to consumers in 1950. The Simon, a desktop computer, sold over 300 units at approximately $300 each. That may not seem like a lot of money but back in the 1950's, it was huge. The cost of computers fluctuate from time to time due to technological advances, the size of memory, speed and the type of processor. Many companies and businesses use computers on a regular basis to store data and files as well as to communicate with other businesses and employees. Other institutions, such as schools, hospitals and libraries, use computers for similar purposes. Personal computers, or PCs, are typically used to store personal documents such as music, home videos, homework or work assignments, photographs and other documents such as income tax files. Computers have made certain technologies, such as digital cameras and digital pictures, possible as well as other types of technology. They have even made certain types of media more accessible and made it possible for families and friends to reconnect or reunite while still remaining hundreds of miles apart, if not on completely separate continents. Users can also trace family trees, research and verify historical events within their family tree or within their own community. As newer technology emerges, computers will continue to get better, faster, smaller and more useful. It seems as if there is no limit as to what computers can do and how they can help individuals as well as companies.
Programming Languages: In layman’s terms, what are the major programming languages, and what are they used for? (reposted from this Quora answer because it’s just great) Programmers have a surprisingly intimate relationship with the programming languages they use. Your programming language will frustrate you, and enlighten you. Over time you will learn your programming language’s inner workings and little quirks. It will get inside your head, too, and change the way your mind works. Choose the right programming language and together you will create something new and beautiful. Choose wrongly and things can get very messy indeed. In other words, choosing a programming language is much like choosing a romantic partner… (Note: I’m a straight guy. If you’re not, feel free to do a mental find/replace with whatever you’re into). PHP is your teenage sweetheart, the girl you first awkwardly fumbled around with that one summer. Just don’t try and start a more serious relationship - this girl has serious issues. Perl is PHP’s older sister. She might be a bit old for you, but she was pretty popular back in the 90s. In a long-term relationship with Larry Wall, so her standards have dropped, and she’s looking seriously fugly now. “I don’t care what y’all say, I still love her!”, he says. No-one else does. Ruby is the cool kid of the scripting family. When you first saw her, she took your breath away with her beauty. She was fun, too. At the time she seemed a bit slow and ditzy - though she’s matured a lot in the last few years. Python is Ruby’s more sensible sister. She’s elegant, classy, and sophisticated. She’s perhaps too perfect. Most guys are like “dude, how can you not like Python!?”. Sure, you like Python. You just consider her the boring version of the edgy and romantic Ruby. Java is a successful career woman. Some people who’ve worked with her feel she owes her position less to ability and more to her knack for impressing the middle-management types. You might feel that she’s the sensible type you should settle down with. Just prepare for years of “NO THAT DOESNT GO THERE GOD YOU ALWAYS USE THE WRONG TYPE INTERFACE AND YOU MISSED A SEMICOLON” nagging. C++ is Java’s cousin. Similar to Java in many ways, the main difference being she grew up in a more innocent time and doesn’t believe in using protection. By “protection”, I mean automatic memory management, of course. What did you think I meant? C is C++’s mom. Mention her name to some old grey beard hackers and they’re sure to reminisce with a twinkle in their eye. Objective C is another member of the C family. She joined that weird church a while back, and won’t date anyone outside of it. Haskell, Clojure, Scheme and their friends are those hipster, artsy, intellectual girls you probably spent a blissful college summer with a few years ago. The first girls who really challenged you. Of course, it could never have become something more serious (you tell yourself). Though you’ll always be left asking “what if?” You might be put off C# due to her family’s reputation. But they’ve gone legit, the last few years, they tell you. Once you’re one of us, you’re one of us, you hear? You need a database? Her brother MSSQL will hook you up. Need a place to stay? Heck, her daddy will even buy you your own mansion on Azure avenue. What’s that, you’re having second thoughts about all these overly friendly relatives? No, you can never leave. You’re part of the family, now, ya hear? 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are gasoline substitutes distilled from carbohydrates which are extracted from plant matter. The most common bioalcohol in North America is ethanol, made from corn kernels. Ethanol presents some distinct advantages over petroleum gasoline for internal combustion engines — primarily in that tailpipe emissions are “cleaner.” However, the vast bulk of ethanol currently produced in the United States comes from a food crop — corn. At least some of the on-going inflation in worldwide food prices can be attributed to the growing portion of the global corn crop that is diverted from the human food chain to fuel production. In keeping with our mission to generate alternative biomass energy from waste streams, Bronco Biodiesel is pioneering research on biofuel production derived from algae in wastewater treatment systems. In addition to ethanol, we are engaged in research to produce biobutanol from wastewater algae. Biobutanol, in contrast to ethanol, can be used in our country’s existing fuel transportation infrastructure (primarily the pipeline system). In addition, biobutanol packs almost 30% more BTUs per gallon than ethanol. It could therefore prove critical to consumers' needs for fuel efficiency in an era of escalating petroleum prices. Bronco Biodiesel is currently: - partnering with Muskegon County to harvest algae from wastewater treatment lagoons and extract recoverable energy. with the National Museum of Natural History and HydroMentia to incorporate energy recovery from algal biomass in nutrient remediation using Algal Turf Scrubbers.™ (funded by Smithsonian Institution) - developing processes for converting algal biomass into liquid transportation biofuels. (Federally funded through P.L. 110-161) Wastewater algae grows from excess nutrient-loading in surface waters of the United States. It is a significant water quality problem across the country and contributes to dead zones of the Great Lakes and oceanic coastal areas. But, it's also a resource for sustainable, renewable biofuel. Wastewater algae is rich in carbohydrates, but lacks the rigid cellular structure that makes terrestrial crops challenging for ethanol fermentation. Algae grows naturally on the order of millions of pounds per person per year in the U.S., or hundreds of millions of gallons of potential biofuel. of the current interest in algal biomass for fuel feedstocks has followed from the now two-decade old Department of Energy Aquatic Species Program research that showed the impressive promise for cultivating high-triglceride content algal species. While these species represent a significant improvement over land-based crops for biodiesel feedstock, they have proven problematic to cultivate. Thus, more recent efforts have targeted molecular biological attempts to create new organisms that lend themselves better to oil production and cultivation. contrast, in keeping with our mission, we focus on algal biomass generated by municipal and commercial wastewater cleanup processes. We have partnered with colleagues who exploit native algae growth as a way of removing nutrients from water supplies. The algal biomass from these sources comprises complex communities of organisms that grow naturally together in a particular climate/season and location. The resulting biomass is rich in both carbohydrates as well as triglycerides, both of which can be converted into liquid fuels. Our research addresses the issue of biomass disposal for water treatment operations and can potentially subsidize water treatment, leading to greater sustainability. There are a variety of areas where innovations and optimizations will be especially important and where we will direct our Bronco Biodiesel's research objectives include: harvesting and preprocessing of algal biomass generated by existing municipal and commercial wastewater remediation installations for conversion to biofuels. - Developing capturing processes by harnessing both photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic organisms. processes for oil extraction from algal biomass and subsequent conversion of the oil to biodiesel, optimizing for yield, efficiency, and waste reduction. - Developing lifecycle analysis for long term cost recovery and energy balance evaluations.
A normal probability curve shows the theoretical shape of a normally distributed histogram. The shape of the normal probability curve is based on two parameters: mean (average) and standard deviation (sigma). The equation behind the normal probability curve itself is fairly complex, but defect-rate predictions for Six Sigma projects are made easily by using normal probability tables (commonly known as z-tables – see the PPM calculator and z-table Excel files on our excel templates page). The example below shows a a normal probability curve, fit to a histogram using statistical software. In the DMAIC world, normal distributions are used for making predictions and conducting certain hypothesis tests. The 3.4 DPM rate associated with Six Sigma processes is based on the normal distribution curve.
\|SRC files patent for “Bioenhanced Formulations”\| The invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising a poorly water soluble active ingredient, at least one solubilizer and at least one pharmaceutically acceptable excipient, and a process for manufacturing the same. Aqueous solubility of any therapeutically active substance is a key property as it governs dissolution, absorption and thus the in vivo efficacy. Poorly water soluble compounds have solubility and dissolution related bioavailability problems. The dissolution rate is directly proportional to the solubility of drugs. Drugs with low aqueous solubility have low dissolution rates and hence suffer from oral bioavailability problems. The poor solubility and poor dissolution rate of poorly water soluble drugs in the aqueous gastro intestinal fluids often cause insufficient bioavailability. Other in-vivo consequences due to poor aqueous solubility include increased chances of food effect, more frequent incomplete drug release from the dosage form and higher inter-patient variability. Improvement in solubility of a poorly water soluble drug would increase gastrointestinal absorption of the drug thereby increasing the bioavailability which may result in reduction of dose. Further this would also decrease food effect and inter-patient variability. In effect, this would result in improving the therapeutic efficacy and increase patient compliance. Nearly 40% of the new chemical entities currently being discovered are poorly water soluble drugs. Thus, there is a greater need to develop a composition, which provides enhanced solubility of the poorly soluble drugs and increases its dissolution rate and thus improves its bioavailability to provide a formulation with reduced dose and better therapeutic efficacy and as a result overcomes the drawbacks presented by the prior art. INDIA Tel: +91 80 4262 7200 US Tel:+1 818 760 1000
Zora Neale HurstonBorn in the small town of Eatonville, Florida, Zora Neale Hurston is known as one of the lights of the Harlem Renaissance. She first came to New York City at the age of 16 -- having arrived as part of a traveling theatrical troupe. A strikingly gifted storyteller who captivated her listeners, she attended Barnard College, where she studied with anthropologist Franz Boaz and came to grasp ethnicity from a scientific perspective. Boaz urged her to collect folklore from her native Florida environment, which she did. The distinguished folklorist Alan Lomax called her Mules and Men (1935) "the most engaging, genuine, and skillfully written book in the field of folklore." Hurston also spent time in Haiti, studying voodoo and collecting Caribbean folklore that was anthologized in Tell My Horse (1938). Her natural command of colloquial English puts her in the great tradition of Mark Twain. Her writing sparkles with colorful language and comic -- or tragic -- stories from the African- American oral tradition. Hurston was an impressive novelist. Her most important work, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), is a moving, fresh depiction of a beautiful mulatto woman's maturation and renewed happiness as she moves through three marriages. The novel vividly evokes the lives of African-Americans working the land in the rural South. A harbinger of the women's movement, Hurston inspired and influenced such contemporary writers as Alice Walker and Toni Morrison through books such as her autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road(1942).
The bullhook is a tool used to punish and control elephants. It is also called an ankus, elephant goad, elephant hook, or a guide. The handle is made of wood, metal, plastic, or fiberglass, and there is a sharp steel hook and a point at one end. Its shape resembles a boat hook or fireplace poker. Some bullhooks have long, "shepherd’s crook" cane-style handles, allowing the trainer a firmer grip so that greater force can be exerted while pulling and yanking the hook deeper into the elephant’s flesh. Both ends inflict damage. The trainer uses the hook and the point to apply varying degrees of pressure to sensitive spots on the elephant’s body (see diagram), causing the elephant to move away from the source of discomfort. Holding the hooked end, the handle is swung like a baseball bat and induces substantial pain when the elephant is struck on the wrist, ankle, and other areas where there is little tissue between skin and bone. The thickness of an elephant’s skin ranges from one inch across the back and hindquarters to paper-thin around the mouth and eyes, inside the ears, and at the anus. Their skin appears deceptively tough, but in reality it is so delicate that an elephant can feel the pain of an insect bite. A bullhook can easily inflict pain and injury on an elephant’s sensitive skin. Trainers often embed the hook in the soft tissue behind the ears, inside the ear or mouth, in and around the anus, and in tender spots under the chin and around the feet. San Jose, Calif., humane inspectors found that seven elephants used by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus "had injuries behind or on the back of their left ears. Some of the elephants had scars behind their left ears. Almost all of the injuries appeared to be fresh, with bright red blood present at the wound sites." These bloody wounds were likely caused by the bullhook. In fact, Ringling opposed a proposed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) policy that stated, "An ankus may not be used in an abusive manner that causes wounds or other injuries." Former Ringling employee Glen Ewell said that beating elephants with bullhooks was a normal routine and that "Ringling even employs a guy to use some special powder to stop up the bleeding when an elephant is hooked too hard. They call it ‘spot work.’" The powder is Wonder Dust, or something similar, used to conceal the wound and stop the bleeding.USDA inspectors noted and described bullhook wounds on elephants used by Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus elephants: "Helen and Bessie both have several white circular inactive ankus scars. Bessie has white circular inactive ankus scars under her chin, on the neck, and dorsal areas. Helen also has the same type of scars behind her right eye and at the dorsal right ear. She also has two longitudinal scars on her tail. … Two of the six elephants had obvious hook mark wounds on their rear legs. Some hook marks were also observed under the jaw of one elephant. … [F]our of the six elephants were observed with what appears to be hook marks. These wounds were small in size, round, some were healing, while others were red in appearance. These wounds were present on rear legs, above tails, and on [the] back of front legs."Within hours of being punctured by a bullhook, a welt or boil may erupt. The wound may grow larger if it becomes infected. While performing in the ring, an elephant responds to verbal commands from a trainer carrying a bullhook and moderate pressure from the bullhook because the elephant has been conditioned through violent training sessions that refusal to obey in the ring will result in severe punishment later. Moments before entering the ring, while out of view of the public, trainers may give the elephants a few painful whacks to remind them who's boss and ensure that the elephants perform the specified tricks on command.Because a dispirited elephant submits to a dominant trainer toting a bullhook, circuses mislead the public with spurious claims that a bullhook is only used to guide or cue an elephant. The difficult tricks that elephants are forced to perform place a great deal of stress on their muscles and joints. They are physically strenuous and no elephant would perform these grotesquely exaggerated maneuvers on command, over and over, hundreds of times a year without the constant threat of punishment. In the wild, an adult elephant would lie down in slow, gradual movements no more than once or twice per day. A typical circus act requires that they lie down and rise very quickly several times in a single show. If it were possible for an elephant to simply be "guided" to perform rapid successions of headstands, hind-leg stands, lying down, tub-sitting, crawling, and twirling, the trainer would be carrying a soft, cotton wand, not a hard, pointed object.Elephants exhibit typical pain avoidance responses to the bullhook by recoiling or emitting fear vocalizations. In addition to bullhooks, trainers use baseball bats, ax handles, pitchforks, and electric shock. Chains, ropes, and block-and-tackle are used as restraints. Alan Roocroft, an elephant consultant to circuses and zoos, cowrote in his book Managing Elephants: [W]hen corporal punishment is administered to an elephant, it has to be fairly forceful in order that it is perceived by the elephant to be punishment at all. … [T]he trainer must now intimidate the animal in order to acquire a dominant position. … [R]estraining a potentially hostile elephant needs at least a crew of eight, preferably 10, in order to insure sufficient ‘muscle’ is available. Once immobilized, the elephant may be the object of punishment in the form of blows with a wooden rod. In I Loved Rogues, elephant trainers George "Slim" Lewis and Byron Fish wrote: Circus animals are performers, and training them depends on a certain amount of rough treatment.What is true of training for performance is even more true of the basic discipline that must be established before an elephant can work or act. It isn’t kept in a cage, and, while it is chained much of the time, there are many occasions when it walks at liberty with only the respect it pays its handler to keep it in check. It is absolutely essential, therefore, that the animal must have this respect for its handler; and to get down to blunt facts, this quality begins with fear: fear of punishment and discomfort.A good stout stick should be used, and it should have a sharp prod on the end of it to keep the elephant from turning its head.[Teaching an elephant to lie down is] done by gradually tightening the chain, a few inches at a time, until the elephant is supporting its weight entirely on the front and hind legs that are free. It is very tiring for a bull to hold up its mass in this manner. When the handler sees it weakening, he gives the command, ‘Down! Come on down.’ The command is repeated until the elephant obeys. Just before it gives in, it will show signs of fear and defeat. Its eyes will bulge and its bowels become loose and watery as they are emptied several times. When the elephant finally surrenders and falls over on its side, it knows it is comparatively helpless and that it has lost a psychological battle. In July 1998, 30 elephant calves between 2 and 7 years of age were captured from the Tuli Block in Botswana. Their front legs were tightly hobbled and the back legs chained in a stretched position so they were unable to lie down. They were deprived of adequate food and water and beaten repeatedly with rubber whips and bullhooks that caused abscesses and lesions. An investigator with the National Council for the Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals described a training session, "One elephant was tied up in the warehouse. ... When the elephant simply moved its trunk or shifted its weight, the mahouts [elephant handlers] would all hit it. Especially the mahout in front, who would whip its face with a rubber whip. I counted that during this training session of 20 minutes, the elephant was hit or stabbed with an ankus a total of 136 times." released shocking photos of baby elephants bound and electro-shocked by trainers in order to force them to learn tricks. Ringling breaks the spirit of elephants when they're vulnerable babies who should still be with their mothers. Parents taking their children to the circus would think twice if they saw these shocking photos of the elephants who are enslaved with ropes, bullhooks, and electric shock prods in these violent training sessions—all for a few moments Submission Is the Mission The bullhook is a purposely cruel tool that is brandished against these gentle giants to coerce obedience. No circus could use elephants without it. Its appearance is so menacing that police charged a California activist with possessing a deadly weapon when she used a bullhook in an educational display at a circus demonstration to illustrate the barbaric treatment of performing animals .The federal Animal Welfare Act does not prohibit bullhook use, but some local communities do. Pompano Beach, Florida, banned the bullhook by amending its animal control ordinance to categorize it as a device that is "likely to cause physical injury, torment, or pain and suffering to animals." Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights? Read more.
\| click above \|\| click above\| What is a Home Energy Rating? A home energy rating involves an analysis of a home's construction plans and onsite inspections. Based on the home's plans, the Home Energy Rater uses an energy efficiency software package to perform an energy analysis of the home's design. This analysis yields a projected, pre-construction HERS Index. Upon completion of the plan review, the rater will work with the builder to identify the energy efficiency improvements needed to ensure the house will meet ENERGY STAR performance guidelines. The rater then conducts onsite inspections, typically including a blower door test (to test the leakiness of the house) and a duct test (to test the leakiness of the ducts). Results of these tests, along with inputs derived from the plan review, are used to generate the HERS Index for the home. Unlike a Building Performance Audit or a weatherization assessment, a home energy rating is a recognized tool in the mortgage industry. Home energy ratings can be used in a variety of ways in the housing industry. Since a rating quantifies the energy performance of a home, the HERS Index provides an easily understandable means to compare the relative energy efficiency of different homes. The HERS Index The HERS Index is a scoring system established by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) in which a home built to the specifications of the HERS Reference Home (based on the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code) scores a HERS Index of 100, while a net zero energy home scores a HERS Index of 0. The lower a home's HERS Index, the more energy efficient it is in comparison to the HERS Reference Home. Each 1-point decrease in the HERS Index corresponds to a 1% reduction in energy consumption compared to the HERS Reference Home. Thus a home with a HERS Index of 85 is 15% more energy efficient than the HERS Reference Home and a home with a HERS Index of 80 is 20% more energy efficient. U.S. Department of Energy’s EnergySmart Home Scale The EnergySmart Home Scale (E-Scale) was developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the National Builders Challenge. The E-Scale is based on RESNET’s HERS Index. DOE has developed an E-Scale Interactive Tool to compare estimated cost and energy savings of new and existing homes. Choosing a Rater As in any trade, all raters are not the same. Raters have different experience, training and skills. You should not select a rater based solely on price. The following are issues to consider when choosing a home energy rater to work with: - Find out what are the basic services the rater provides. RESNET has adopted a Rating Standards of Practice to define this. - Determine what training and experience the rater requires to meet your needs. In addition to receiving a rating score, will you require design assistance, HVAC sizing calculations, or construction crew training? Be sure you know that the rater's skills meet your needs. - Make sure that your rater carries proper insurance coverage. RESNET has arranged to provide affordable and comprehensive general liability and professional liability insurance coverage for raters. Make sure that the rater you hire is properly insured. Benefits of Hiring a RESNET Member Rater Choosing a RESNET rater member means that you are selecting someone you can trust to objectively provide you with a comprehensive analysis of the home's major energy systems and components. RESNET rater members are trained and have demonstrated technical proficiency and have committed to maintain and improve their technical proficiency through continuing education. Members are committed to conducting ratings in accordance with the RESNET Rating Standards of Practice; abiding by the RESNET Rating Code of Ethics, and disclose any financial interest in the home being rated. Through their membership to RESNET, member raters demonstrate their commitment to technical and ethical quality.
06/30/11 Portland, Ore. Joe Gray, PhD, Associate Director for translational research for the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, and Paul Spellman, PhD, of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory discuss findings Discovery underscores how understanding the abnormalities that develop in the beginning stages of cancer can identify the root causes of the disease. The study’s findings, which are published in the July edition of Cancer Discovery, are the result of a collaboration of scientists at the Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute; the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of California, San Francisco; and the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology. The researchers focused on assessing mutations involving TP53, a gene that normally prevents cells from becoming cancerous. By examining how additional copies of the mutant gene accumulated, they found that changes in TP53 occurred earlier in the disease’s progression than previously believed. Cancers are the result of multiple mutations, but the ones that happen first set the stage for additional abnormalities. - The full OHSU media release is available online
Your child will discover furry and fuzzy animals in this gentle introduction to the wonderful world of mammals. Journey through a rainbow of colors in the animal kingdom as your child discovers the many patterns and shades of the natural world. Animals can move in ways people can only dream of--birds soar above the treetops, monkeys swing from branch to branch. Learn how gorillas knuckle-walk, snakes slither, and rabbits hop in this fun-filled exploration of animal movement. We will find out how animals use their special senses to help them survive and compare their senses to our own. Sizing the Seas Explore aquatic life both big and small as we learn about creatures of the sea. Due to the nature of marine life, this program is only available at the Zoo.
Reply to comment Painting rooftops white can make a great impact on global warming. U.S. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu, a Nobel Laureate, noted that basic changes can have a great impact at a climate change symposium in London last weekend. "If you take all the buildings and make their roofs white and if you make the pavement more of a concrete type of color rather than a black type... it’s the equivalent of reducing the carbon emissions due to all the cars on the road for 11 years," said Chu. Lighter colors reflect the energy of the sun so by consciously making such changes, or geoengineering, we can help curb emissions. In fact, according to the research (.pdf) Chu referred to, white roofs and roads could mean a one-time reduction of 44 billion tons of carbon dioxide. Something to think about next time you're painting the house or debating a black car versus a white one. Click here to read more about geoengineering. photo by Sarey used under Creative Commons license.
Americans Stay Alert to Ageism A South Florida senior citizen, 81 years young and healthy, was not allowed to adopt two Chihuahua puppies because of his "advanced age." This story on the Internet is just one example of ageism–discrimination against people on the grounds of age. It is a basic denial of older people's human rights. Robert N. Butler, M.D., a gerontologist, psychiatrist, and winner of a Pulitzer Prize, coined the term in 1968. He also founded the National Institute on Aging and led the International Longevity Center USA (ILC). A 2006 ILC report, "Ageism in America,” describes experiences of older Americans: "widespread mistreatment, ranging from stereotyping and degrading media images to physical and financial abuse, unequal treatment in the workforce, and denial of appropriate medical care and services." With our aging population, ageism will impact a significant segment of society. By 2030, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that Americans 65 years of age and older will make up 20% of the population. Ageism can detrimentally affect older people's health, employment, and psychological wellbeing. Ageism affects longevity. Yale School of Public Health professor Becca Levy and her colleagues found that older people with positive attitudes on aging lived 7.5 years longer than those with negative feelings. Data show that Americans are living longer. When Social Security was established in 1935, life expectancy was under 62 years while today it is 78 years. Another critical issue affecting seniors' health is the dearth of geriatricians, physicians who specialize in treating the elderly. Today, there is about one pediatrician for every 1,300 children under 18 years of age in America. The statistic, according to the American Geriatrics Society, is one geriatrician for every 2,600 people age 75 years and older. Physicians trained in geriatrics will know the difference between symptoms of aging and those that can be treated. "Elderspeak" can also negatively impact medical treatment. A University of Miami psychiatrist, Marc E. Agronin, M.D., used this example: Questions about medications being answered with, "Don't worry, dear. This is what the doctor ordered." Because of the economic crisis, people are working longer. They are postponing retirement and competing against younger workers for lower-level positions. Laid-off older workers are out of work longer, studies found. David Certner, the chief legislative counsel for AARP, in a nytimes.com article, praised a recent Supreme Court decision in Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory that protects employees from age discrimination during layoffs. It supports the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967 that protects anyone 40 years of age or older. The law is enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The Associated Press reported that only one-fourth of the EEOC age cases are settled on behalf of the complainant. In the 1970s, political activists worked to make mandatory retirement obsolete. Yet, it's not uncommon for police officers and firefighters to retire in their late 50s. Toni Calasanti, Ph.D., professor of sociology at Virginia Tech, wrote the lead story in a recent issue of the university's research magazine. "People want to keep passing for younger since being old affects social status," she said in an interview. "Ageism oppresses the people we will become." A Pew Research Center survey found that one-third of those between the ages of 65 and 74 years said they felt 10 to 19 years younger, and one-sixth of people 75 years and older said they felt 20 years younger. Ageism may result in feelings of low self-esteem, stress, anxiety, guilt and helplessness. Dr. Butler wrote, "When the future is removed, as in the case of old age, it builds dissatisfaction, disappointment and depression." But as Dr. Butler, noted, older adults should live lives based on hope and positive expectations. Here are some tips for staying active: Keep moving – Participate in exercise, yoga, and dance classes Stay involved – Volunteer at schools and hospitals and for the arts. Tackle causes to help society. Connect with friends and family – Host a reunion. Find a long-lost soul mate. Learn new things – Use computers and digital cameras. Be "crafty." Work longer – Look into shared jobs, flextime and phased retirement. Communicate more – Write or blog about life experiences and inspirations. Dream – Never stop setting goals and looking ahead. MSNBC broadcasted a story of a gentleman who always dreamed of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a raft. At age 85 years, he and three friends landed in St. Maarten after the 2,800-mile journey. "What else do you do when you get on in years?" he asked a reporter. Keep living and dreaming. The attorneys at The Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm assist families with their estate, financial, insurance, long-term care, veterans' benefits, and special needs planning issues. If you are interested in having an Elder Law attorney from The Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm, P.C. speak at an event, then please call us at: The Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm, P.C. The Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm, P.C. is an elder law firm. We represent older persons, disabled persons, their families, and their advocates. The practice of elder law includes estate planning, estate and trust administration, powers of attorney, advance medical directives, titling of assets and designations of beneficiaries, guardianships, conservatorships, and public entitlements such as Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and SSI, disability planning, income tax planning and preparation, care management, and fiduciary services. For more information about The Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm, P.C., please visit our website at http://www.chroniccareadvocacy.com. Visit us on the world wide web Our websites contain information about The Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm, P.C. and an archive of our newsletters and other estate planning, estate administration, and elder law articles and resources. Distribution of This Newsletter The Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm, P.C. encourages you to share this newsletter with anyone who is interested in issues pertaining to the elderly, the disabled and their advocates. The information in this newsletter may be copied and distributed, without charge and without permission, but with appropriate citation to The Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm, P.C. If you are interested in a free subscription to the Elder Law News, then please e-mail us at [email protected], telephone us at (703) 243-3200, or fax us at 703-841-9102. This newsletter is not intended as a substitute for legal counsel. While every precaution has been taken to make this newsletter accurate, we assume no responsibility for errors, omissions, or damages resulting from the use of the information in this newsletter. The Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm, P.C. thanks the law firm of Oast & Hook for their input to this newsletter. Copyright © 2006-12 by The Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm, P.C. Posted on ActiveRain as a community service. Character counts in Gaithersburg. Hydrangea, Kentlands, Flowers IMG_2793 Photograph by Roy Kelley using a Canon PowerShot G11 camera. Roy and Dolores Kelley Photographs We represent home buyers and sellers as their exclusive agents in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC. Roy Kelley & Associates Associate Broker, RE/MAX Realty Group Client Assistance: 301-670-8996 Recipient of the RE/MAX International Lifetime Achievement Award - 2008
Book Description: In what is sure to become the standard account, Rothbard traces inflations, banking panics, and money meltdowns from the Colonial Period through the mid-20th century to show how government's systematic war on sound money is the hidden force behind nearly all major economic calamities in American history. Never has the story of money and banking been told with such rhetorical power and theoretical vigor. You will treasure this volume. From the introduction by Joseph Salerno: "Rothbard employs the Misesian approach to economic history consistently and dazzlingly throughout the volume to unravel the causes and consequences of events and institutions ranging over the course of U.S. monetary history, from the colonial times through the New Deal era. One of the important benefits of Rothbard's unique approach is that it naturally leads to an account of the development of the U.S. monetary system in terms of a compelling narrative linking human motives and plans that often-times are hidden, and devious, leading to outcomes that sometimes are tragic. And one will learn much more about monetary history from reading this exciting story than from poring over reams of statistical analysis. Although its five parts were written separately, this volume presents a relative integrated narrative, with very little overlap, that sweeps across three hundreds years of U.S. monetary history."
Background: Britain conquered Burma over a period of 62 years (1824-1886) and incorporated it into its Indian Empire. Burma was administered as a province of India until 1937 when it became a separate, self-governing colony; independence from the Commonwealth was attained in 1948. Gen. NE WIN dominated the government from 1962 to 1988, first as military ruler, then as self-appointed president, and later as political kingpin. Despite multiparty legislative elections in 1990 that resulted in the main opposition party - the National League for Democracy (NLD) - winning a landslide victory, the ruling junta refused to hand over power. NLD leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient AUNG SAN SUU KYI, who was under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 and 2000 to 2002, was imprisoned in May 2003 and is currently under house arrest. In December 2004, the junta announced it was extending her detention for at least an additional year. Her supporters, as well as all those who promote democracy and improved human rights, are routinely harassed or jailed. Photos from Myitkyina No Start a Travel Diary Free Travel Blog Site Blogs from Myitkyina Latest Blogs from Myitkyina - October 2nd 2011 Burmese Food/Myanmar Cuisine: Curry, Rice, Noodles...........Tea? by Words: 1788 Photos: 9 - October 7th 2010 Four days on the Irrawaddy by Words: 1468 Photos: 0 - June 14th 2007 Visa Run by Words: 135 Photos: 0 - January 12th 2007 Burmese daze by Words: 1355 Photos: 35
megalithic monument (mĕgəlĭthˈĭk) [key] [Gr., = large stone], in archaeology, a construction involving one or several roughly hewn stone slabs of great size; it is usually of prehistoric antiquity. These monuments are found in various parts of the world, but the best known and most numerous are concentrated in Western Europe, including Brittany, the British Isles, Iberia, S France, S Scandinavia, and N Germany. Aside from the standing stones and stone heaps that are still raised occasionally as boundary marks or memorials of personal and public events, most megalithic monuments seem to have been erected for funerary and religious purposes. The Western European megaliths were constructed during the Neolithic and the Bronze Age and are believed to range in date from c.4000 B.C. to 1100 B.C. Most chamber tombs were probably built during the 4th millennium B.C., and the stone circles generally date somewhat later. Megalithic monuments may be divided into four categories: the chamber tomb, or dolmen; the single standing stone, or menhir; the stone row; and the stone circle. Chamber tombs were usually covered with earth mounds, forming a barrow. Menhirs sometimes stood alone near the entrance of a tomb or on top of the mound. Sometimes they were set in long rows called alignments, as at Carnac in Brittany; in other places they were arranged in a circle, the most elaborate of which is Stonehenge in England (these are known as cromlechs outside Britain). The individual stone slabs may reach 65 ft (20 m) in length and 100 tons (90 metric tons) in weight. Such massive structures testify to the engineering feats possible with the concerted efforts of relatively ill-equipped peoples. See G. Daniel, The Megalith Builders of Western Europe (1958); A. Thom, Megalithic Sites in Britain (1967) and Megalithic Lunar Observations (1973); C. Renfrew, Before Civilization (1973); J. Mitchell, Megalithomania (1982); R. Joussaume, Dolmens for the Dead (tr. by A. and C. Chippendale, 1988). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. More on megalithic monument from Fact Monster: See more Encyclopedia articles on: Archaeology: General
There's nothing worse than the sound of someone snoring if you're trying to fall asleep. Or maybe it's you who snores, and people tease you about the noise you make in your sleep. Snoring isn't just noisy. Sometimes it's a sign of a serious medical problem that should be treated by a doctor. Read on to find out more about the snore! Snoozing or Snoring? Snoring is a fairly common problem that can happen to anyone — young or old. Snoring happens when a person can't move air freely through his or her nose and mouth during sleep. That annoying sound is caused by certain structures in the mouth and throat — the tongue, upper throat, soft palate (say: pa-lut), uvula (say: yoo-vyuh-luh), as well as big tonsils and adenoids — vibrating against each other. People usually find out they snore from the people who live with them. Kids may find out they snore from a brother or sister or from a friend who sleeps over. Snoring keeps other people awake and probably doesn't let the snoring person get top quality rest, either. People snore for many reasons. Here are some of the most common: Seasonal allergies can make some people's noses stuffy and cause them to snore. Blocked nasal passages or airways (due to a cold or sinus infection) can cause a rattling snore. A deviated septum (say: dee-vee-ate-ed sep-tum), which is the tissue and cartilage that separates the two nostrils in your nose, may be crooked. Some people with a very deviated septum have surgery to straighten it out. This also helps them breathe better — not just stop snoring. Enlarged or swollen tonsils or adenoids may cause a person to snore. Tonsils and adenoids (adenoids are glands located inside of your head, near the inner parts of your nasal passages) help trap harmful bacteria, but they can become very big and swollen all of the time. Many kids who snore have this problem. Drinking alcohol can relax the tongue and throat muscles too much, which partially blocks air movement as someone is breathing and can contribute to snoring noises. Being overweight can cause narrowing of the air passages. Many people who are very overweight snore. Snoring is also one symptom of a serious sleep disorder known as sleep apnea. When a person has sleep apnea, his or her breathing is irregular during sleep. Typically, someone with sleep apnea will actually stop breathing for short amounts of time 30 to 300 times a night! It can be a big problem if the person doesn't get enough oxygen. People with this disorder often wake up with bad headaches and feel exhausted all day long. They may be very drowsy and have difficulty staying awake while having a conversation or even while driving. Kids affected by sleep apnea may be irritable and have difficulty concentrating, particularly in school and with homework. According to the government's patent office (this is where you go to register an idea or invention), there are hundreds of anti-snoring devices on the market. Some of them startle you awake when they sense you are snoring. Unfortunately, they may only work because they keep you awake! Those small, white strips some football players wear across their noses that kind of look like a bandage are another anti-snoring device. Football players wear them during the game to breathe easier while running a play or making a tackle. People also wear these breathing strips to try to stop snoring. Other snoring solutions include tilting the top of a bed upward a few inches, changing sleeping positions (from the back to a side), and not eating a heavy meal (or for an adult, not drinking alcohol) before bedtime. These kinds of "cures" may work only for someone who snores occasionally and lightly — or they may not work at all. If you can't stop snoring or the snoring becomes heavy, it's a good idea to see a doctor. He or she might tell you how to keep your nasal passages clear and will check your tonsils and adenoids to be sure they aren't enlarged and don't have to be removed. Some people need to lose weight, change their diets, or develop regular sleeping patterns to stop snoring. It may be helpful to remove allergy triggers (stuffed animals, pets, and feather/down pillows and comforters) from the person's bedroom. The doctor might also suggest medications for allergies or congestion due to a cold. If a doctor thinks someone has sleep apnea, he or she will order a test to monitor the patient during sleep. This is usually done in a sleep center (a medical building that has equipment to monitor breathing during sleep). A patient is attached to machines that check heart rate, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, eye movement, chest wall movement, and the flow of air through the nose. The doctor can then tell if a patient has a disorder like sleep apnea. The best thing about the test is that it doesn't hurt at all. After all, you sleep right through it! Once doctors know what's wrong, you can be treated for it, usually with lifestyle changes, sometimes medicines, or even surgery, if necessary. Solving a snoring problem lets everyone breathe and sleep a little easier!
Name: Regina M. I would like to try to propagate pine trees with a group of students (grades 3 to 5). We are located in South Jersey. The pine trees around the school are mostly White Pine and Scotch Pine. *I also have a bag of pine cones (I think they are Loblolly) that I just collected from a park in Delaware. Do you think we could be successful at this in a classroom setting? (We have a Grow Lab) Where exactly are the seeds on the pine cone? I can not seem to figure that part out?
Wabash River: Agriculture's Impact on Wabash River by Clayton Craig '08 June 28, 2006 Three Wabash men elected to navigate Indiana’s length of the Wabash River to study its history, biology, and beauty. The Wabash River Drainage Basin encompasses approximately 80 percent of Indiana as well as small portions of both Ohio and Illinois; essentially, its one massive funnel that drains into the Wabash River. To gain a slightly better understanding of the enormity of this funnel, it covers approximately 62,000 square kilometers of Indiana, 22,500 square kilometers of Illinois and 740 square kilometers of Ohio. With that much water flowing toward one location it is bound to have a major impact on the Wabash River. For as long as there has been agriculture, farmers have had to deal with erosion. Farmers located within the Wabash River Drainage Basin are no exception. My part, as the biologist in the Wabash River Group, was to look at the impact agriculture has had on the Wabash River ecosystem. During a 340-mile canoe trip down the river three College men observed different farming practices such as planting to the edge of banks of rivers and streams and how each practice affects the Wabash River. We canoed from the Mississinewa River north of Peru all the way to where it empties into the Ohio. Throughout the duration of the trip Craig took water measurements testing for conductivity, oxygen saturation, secchi depth, and the total amount of dissolved solids. Each of the measurements offers a general knowledge of how much sediment is being dumped in the river via tributaries that stem from throughout the Wabash River Drainage Basin. Craig has synthesized his data and written a paper addressing the problems of agricultural erosion and what steps are being taken to prevent it. Craig '08 is a biology major from Morristown, Ind. For more information see:
Internet-linked history encyclopedias Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece - A fascinating guide to Ancient Greek civilisation from the Minoans to Alexander's empire. - Includes information on the key figures, battles and geography of the Ancient Greek empire, as well gods and goddesses, the Olympic games and the day-to-day life of its citizens. - Features stunning photographs and illustrations, a comprehensive factfinder section with a time chart, who’s who and glossary, making it perfect for reference use. - Internet links to websites with virtual tours, reconstructions and more information. We don’t have any reviews for this book yet. Why not write your own?
Pacific Southwest, Region 9 Serving: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Pacific Islands, Tribal Nations Marine Debris in the North Pacific: Marine debris can degrade ocean habitats, endanger marine and coastal wildlife, interfere with navigation, result in economic losses, and threaten human health and safety. Beginning in the 1970s a growing number of studies on the occurrence and effects of marine debris in the open ocean have provided a greater, yet still incomplete, understanding of this vast problem. This report answers some frequently asked questions about the scope of marine debris in the North Pacific Gyre and its potential impacts; however, research is not yet complete on this issue, so this report also identifies data gaps that highlight some of the questions remaining to be answered. - What is marine debris and where does it come from? Marine debris is any solid, manufactured material that is disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment. It may consist of plastic, glass, metals, polystyrene, rubber, derelict fishing gear and derelict vessels. Plastics are estimated to represent between 60% and 80% of the total marine debris floating in the world’s oceans. Almost all of the plastic debris in the North Pacific consists of very small pieces of plastic floating at or slightly below the water surface. Such debris is composed of fragments of manufactured plastic products (user plastic) and also preproduction plastic pellets that were spilled at some point during shipping or at the factory. Debris is generated on land at marinas, ports, rivers, harbors, docks, and storm drains. Debris is generated at sea from fishing vessels, stationary platforms and cargo ships. In the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands – Marine National Monument (NWHI-MNM), approximately 52 metric tons of derelict fishing gear accumulate annually. Once it is in the ocean, it is very difficult to pinpoint the exact source of most of this debris. Click on the below links to additional data sources and information about preproduction plastic pellets: - Ocean Conservancy- Tracking Trash (PDF) (43 pp, 56M large file) - National Marine Debris Monitoring Program - Preproduction Plastic Debris Program - Operation Clean Sweep website In order to gain an accurate and meaningful assessment of the quantity and type of plastics and their influence, large-scale and long-term monitoring is needed across countries and environments, including the sea floor, and across a range of debris sizes, from very small micro-debris to large debris items such as derelict fishing nets. - How do wind and ocean currents affect the concentration of plastics and other marine debris? Multiple atmospheric and oceanic currents flow in a general clockwise pattern around the North Pacific to create what is known as the Pacific Gyre. When derelict nets and other marine debris circulating in the open ocean enter the Pacific Gyre they usually remain there. This has created an ongoing concentration of debris. Scientific models suggest marine debris deposited along the coast tends to accumulate in the central oceanic gyres within two years after deposition. This area of concentrated debris consists of two accumulations: the "Western Garbage Patch" located off Japan and the "Eastern Garbage Patch" located between Hawaii and California. These two sub-gyres are connected by a narrower band of marine debris north of the Hawaiian archipelago referred to as the Subtropical Convergence Zone (STCZ). The STCZ migrates north and south with seasonal changes in air and sea surface temperatures and fluctuations on ocean currents. (Figure 1). The occurrence and transport mechanisms of marine debris in the surface waters and coastal habitats of the North Pacific are well documented. Unfortunately, due to the logistics of sampling the substrate in deep waters, the occurrence of marine debris on the seafloor is less known. Accumulation of micro-organisms and algae onto plastic debris in surface waters may alter the buoyancy of the plastic, resulting in sinking and deposition on the seafloor. - How much marine debris ends up in the Pacific Gyre? The distribution and quantity of marine debris within the garbage patches are difficult to determine because they are constantly expanding and moving. The patches are estimated to contain approximately 100 million tons of garbage; most of the debris is found just below the water surface, extending down to depths of 100 feet or more, and is not tightly packed. Approximately half of all plastics are neutrally to positively buoyant and thus remain close to the ocean surface. Over time as the plastic breaks down into smaller pieces, organism and sediment fouling add weight to the particles which can cause the plastics to sink and eventually reach the seabed. Limited research indicates that most land-based marine debris originates in the Western Pacific. The California Coastal Commission found that plastic bags comprise 13.5% of shoreline litter; the City of Los Angeles found that plastic bags made up 25% of litter in storm drains. Data from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) found that polystyrene makes up 15% of storm drain debris. The most commonly found items on beaches in Orange County, California are plastic pellets (17% by weight), expanded polystyrene, and other plastic food and beverage containers. In the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, approximately 52 metric tons of derelict fishing gear accumulates annually. 96% of the plastic found in the North Pacific was small pieces of plastic, more than in any other ocean. For more information, visit the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The highest densities (number per square kilometer) and concentrations (gram per square kilometer) of plastic floating at or just below the surface occurred in the Japan Sea/nearshore Japan Water, in Transitional Water, and in Subtropical Water. Studies based on satellite-derived information and ocean circulation models, and confirmed by flight observations, show that the largest debris concentration in the North Pacific is found within the North Pacific STCZ. Debris densities appear to be significantly correlated with sea-surface temperature and chlorophyll-a concentration. Few studies have attempted to quantify the abundance and mass of floating debris in the open ocean, perhaps because ship time for extensive open ocean trawls are costly and time-consuming. Analyses of plastic debris in the environment derived from beach-cleaning surveys typically only provide data on coarse trends and larger items More studies are needed to correlate marine debris accumulations with currents and shipping lanes to determine the fate and transport of debris––sources and destinations––to target clean up and prevention efforts. - How do plastics and other marine debris negatively affect the environment? Marine debris travels throughout the world’s oceans, accumulating on beaches and within gyres. This debris can degrade physical habitats, transport chemical pollutants, threaten marine life, and interfere with human uses of marine and coastal environments. Plastic marine debris has great potential to alter the environment and impact humans and wildlife since it floats at the surface, is widely transported by ocean currents, persists in the environment for years, and is not readily digestible when consumed. Therefore, the impact of plastic marine debris is much more than a mere aesthetic problem. Physical Habitat Impacts As debris accumulates, habitat structure may be destroyed, light levels may be reduced in underlying waters, and oxygen levels may be depleted. These changes can undermine the ability of marine life to survive in open water and on the ocean floor. Derelict fishing gear, including nets and lines, can settle on coral reefs as currents and waves transport them to shallow habitats, resulting in fragmentation and abrasion of coral branches. Degradation of coral reefs globally has the potential to undermine the survival of a diverse array of invertebrates, fish, and vertebrates that depend on this limited resource, including a number of threatened and endangered species. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are chemical compounds created in manufacturing and other human activities that persist for a long time in the environment. Marine debris, specifically plastics, is itself a mechanism for the transport of POPs. Plastics may contain other organic pollutants such as phthalates, organotins, and phenols, including bisphenol A (BPA). Plastics also attract and concentrate PCBs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and DDT and other pesticides and can serve as a potential global transport mechanism for contaminants. - How are seabirds, turtles, fish and other animals harmed by plastics and other marine debris? There is a substantial body of evidence documenting the negative effects of marine plastic debris on marine biota. It has been estimated that plastic marine debris adversely affects 267 species globally, including 86% of sea turtles, 44% of seabirds, and 43% of marine mammals. The most common threats include ingestion and entanglement. Ingestion of plastic debris by seabirds, fish, and sea turtles has been widely documented, and incidences of ingestion have been reported for marine mammals as well. Additionally, fur seals and other predators may indirectly consume plastics by eating fish and other prey that have already ingested plastic debris. The plastics can block an animal's digestive system, ultimately causing death. Marine debris entanglements have been documented for 135 species of invertebrates, fish, seabirds, sea turtles, seals, sea lions, dolphins, and whales, with many species experiencing injury and even mortality. One of the greatest threats of entanglement to marine life and seabirds is derelict fishing gear, including monofilament line, trawl nets, and gill nets. Lost and free floating fishing gear can continue to "ghost fish" for months and even years, ensnaring a wide range of species, particularly in areas adjacent to fishing grounds, along current convergence zones, and along shorelines where debris is deposited by currents and waves. - How are humans affected by plastics and other marine debris? In addition to degrading the habitats and ecosystem services that humans use, plastic marine debris can directly interfere with navigation, impede commercial and recreational fishing, threaten health and safety, and reduce tourism. Large debris, such as derelict fishing nets and lines that float at or just below the surface, pose the greatest threat to vessel navigation. Lines and nets can become wrapped around propellers and entrained in intakes of motors, and vessels may strike large items, damaging hulls and propellers. Immobilization of commercial and recreational vessels can result in increased cost of navigation due to lost time, costly repairs, as well as the loss of human life. In a tragic example, derelict fishing gear contributed to the sinking of a Korean passenger ferry in 1993 that resulted in the deaths of 292 passengers. Humans can also be directly impacted by marine debris, becoming entangled in nets and lines while swimming or being injured by sharp debris that accumulates on beaches. It is not uncommon for scuba divers to become entangled in nets or lines. In most instances they are able to free themselves; however, in rare instances entanglement has resulted in injury and even death. Not only does the accumulation of debris pose a human health risk, but it also reduces the aesthetic and recreational values of beaches and marine resources. The buildup of plastic debris on beaches is of particular concern for coastal cities, since unsightly debris, and the distressing sight of entangled marine life and seabirds, can reduce the area’s attractiveness to local residents and tourists. As a result, immense economic costs are incurred to clean marine debris from beaches. The effects of small-plastic debris on marine animals, including toxicity of pellets and fragments that wash up on beaches throughout the Hawaiian Archipelago, remains unknown but should be investigated. Further data is also needed to assess the transfer of pollutants found in and accumulating on plastic to marine life and potentially throughout the marine food web. Impacts to humans from consumption of fish and invertebrates that ingest plastics are in large part unknown. Currently, there is only a limited amount of data on the transfer of POPs from plastic marine debris to conspicuous marine organisms, such as sea birds. By studying the effects of plastics on everything from plankton to top predators, a better understanding of potentially important impacts of plastics throughout the food web can be gained. Download the full report with references in PDF format: Marine Debris in the North Pacific - Existing Info + Data Gaps (PDF) January 2011 (23 pp, 700K) \|Pacific Southwest NewsroomPacific Southwest Programs\|\|Grants & FundingUS-Mexico Border\|\|Media CenterCareers\|\|About EPA Region 9 (Pacific Southwest)A-Z Index\|
Antibacterial vs. Non-Antibacterial Soap Handwashing with antibacterial soap produces statistically greater reductions in bacteria on the skin when compared to using non-antibacterial soap. Those are the findings of a review of two dozen relevant published studies – analyzing the effectiveness of antibacterial soaps – featured in the November 2011 edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of Food Protection. Researchers Donald Schaffner and Rebecca Montville of Rutgers University's (New Jersey) Food Science Department conducted a quantitative analysis of existing data in order to determine if there was a difference in effectiveness between antibacterial and non-antibacterial soaps. "A difference in the effectiveness of antimicrobial and non-antimicrobial soaps appears to exist and is repeatedly observed through a variety of analyses; antimicrobial soap is consistently and statistically always more effective than non-antimicrobial soap," the researchers wrote. The research article, "A Meta-Analysis of the Published Literature on the Effectiveness of Antimicrobial Soap," reviewed a total of 25 publications containing 374 observations found to have examined use of both antibacterial and non-antibacterial soap in the same study. "Although differences in efficacy between antimicrobial and non-antimicrobial soap may be relatively small, they do exist, and small but significant differences in pathogen levels on hands can have a significant effect on public health," wrote Schaffner and Montville. Added Dr. Schaffner: "In addition to our findings on antimicrobial effectiveness, I was really struck by the similar behavior of very different species of bacteria in response to antibacterial soap. In other words, we found that antibacterial soap did its job against a variety of bacteria, including E. coli and Staph." The research in the Journal of Food Protection (Vol. 74, No. 11 2011, Pages 1875-1882) was supported by the Topical Antimicrobial Coalition, which consists of the American Cleaning Institute and the Personal Care Products Council. Links to this and other studies demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of antibacterial soaps are available online at www.FightGermsNow.com. For more information on cosmetic and personal care products, visit www.CosmeticsInfo.org.
France and Afghanistan Diplomatic relations between France and Afghanistan were established in 1922, with the creation, the same year, of the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan (DAFA). The foundations of Franco-Afghan cooperation lie, in addition to archeology, in the field of education: creation of the French Secondary School for Boys in 1923 (named Esteqlal in 1929) and the French Secondary School for Girls (Malalaï) in 1942. The University of Lyon 1 and the University of Paris’ School of Law began their cooperation with the University of Kabul in the 1960s. Cooperation agreements have been signed in the fields of health (1963), cultural and technical cooperation (1966), and agriculture (1969). A French cultural center was founded in Kabul in 1970. On January 1st, 2011, after being completely renovated, it became the French Institute of Afghanistan. After the Soviet invasion in 1979, France’s efforts were concentrated in the humanitarian field. The action of French NGOs present in Afghanistan, even in the darkest hours, has contributed to the capital of sympathy which France continues to enjoy in this country. The end of the Taliban regime provided for reopening France’s Embassy in Kabul in February 2002. Official visits in both directions have resumed at a brisk pace, reflecting the special character of Franco-Afghan relations. On January 27th, 2012, presidents Sarkozy and Karzai signed a Friendship and Cooperation Treaty between France and Afghanistan. Signed for 20 years, the treaty places the French commitment on the long-term and marks its evolution from predominantly military to predominantly civilian. It is supplemented by a cooperation program presenting the projects to be carried out under the Treaty in more detail for the first five years (2012-2016) in the fields of security (military training, police training, and creating an Afghan gendarmerie), science, technology, and culture (agriculture, research, education, health, archeology, governance), infrastructure (irrigation, railways, mines), economy, and trade. The treaty will be accompanied by a significant increase in our bilateral aid. Updated on 01.02.12 - Diplomatic Photo Gallery - France / Afghanistan (in French)
\|a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.\| \|a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.\| \|1.\|\|See also genetic code a system of letters or symbols, and rules for their association by means of which information can be represented or communicated for reasons of secrecy, brevity, etc: binary code; Morse code\| \|2.\|\|a message in code\| \|3.\|\|a symbol used in a code\| \|4.\|\|a conventionalized set of principles, rules, or expectations: a code of behaviour\| \|5.\|\|a system of letters or digits used for identification or selection purposes\| \|6.\|\|to translate, transmit, or arrange into a code\| \|[C14: from French, from Latin cōdex book, \| \|code (kōd) Pronunciation Key A series of instructions designed to be fed into a computer. coden. The stuff that software writers write, either in source form or after translation by a compiler or assembler. Often used in opposition to "data", which is the stuff that code operates on. This is a mass noun, as in "How much code does it take to do a bubble sort?", or "The code is loaded at the high end of RAM." Anyone referring to software as "the software codes" is probably a newbie or a suit. coherent digital exciter Confederation of Dental Employers
Scharf, Thomas J., History of Delaware, 1609-1888. Volume One- pp. 68-81. WILLIAM PENN AND HIS GOVERNMENT. AFTER the Restoration of the Stuarts the attention of the court as well as the people of England was directed in a much larger measure than formerly to the American colonies. Men who were weary of strife, discontented with the present aspect of affairs or apprehensive of the future, sought relief and peace in emigration. The hardship of the wilderness, the perils of Indian warfare, the depressing diseases of a new climate and unbroken soil were as nothing to those in comparison with the blessings of political and religious liberty secured by emigration. As far as the court was concerned, Charles wanted provinces to give way to his favorites, while his cabinets, both under Clarendon, the Cabal, and Danby, had strong political reasons for putting the colonies more immediately under the control of the crown in order to check their manifest yearning for self-government and comparative independence. Thus the representatives of prerogative were compelled likewise to give an enlarged attention to colonial affairs. The Council for Foreign Plantations was given new powers and a greater and more exalted membership in 1671, and in 1674 this separate commission was dissolved and the conduct of colonial affairs intrusted to a committee of the Privy Council itself, which was directed to sit once a week and report its proceedings to the council. This committee comprised some of the ablest of the king's councilors, and among the members were the Duke of York and the Marquis of Halifax. William Penn, who was a great favorite with the Duke of York, and the founder of Pennsylvania and Delaware, was born in London, in St. Catharine's Parish, hard by the Tower, October 14, 1644. His father was Vice Admiral Sir William Penn; his mother Margaret Jasper, daughter of a well-to-do Rotterdam merchant. They were united June 6, 1643, when the elder Penn, though only twenty years old, had already received his commission as post-captain in the royal navy, and William was their first child. It is probable that the stories of Admiral Penn about the conquest of Jamaica and the tropical splendors of that beautiful island first turned the attention of the younger Penn to our continent. William Penn received his first education at the free grammar-school of Chigwell, Essex, where he experienced strong religious impressions and had visions of the "Inner Light," though he as yet had never heard Fox's name mentioned. He was not a puny child, though he must have been a studious one. He delighted and excelled in field-sports, boating, running, hunting and athletic exercises. At the age of twelve he was removed from Chigwell to receive private instruction at home, and three years later entered Christ Church College, Oxford. Penn studied assiduously, he joined the "serious set," he went to hear Thomas Loe preach the new gospel of the Society of Friends, he resented the discipline which the college attempted to put upon him and his intimates in consequence, and he was expelled from the university for rejecting the surplice and rioting in the quadrangle. His father beat him, relented, and sent him to France, where he came home with the manners and dress of a courtier, but saturated with Genevan theology. He had shown in Paris that he could use his rapier gallantly, and his father took him to sea to prove to the court, when he returned as bearer of dispatches, that he was capable of beginning the career of office. The plague of London set him again upon a train of serious thinking, and his father, to counteract this, sent him to the Duke of Ormond, at the same time giving him charge of his Irish estates. Penn danced in Dublin and fought at Carrickfergus equally well, and he even applied for a troop of horse. He was a very handsome young fellow, and armor and lace became him mightily. But at Cork he met Thomas Loe again and heard a sermon upon the text "There is a faith which overcomes the world, and there is a faith which is overcome by the world." Penn came out of this meeting a confirmed Quaker. His father recalled him, but could not break his conviction; and then again he was driven from home, but his mother still found means to supply his needs. He now joined the Quakers regularly, and became the most prominent of the followers of that singularly eccentric but singularly gifted leader of men, George Fox. Penn's affection for Fox was deep and strong. He repeatedly got "the man in the leather breeches" released from jail, and he gave him a thousand acres of land out of the first surveys made in Pennsylvania. Penn preached in public as Fox was doing, and so well that he soon found himself a prisoner in the Tower of London, where, when brought up for trial, he defended himself so ably as to prove that he could have become a great lawyer had he so chosen. Penn married in 1672, his wife being Gulielma Springett, daughter of Sir William Springett, a lady of lovely person and sweet temper. He did not spend many weeks to his honeymoon. He was soon at his work again wrestling for the truth, and, it must be said, wrestling still more lustily as one who wrestles for victory with the oppressors of the faithful. In this cause he went to court again, resumed his relations with the Duke of York and secured that prince's influence in behalf of his persecuted sect. This semi-alliance of Penn with the duke led up directly to the settlement of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Penn realized the fact that the Friends could not escape persecution nor enjoy without taint their peculiar religious seclusion, nor could his ideal commonwealth be planted in such a society as that of Europe. It must seek new and virgin soil, where it could form its own manners and ripen its own code. Then, in 1672, came home George Fox,* fresh from his journey through the wilderness and his visits to the Quaker settlements in New Jersey and Maryland, in which latter province the ancient meetings of Anne Arundel and Talbot Counties were already important gatherings of a happy people entirely free from persecutions. We may imagine how eagerly and closely Penn read Fox's journals and the letters of Edmondston, Wenlock Christison, and others about their settlements. In 1675, when his disgust with European society and his consciousness of the impossibility to effect radical reform there had been confirmed and deepened, Penn became permanently identified with American colonial affairs, and was put in the best possible position for acquiring a full and accurate knowledge of the resources and possibilities of the country between the Susquehanna and the Hudson. As has already been stated, on March 12, 1664, King Charles II. granted to his brother James, Duke of York and Albany, a patent for all the lands in New England from the St. Croix River to the Delaware. This patent, meant to lead directly up to the overthrow of the Dutch power in New Netherland, was probably also intended no less as a hostile demonstration against the New England Puritan colonies, which both the brothers hated cordially and which latterly had grown so independent and had so nearly established their own authority as to provoke more than one charge that they sought presently to abandon all allegiance due from them to the mother-country. At any rate, the New England colonies at once attempted to organize themselves into a confederacy for purposes of mutual defense against the Indians and Canadian French, as was alleged, but for divers other and weighty reasons, as many colonists did not hesitate to proclaim. The Duke of York secured New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware to himself as his own private possessions. That part of New Netherland lying between the Hudson and the Delaware Rivers was forthwith (in 1664, before Nicolls sailed from Portsmouth to take New York) conveyed by the duke, by deeds of lease and release, to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. The latter being governor of the Channel Islands at the time, the new colony was called New Jersey, or rather Nova Coesarea, in the original grant. In 1675 Lord Berkeley sold, for one thousand pounds, his undivided half-share in New Jersey to John Fenwick, in trust for Edward Billinge and his assigns. Fenwick and Billinge were both Quakers, and Billinge was bankrupt. Not long after this conveyance Fenwick and Billinge fell out about the property, and, after the custom of the Friends, the dispute was submitted to arbitration. The disputants fixed upon William Penn as arbitrator. When he made his award Fenwick was not satisfied and refused to abide by Penn's decision, which, indeed, gave Fenwick only a tenth of Lord Berkeley's share in the joint tenancy, reserving the remaining nine-tenths to Billinge, but giving Fenwick a money payment besides. Penn was offended at Fenwick's recalcitrancy, and wrote him some sharp letters. "Thy days spend on," he said, "and make the best of what thou hast. Thy grandchildren may be in the other world before the land thou hast allotted will be employed." Penn stuck to his decision, and, for that matter, Fenwick likewise maintained his grievance. He sailed for the Delaware at the head of a colony, landed at Salem, N.J., and commenced a settlement. Here he carried matters with such a high hand, patenting land, distributing office, etc., that he made great trouble for himself and others also. His authority was not recognized, and for several years the name of Major John Fenwick fills a large place in the court records of New Castle, Upland, and New York, where he was frequently imprisoned and sued for damages by many injured persons. Billinge's business embarrassments increasing he made over his interest in the territory to his creditors, appointing Penn, with Gawen Lawrie, of London, and Nicholas Lucas, of Hertford, two of the creditors, as trustees in the matter. The plan was not to sell, but to improve the property for the benefit of the creditors. To this end a partition of the province was made, a line being drawn through Little Egg Harbor to a point near where Port Jervis now is. The part of the province on the right of this line, called East New Jersey, the most settled portion of the territory, was assigned to Carteret. That on the left, West New Jersey, was deeded to Billinge's trustees. A form of government was at once established for West Jersey, in which Penn's hand is distinctly seen. The basis was liberty of person and conscience, "the power in the people," local self-government and amelioration of the criminal code. The territory was next divided into one hundred parts, ten being assigned to Fenwick and ninety to Billinge's trustees, and the land was opened for sale and occupancy, being extensively advertised and particularly recommended to Friends. In 1677 and 1678 five vessels sailed for West New Jersey, with eight hundred emigrants, nearly all Quakers. Two companies of these, one from Yorkshire, the other from London, bought large tracts of land, and sent out commissioners to quiet Indian titles and lay off the properties. At Chygoes Island they located a town, first called Beverly, then Birdlington, then Burlington.* There was a regular treaty with the Indians, and the Friends not only secured peace for themselves but paved the way for the pacific relations so firmly sealed by Penn's subsequent negotiations with the savages. The Burlington colony prospered, and was reinforced by new colonists continually arriving in considerable numbers. In 1680, Penn, as counsel for the trustees of West New Jersey, succeeded, by means of a vigorous and able remonstrance, in getting the Duke of York, then proprietary of New York, to remove an onerous tax on imports and exports imposed by the Governor of New York and collected at the Horekill. The next year Penn became part proprietor of East New Jersey, which was sold under the will of Sir George Carteret, then deceased, to pay his debts. A board of twenty-four proprietaries was organized, Penn being one, and to them the Duke of York made a fresh grant of East New Jersey, dated March 14, 1682, Robert Barclay becoming Governor, while Penn's friend, Billinge, was made Governor of West New Jersey. Both these governments were surrendered to the crown in Queen Anne's reign, April 15, 1702. While Penn was thus acquiring knowledge of and strong property interests in America, two other circumstances occurred to intensify his impatience with the state of affairs in England. One was the insensate so-called "Popish plot" of Titus Oates, the other the defeat of his friend, Algernon Sidney, for Parliament. From the date of these events Penn began to look steadily westward, and prepared himself for his "Holy" or "Divine Experiment." Admiral Penn at his death had left his son a property of '1500 a year in English and Irish estates. There was in addition a claim against King Charles' government for money lent, which, with interest, amounted to '15,000. The king had no money and no credit. What he got from Louis XIV., through the compliant Barillon, hardly sufficed for his own menus plaisirs.(4) Penn being now resolved to establish a colony in America alongside his New Jersey plantations, and to remove there himself with his family so as to be at the head of a new Quaker community and commonwealth, petitioned the king to grant him, in lieu of the claim of '15,000, a tract of country in America north of Maryland, with the Delaware on its east, its western limits the same as those of Maryland, and its northern as far as plantable country extended. Before the Privy Council Committee Penn explained that he wanted five degrees of latitude measured from Lord Baltimore's line, and that line, at his suggestion, was drawn from the circumference of a circle, the radius of which was twelve miles from New Castle as its centre. The petition of Penn's was received June 14, 1680. The object sought by the petitioner, it was stated, was not only to provide a peaceful home for the persecuted members of the Society of Friends, but to afford an asylum for the good and oppressed of every nation on the basis of a practical application of the pure and peaceable principles of Christianity. The petition encountered much and various opposition. Sir John Werden, agent of the Duke of York, opposed it because the territory sought was an appendage to the government of New York, and as such belonged to the duke. Mr. Burke, the active and untiring agent of Lord Baltimore, opposed it because the grant asked by Penn would infringe upon the territory covered by Baltimore's charter. At any rate, said Mr. Burke, in a letter to the Privy Council Committee, if the grant be made to Penn, let the deed expressly state lands to the north of Susquehanna Fort, "which is the boundary of Maryland to the northward." There was also strong opposition in the Privy Council to the idea of a man such as Penn being permitted to establish plantations after his own peculiar model. His theories of government were held to be Utopian and dangerous alike to Church and State. He was looked upon as a Republican like Sidney. However, he had strong friends in the Earl of Sunderland, Lord Hyde, Chief Justice North, and the Earl of Halifax. He had an interview with the Duke of York, and contrived to win him over to look upon his project with favor, and Sir J. Werden wrote to the secretary, saying, "His royal Highness commands me to let you know, in order to your informing their lordships of it, that he is very willing Mr. Penn's request may meet with success." The attorney-general, Sir William Jones, examined the petition in view of proposed boundaries, and reported that with some alterations it did not appear to touch upon any territory of previous grants, "except the imaginary lines of New England patents, which are bounded westwardly by the main ocean, should give them a real though impracticable right to all those vast territories." The draught of the patent, when finally it had reached that stage of development, was submitted to the Lords of Trade to see if English commercial interests were subserved, and to the Bishop of London to look after the rights of the church. The king signed the patent on March 4, 1681, and the venerable document may now be seen by the curious, framed and hung up in the office of the Secretary of State, at Harrisburg. The name to be given to the new territory was left blank for the king to fill up, and Charles called it Pennsylvania. Penn, who seems to have been needlessly squeamish on the subject, wrote to his friends to say that he wanted the territory called New Wales, and offered the Under Secretary twenty guineas to change the name, "for I feared lest it should be looked on as a vanity in me." However, he consoled himself with the reflection that "it is a just and clear thing, and my God, that has given it me through many difficulties, will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation. I shall have a tender care to the government that it be well laid at first." The charter, which is given complete in "Hazard's Annals," consists of twenty-three articles, with a preamble reciting the king's desire to extend his dominions and trade, convert the savages, etc., and his sense of obligation to Sir William Penn: I. The grant comprises all that part of America, islands included, which is bounded on the east by the Delaware River from a point on a circle twelve miles northward of New Castle town to the 43' north latitude if the Delaware extends so far; if not, as far as it does extend, and thence to the 43' by a meridian line. From this point westward five degrees of longitude on the 43' parallel; the western boundary to the 40th parallel, and thence by a straight line to the place of beginning. II. Grants Penn rights to and use of rivers, harbors, fisheries, etc. III. Creates and constitutes him Lord Proprietary of the Province, saving only his allegiance to the King, Penn to hold directly of the kings of England, "as of our castle of Windsor in the county of Berks, in free and common socage, by fealty only, for all services, and not in capite, or by Knight's service, yielding and paying therefore to us, our heirs and successors, two beaver skins, to be delivered at our castle of Windsor on the 1st day of January every year," also one-fifth of precious metals taken out. On these terms Pennsylvania was erected into "a province and seigniory." IV. Grants Penn and his successors, his deputies and lieutenants "free, full, and absolute power" to make laws for raising money for the public uses of the Province and for other public purposes at their discretion, by and with the advice and consent of the people or their representatives in assembly. V. Grants power to appoint officers, judges, magistrates, etc., to pardon offenders, before judgment or after, except in cases of treason, and to have charge of the entire establishment of justice, with the single proviso that the laws adopted shall be consonant to reason and not contrary nor repugnant to the laws and statutes of England, and that all persons should have the right of appeal to the King. VI. Prescribes that the laws of England are to be in force in the Province until others have been substituted for them. VII. Laws adopted for the government of the Province to be sent to England for royal approval within five years after their adoption, under penalty of becoming void. VIII. Licenses emigration to the new colony. IX. Licenses trade between the colony and England, subject to the restrictions of the Navigation Acts. X. Grants permission to Penn to divide the colony into the various minor political divisions, to constitute fairs, grant immunities and exemptions, etc. XI. Similar to IX., but applies to exports from colony. XII. Grants leave to create seaports and harbors, etc., in aid of trade and commerce, subject to English customs regulations. XIII. Penn and the Province to have liberty to levy customs duties. XIV. The Proprietary to have a resident agent in London, to answer in case of charges, etc., and continued misfeasance to void the charter and restore the government of the Province to the King. XV. Proprietary forbidden intercourse or correspondence with the enemies of England. XVI. Grants leave to Proprietary to pursue and make war on the savages or robbers, pirates, etc., and to levy forces for that end, and to kill and slay according to the laws of war. XVII. Grants full power to Penn to sell or otherwise convey lands in the Province. XVIII. Gives title to persons holding under Penn. XIX. Penn may erect manors, and each manor to have privilege of court-baron and frank-pledge, holders under manor-title to be protected in their tenure. XX. The King not to lay taxes in the Province "unless the same be with the consent of the Proprietary or chief Governor, or Assembly, or by act of Parliament of England." XXI. The charter to be valid in English courts against all assumptions or presumptions of ministers or royal officers. XXII. Bishop of London may send out clergymen if asked to do so by twenty inhabitants of the Province. XXIII. In cases of doubt the charter is to be interpreted and construed liberally in Penn's favor, provided such constructions do not interfere with or lessen the royal prerogative. On the 2nd of April, after the signing of the charter, King Charles made a public proclamation of the fact of the patent, addressed chiefly to the inhabitants of the territory, enjoining upon them to yield ready obedience to Penn and his deputies and lieutenants. At the same time Penn also addressed a letter to the inhabitants of the province, declaring that he wished them all happiness here and hereafter, that the Providence of God had cast them within his lot and care, and, though it was a new business to him, he understood his duty and meant to do it uprightly. He told the people that they were not now at the mercy of a Governor who came to make his fortune out of them, but "you shall be governed by laws of your own making, and live a free and, if you will, a sober and industrious people. I shall not usurp the right of any or oppress his person. God has furnished me with a better resolution and has given me his grace to keep it." He hoped to see them in a few months, and any reasonable provision they wanted made for their security and happiness would receive his approbation. Until he came he hoped they would obey and pay their customary dues to his deputy. That deputy was Penn's cousin, William Markham, a captain in the British army, who was on April 20, 1681, commissioned to go out to Pennsylvania, and act in that capacity until Penn's arrival. He was given power to call a Council of nine, of which he was to be president; to secure a recognition of Penn's authority on the part of the people; to settle bounds between Penn and his neighbors; to survey, lay out, rent, or lease lands according to his instructions; to erect courts, make sheriffs, justices of the peace, and other inferior requisite officers, so as to keep the peace and enforce the laws; to suppress disturbance or riot by the posse comitatus, and to make or ordain any ordinary ordinances or do whatever he lawfully might for the peace and security of the province. Markham was particularly instructed to settle, if he could, boundaries with Lord Baltimore, and Penn gave him a letter to that neighbor of his. The deputy soon after sailed for Pennsylvania, on what day is not definitely known, but he was in New York on June 21st, when he obtained from the Governor, Anthony Brockholls, a proclamation enjoining upon the inhabitants of Pennsylvania that they should obey the king's charter and yield a ready obedience to the new proprietary and his deputy. When Markham arrived at Upland he found Lord Baltimore there; the boundary question at once came up, and was as quickly let drop when Markham found that the lines could not be run according to the two charters respectively without giving to Baltimore some lands which Penn was resolved to keep as his own. It is not supposed that Markham took out any emigrants with him. His business was to get possession of the province as speedily as possible, so as to insure the allegiance of the people, secure the revenue, and prepare the way for Penn. It is probable, therefore, that he sailed in the first ship offering for New York or Boston, without waiting for company. Meanwhile, even before Markham's departure, Penn began to advertise his new province and popularize what information he had concerning it. This was the business part of "the Divine Experiment," and Penn was very competent to discharge it. He published a pamphlet (through Benjamin Clark, bookseller, in George Yard, Lombard Street), entitled "Some account of the Province of Pennsylvania in America, lately granted under the Great Seal of England to William Penn, etc. Together with privileges and powers necessary to the well-governing thereof. Made public for the information of such as are or may be disposed to transport themselves or servants into those parts." This prospectus shows the extent of the knowledge Penn had already gleaned concerning his province, and how closely he had studied the methods by which he proposed to secure its prompt and effective planting and settlement. It is not necessary to incorporate the whole of such a pamphlet in this narrative, but some of its salient points must be noted. It was written, we must remember, in April, 1681, a month after the signing of the patent. Penn begins with an excursus upon the benefit of plantations or colonies in general, to "obviate a common objection." "Colonies," he says, "are the seeds of nations, begun and nourished by the care of wise and populous countries, as conceiving them best for the increase of human stock and beneficial for commerce." Antiquity is then searched through for examples needless to repeat, but all brought in to prove that colonies do not weaken or impoverish the mother-country. Indeed, this part of his argument reads as if it were Penn's brief while his petition was before the Privy Council, and as if he drew it up in reply to objections there urged against conceding him the patent. He shows how colonies and foreign plantations have contributed to the benefit of England's commerce and industry, and might be expected to continue to do so. He denies that emigration has depopulated the country, but says that the increase of luxury has drawn an undue proportion of the rural communities into cities and towns, and that the increased cost of living thus brought about tends to prevent marriage and so promotes the decay of population. For this and the many attendant evils emigration, he suggests, is the only effective remedy. He then proceeds to speak of his province, the inducements it offers to colonists, and the terms on which he is prepared to receive them. "The place," he says, "lies six hundred miles nearer the sun than England," so far as difference of latitude goes, adding, "I shall say little in its praise to excite desires in any, whatever I could truly write as to the soil, air and water; this shall satisfy me, that by the blessing of God and the honesty and industry of man it may be a good and fruitful land." He then enumerates the facilities for navigation by way of the Delaware Bay and River, and by way of Chesapeake Bay also; the variety and abundance of timber; the quantity of game, wild fowl, and fish; the variety of products and commodities, native or introduced, including "silk, flax, hemp, wine, sider, wood, madder, liquorish, tobacco, pot-ashes, and iron, . . . . hides, tallow, pipe-staves, beef, pork, sheep, wool, corn or wheat, barley, rye, and also furs, as your peltree, mincks, racoons, martins, and such like store of furs which is to be found among the Indians that are profitable commodities in England." Next, after explaining the channels of trade,' country produce to Virginia, tobacco to England, English commodities to the colonies,' he gives assurance that under his liberal charter, paying due allegiance to the mother-country, the people will be able to enjoy the very largest proportion of liberty and make their own laws to suit themselves, and that he intends to prepare a satisfactory constitution. Penn states explicitly in this pamphlet the conditions of immigration into his province. He looks to see three sorts of people come,' those who will buy, those who will rent, and servants. "To the first, the shares I sell shall be certain as to number of acres; that is to say, every one shall contain five thousand acres, free from any incumbrance, the price a hundred pounds, and for the quit-rent but one English shilling, or the value of it, yearly, for a hundred acres; and the said quit-rent not to begin to be paid till 1684. To the second sort, that take up land upon rent, they shall have liberty so to do, paying yearly one penny per acre, not exceeding two hundred acres. To the third sort, to wit, servants that are carried over,(5) fifty acres shall be allowed to the master for every head, and fifty acres to every servant when their time is expired. And because some engage with me that may not be disposed to go, it were very advisable for every three adventures to send over an overseer with their servants, which would well pay the cost."(6) Penn next speaks of his plan for allotments or dividends, but as his scheme was not then, as he confesses, fully developed, and as he later furnished all the details of this scheme as he finally matured it, we will pass that by for the present. It is enough to say that the plan is very closely followed to-day in Eastern Europe to promote the sale of government bonds. The persons, Penn says, that "Providence seems to have most fitted for plantations" are "1st, industrious husbandmen and day laborers that are hardly able (with extreme labor) to maintain their families and portion their children; 2, laborious handicrafts, especially carpenters, masons, smiths, weavers, taylors, tanners, shoemakers, shipwrights, etc., where they may be spared or low in the world, and as they shall want no encouragement, so their labor is worth more there than here, and there provisions cheaper." 3, Penn invites ingenious spirits who are low in the world, younger brothers with small inheritances and (often) large families; "lastly," he says, "there are another sort of persons, not only fit for but necessary in plantations, and that is men of universal spirits, that have an eye to the good of posterity, and that both understand and delight to promote good discipline and just government among a plain and well-intending people; such persons may find room in colonies for their good counsel and contrivance, who are shut out from being of much use or service to great nations under settled customs; these men deserve much esteem and would be hearken'd to." Very considerately Penn next tells all he knows about the cost and equipments for the journey and subsistence during the first few months, "that such as incline to go may not be to seek here, or brought under any disappointments there." He mentions among goods fit to take for use or for sale at a profit "all sorts of apparel and utensils for husbandry and building and household stuff." People must not delude themselves, he says, with the idea of instant profits. They will have a winter to encounter before the summer comes, "and they must be willing to be two or three years without some of the conveniences they enjoy at home, and yet I must needs say that America is another thing than it was at the first plantation of Virginia and New England, for there is better accommodation and English provisions are to be had at easier rates." The passage across the ocean will be at the outside six pounds per head for masters and mistresses, and five pounds for servants, children under seven years old fifty shillings, "except they suck, then nothing." Arriving out in September or October, "two men may clear as much ground by spring (when they set the corn of that country) as will bring in that time, twelve months, forty barrels, which makes twenty-five quarters of corn. So that the first year they must buy corn, which is usually very plentiful. They must, so soon as they come, buy cows, more or less, as they want or are able, which are to be had at easy rates. For swine, they are plentiful and cheap, these will quickly increase to a stock. So that after the first year, what with the poorer sort sometimes laboring to others, and the more able fishing, fowling, and sometimes buying, they may do very well till their own stocks are sufficient to supply them and their families, which will quickly be, and to spare, if they follow the English husbandry, as they do in New England and New York, and get winter fodder for their stock." Finally, the candid Penn recommends that none should make up their minds hastily, all get the consent of their friends or relatives, and all pray God for his blessing on their honest endeavors. During all the rest of this year and of 1682 and up to the moment of his embarkation for Europe, William Penn was most busily and absorbingly engaged in the multifarious preparations for his new plantations. He drew up a great variety of papers, concessions, conditions, charters, statutes, constitutions, etc., equal to the average work of half a dozen congressional committees. In addition to work of this sort, requiring concentrated and abstracted thought and study, his correspondence was of the most voluminous character, and he was further most actively employed in disposing of lands and superintending the sailing of ship-loads of his colonists. The first of these papers on concessions and conditions was prepared indeed on the eve of the sailing of the first vessels containing his "adventurers." This was in July, and the vessels arrived out in October. Every paper he published called forth numerous letters from his friends, who wanted him to explain this or that obscure point to them, and he always seems to have responded cheerfully to these exhaustive taxes upon his time. His work seems to have attracted great attention and commanded admiration. James Claypoole writes (July 22d), "I have begun my letter on too little a piece of paper to give thee my judgment of Pennsylvania, but, in short, I, and many others wiser than I am, do very much approve of it and do judge William Penn as fit a man as any one in Europe to plant a country." Penn had also been busily negotiating with the Duke of York for the lands now constituting the State of Delaware, which were the duke's property, and which Penn wanted to possess in order to insure his own province the free navigation of the Delaware, and perhaps, also, to keep this province from falling into the hands of his neighbor, Lord Baltimore, who claimed it under his charter. But Sir John Werden, the duke's agent, still held off and gave Penn much trouble and uneasiness. The latter had received a tempting offer from a company of Marylanders of six thousand pounds cash, and a two-and-a-half per cent. royalty for the monopoly of the Indian (fur) trade between the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers, but he refused it upon noble grounds. So also Penn refused to abate the quit-rents even to his most intimate friends, "intending," as Claypoole wrote, "to do equal by all," but he did reduce them from a penny to a half-penny in favor of servants settling on their fifty-acre lots, after having served their time. Subsequently, as we shall see, Penn was less rigidly moral in his land contracts. In lieu of the proposed monopoly Penn made many liberal concessions of land and privileges to another company, "The Free Society of Traders," whose plans he favored, and whose constitution and charter he helped to draw. The charter to the Pennsylvania Company, the Free Society of Traders, bears date March 24, 1682. The incorporators named in Penn's deed to them were "Nicholas Moore of London, medical doctor; James Claypoole, merchant; Philip Ford (Penn's unworthy steward): William Sherloe, of London, merchant; Edward Pierce, of London, leather-seller; John Symcock and Thomas Brassey, of Cheshire, yeoman; Thomas Baker, of London, wine-cooper; and Edward Brookes, of London, grocer." The deed cites Penn's authority under his patent, mentions the conveyance to the company of twenty thousand acres, erects this tract into the manor of Frank, "in free and common soccage, by such rents, customs and services as to them and their successors shall seem meet, so as to be consistent with said tenure," allows them two justices' courts a year, privilege of court-baron and court-leet and view of frank-pledge, with all the authority requisite in the premises. The society is authorized to appoint and remove its officers and servants, is given privilege of free transportation of its goods and products, and exempted from any but state and local taxes, while at the same time it can levy all needful taxes for its own support within its own limits. Its chief officers are commissioned as magistrates and charged to keep the peace, with jurisdiction in case of felony, riot, or disorder of any kind. It is given three representatives in the Provincial Council, title to three-fifths of the products of all mines and minerals found, free privilege to fish in all the waters of the province, and to establish fairs, markets, etc., and the books of the society are exempt from all inspection. The society immediately prepared and published an address, with its constitution and by-laws, in which a very extensive field of operation is mapped out.(7) In the regulations for colonists set forth in his statement of "certain conditions or concessions agreed upon by William Penn, proprietary and Governor of Pennsylvania, and those who are the adventurers and purchasers in that province the 11th of July, 1681," the system of plantation is plainly described. First, a large city is to be laid off on navigable water, divided into lots, and purchasers of large tracts of lands (five thousand acres) are to have one of these city lots assigned them, the location determined by chance. It was Penn's original plan to have his great city consist of ten thousand acres, divided into one hundred lots of one hundred acres each, one of these lots to be awarded (by lot) to each purchaser of a tract of manorial proportions, who was to build in the centre of his lot and surround his house with gardens and orchards, "that it may be a green country town," he said, "which will never be burnt and always be wholesome." Of course no great city could be built on any such plan, and Penn himself abandoned it or greatly modified it even before he sailed, the commissioner and surveyor finding it impossible to observe the conditions, especially when vessels began to be numerous along the water-front and business sprang up. This system of great farms, with a central township divided into minor lots, Penn proposed to extend all over the province. His road system was excellent. Roads were to be built not less than forty feet wide from city to city, on air-lines as nearly as possible; all streets were to be laid off at right angles and of liberal width, and no buildings were to be allowed to encroach on these, nor was there any irregular building to be permitted. This rule of symmetry, amounting almost to formality, could not be carried out any more than the great city plan. It was not Penn's notion, probably, for he was not a precisian in anything, and it looks much more like a contrivance borrowed by him for the nonce from Sir William Petty, Sir Thomas Browne, or some other hare-brain among his contemporaries. Penn's system of quit-rents and of manors also, the foundations of a great fortune, resembled closely that of Lord Baltimore in Maryland. It is likely that Penn got the idea where Lord Baltimore derived his, from Ireland, that form of irredeemable ground-rent being an old and familiar Irish tenure.(8) The quit-rent system caused almost immediate discontent in Pennsylvania, and undoubtedly injured the proprietary's popularity and interfered with his income. His large reservations of choice lots in every section that was laid out, contributed to this also. Every person was to enjoy access to and use of water-courses, mines, quarries, etc., and any one could dig for metals anywhere, bound only to pay for damages done. Settlers were required to plant land surveyed for them within three years. Goods for export could only be bought or sold, in any case, in public market, and fraud and deception were to be punished by forfeiture of the goods. All trading with Indians was to be done in open market, and fraud upon them prevented by inspection of goods. Offenses against Indians were to be punished just as those against the whites, and disputes between the two races to be settled by a mixed jury. Indians to have the same privileges as the whites in improving their lands and raising crops. Stock not marked within three months after coming into possession of planters to be forfeited to the Governor. In clearing land, one-fifth to be left in wood, and oak and mulberry trees to be preserved for ship-building. To prevent debtors from furtively absconding, no one was to leave the province until after three weeks' publication of the fact. On April 25th he published his "frame of government," or, as James Claypoole called it in his letters, "the fundamentals for government," ' in fact, the first constitution of Pennsylvania. The document is entitled "The frame of the government of the province of Pennsylvania, in America, together with certain laws agreed upon in England by the governor and divers freemen of the aforesaid province, to be further explained and continued there by the first provincial council that shall be held, if they see meet." The "preface" or preamble to this constitution is curious, for it is written as if Penn felt that the eyes of the court were upon him. The first two paragraphs form a simple excursus upon the doctrine of the law and the transgressor as expounded in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans: "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin," etc. From this Penn derives, not very perspicuously, however, "the divine right of government," the object of government being two-fold, to terrify evil-doers and to cherish those that do well, "which gives government a life beyond corruption (i.e., divine right), and makes it as durable in the world as good men shall be." Hence Penn thinks that government seems like a part of religion itself, a thing sacred in its institution and end. In the Constitution, which follows the preamble, Penn begins by confirming to the freemen of the province all the liberties, franchises, and properties secured to them by the patent of King Charles II. The government of the province is to consist of "the Governor and freemen of the said province, in form of a Provincial Council and General Assembly, by whom all laws shall be made, officers chosen, and public affairs transacted." The Council, of seventy-two members, is to be elected at once, one-third of the members to go out, and their successors elected each year, and after the first seven years those going out each year shall not be returned within a year. Two-thirds of the Council are required to constitute a quorum, except in minor matters, when twenty-four will suffice. The Governor is always to preside over the session of Council, and is to have three votes "The Governor and Provincial Council shall prepare and propose to the General Assembly hereafter mentioned all bills which they shall at any time think fit to be passed into laws within the said province, . . . and on the ninth day from their so meeting, the said General Assembly, after reading over the proposed bills by the clerk of the Provincial Council, and the occasion and motives for them being opened by the Governor or his deputies, shall give their affirmative or negative, which to them seemeth best, . . . and the laws so prepared and proposed as aforesaid that are assented to by the General Assembly shall be enrolled as laws of the province, with this style: 'By the Governor, with the assent and approbation of the freemen in the Provincial Council and General Assembly.'" Here is the fatal defect of Penn's Constitution, a defect which robs it of even any pretence of being republican or democratic in form or substance. The Assembly, the popular body, the representatives of the people, are restricted simply to a veto power. They cannot originate bills; they cannot even debate them; they are not allowed to think or act for themselves or those they represent, but have nothing to do except vote "yes" or "no." To be sure, the Council is an elective body too. But it is meant to consist of the Governor's friends. It is the aristocratic body. It does not come fresh from the people. The tenure of its members is three years. Besides, for ordinary business, twenty-four of the Council make a quorum, of whom twelve, with the Governor's casting vote, comprise a majority. The Governor has three votes; the Society of Free Traders has six votes; if the Governor have three or four friends in Council, with the support of this society he can control all legislation. It seems incredible that William Penn should have of his own free will permitted this blemish upon his Constitution, which he claimed gave all the power of government and law-making into the hands of the people. Aside from this fatal piece of subservience there is much to praise in Penn's Constitution and something to wonder at, as being so far in advance of his age. The executive functions of Governor and Council are carefully defined and limited. A wholesome and liberal provision is made for education, public schools, inventions, and useful scientific discoveries.(9) The Provincial Council, for the more prompt dispatch of business, was to be divided into four committees,' one to have charge of plantations, "to situate and settle cities, posts, and market-towns and highways, and to have and decide all suits and controversies relating to plantations," one to be a committee of justice and safety, one of trade and treasury, and the fourth of manners, education, and arts, "that all wicked and scandalous living may be prevented, and that youth may be successfully trained up in virtue and useful knowledge and arts." The General Assembly was to be elected yearly, not to exceed two hundred members, representing all the freemen of the province. They were to meet in the capital on "the 20th day of the second month," and during eight days were expected to freely confer with one another and the Council, and, if they chose, to make suggestions to the Council committees about the amendment or alteration of bills (all such as the Council proposed to offer for the adoption being published three weeks beforehand), and on the ninth day were to vote, "not less than two-thirds making a quorum in the passing of laws and choice of such officers as are by them to be chosen." The General Assembly was to nominate a list of judges, treasurers, sheriffs, justices, coroners, etc., two for each office, from which list the Governor and Council were to select the officers to serve. The body was to adjourn upon being served with notice that the Governor and Council had no further business to lay before them, and to assemble again upon the summons of the Governor and Council. Elections were to be by ballot, and so were questions of impeachment in the Assembly and judgment of criminals in the Council. In case the proprietary be a minor, and no guardian has been appointed in writing by his father, the Council was to appoint a commission of three guardians to act as Governor during such minority. No business was to be done by the Governor, Council, or Assembly on Sunday, except in cases of emergency. The Constitution could not be altered without the consent of the Governor and six-sevenths of the Council and the General Assembly. (Such a rule, if enforced, would have perpetuated any Constitution, however bad). Finally Penn solemnly declared "that neither I, my heirs nor assigns, shall procure or do anything or things whereby the liberties in this charter contained and expressed shall be infringed or broken; and if anything be procured by any person or persons contrary to these premises it shall be held of no force or effect." On May 15th Penn's code of laws, passed in England, to be altered or amended in Pennsylvania, was promulgated. It consists of forty statutes, the first of which declares the charter or Constitution which has just been analyzed to be "fundamental in the government itself." The second establishes the qualifications of a freeman (or voter or elector). These include every purchaser of one hundred acres of land, every tenant of one hundred acres, at a penny an acre quitrent, who has paid his own passage across the ocean and cultivated ten acres of his holding, every freeman who has taken up fifty acres and cultivated twenty, "and every inhabitant, artificer, or other resident in the said province that pays scot and lot to the government." All these electors are also eligible to election both to Council and Assembly. Elections must be free and voluntary, and electors who take bribes shall forfeit their votes, while those offering bribes forfeit their election, the Council and Assembly to be sole judges of the regularity of the election of their members. "No money or goods shall be raised upon or paid by any of the people of this province, by way of public tax, custom, or contribution, but by a law for that purpose made." Those violating this statute are to be treated as public enemies and betrayers of the liberties of the province. All courts shall be open, and justice shall neither be sold, denied, or delayed. In all courts all persons of all (religious) persuasions may freely appear in their own way and according to their own manner, pleading personally or by friend; complaint to be exhibited fourteen days before trial, and summons issued not less than ten days before trial, a copy of complaint to be delivered to the party complained of at his dwelling. No complaint to be received but upon the oath or affirmation of complainant that he believes in his conscience his cause to be just. Pleadings, processes, and records in court are required to be brief, in English, and written plainly so as to be understood by all. All trials shall be by twelve men, peers, of good character, and of the neighborhood. When the penalty for the offense to be tried is death, the sheriff is to summon a grand inquest of twenty-four men, twelve at least of whom shall pronounce the complaint to be true, and then twelve men or peers are to be further returned by the sheriff to try the issue and have the final judgment. This trial jury shall always be subject to reasonable challenge. Fees are required to be moderate, their amounts settled by the Legislature, and a table of them hung up in every court-room. Any person convicted of charging more than the lawful fee shall pay twofold, one-half to go to the wronged party, while the offender shall be dismissed. All persons wrongly imprisoned or prosecuted at law shall have double damages against the informer or prosecutor. All prisons, of which each county is to have one, shall be work-houses for felons, vagrants, and loose and idle persons. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient security, save in capital offenses "where the proof is evident or the presumption great." Prisons are to be free as to fees, food, and lodging. All lands and goods shall be liable to pay debts, except where there is legal issue, and then all goods and one-third of the land only. (This is meant in case a man should die insolvent.) All wills in writing, attested by two witnesses, shall be of the same force as to lands or other conveyances, being legally proved within forty days within or without the province. Seven years' quiet possession gives title, except in cases of infants, lunatics, married women, or persons beyond the seas. Bribery and extortion are to be severely punished, but fines should be moderate and not exhaustive of men's property.(10) Marriage (not forbidden by the degrees of consanguinity or affinity) shall be encouraged, but parents or guardians must first be consulted, and publication made before solemnization; the ceremony to be by taking one another as husband and wife in the presence of witnesses, to be followed by a certificate signed by parties and witnesses, and recorded in the office of the county register. All deeds, charters, grants, conveyances, long notes, bonds, etc., are required to be registered also in the county enrollment office within two months after they are executed, otherwise to be void. Similar deeds made out of the province were allowed six months in which to be registered before becoming valid. All defacers or corrupters of legal instruments or registries shall make double satisfaction, half to the party wronged, be dismissed from place, and disgraced as false men. A separate registry of births, marriages, deaths, burials, wills, and letters of administration is required to be kept. All property of felons is liable for double satisfaction, half to the party wronged; when there is no land the satisfaction must be worked out in prison; while estates of capital offenders are escheated, one-third to go to the next of kin of the sufferer and the remainder to next of kin of criminal. Witnesses must promise to speak the truth, the whole truth, etc., and if convicted of willful falsehood shall suffer the penalty which would have been inflicted upon the person accused, shall make satisfaction to the party wronged, and be publicly exposed as false witnesses, never to be credited in any court or before any magistrate in the province. Public officers shall hold but one office at a time; all children more than twelve years old shall be taught some useful trade; servants shall not be kept longer than their time, must be well treated if deserving, and at the end of their term be "put in fitting equipage, according to custom." Scandal-mongers, back-biters, defamers and spreaders of false news, whether against public or private persons, are to be severely punished as enemies to peace and concord. Factors and others guilty of breach of trust must make satisfaction, and one-third over, to their employers, and in case of the factor's death the Council Committee of Trade is to see that satisfaction is made out of his estates. All public officers, legislators, etc., must be professors of faith in Jesus Christ, of good fame, sober and honest convictions, and twenty-one years old. "All persons living in this province who confess and acknowledge the one Almighty and Eternal God to be the Creator, Upholder, and Ruler of the world, and that hold themselves obliged in conscience to live peaceably and justly in civil society, shall in noways be molested or prejudiced for their religious persuasion or practice in matters of faith and worship; nor shall they be compelled at any time to frequent or maintain any religious worship, place, or ministry whatever." The people are required to respect Sunday by abstaining from daily labor. All "offenses against God," swearing, cursing, lying, profane talking, drunkenness, drinking of healths, obscenity, whoredom and other uncleanness, treasons, misprisions, murders, duels, felony, sedition, maimings, forcible entries and other violence, all prizes, stage-plays, cards, dice, May-games, gamesters, masks, revels, bull-baitings, cock-fightings, and the like, "which excite the people to rudeness, cruelty, looseness, and irreligion, shall be respectfully discouraged and severely punished, according to the appointment of the Governor and freemen in Council and General Assembly." All other matters not provided for in this code are referred to "the order, prudence, and determination" of the Governor and Legislature. The most admirable parts of this code, putting it far ahead of the contemporary jurisprudence of England or any other civilized country at the time,(11) are the regulations for liberty of worship and the administration of justice. Penn's code on this latter point is more than a hundred years in advance of England. In the matter of fees, charges, plain and simple forms, processes, records, and pleadings, it still remains in advance of court proceedings and regulations nearly everywhere. The clauses about work-houses and about bailable offenses are also far in advance of even the best modern jurisprudence. Notwithstanding all these and many other heavy and pressing engagements, Penn seems to have found time to attend to his work as a preacher and a writer of religous tracts and pamphlets. He went on a mission tour into the West of England, he wrote on "Spiritual Commission," he mediated between dissenting Friends, and healed a breach in his church; his benevolent endeavors were given to aid and encourage the Bristol Quakers, then severely persecuted, and he barely escaped being sent to jail himself for preaching in London at the Grace Church Street meeting. Penn had expected to go out to Pennsylvania himself late in the fall of 1681, but the pressure of all these concerns and the rush of emigrants and colonists delayed him. He found he would have settlers from France, Holland, and Scotland, as well as from England, and few besides servants would be ready to go before the spring of 1682. "When they go, I go," he wrote to his friend James Harrison, "but my going with servants will not settle a government, the great end of my going." He also said in this letter that in sell ng or renting land he cleared the king's and the Indian title, the purchaser or lessee paid the scrivener and surveyor. In October Penn sent out three commissioners, William Crispin, John Bezar, and Nathaniel Allen, to co-operate with Markham in selecting a site for Penn's proposed great city, and to lay it out. They also were given very full, careful, and explicit instructions by Penn, particularly as to dealing with the Indians, some Indian titles needing to be extinguished by them. He wrote a letter to the Indians themselves by these commissioners, which shows he had studied the savage character very carefully. It touched the Indian's faith in the one universal Great Spirit, and finely appealed to his strong innate sense of justice. He did not wish to enjoy the great province his king had given him, he said, without the Indian's consent. The red man had suffered much injustice from his countrymen, but this was the work of self seekers; "but I am not such a man, as is well known in my own country, I have a great love and regard for you, and I desire to win and gain your love and friendship by a kind, just, and peaceable life, and the people I send are all of the same mind, and shall in all things behave themselves accordingly, and if in anything any shall offend you or your people, you shall have a full and speedy satisfaction for the same by an equal number of just men on both sides, that by no means you may have just occasion of being offended against them." This was the initiatory step in that "traditional policy" of Penn and the Quakers towards the Indians which has been so consistently maintained ever since, to the imperishable honor of that sect. As the year 1682 entered we find Penn reported to be "extraordinarily busy" about his province and its affairs. He is selling or leasing a great deal of land, and sending out many servants. A thousand persons are going to emigrate along with him. He gets Claypoole to write to his correspondent in Bordeaux for grape-vines, fifteen hundred or two thousand plants, to carry out with him, desiring vines that bear the best grapes, not the most. Claypoole has himself bought five thousand acres, wants to go out and settle, but doubts and fears. He don't feel sure about the climate, the savages, the water the vermin, reptiles, etc. By June 1st Penn had made the extraordinary sale of five hundred and sixty-five thousand five hundred acres of land in the new province, in parcels of from two hundred and fifty to twenty thousand acres. Penn's mother died about this time, causing him much affliction. The Free Traders' Society is organized, Claypoole makes up his mind at last to emigrate, the site for Philadelphia is determined, and Markham buys up Indian titles and settlers' land upon it, so as to have all clear for the coming great city. August 31st the Duke of York gives Penn a protective deed for Pennsylvania, and on the 24th the Duke finally concedes New Castle, and twelve miles about it, and Horekill (Delaware), between New Castle and Cape Henlopen, to him by deed of feoffment.(12) This concludes the major part of Penn's business in England, and he is ready to sail Sept. 1st, 1682, in the ship "Welcome," three hundred tons, Captain Robert Greenway, master. It is then that he writes the touching letter to his wife and children, in which he says, "remember thou wast the love of my youth and much the joy of my life; the most beloved as well as the most worthy of all my earthly comforts; and the reason of that love was more thy inward than thy outward excellences, which yet were many." He embarked at Deal with a large company of Quakers, and from the Downs sent a letter of "salutation to all faithful friends in England." Hazard says, "This year (1672) the celebrated Friend, George Fox, visited this part of the country. He arrived from Jamaica, in Maryland, and, accompanied by John Burnyeat, Robert Withers and George Pattison, on their way to New England, by land, they touched at New Castle, and from thence, with much difficulty, crossed the Delaware. On their return, they again visit New Castle, swimming their horses by the sides of canoes, and underwent many difficulties. At New Castle, they met with a handsome reception from Governor Carr, and had a pretty large meeting there, it being the first ever held in that place; thence they returned to Maryland." ' Annals of Pennsylvania. This was a revival of the old New England confederacy of 1643, of late crippled and made ineffective by inter-colonial dissensions. It finally fell to pieces through the destruction of local self-government and the substitution of royal governors in the New England colonies between 1664 and 1684. See Richard Frothingham's "Rise of the Republic," chap. ii. * The value of Indian lands at that time to the savages may be gathered from the price paid in 1677 for twenty miles square on the Delaware between Timber and Oldman's Creeks, to wit: 30 match-coats (made of hairy wool with the rough side out), 20 guns, 30 kettles, 1 great kettle, 30 pair of hose, 20 fathoms of duffels (Duffield blanket cloth, of which match coats were made), 30 petticoats, 30 narrow hoes, 30 bars of lead, 15 small barrels of powder, 70 knives, 30 Indian axes, 70 combs, 60 pair of tobacco tongs, 60 pair of scissors, 60 tinshaw looking-glasses, 120 awl-blades, 120 fish-hooks, 2 grasps of red paint, 120 needles, 60 tobacco-boxes, 120 pipes, 200 bells, 100 jews-harps, and 6 anchors of rum." The value of these articles probably did not exceed three hundred pounds sterling. But, on the other hand, the Indian titles were really worth nothing, except so far as they served as a security against Indian hostility. It has been said that there is not an acre of land in the eastern part of Pennsylvania the deeds of which cannot be traced up to an Indian title, but that in effect would be no title at all. Mr. Lawrence Lewis, in his learned and luminous "Essay on Original Land Titles in Philadelphia," denies this absolutely, and says that it is "impossible to trace with any accuracy" the titles to land in Philadelphia derived from the Indians. Nor is it necessary to trace a title which is of no value. The Indians could not sell land to individuals and give valid title for it in any of the colonies; they could sell, if they chose, but only to the government. Upon this subject the lawyers are explicit. All good titles in the thirteen original colonies are derived from land-grants, made or accepted not by the Indians, but by the British crown. Thus Chalmers (Political Annals, 677) says, "The law of nations sternly disregarded the possession of the aborigines, because they had not been admitted into the society of nations." At the Declaration of Independence (see Dallas' Reports, ii. 470) every acre of land in this country was held, mediately or immediately, by grants from the crown. All our institutions (Wheaton, viii. 588) recognize the absolute title of the crown, subject only to the Indian right of occupancy, and recognize the absolute title of the crown to extinguish that right. An Indian conveyance alone could give no title to an individual. (The references here given are quoted from the accurate Frothingham's "Rise of the Republic.") (4) Not to be wondered at when we find in Charles' book of secret service money such entries as the following: "March 28th. Paid to Duchess of Portsmouth (king's mistress) '13,341 10s. 4 1/2d. in various sums June 14th. Paid to Richard Yates, son of Francis Yates, who conducted Prince Charles from the field of Worcester to Whyte Ladies after the battle, and suffered death for it under Cromwell, '10 10s." (5) Called "redemptioners," because they sold their services for a term of years to pay or redeem the money advanced to "carry them over." (6) On this basis, if we suppose the servant allotments to pay the same quit-rent as other tenants, Penn's colonists would be assessed about thus: (7) In this society votes were to be on basis of amount of stock held, up to three votes, which was the limit. No one in England was allowed more than one vote, and proxies could be voted. The officers were president, deputy, treasurer, secretary, and twelve committee-men. Five, with president or deputy, a quorum. Committee-men to have but one vote each in meetings, with the casting vote to the president. Officers to hold during seven years on good behaviour; general election and reopening of subscription books every seventh year; general statement at the end of each business year. The officers to live on society's property. All the society's servants were bound to secrecy, and the books were kept in society's house, under three locks, the keys in charge of president, treasurer, and oldest committee-man, and not to be intrusted to any person longer than to transcribe any part in daytime and in the house, before seven persons, appointed by committee. The society was to send two hundred servants to Pennsylvania the first year to build two or more general factories in Pennsylvania, one on Chesapeake Bay, one on Delaware or elsewhere; to aid Indians in building houses, etc., and to hold negroes for fourteen years' service, when they were to go free, "on giving the society two-thirds of what they can produce on land allotted to them by the society, with a stock and tools; if they agree not to this, to be servants till they do." The leading object of the society at the outset seems to have been an extensive free trade with the Indians. (8) Instructions to commissioners for settling the colony, Oct. 19, 1681. This has been conclusively shown in some opinions (published in the Maryland Reports) of the judges of the Maryland Court of Appeals. These opinions were given in interpretation of leases "for ninety-nine years, renewable forever." It was decided that these leases were perpetual, and their historical relation to the Irish leases was demonstrated in order to establish the fact of their irredeemable character. (9) In the preamble Penn lays down a doctrine now universally recognized, and the general acceptance of which, it is believed, affords the surest guarantee for the perpetuity of American institutions: that virtue and wisdom, "because they descend not with worldly inheritances, must be carefully propagated by a virtuous education of youth, for which after-ages will owe more to the care and prudence of founders and the successive magistracy than to their parents for their private patrimonies." No great truth could be more fully and nobly expressed than this. (10) "Contenements, merchandise, and wainage," says the text,' the land by which a man keeps his house, his goods, and his means of transportation (11) But we must except the Catholic colony in Maryland, founded by Sir George Calvert, whose charter of 1632, and the act of toleration passed by the Assembly of Maryland, in 1649, under the inspiration of Sir George's son. Caecilius, must be placed alongside of Penn's work. Two brighter lights in an age of darkness never shone. Calvert's charter was written during the heat of the Thirty Years' religious war, Penn's Constitution at the moment when all Dissenters were persecuted in England and when Louis XIV. was about to revoke the Edict of Nantes. The Virginians were expelling the Quakers and other sectaries. In New England the Puritan separatists, themselves refugees for opinion's sake, martyrs to the cause of religious freedom, were making laws which were the embodiment of doubly-distilled intolerance and persecution. Roger Williams was banished in 1635, in 1650 the Baptists were sent to the whipping-post, in 1634 there was a law passed for the expulsion of Anabaptists, in 1647 for the exclusion of Jesuits, and if they returned they were to be put to death. In 1656 it was decreed against "the cursed sect of heretics lately risen up in the world, which are commonly called Quakers," that captains of ships bringing them in were to be fined or imprisoned, Quaker books, or "writings containing their devilish opinions," were not to be imported, Quakers themselves were to be sent to the house of correction, kept at work, made to remain silent, and severely whipped. This was what the contemporaries of Calvert and Penn did. We have seen Penn's law of liberty of conscience. Calvert's was equally liberal. The charter of Calvert was not to be interpreted so as to work any diminution of God's sacred Christian religion, open to all sects, Protestant and Catholic, and the act of toleration and all preceding legislation, official oaths, etc., breathed the same spirit of toleration and determination, in the words of the oath of 1637, that none in the colony, by himself or other directly or indirectly, will "trouble, molest, or discountenance any person professing to believe in Jesus Christ for or on account of his religion." (12*) It would appear from the following, that very soon after receiving the charter for Pennsylvania, William Penn was negotiating for New Castle, and probably for the remaining portion of the territory below. "Sir John Werden wrote to Mr. Penn, that the duke was not yet disposed to grant the lands about New Castle. He, at the same time, informed him that he thought his claims to the islands in the Delaware ill-founded, because they were not included by the words of the patent, and were not intended to be granted. He immediately warned Dongan, Governor of New York, to prevent Penn's encroachments on his province, or its dependencies, giving a reason, which shows the opinions of men who had done so much business with him, that he was very intent on his own interests in those parts, as you observe." ' Chalmers, p. 660.
Weird Creatures From the Deep A massive census of the oceans has turned up a trove of strange marine wildlife, from jellyfish to octopuses to anemones - By Jess Righthand - Smithsonian.com, August 06, 2010 The giant Caribbean anemone (Condylactis gigantean) is commonly found in the inner reefs and lagoons of the West Indies and the western Atlantic. It can grow up to 16 inches in diameter and is identifiable by the brightly colored tips of its tentacles. But beware: these eye-catching anemones have venom in their tentacles, which they use to stun and capture their prey.
- Rhode Island is the ___ state in the United States. North to south it measures 77km [48 miles], and east to west it measures 60km [37 - Rhode Island ___ an island. It has land borders with Connecticut a. would never b. is not actually c. can't been - The Rhode Island state flower is the violet. The Rhode Island state bird is the Rhode Island Red Hen. Rhode Island is the ___ state to have a chicken as its state bird. - Rhode Island was created by a ___ of exiles from Boston. They were banned for protesting the religious intolerance of the Puritans in Boston. Rhode Island was the first colony to welcome both Jews and - Rhode Island was the first American colony to declare independence from Great Britain in May 4, 1776. Rhode Island ___ to approve the American Constitution and take part in the new government until Congress agreed to add a bill of rights. RI was the last colony to sign the Constitution on May 29, 1790. - Many people enjoy ___ in department stores. In 1953, the first discount department store in the United States opened in Cumberland, Rhode Island, named "Ann and Hope." The name was from a famous sailing ship, which was named for the wives of important early Rhode Islanders. - Golf is a very ___ sport. Rhode Island was home to the first open golf tournament (1895). c. hand some - Knives, forks and spoons ___ are called silverware. The largest manufacturer of silverware in the world is in Providence, Rhode Island. The plant started in the early 1800's. - There is a notable toy company in Providence, RI. Two brothers, Henry and Helal Hassenfeld, founded Hassenfeld Brothers in 1923. The name was too long, so they ___ it to Hasbro. A. shorted - The Hasbro company makes many distinguished toys and games. A famous toy is Mr. Potato Head. A popular game is "Monopoly". Another word that means "famous" is ___.
Responsibilities of Participants In study abroad, as in other settings, participants can have a major impact on their own health and safety through the decisions they make before and during their program and by their day-to-day choices and behaviors. - Assume responsibility for all the elements necessary for their personal preparation for the program and participate fully in orientations. - Read and carefully consider all materials issued by the sponsor that relate to safety, health, legal, environmental, political, cultural, and religious conditions in the host country(ies). - Conduct their own research on the country(ies) they plan to visit with particular emphasis on health and safety concerns, as well as the social, cultural, and political situations. - Consider their physical and mental health, and other personal circumstances when applying for or accepting a place in a program, and make available to the sponsor accurate and complete physical and mental health information and any other personal data that is necessary in planning for a safe and healthy study abroad experience. - Obtain and maintain appropriate insurance coverage and abide by any conditions imposed by the carriers. - Inform parents/guardians/families and any others who may need to know about their participation in the study abroad program, provide them with emergency contact information, and keep them informed of their whereabouts and activities. - Understand and comply with the terms of participation, codes of conduct, and emergency procedures of the program. - Be aware of local conditions and customs that may present health or safety risks when making daily choices and decisions. Promptly express any health or safety concerns to the program staff or other appropriate individuals before and/or during the program. - Accept responsibility for their own decisions and actions. - Obey host-country laws. - Behave in a manner that is respectful of the rights and well being of others, and encourage others to behave in a similar manner. - Avoid illegal drugs and excessive or irresponsible consumption of alcohol. - Follow the program policies for keeping program staff informed of their whereabouts and well being. - Become familiar with the procedures for obtaining emergency health and legal system services in the host country.
This is the land of the free and the home of the brave, but it’s also the land of roughly two million dams including diversions, irrigation conduits, flood control and water storage projects, both private and federally-owned hydropower dams, and a growing number of uneconomic, unclaimed and unmaintained dams affecting at least 600,000 miles of river. Check out a map from American Rivers with dams that have been removed, dams that need to come down and dams that should not be built. Dam Nation: A Snapshot of River Restoration Efforts in the U.S. Dams: Frequently Asked Questions (Courtesy of American Rivers) 1) What is a dam? There are a number of technical and legal definitions of a dam but generally it is any structure that impounds or diverts water. 2) How many dams are there in the United States? There are over 80,000 dams in the US Army Corps of Engineers' (Corps) National Inventory of Dams (NID), which is the most comprehensive inventory of dams nationwide. However, this inventory only covers dams that meet minimum height and impoundment requirements, so an unknown number of small dams are not included in the inventory. According to the National Research Council, there are more than two million dams in the United States. Of the 80,000 dams in the database, approximately 66,000 are located on rivers (the remainder impound water off-river). 3) Which state has the most dams? According to the NID, Texas has the most dams of any state at 6,798. 4) Who regulates dam operations? A number of state and federal agencies are responsible for regulating dams. Dams owned by federal agencies are self-regulated. Non-federal dams that produce hydropower are regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Non-federal dams that do not produce hydropower are regulated by the state in which they reside. Often this state regulation is focused on dam safety. 5) How many dams actually produce power? FERC regulates approximately 2,300 hydroelectric producing dams. In addition, there are approximately 240 federal dams that produce hydroelectric power. Thus, there are a total of approximately 2,540 hydropower dams. 6) What is the largest dam in the country? The size of a dam can be measured in a number of different ways. According to the NID, Oroville Dam, on the Feather River in California, is the tallest dam in the United States, measuring in at 770 ft. The dam with the largest impoundment is Hoover Dam, on the Colorado River in Nevada, which stores approximately 30 million acre-feet of water. The dam that provides the most hydroelectric power in the United States is Grand Coulee Dam, on the Columbia River in Washington, which generates 6180 megawatts (MW) of power. 7) Why are some dams being removed? There has been a growing movement to remove dams where the costs - including environmental, safety, and socio-cultural impacts - outweigh the benefits - including hydropower, flood control, irrigation, or recreation - or where the dam no longer serves any useful purpose. The goal of removal can be multi-faceted, including restoring flows for fish and wildlife, reinstating the natural sediment and nutrient flow, eliminating safety risks, restoring opportunities for whitewater recreation, and saving taxpayer money. 8) How are dams removed? Because dams and rivers vary greatly, physical removal strategies and techniques may also vary on a case by case basis. Generally, the process involves drawing down the reservoir, potentially removing the sediment built up behind the dam, removing the structure, and mitigating for downstream effects of increased flow and sediment re-suspension. Techniques may include the use of controlled explosions and heavy demolition equipment. 9) How many dams have been removed to date? Currently, American Rivers is aware of more than 925 dams that have been removed over the past 50 years in this country. American Rivers is still in the process of gathering this data, so that figure is likely to increase as more information becomes available. 10) How much does it cost to remove a dam? Because the size and location of dams vary so greatly, the cost to remove an individual dam can range from tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars. 11) Who owns the dams that are being removed? Private businesses, federal agencies, state agencies, local governments, or public utilities may own dams. Most of the dams removed to date have been owned privately, by local government, or by public utilities. 12) Who pays for dam removal? Who pays for the removal of a dam is often a complex issue. In past cases, removal has been financed by the dam owner, local, state and federal governments, and in some cases agreements whereby multiple stakeholders contribute to cover the costs. 13) Who decides that dams should be removed? The decision to remove a dam is made by varying entities, depending on the regulatory oversight of the dam. In most cases, the dam owner itself is the decision-maker, often deciding that the costs of continuing to operate and maintain the dam are more than removing the dam. State dam safety offices can often order a dam to be removed if there are major safety concerns. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can order a hydropower dam under their jurisdiction to be removed for both environmental and safety reasons. 14) Can rivers be restored through dam removal? Although most rivers cannot be completely restored to historic conditions - simply because of the amount of development that has occurred on and along them - dam removal can often recreate conditions that move the river towards those historic conditions. For example, fish are returning to historic stretches of river that had been previously obstructed on Butte Creek in California, the Souadabscook River in Maine, and the Clearwater River in Idaho, as a result of dam removals. 15) What benefits do dams provide? Dams may provide a variety of benefits, including water supply, power generation, flood control, recreation, and irrigation. 16) How can the benefits of a dam be replaced when it is removed? While dams serve a number of human needs, society has developed ways to address many of these needs without dams. For instance, flood control can often be accomplished more effectively and for less money by restoring wetlands, maintaining riparian buffers, or moving people out of the floodplain. Updating antiquated irrigation systems and replacing inappropriate crops can dramatically reduce the need for dams and reservoirs in the arid West. Rather than plugging rivers with multiple hydropower dams, a cheaper and less environmentally harmful solution is to use existing energy efficiency technologies. For example, the 3MW of power lost in the removal of the Edwards Dam, on the Kennebec River in Maine, can be replaced simply by replacing 75,000 light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs. Many dams that have been removed no longer had any beneficial use or that use was very limited. 17) Is it cost effective to remove a dam? Dam removal can be expensive in the short term, but in most cases where dams have been removed or are being considered for removal, money is actually saved over the long term. Removal eliminates the expenses associated with maintenance and safety as well as direct and indirect expenses associated with fish and wildlife protection (e.g. fish ladders and mitigation for fish mortality). In addition, removal often generates income from newly available recreation opportunities - including fishing, kayaking, and rafting - which may actually result in a net economic benefit. In some areas, dam removal may allow resumption of commercial fishing activities. 18) Will the removal of a dam matter if other dams in the system are not removed? Some rivers are so heavily developed and dammed that removal of one dam on that river will only return flows to a small portion of the river. Generally, dams that have been targeted for removal are strategically located - removal will open up a section of the river critical to fish and wildlife and/or recreation. In some cases, this additional section of river is enough to sustain crucial populations of endangered or threatened species of fish, mollusks, and other wildlife. 19) Are we going to decide in twenty years that we need to start building dams again? We have learned a lot in the past twenty years about the many impacts dams have on rivers, and we have learned many alternatives to damming rivers. The combination of these two lessons is leading to dam removal. In the next twenty years we are likely to learn even more about alternatives to dams and the impacts of dams on rivers. Thus, it is unlikely that we will reverse ourselves and decide to build more dams. 20) How does dam removal affect fish? Dam removal benefits riverine fish in many ways, including: (1) removing obstructions to upstream and downstream migration; (2) restoring natural riverine habitat; (3) restoring natural seasonal flow variations; (4) eliminating siltation of spawning and feeding habitat above the dam; (5) allowing debris, small rocks and nutrients to pass below the dam, creating healthy habitat; (6) eliminating unnatural temperature variations below the dam; and (7) removing turbines that kill fish. 21) What are the potential downsides to dam removal? Dam removal does result in fundamental changes to the local environment. The reservoir will be eliminated, and with it the flat-water habitat that had been created. Wetlands surrounding the reservoir will also be drained, although new wetlands are often created both in the newly restored river reach above the former dam site and in the river below. Sediment that collects behind a dam, sometimes over hundreds of years, may contain toxics such as PCBs, dioxide, and heavy metals. Re-suspension of these toxic-laden sediments in the process of dam removal has the potential to damage downstream water quality and threaten the health of fish and wildlife and water users. Short term impacts of the dam removal itself can include increased water turbidity and sediment buildup downstream from releasing large amounts of sediment from the reservoir, and water quality impacts from sudden releases of water and changes in temperature. These impacts, however, can be prevented through proper removal techniques. 22) How quickly do rivers recover after dam removal? Rivers are very dynamic and resilient systems. Experience has shown that natural river systems can be restored relatively rapidly after dam removal. For example, spawning fish returned to the Souadabscook River in Maine only months after a dam was removed, and the flushing of the sediment from the Milwaukee River in Wisconsin following the Woolen Mills Dam removal took only six months.
A bladder infection is also called a urinary tract infection (UTI) by most medical people, so if you hear both names, don't get scared or confused. It is a bacterial infection that affects any part of the urinary tract. Although urine contains a variety of fluids. salts, and waste products, it normally does not have bacteria in it. When bacteria get into the bladder and multiply in the urine, it causes a UTI. The most common type of UTI is a bladder infection, which is also often called cystitis. Cystitis means an inflammation of the bladder. The other kind of UTI is a kidney infection, which is also known as pyelonephritis. This kind of infection can be serious. Although they cause discomfort, urinary tract infections are usually quickly and easily treated - but it's important that they are treated promptly. You can not get a urinary tract infection from someone else, although females who are just becoming sexually active often get UTIs. UTIs are caused by bacteria. Usually by the bacteria that are found in the intestines and sometimes on the skin around the rectal and vaginal areas. Yes, that means from fecal contamination. Nearly 85% of UTIs are caused by the bacteria Escherichia coli, or E. coli --for short. When the bacteria pass through the urethra (the narrow urine canal that connects the bladder to the outside), they can get inside the bladder and cause an infection. Some females get urinary tract infections more frequently, this may be because of the differences in the shape and length of the urethra in different people. A female with a shorter urethra may get more UTIs. Males generally get fewer UTIs than females because they have longer urethras. There are several ways bacteria can get into the urethra. During sexual intercourse, the bacteria in the vaginal area can be pushed into the urethra, which causes irritation in the bladder. In fact, any time the vaginal area is rubbed, bacteria can be pushed into the urethra. You can get a bladder infection from oral sex too. Infections are also common in women who wear tight jeans. There are a number of symptoms associated with UTIs. Bladder infections are characterized by an urgent desire to empty the bladder. Symptoms include frequent urination, burning or pain during urination, bladder spasms and the feeling of having to urinate even though little or no urine actually comes out. In some cases, you may have bloody or foul-smelling urine, and maybe a mild fever. A kidney infection may involve more serious symptoms, including fever, chills, and nausea. There may also be cloudy or bloody urine, abdominal pain and burning, and frequent urination. Most people with kidney infections also experience back pain just above the waist. Most people will turn to anti-biotics. Antibiotics begin fighting the infection right away, but they can't stop all the symptoms . Here is the biggest difference between using a anti-biotic and a probiotic. Anti-biotics only treat the symtons. Probiotics , namely Probiotics by Dr. Ohirra Probiotics treats the source and will work if taken in proper dosage and length of time. It's important to drink lots of water during and after treatment because each time you urinate, the bladder cleanses itself a little bit more.. Vitamin C may also be recommended for you to take. If you get help right away, a UTI should completely clear up within 10 days to 2 weeks. Many customers report excellent results in just a few days, using Dr. Ohhira's Probiotics. It would be advised to avoid sexual intercourse until the symptoms have been gone for 2 weeks, which allows the inflammation to disappear completely. You Can Prevent UTIs There are several ways you may be able to prevent UTIs. After urination, females should wipe from front to back with toilet paper. After bowel movements, be sure to wipe from front to back to avoid spreading bacteria from the rectal area to the urethra. Another thing you can do to prevent bladder infections, whether you're a male or female, is to go to the bathroom to empty your bladder frequently. Avoid holding your urine for long periods of time. Males and females should also keep the genital area clean and dry. Frequent bubble baths can cause irritation of the vaginal area, so girls should take showers or take baths without adding bubble bath to the water. Avoid prolonged exposure to moisture in the genital area by not wearing nylon underwear or wet swimsuits. Remember that wearing underwear with cotton crotches is also helpful. If you are sexually active, urinate within 15 minutes after intercourse (or right after) and gently wash the genital area to remove any bacteria. Avoid sexual positions that irritate or hurt your urethra or bladder, and if you need lubrication during sex, use a water-soluble lubricant, such as K-Y Jelly. Finally, drinking lots of water - six to eight glasses a day - keeps your bladder active and bacteria-free. The sooner you start taking Probiotics, the sooner you'll be able to clear up the infection. You have a MONEY BACK GUANANTEE, that if taken in the proper dosage in an adequate time frame and if you fail to get expected results, CHOOSETOBEHEALTHY.COM will refund all monies paid upon the return of unused product. Dr. Ohhira's Probitics will work, period! Give it a chance, you will be glad you did. You simply have nothing to lose , except the problem. Dr. Ohhira's Probiotic is the most powerful probiotic on the market today and is very effective against Vaginal Yeast Infection, Vaginal Thrush. Epstein-Barr, Inflammatory Bowel and Peptic Ulcers and Bladder infection. Please e mail me [email protected] or call toll free 1-866-424-1077 for more information. Choose to Be Healthy
Nuclear Power Is the Future Nuclear power alone is positioned to help meet the world's burgeoning energy demand and supply electricity to power-starved areas of the world. Read a related essay in the Autumn 2006 issue, "Nuclear Is Not the Way" by Brice Smith and Arjun Makhijani. In the early morning hours of March 28, 1979, a pump that provided cooling water to Unit No. 2 at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station suddenly broke down. The 880-megawatt reactor, located on an island in the Susquehanna River 10 miles from the Pennsylvania capital of Harrisburg, was operating at close to fullcapacity. When the cooling pump failed, the turbine and the reactor automatically shut off, as they had been programmed to do. But an entire nuclear power plant doesn’t halt operations as easily as one flips a switch. The other parts of the plant that are goingfull-bore have to ramp down, too, in a carefully managed process. The safe shutdown of a nuclear plant relies partly onautomation—an elaborate, sophisticated series of computers, pumps, valves, and mechanical checks andbalances—and partly on humanoversight. As the turbine and reactor at Unit No. 2 turned off, the pressure in the nuclear portion of the plant began to build excessively. In such situations, a valve should pop open, releasing coolant and thereby relieving the pressure. In this case, the valve did. But it failed to close when the pressure decreased. It wasstuck. Worse, according to the federal government’s subsequent investigation, “signals available to the operator failed to show that the valve was still open.” As a result, “cooling water poured out of thestuck-open valve.” As coolant continued to escape, unbeknownst to the engineers in the control room, the reactor began to overheat. It was melting down, and, terrifyingly, Three Mile Island’s overseers didn’t knowit. After that accident 27 years ago, a consensus quickly emerged that nuclear energy was too inherently dangerous for the United States to pursue a future powered by splitting the atom. More than 60 nuclear reactor units at various stages in the permitting and construction pipeline were canceled in the aftermath of Three Mile Island. So complete was this rout that not a single new nuclear power plant has been ordered since. The disaster at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union seven years later seemed merely to confirm that nuclear power wasdead. The obituaries written for U.S. nuclear power in the wake of Three Mile Island were, however, premature. True, the industry suffered greatly, but it did not die entirely. In fact, under the radar, nuclear energy production has actually expanded. In 2005, the 103 U.S. commercial nuclear reactors operating in 31 states generated 782 billionkilowatt-hours (kWh), three times more power than in1979. Not every nuclear plant in the pipeline was cancelled after Three Mile Island. In fact, there are 50 percent more commercial nuclear reactors in operation today. More important, massive gains in operating efficiency have helped boost nuclear plants’ output. At the time of the accident, nuclear facilities ran at about 60 percent of their capacity; they were offline for several months a year for refueling and maintenance. Today this work is done in weeks, not months, and plants can run at nearly 90 percent of capacity. From 1990 to 2002, these gains helped add the equivalent of 26 new,standard-sized 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plants to the U.S. power supplysystem. While the United States has been suffering its crisis of confidence about nuclear energy, much of the rest of world has shrugged off such anxieties. Today, more than 300 nuclear reactors produce electricity in nearly 30 other countries. The vast majority have come online since Three Mile Island. More than 130 new plants are under constructionworldwide. Now, the United States seems poised to catch up. Today, we routinely hear about a “renaissance” or “revival” of nuclear energy. The recognition that nuclear power is vital to global energy security in the 21st century has been growing for some time. Public opinion on the relative dangers and benefits of atomic energy is shifting, particularly in the United States. Opinion polls routinely show that a majority of Americans support nuclear energy. That support translated into favorable provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which specialists claim will facilitate the construction of new nuclear plants in the United States. Within the next 10 years, we are told, we should see the first new nuclear power plant in decades get licensed and built. But such a renaissance is not a sure thing. Legitimate questions remain about safety, about the licensing process for new reactors, and, most important, about how to handle and where to store spent nuclear fuel. Failure to answer these questions adequately could imperil the nuclear revival so many have proclaimed isnigh. The beauty of nuclear fission is its ability to derive so much from so little. The energy density of nuclear fuel far exceeds that of any other energy source. As my Manhattan Institute colleague Peter Huber has noted, “A bundle ofenriched-uraniumfuelrods that could fit into atwo-bedroom apartment in Hell’s Kitchen would power [New York City] for a year: furnaces, espresso machines, subways, streetlights, stock tickers, Times Square,everything—even our cars and taxis, if we could conveniently plug them into the grid.” Pound for pound, coal stores twice as much energy as wood. Oil packs the same amount of energy that coal does into half the weight and space. But a gram of uranium 235 contains as much energy as four tons of coal. This is why splitting the atom was key to inventing the new type of bomb that could win World War II. And it is why President Dwight D. Eisenhower, an early proponent of commercial nuclear power, could argue that atomic energy might transform medicine, agriculture, and, in particular, electricity generation. It succeeded on allcounts. At times, enthusiasm for nuclear power’s potential bordered on the hyperbolic. In 1954, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission famously predicted in a speech to science writers, “Our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter.” Though to this day there remains speculation about whether he was referring to nuclear fission or perhaps to something farther off in the future, such as fusion power, the“too-cheap-to-meter” promise has been attached to commercial nuclear power generation ever since. It is cited frequently by antinuclear activists as evidence that the technology’s proponents have their heads in theclouds. Just as there is no such thing as a free lunch, there is no such thing as “too cheap to meter”—though in some respects nuclear energy isn’t all that far off the mark. The generation of electricity from nuclear power entails significant costs. By and large, however, these are capital investments having to do with construction and transmission. Because a plant requires so little uranium to generate so much power, once a nuclear plant isbuilt—and the expected life span of a conventional reactor is 40 to 60 years, perhapslonger—the price of fuel is close to irrelevant in figuring the cost of electricity. The nuclear industry boasts of providing some of the cheapest electricity on the grid, at an average production cost (after a plant is built) of less than 1.8 cents per kWh. These costs are close to 40 percent lower than they were just two decadesago. On its merely pecuniary merits, then, nuclear power looks pretty good compared to the alternatives. Electricity generated from natural gas can cost anywhere from three cents per kWh to more than six cents, depending on the market price for gas. Electricity from renewable energies such as wind, solar, or biomass can cost anywhere from two to six times as much as electricity from nuclear power. Only coal can provide electricity at prices to rival those of nuclear energy, but coal has evident environmental drawbacks tied to pollution and climatechange. Given the economics, it is little wonder that nuclear power has gained a strong foothold in America’s energy economy. Coal accounts for half of all electricity generated in the United States. Nuclear power’s share is aboutone-fifth, roughly as much electricity as is generated by natural gas. (Worldwide, nuclear power provides 16 percent of all electricity.) Hydropower accounts for about six percent. Fashionable but uneconomic renewable energies such as wind and solar power generate less than half of one percent of America’selectricity. Total world energy demand is expected to double by 2050. Over the next two decades, global appetites for electricity are expected to increase 75 percent over current levels. Electricity demand is predicted to skyrocket in the United States as well, continuing a recent trend that has gone largely unnoticed by many pundits and energy industry observers. Though the news media constantly broadcast our angst about reliance on petroleum, particularly oil from the Middle East, the most significant energy development in recent times has been the increasing electrification of America’s amazing economic engine. More than 85 percent of the growth in U.S. energy demand in the last quarter-century has been met not by oil but by electricity, most notably in the information technology and telecommunications industries. Today, nearly three of every five dollars of U.S. gross domestic product come from industries and services that run on electricity. In 1950, just one in five dollars of GDP was dependent on electrical power. This shift from oil to electricity points to the gradual fulfillment of President George W. Bush’s goal, expressed in the 2006 State of the Union address, that our nation “move beyond apetroleum-based economy.” Oil will remain critical to the energy economy for as long as anyone can foresee, since the transportation sector depends on it. But as America’s economic growth in the Internet age continues, sparked by electrons dancing along wires andfiber-optic cables, it will require ever more massive amounts of electricity. Nuclear power seems a promising solution to this need. The questions about nuclear power, however, are not merely economic. If they were, there would be little controversy about whether to split atoms. Since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, during the Cold War, and particularly in the wake of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, legitimate inquiries into the safety, security, and environmental effects of nuclear energy have dominated thedebate. With regard to the incidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, these objections don’t quite seem fair. Opponents of nuclear energy seized on these episodes to argue that nuclear power is inherently unsafe, and they found a receptive audience in the United States and Europe. But a closer examination of the two events tells a differentstory. God willing, Three Mile Island will be remembered as the worst nuclear accident in American history. But nobody died. Nobody was even injured. Despite thescary-sounding partial core meltdown that occurred, the nearby community was never really endangered. The massive concrete containment structures that are standard on almost all nuclear reactors did their job and ensured that no radiationleaked. Chernobyl was different. The 1986 accident spiraled out of control partly because of human error by theSoviet-trained engineers, but more because of the nuclear plant’s tragically flawed design.Many reactors built in the Soviet era, as Chernobyl was, did not feature the containment buildings found at virtually every other facility around the world. A toxic plume of radioactive fallout drifted across the Soviet Union, the rest of Europe and Asia, and even as far as North America. Hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine and Belarus were forced to relocate permanently. Several dozen people perished in the first few months after the accident. A recent United Nations report suggested that as many as 4,000 people will die fromradiation-induced cancers tied to the disaster. Had Chernobyl been built with the containment structures standard in nuclear reactors the world over, that tragedy could have beenavoided. Still, the critics of nuclear power are right: Nuclear power is dangerous. Dealing with radioactive materials entails very real peril. Concerns about the proliferation of materials, technology, and nuclearknow-how are by no means unfounded. And for all of the nuclear industry’s protestations about its safety record amassed almost 3,000 years of collective reactor operating experience, that record will mean nothing if even one catastrophe occurs. As one industry trade group executive recently acknowledged, “With nuclear energy, an accident anywhere is an accident everywhere.” In truth, every energy source has drawbacks, many related to safety. A large pile of coal, left alone, eventually will smolder and combust. Petroleum is highly flammable. Windmills kill birds and, arguably, disrupt the Navy’s sonar. Hydroelectric dams kill fish, divert rivers, and threaten ecosystems with soil erosion. The question isn’t whether the dangers associated with nuclear energy outweigh those from coal or petroleum or the Grand Coulee Dam. Of course they do. The question is whether the enormous benefits derived from nuclearpower—which pound for pound outweigh those of any other fuel or energytechnology—are worth accepting itsrisks. Critics also cite concerns about the spread of dangerous nuclear waste that can be used to manufacture nuclear weapons. But the latest technology research is geared toward developing systems that resist proliferation. China and Russia are expected to join the United States, France, Canada, Japan, Britain, and other nations later this year in the Generation IV effort, an international consortium explicitly devoted to fostering technologies that limit proliferationrisks. Meanwhile, South Africa and China are pioneering the development of smaller, “pebble-bed” reactors that operate differently from reactors typically found in the United States.Pebble-bed reactors useuranium-specked graphite balls, rather than rods, for fuel. Conventional fuel rod assemblies must be removed before they are completely used up, butpebble-bed fuel balls burn until they are depleted, lessening the chance for trafficking in dangerous nuclearwaste. In addition, the Bush administration has proposed a new method for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel. Reprocessing traditionally has entailed recycling the remaining uranium from spent fuel rods after removal from a reactor and using it as additional fuel. But the procedure used to separate the uranium for reuse also produces small amounts ofweapons-grade plutonium. For that reason, President Jimmy Carter banned the reuse of spent fuel in the United States as a proliferation risk. Today, spent nuclear fuel is stored on-site at nuclear plants, awaiting final disposal upon the completion of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in the Nevadadesert. The Bush proposal, however, seeks to develop a promising new technology for recycling spent fuel in a manner that renders the material suitable for use as nuclear fuel but not for use in nuclear weapons, thereby eliminating the risk. If successful, this technology could not only help make nuclear energy safer, but could also extend its benefits to the far reaches of theglobe. The equation skews more decidedly in favor of nuclear power with the introduction of the environment as a factor. Electricity generated by nuclear power plants gives off no emissions: no sulfur, no mercury, and, most important, none of the greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), thought to contribute to climatechange. Roughly 700 million metric tons of CO2 emissions are avoided each year in the United States by generating electricity from nuclear power rather than some other source. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, that is nearly equivalent to the CO2 released from all U.S. passengercars. The argument that nuclear power should be a critical component in a strategy to deal with concerns about climate change is quite new. Certainly, it was not anything that occurred to Eisenhower when he crafted his Atoms for Peace message for a postwar era. Nor was it much on the radar screen in the 1970s when concerns about global cooling were in vogue. And even those who have raised the specter of global warming most alarmingly by and large haven’t embraced the potential of nuclear energy. Former vice president Al Gore, who has stated that global warming ultimately is a greater threat than terrorism, pointedly refuses to endorse expanded use of nuclearpower. Yet some longtime opponents are overcoming their fear of atomic energy. Patrick Moore, one of the founders of Greenpeace, recently declared his support for nuclear energy as “the onlylarge-scale,cost-effective energy source that can reduce [greenhouse-gas] emissions while continuing to satisfy a growing demand for power.” British prime minister Tony Blair, an enduring critic of nuclear power, this spring signaled his government’s support for expanding nuclearenergy production. Today, it is the global climate change argument that clinches the case in favor of nuclear power. If, as Gore asserts, combating climate change is our highest priority, and if the future of civilization itself is at stake, then nuclear power must play a significant and expanded role not just in America’s energy mix but in the world’s. For all of nuclear energy’s apparent advantages (even when weighed against its risks), its renaissance faces several challenges. The chief question is what to do with the waste. Political squabbling has pushed back the opening of Yucca Mountain, the disposal facility the Department of Energy began contemplating in 1978, to 2017 at the earliest, and even that date is in doubt. The country’s reactors have accumulated 55,000 metric tons of nuclear waste in temporary storage, and many are running out of space. Failure to open Yucca Mountain or otherwise solve the waste question could force some reactors to shut down and discourage investors from supporting new nuclearplants. Meanwhile, the nuclear licensing process must be improved. Last year’s energy bill streamlined procedures somewhat, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must get serious about processing license applications in a timely manner. Delays caused by red tape and bureaucraticfoot-dragging could send private investmentelsewhere. The 21st century will be marked by a near-insatiable thirst for energy around the world, particularly in the large and growing economies of the United States, China, and India, and among thelarge-scale consumers of industrial Europe. At the same time, the developing world will greatly benefit if granted access to cheap, reliable sources of energy. According to the United Nations, 2.4 billion people lack access to modern energy service for cooking and heating. Roughly 1.6billion—about a quarter of the world’s population, including most ofsub-SaharanAfrica—have no access to electricity atall. Nuclear power alone is positioned to help meet the world’s burgeoning energy demand and supply electricity to thepower-starved areas of the world in a manner that safeguards the environment. It alone can raise standards of living on every continent while emitting no pollutants or greenhouse gases. It is the best candidate among many to help raise more than a billion people out of darkness and grinding poverty, and to do so in a way that does no harm, but onlygood. Brice Smith and Arjun Makhijanirespond: In his article, “Nuclear Power Is the Future,” Max Schulz claims that there would “be little controversy over splitting the atom” if cost were the only consideration. But he failed to add up all the costs. His figure of 1.8 cents per kWh ignores the most important cost element: capital cost. By the same argument, wind power would cost only half a cent per kilowatt hour. When capital cost is included, the total cost of electricity from new nuclear plants is between 6 and 7 cents per kWh. This was the conclusion of studies published by MIT in 2003 and by the University of Chicago in 2004, both of which advocate nuclear power. In fact the authors of the MIT report concluded that nuclear power would not likely be a sound choice for a merchant plant because it would be “just too expensive.” That’s the main reason the nuclear industry hasn’t ordered a plant in over a quarter of acentury—they’ve been waiting for the kind of government subsidies enacted by Congress in2005. Schulz’s claim that electricity from renewable energy can cost from two to six times as much as nuclear power is also incorrect. Estimates from 2005 from both the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Energy Information Administration put the cost of electricity from wind power at favorable sites at between 4 to 6 cents per kWh. This already makes wind power cheaper than new nuclear power, and projections are that the cost of wind will continue to fall. In addition, as we noted in our original article, the cost of new advancedthin-film solar panels is expected to fall to a level that would make them economically competitive with new nuclearplants. Schulz deals with reactor safety by saying: “God willing, Three Mile Island will be remembered as the worst accident in American history.”Faith-based analysis is a dangerous way to address the problem of earthly risk and engineering realities. For instance, a U.S. government analysis, carried out by Sandia National Laboratory and entitled Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences for U.S. Nuclear Power Plants, concluded that aworst-case accident could kill tens of thousands of people and cause hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. It is this potential for accidents at nuclear plants to cause massive casualties and for the effects of radioactive contamination to impact future generations that set nuclear accident risks apart. While it is true that the probability of such aworst-case accident occurring is very small, the exact risk is not well known. As we noted in our article, risk assessments have numerous methodological weakness that contribute significantly to the uncertainty of their results. One sure thing is that a major expansion of nuclear plants around the world would increase those risks. From our calculations using historical data, the construction of 2,500 nuclear plants, even if they were 10 times safer than existing plants, would make it likely that there would be two Three Mile Island scale accidents in the next 40 to 50 years. The inclusion of terrorist threats to this analysis would only heighten the potentialrisk. Schulz never once addresses the issue of the proliferation risk of uranium enrichment. This is a surprising omission given the current crisis over Iran’s attempted acquisition of uranium enrichment capacity and the fact that the most recent crisis with North Korea flared up over a U.S. conclusion that they had begun a secret uranium enrichment program in violation of theNon-Proliferation Treaty. Alllight-water reactors require enriched uranium as fuel. In addition, the Pebble Bed reactor, touted as more proliferation resistant by Schulz, will require uranium fuel enriched to an even higher degree than that required forlight-water reactors, making it more proliferation prone in that respect, since it would take even less work to turn Pebble Bed reactor fuel intoweapon-grade material. Overall, in order to fuel 2,500 reactors, there would have to be a nearly six fold increase in global enrichment capacity. This would be equivalent to over 300 enrichment plants the size of the proposed Iranian facility at Natanz. The expansion of the world’s uranium enrichment capacity on such a scale would pose very significant securityrisks. Schulz mentions reprocessing in a hopeful tone; he never refers to North Korea, which used a small commercial reprocessing plant to become a nuclear weapon state. It had already credibly claimed to be one at the time he wrote his article. Perhaps the North Korean nuclear test will cause him tore-evaluate his position, since that dictatorship showed the great powers as helpless Gullivers, tied down by the threads of the atom theyunleashed. Finally, nuclearwaste—Schulz characterizes the delays in the Yucca Mountain repository as resulting from “[p]olitical squabbling.” He ignores the very real deficiencies of the site: seismic and volcanic activity in the region and an oxidizing geochemical environment creates the risk that the waste packages will corroderapidly—in hundreds of years or perhapsthousands—leaving the waste seeping through the porous rock into the groundwater. With all the scientific, political, and legal hurdles facing Yucca Mountain, Ernest Moniz and John Deutch, the twoco-chairs of the MIT study and both former undersecretaries in the Department of Energy, concluded in January 2006 that “it is unclear whether Yucca Mountain will ever receive a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.” It has been more than 50 years since the birth of the nuclear power industry, which still needs a massive presence of government in the marketplace. Nuclear power had its chance, and created an expensive mess that will endure for many generations. It is time to move on fromfaith-based solutions to energy and global warming problems to more rapid, robust, and sustainable options: Efficiency, conservation, renewable resources, and some types of transition technologies are capable of completely meeting our future energy needs. The alternatives are available if we have the will to make them areality. You can download PDF file Max Schulz is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.more from this author >>
Organic, Inorganic and Hybrid Solar Cells: Principles and Practice September 2012, Wiley-IEEE Press This price is valid for United States. Change location to view local pricing and availability. Provides detailed descriptions of organic, inorganic, and hybrid solar cells and the latest developments in the quest to produce low-cost, long-lasting solar cells What will it take to transform solar energy from an important alternative source to a truly competitive and, perhaps, dominant one? Lower cost and longer life. Organic, Inorganic, and Hybrid Solar Cells: Principles and Practice provides in-depth information on the three types of existing solar cells, giving readers a good foundation for evaluating the technologies with the most potential for competing with energy from fossil fuels. Featuring a Foreword written by Nobel Peace Prize co-winner Dr. Woodrow W. Clark, this timely and comprehensive guide: - Focuses on the realization of low-cost and long-life solar cells study and applications - Reviews the properties of inorganic materials, primarily semiconductors - Explores the electrical and optical properties of organic materials - Discusses the interfacing of organic and inorganic materials: compatibility of deposition, the adhesion problem, formation of surface states, and band-level realignment - Provides a detailed description of organic-inorganic hybrid solar cells, from the basic principles to practical devices - Introduces a sandwiched structure for hybrid solar cells, which combines a far lower production cost than inorganic solar cells while stabilizing and extending the life of organic material far beyond that of organic solar cells Organic, Inorganic, and Hybrid Solar Cells: Principles and Practice is a first-rate professional reference for electrical engineers and important supplemental reading for graduate students in related areas of study.
Photos (1) Add Images Places mentioned on this page Connected Pages Add Page There are no related pages for Fischel Felman. Links Add Link Share Fischel's Memorial page on Facebook About this page Anyone can contribute to this page. Please sign in or sign up—it's free. There are no facts. Add Fact 1911 \| Ostrow Mazowiecka, Poland Fischel was the oldest of seven children in a Yiddish-speaking, religious Jewish family. When he was a small child, his parents moved the family to Sokolow Podlaski, a manufacturing town in central Poland with a large Jewish population of about 5,000. Fischel was sent to study at a religious school. In 1932, when he was 21 years old, Fischel was inducted into the Polish army. 1933-39: After two years in the Polish cavalry, Fischel returned to Sokolow Podlaski, where he apprenticed to become a carpenter and also led a local Zionist organization. He married and set up a carpentry shop in his home where he made furniture. When Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, Fischel was called up by the Polish army. He was captured by the Germans, but was allowed to return home after fighting ended in October. Europe 1943-1944, Treblinka indicated 1940-42: For almost two years, Fischel managed to keep his carpentry workshop open although Sokolow Podlaski was occupied by the Germans. Then on September 28, 1941, the Germans set up a ghetto in the town and concentrated 4,000 Jews there. About a year later, on the most solemn Jewish holiday, the Day of Atonement, the Germans began to round up the people in the ghetto. Those who resisted or tried to hide were shot. With his wife and child, Fischel was herded onto the boxcar of a train. On September 22, 1942, Fischel and his family were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp and gassed there shortly after arriving. He was 31 years old.
Watching Your Sugar Intake One factor in a healthy diet is the amount of sugar consumed. Sugar comes in many forms, including white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, corn syrup, honey and molasses. It provides you with calories, but little else nutritionally, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To avoid getting too many calories from sugar, try to limit the amount of sugars added to your diet to 6 teaspoons a day if you eat about 1,600 calories, 12 teaspoons at 2,200 calories or 18 teaspoons at 2,800 calories. Added sugar doesn't just mean the sugar you add at the table, but also the sugar found in candy, soft drinks, jams, jellies and other sweetened foods.
Asking how intelligent fish are is a relatively new question. It is new in the sense that until fairly recently, the general consensus was that fish had no intelligence and simply reacted to various stimuli like mindless little robots. Gradually, more evidence has accumulated from a range of different studies to suggest that, far from being brainless, fish have excellent cognitive abilities and are able to learn quickly and effectively in a wide variety of circumstances. Much of this research has concerned coral reef fishes, which have to behave adaptively in these "cities of the sea." Do young fish have any in-built knowledge? A newly hatched fish is extremely vulnerable to a horde of potential predators. Recognizing what can and what cannot eat you is a vitally important skill for all fish. The problem with learning is that it requires experience, yet an early encounter with a predator can be deadly, allowing no second chance and no opportunity for learning. Young fish, therefore, have an innate ability to recognize predators. This ability is not learned, but instead is encoded in the genes. It has been shown that humbug damselfish are able to recognize what does and does not present a threat. They do this by responding to certain characteristics of the fish that they encounter, particularly the configuration of their face and their size. The information they use is simple but important -- large eyes and a large mouth spell danger, smaller features are less perilous, even on an equally large fish. Accordingly, vulnerable fry show less fear of the latter. It is not just the looks of a novel fish that can set off alarm bells in the minds of inexperienced fish; they also respond strongly to the behavior of a stranger. Large trumpetfish stalk reefs hunting for small, unwary juvenile fish, yet they are mostly ignored by their prey unless they assume their characteristic strike pose. Predatory fish often "point" themselves towards their prey, much as a cat gathers itself before pouncing, and it is this threatening posture that the young fish respond to by fleeing. Can fish learn through experience? Intelligence is about more than just being born with a blueprint for life encoded in the genes. To be adaptable, animals need to be able to learn. Even starfish are capable of learning basic things: for example, new ways of righting themselves if they are overturned by an inquisitive fish or a wave surge. The living reef is home to a huge number of different organisms, some of which are worth investigating by a young fish to determine their suitability as food. But obviously these organisms are none too keen on ending up as lunch and often have quite formidable defenses, including tough shells or toxicity. Fish gradually overcome these defenses, improving over time as they learn through trial and error the most efficient ways of dealing with their quarry. One good example is the way that fish such as puffers and triggers blow a powerful jet of water to overturn sea urchins, thereby accessing their vulnerable underparts. In most cases, studies have shown that fish confronted by novel prey go from novice to peak performance over the course of approximately five generations. This often leads to fish specializing on a particular type of prey, one they have become particularly adept at finding and eating.
Moles are generally thought to be small, brownish blemishes on the skin which are painless and harmless. Nearly everyone has moles to some extent and they generally do not need to be removed unless the patient is self-conscious about them or if they are rubbing against clothes and becoming irritated – the typical reason sited for mole removal. Moles come in all shapes and sizes and it’s important to know your moles and monitor them for any changes. This is the most common type of mole on the skin. They are small in diameter, round and fairly flat. Although some babies are born with this sort of moles already, most develop as people get older, most commonly in the first 30 years of life. Moles can appear anywhere on the body and they are more common in people with fair skin than in people with darker skin. This is the second most common types of mole found. They are generally more raised and bumpy than the first sort of moles and can also be hairy. It is also important to state that most people have a combination of many different sorts of moles on their body and don’t have just one type or the other. The dermal melanocytic naevi mole is often lighter in color and can be light enough as to be skin colored. They can occur anywhere on the body and people with this sort of mole on the face often wish to have them removed as many consider them to be unsightly, or feel embarrassed about having them. Halo naevi moles are a standard mole surrounded a circle of white, which makes the halo. They are caused when the white blood cells in the body attack the mole. The cause of them is unknown, and this sort of mole is more common in people who suffer from problems with the pigment in their skin, such as vitiligo. As a larger area of the skin is affected than with a standard mole, there may be a greater demand to have them removed. Atypical is another way of saying not normal, and these sorts of moles are ones which are showing pre-cancerous changes. People with these sorts of moles do not have cancer and should not be concerned. It does mean though that their moles have a higher chance of changing into malignant melanomas than moles which are not showing the changes such as an irregular outline, so it is vital that if these sorts of moles are identified on the body they should be monitored closely and reported to a doctor. The doctor may well want to take photographs so that accurate comparisons can be made over time and any further changes can be picked up quickly. Although immediate removal is not always required, depending on the number and location of the moles it may be advisable to have the mole removed before any further changes take place. Apart from having moles in the first place, regular sun exposure is a major factor in whether or not a patient will develop skin cancer. Always use a high factor sunscreen and avoid getting sunburned. Covering up during the hottest parts of the day when the sun is at its highest is also recommended. Sun beds should be avoided, as should be lying on a sun lounger trying to get a sun tan. Use fake tanning products or creams if you want to get the sun kissed look without risking further damage to your skin.
Helaman recounts the taking of Antiparah and the surrender and later the defense of Cumeni—His Ammonite striplings fight valiantly; all are wounded, but none are slain—Gid reports the slaying and the escape of the Lamanite prisoners. About 63 B.C. 1 And now it came to pass that I received an epistle from Ammoron, the king, stating that if I would deliver up those prisoners of war whom we had taken that he would deliver up the city of Antiparah unto us. 2 But I sent an epistle unto the king, that we were sure our forces were sufficient to take the city of Antiparah by our force; and by delivering up the prisoners for that city we should suppose ourselves unwise, and that we would only deliver up our prisoners on exchange. 6 And it came to pass that in the commencement of the twenty and ninth year, we received a supply of provisions, and also an addition to our army, from the land of Zarahemla, and from the land round about, to the number of six thousand men, besides sixty of the asons of the Ammonites who had come to join their brethren, my little band of two thousand. And now behold, we were strong, yea, and we had also plenty of provisions brought unto us. 7 And it came to pass that it was our desire to wage a battle with the army which was placed to protect the city aCumeni. 8 And now behold, I will show unto you that we soon accomplished our desire; yea, with our strong force, or with a part of our strong force, we did surround, by night, the city Cumeni, a little before they were to receive a supply of provisions. 9 And it came to pass that we did camp round about the city for many nights; but we did sleep upon our swords, and keep guards, that the Lamanites could not come upon us by night and slay us, which they attempted many times; but as many times as they attempted this their blood was spilt. 11 And notwithstanding the Lamanites being cut off from their support after this manner, they were still determined to maintain the city; therefore it became expedient that we should take those provisions and send them to aJudea, and our prisoners to the land of Zarahemla. 12 And it came to pass that not many days had passed away before the Lamanites began to lose all hopes of succor; therefore they yielded up the city unto our hands; and thus we had accomplished our designs in obtaining the city Cumeni. 14 For behold, they would break out in great numbers, and would fight with stones, and with clubs, or whatsoever thing they could get into their hands, insomuch that we did slay upwards of two thousand of them after they had surrendered themselves prisoners of war. 15 Therefore it became expedient for us, that we should put an end to their lives, or guard them, sword in hand, down to the land of Zarahemla; and also our provisions were not any more than sufficient for our own people, notwithstanding that which we had taken from the Lamanites. 16 And now, in those critical circumstances, it became a very serious matter to determine concerning these prisoners of war; nevertheless, we did resolve to send them down to the land of Zarahemla; therefore we selected a part of our men, and gave them charge over our prisoners to go down to the land of Zarahemla. 17 But it came to pass that on the morrow they did return. And now behold, we did not ainquire of them concerning the prisoners; for behold, the Lamanites were upon us, and they returned in season to save us from falling into their hands. For behold, Ammoron had sent to their support a new supply of provisions and also a numerous army of men. 19 But behold, my little band of two thousand and sixty fought most desperately; yea, they were firm before the Lamanites, and did aadminister death unto all those who opposed them. 21 Yea, and they did aobey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their bmothers had taught them. 22 And now behold, it was these my sons, and those men who had been selected to convey the prisoners, to whom we owe this great victory; for it was they who did beat the Lamanites; therefore they were driven back to the city of Manti. 24 And it came to pass that after the Lamanites had fled, I immediately gave orders that my men who had been wounded should be taken from among the dead, and caused that their wounds should be dressed. 25 And it came to pass that there were two hundred, out of my two thousand and sixty, who had fainted because of the loss of blood; nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of our whole army, there was anot one soul of them who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds. 26 And now, their apreservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous bpower of God, because of their exceeding cfaith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power. 28 And now it came to pass that after we had thus taken care of our wounded men, and had buried our dead and also the dead of the Lamanites, who were many, behold, we did inquire of Gid concerning the aprisoners whom they had started to go down to the land of Zarahemla with. 30 And now, these are the words which Gid said unto me: Behold, we did start to go down to the land of Zarahemla with our prisoners. And it came to pass that we did meet the spies of our armies, who had been sent out to watch the camp of the Lamanites. 33 And it came to pass because of their rebellion we did cause that our swords should come upon them. And it came to pass that they did in a body run upon our swords, in the which, the greater number of them were slain; and the remainder of them broke through and fled from us. 34 And behold, when they had fled and we could not overtake them, we took our march with speed towards the city Cumeni; and behold, we did arrive in time that we might assist our brethren in preserving the city. 36 Now it came to pass that when I, Helaman, had heard these words of Gid, I was filled with exceeding joy because of the goodness of God in preserving us, that we might not all perish; yea, and I trust that the souls of them who have been slain have aentered into the rest of their God.
Menacing Deep-sea Anglerfish. Credit: Harbor Branch/E. WidderFor centuries scientists have thought of deep-sea pelagic fish as nomadic wanderers, in part because information about them was so limited. However, new results from the ongoing Mid-Atlantic Ridge Ecosystems program (MAR-ECO), a Sloan Foundation-sponsored component of the Census of Marine Life, have revealed that these fishes may in fact be gathering at features such as ridges or seamounts to spawn. The research has important implications for how deep-sea ecosystems should be managed to prevent devastation by deep trawling activities. MAR-ECO research expeditions have also led to the discovery of as many as six fish species new to science and the collection of some unusually large deep-sea fish specimens. The first public presentations of results from MAR-ECO will be made at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Honolulu (http://www.agu.org/meetings/os06/), from Feb. 20- 24. On Tuesday, Feb. 21, Tracey Sutton, a fish expert at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution will be discussing the MAR-ECO deep-sea pelagic fish research at a 9:00 a.m. Hawaii Std. Time (2:00 p.m. EST) press conference and at a 2:15 p.m. Hawaii Std. Time (7:15 p.m. EST) scientific session. "We're discovering all these patterns that we've never seen before," says Sutton, "and now we're working to figure out what they mean and how they got there. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is proving to be an oasis in the desert , so to speak." Pelagic fish are those species thought to spend the bulk of their time in open water, as opposed to staying near the seafloor. Classification has historically been determined based mainly on whether the fish are typically caught in open water trawl nets, or trawl gear that collects along the bottom. Deepwater pelagics include some of what most people would agree to be the most bizarre looking animals on the planet. Many, with their oversized fangs, aquatic scowls, and ingenious entrapment devices-- coupled with names such as "vampire fish from hell" and saber-toothed viper fish--are the stuff of pure nightmare save for their typically small sizes. Like the best nightmare sponsors, though, they remain mysterious. Adequate understanding of the deepwater fishes has been hard to come by because deep-sea fish research has remained extremely limited. Not since the famous Challenger Expedition in the 1870s has a research project collected as many bathypelagic (deeper than 1,000meters) fish samples as the MAR-ECO project. In fact, the deep sea has been so thinly sampled that data compiled by the international Census of Marine Life program have shown that historically, about 50% of animal samples collected from deeper than 3,000 meters have turned out to be new species. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a massive undersea mountain range that runs almost the entire length of the Atlantic about midway between the continents. To date, MAR-ECO researchers have collected more than 300 fish species there using the full spectrum of advanced tools currently available, including massive trawl nets that can be triggered to open and close at specific depths, submersibles, remotely operated vehicles, and acoustic survey instruments. Of the samples collected, more than 30 were species never before known to inhabit the Mid-Atlantic Ridge region, and six appear to be species new to science, though final determination of new species is a long process still underway for these samples. The team also made a number of extremely rare catches. These include some of the largest dragonfishes and anglerfishes ever collected. Anglerfishes, for example, typically fit in the palm of your hand, but one sample (photo available) weighed in at 35 pounds. Another rare find was a species of whalefish previously known from only one other specimen, collected in 1975. "As soon as I saw it I was very excited," says Sutton. Such sparse sample availability has been the norm in the field, according to Sutton, leading to major difficulties at times in identifying samples that are collected. In some cases male, female and juveniles of the same species are erroneously classified as 3 separate species because only one specimen of each has been collected. One of the major overall finds of the MAR-ECO project to date, which has included two main expeditions, is strong evidence that deep-sea pelagic fish are more closely associated with features such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge than ever before realized. As Sutton will explain at the conference in Honolulu, the group has now collected several pieces of key evidence that these fish are congregating at the ridge, likely for spawning. One key line of evidence was in the surprising numbers of several fish species collected, such as tubeshoulders, which spurt bioluminescent liquid. Past deep-sea work has suggested the fish are rare and widely scattered. "We're used to ones and twos," says Sutton, but we were getting tens, twenties, thirties--laundry baskets of these guys at 2,000 meters, which is pretty unusual." Most of those that were collected were gravid females, suggesting spawning activity. Important indirect evidence was also collected, namely observation of a never before seen mysterious "scattering" layer at 2,000 meters detected using acoustic devices that generate images of materials or animals found at a given depth. Though there are other possibilities, it is quite likely the layer was a massive fish aggregation, says Sutton, because fish swim bladders and eggs tend to produce detectable acoustic signatures while squid and other organisms can typically only produce faint images. "As we were making these discoveries, we started to wonder if these fish were coming to the ridge to aggregate and spawn," says Sutton, "This is the fist time anyone has suggested that deep-sea pelagics form groups to spawn and then disperse again, which would require some homing ability or knowledge but I can't even speculate yet on what the trigger would be." Adding further to the idea of the ridge as a saltwater desert oasis, the MAR-ECO team was surprised to find lush growth on many parts of the ridge. "The bottom was stunning," says Sutton, "There was far more growth and coral than we could have imagined. It looks like a tropical coral reef down there in places." Sutton says the results of MAR-ECO and other recent projects are pointing to new threats from expanding deep-sea trawling activity, and the need for near-bottom observing systems to regularly monitor deep-ocean ecosystems and their inhabitants. Without reasonable understanding of these resources, including some important commercial fisheries, protecting them is almost impossible, he says. One of Sutton's MAR-ECO collaborators, Franz Uiblein of the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, will also be at the press conference to discuss seafloor work on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Using underwater video, he and colleagues have shown that even slight disturbances to the deep seafloor from fishing activities can lead to a loss of biodiversity, for instance in a trawl's path, suggesting that widespread deep trawling can have major impacts on deep-sea life. Though trawling on the Mid-Atlantic ridge is currently rare, as deep species such as orange roughy become fished out in other areas, trawlers are wandering to new regions. If there are pelagic spawning aggregations at the ridge or other prominent features, they are likely to be critical to the preservation of the species involved, but also likely to become primary trawling targets, which could lead to devastating effects on spawning aggregations. "It's important that we explore and map out these hotspots before fishing stretches into these areas," says Sutton, "so that we can determine what the real damage is going to be and what needs to be protected."
Read and Listen To Sentences Using the Word - Get your things together. - Let's get together tomorrow. - They agreed to work together. - They don't get along together. - Let's go to a concert together. - The family ate dinner together. - Birds of a feather flock together. - Let's get together again next year. - He stuck the broken pieces together. - How long have you two been together? - I wish that we could spend more time together. - Last Sunday, Mary and I went to the library together. - Let's go out and eat dinner together from time to time. - I always thought that Shirley and Alan would get together. - The faster we rub our hands together, the warmer they get. - I can still remember the time when we went on a picnic together. - This is a time of year when people get together with family and friends to observe Passover and to celebrate Easter.
The impetus for these two lessons were born from our experiences facilitating synchronous bibliographic instruction at the collegiate level. Both Zinnat and I have worked as information assistants at the Rosenthal Library; in addition, we have also worked as high school teachers, so we chose goals and objectives that we felt were the most relevant and most important. From our experiences, we have noted that one of the largest obstacles that incoming students face is their ignorance of databases, and their overuse of search engines. 17-20 year olds run to Google or Yahoo for all their reference needs, despite the pedigree of their queries. In high school a general knowledge of a topic is acceptable, but once you become a college scholar you are expected to delve into a topic and not subsist on topical knowledge. The sad reality is that most college freshmen come to their first year of college without a proper foundation in research strategies. As a result, they believe that all their information needs can be satisfied by search engines and condition themselves to utilize the databases sparingly. Colleges spend a great deal of their operating budgets on database subscriptions, so it is in the best interest of academic libraries to condition their students to utilize, engage with, and rely on databases for all their information needs. We thought having two bibliographic lessons would assist students (or at least surreptitiously condition them) to retain the knowledge they have gained. We thought that having 90 mins for each lesson would be ideal; the lessons we designed don't take 90 mins to "teach", therefore this gives technologically-impaired and late students time to catch up or pursue questions at the end of our sessions. If we designed our lessons for 90 mins and then used all of the 90 mins that would leave zero time for students to clarify misunderstandings. It was our aim to have students obtain a conceptual understanding of databases so that they can apply that knowledge to use any database that utlizes a controlled vocabulary. This is why we incorporated a discussion of cost benefit analysis in the Introduction of lesson one. We feel that students would be positively motivated to use databases if they realize that access to databases is a service covered by their tuition and fees. Specifically, we ask students to consider if they would pay for a service that they don't use. Even though we are appealing to their pocket books, we are hoping that they will see the benefit of increasing their database usage. A Spanglish blog dedicated to the works, ruminations, and mongrel pyrotechnics of Yago S. Cura, an Argentine-American poet, translator, publisher & futbol cretin. Yago publishes Hinchas de Poesia, an online literary journal, & is the sole proprietor of Hinchas Press.
(a) As used in this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise: (1) “Dealer” means any person or business entity engaged in the business of: buying, canning, curing, or preserving fish or shell fish; or manufacturing meal, oil, flour, protein concentrate, animal food or fertilizer from fish or shellfish. (2) “Director” means the Director of Marine and Wildlife Resources. (3) “Drift gillnet fishing” means any gillnet that is more than half a mile in length; and that enmeshes, entraps, or entangles any fish; and that is used or intended to be used or intended to be used while attached to any point of land or the seabed irrespective of whether the net is used or intended to be used while attached to any vessel. (4) “Fish” means those species of the classes osteichthyes, condrichthyes and agnatha that shall not be fished for except as authorized by rule of the director. The term “fish” includes all stages of development and the bodily parts of fish species. (5) “Department” means the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources. (6) “Shellfish” means those species of marine and fresh water invertebrates that shall not be taken except as authorized by rule of the Director. The term “shellfish” includes all stages of development and the bodily parts of shellfish species. (7) “Territory” means all Territorial areas, and all marine waters and fresh waters within a three-mile zone extending outward from the shoreline. (8) “Wildlife” means all species of the animal kingdom whose members exist in a wild state, excepting “fish” and “shellfish”, that shall not be taken except as authorized by rule of the Director. The term “wildlife” includes all states of development and the bodily parts of wildlife species.History: 1987, PL 20-12 § 1; 1988, PL 20-62; 1989, PL 21-20.
Today in Church History J. Gresham Machen, Orthodox Presbyterian Church: formation On June 11, 1936, at the meeting of the Presbyterian Constitutional Covenant Union in the New Century Club in Philadelphia, the Presbyterian Church of America was formed. (In 1939, its name was changed to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.) Convening shortly after the 148th General Assembly denied J. Gresham Machen's appeal and upheld the verdict of the Presbytery of New Brunswick which suspended him from the ministry, the Covenant Union passed an Act of Association to establish the new church. The first article read: In order to continue what we believe to be the true spiritual succession of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., which we hold to have been abandoned by the present organization of that body, and to make clear to all the world that we have no connection with the organization bearing that name, we a company of ministers and ruling elders, having been removed from that organization in contravention (as we believe) of its constitution, or having severed our connection with it, or coming as ministers or ruling elders from other ecclesiastical bodies holding the Reformed Faith, do hereby associate ourselves together with all Christian people who do and will adhere to us, in a body to be known and styled as the Presbyterian Church of America. Machen reported on the inaugural General Assembly in the Presbyterian Guardian: "On Thursday, June 11, 1936, the hopes of many long years were realized. We became members, at last, of a true Presbyterian Church; we recovered, at last, the blessing of true Christian fellowship. What a joyous moment it was! How the long years of struggle seemed to sink into nothingness compared with the peace and joy that filled our hearts!" - John Muether
Gender and Climate Change in India Six Villages, Andhra Pradesh, India The focus of the study are six villages with high indicators of poverty and livelihoods reliant on rainfed agriculture in the drought-prone districts of Anantapur and Mahabubnagar. Two hundred and one farmers (106 women and 95 men) participated in the quantitative survey, while approximately 180 farmers participated in the focus group discussions. The men and women farmers have land holdings of 2.5 – 5 acres and are above 35 years old; the large majority of land owners are men. The study participants rely primarily on agriculture for their livelihoods and food security, but increasingly seasonal migration, loans, and government-funded programmes are adopted as livelihood strategies and to ensure food security. The major crops grown include paddy, ground nut, red gram, castor, jowar, sesame and green gram. © E. L. F. Schipper
Henry H. "Hap" Arnold was one of the truly great men in American airpower. He was a pioneer Airman who was taught to fly by the Wright Brothers, and commander of Army Air Forces in victory over Germany and Japan in World War II. He was also the first and only General of the Air Force, a five-star rank bestowed by an act of Congress. He was born in Gladwyne, Pa., June 1886. "Hap," as he was known and called, dating from his early days at West Point, was in the class of 1907 at the U.S. Military Academy. From then on his life paralleled the growth of America's air power and he personally contributed to most of the major milestones of development during the long period until he retired in 1946. Arnold initially was assigned to the 29th Infantry, serving in the Philippine Islands for two years. He returned home until April 1911 when he was detailed to the Signal Corps and sent to Dayton, Ohio for instructions in the Wright biplane. The Wright Brothers who had made their first flight in 1903 personally instructed him for two months, after which he soloed and became one of the earliest military aviators in June 1911. Arnold then was assigned to teach other flyers at the Signal Corps aviation school at College Park, Md. The school was moved to Augusta, Ga. in November and he served there until April 1912 when he went back to College Park for flight duty. On June 1, 1912, he established a new altitude record by piloting a Burgess-Wright airplane to a height of 6,540 feet. He also took part in air maneuvers in New York and Connecticut and set several records. On Oct. 9, 1912 he won the first MacKay Trophy ever awarded for a reconnaissance flight on a triangular course from College Park to Washington Barracks, D.C. to Fort Myer, Va., and return to College Park, flying the early type of Wright biplane with its 40 horsepower engine revolving two propellers by the chain-and-sprocket method. In February 1917 Arnold went to Panama to organize an air service there, which he commanded until May 1917. As the U.S. entered Word War I he was called back to Washington, promoted to major June 17, 1917 and Aug. 5 was promoted to full colonel. He was in charge of Information Service in the Aviation Division of the Signal Corps. When the Office of Military Aeronautics was created, Arnold became assistant executive officer and in February 1918 was named assistant director. He went to France in November 1918 at war's end on an inspection tour of aviation activities. He returned in 1919 as supervisor of the Air Service at Coronado, Calif., and as air officer of the 9th Corps Area at the Presidio in San Francisco. In June 1920 Arnold went back to captain's grade, but next month was promoted to major, where he remained until 1931. In October 1922 he became commanding officer of Rockwell Field, Calif., serving two years. He testified on behalf of Gen. Billy Mitchell during the court-martial in the fall of 1925 when Mitchell was found guilty of insubordination. Arnold shared Mitchell's beliefs in the strategic capability of the airplane and urged an independent air arm which Arnold lived to see authorized in 1947. He next went to Fort Riley, Kan., where he commanded Air Corps troops at Marshall Field until 1928. In July and August 1934 he personally organized and led a flight of 10 Martin B-10 bombers in a round-trip record flight from Washington, D.C. to Fairbanks, Alaska, and next year received his second Mackay Trophy for this achievement. In February 1935 Arnold was jumped two grades to brigadier general and put in command of the 1st Wing of General Headquarters Air Force at March Field, Calif. He was gaining a reputation as a bomber man, having encouraged development of the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator four-engine planes, and the precision training of crewmembers. In January 1936 he became assistant to the chief of Air Corps in Washington and on Sept. 29, 1938 was promoted to major general and appointed chief of Air Corps. His title was changed to chief of the Army Air Force on June 30, 1941 and that December he got a third star. When the War Department General Staff was organized in March 1942 Arnold became commanding general of Army Air Force. During World War II, he directed air activities for the nation's global war against Germany and Japan. Under him the air arm grew from 22,000 officers and men with 3,900 planes to nearly 2,500,000 men and 75,000 aircraft. Early in 1943 Arnold made a 35,000-mile tour of North Africa, Middle East, India and China, and attended the Casablanca Conferences. In March 1943 he was promoted to four-star general. He suffered a heart attack in 1945 as the war drew to a close, attributed by his doctors to overwork. By the end of the war, Arnold was already a cold warrior and concluded his memoirs with a warning to maintain an air force powerful enough to counter the Soviet Union. He retired from the service June 30, 1946 after earning most of the honors a nation can give a world military leader of his stature, including three Distinguished Service crosses, the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal and decorations from Morocco, Brazil, Yugoslavia, Peru, France, Mexico and Great Britain. During his long career Arnold wrote a number of books, including early boys' books to create interest among youth in flying, and the post-World War II autobiography Global Mission (New York: Harper and Row, 1949), an accurate account of Air Force activities in the war and his own life. Three years after his retirement, by act of Congress, he received permanent five-star rank as general of the Air Force, the first such commission ever granted. He died at his ranch home near Sonoma, Calif., Jan. 15, 1950. Arnold Engineering Development Center at Tullahoma, Tenn., is named in honor. Sources compiled from Air University and U.S. Air Force Biographical Dictionary by Flint O. DuPre, Colonel, U.S. Air Force Reserve.
Our page banner is a detail from the Surrealist painting 'Time Transfixed', (1938) by René Magritte. Art History Timelines Art History Timelines - Our art history timelines are a shortcut to understanding the progress of art over many centuries. - They track the emergence of art movements and offer a simple explanation of the major styles from 1150-1975. - In order to fully appreciate the work of any artist or art movement it is necessary to understand its position in the art history timeline. Most new artwork is a reaction against or development of a previous style in the timeline. Western Art Timelines - Our Western Art Timelines give you information about the artists, movements and styles in Western art from around 1150 to 1880. - They offer a brief explanation of the most important styles from Gothic Art to Realism. They also list the major artists and illustrate a key painting from each movement. Western Art Timeline 1 (1120-1600): Gothic Art (1150-1400), International Gothic (1375-1425), the Early Renaissance (1400-1450), the High Renaissance (1480-1520), Mannerism (1520-1580) and the Northern Renaissance (1420-1520). - Western Art Timeline 2 (1600-1880): Baroque (1600-1700), Rococo (1700-1775), Dutch Art (1620-1670), Neo-Classicism (1765-1850), Romanticism (1765-1850), Realism (1840-1880) and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (1848-1854). Modern Art Timelines - Our Modern Art Timelines give you information about the artists, movements and styles of Modernism from around 1870 to 1975. - They help you to understand a century of modern art from Impressionism to Minimalism. They also list the major artists and illustrate a key work from each movement. Modern Art Timeline 1 (1870-1931): Impressionism (1870-1890), Post Impressionism (1885-1905), Fauvism (1905-1910), German Expressionism (1905-1925), Cubism (1907-1915), Futurism (1909-1914), Abstract Art (1907-), Constructivism (1913-1930), Suprematism (1915-1925) and De Stijl (1917-1931). Modern Art Timeline 2 (1916-1975): Dada (1916-1922), Surrealism (1924-1939), Abstract Expressionism (1946-1956), Pop Art (1954-1970), Op Art (1964-1970) and Minimalism (1960-1975).
Sam Low presents: Polynesian Starpaths: Ancient Polynesian Voyaging and Navigation Thor Heyerdahl believed South American people settled Polynesia after drifting aboard primitive rafts into the Pacific with prevailing winds and currents. Writer, filmmaker, and Vineyard resident Sam Low believes the opposite is true. Polynesia was settled by a seafaring people who voyaged against the winds from southeast Asia aboard powerful sailing vessels and navigated accurately without charts, compasses, or instruments of any kind. Low has sailed aboard Hokule’a, a replica of an ancient Polynesian double-hull voyaging canoe, and will explore Hokule’a’s 35-year, 120,000 mile sailing history throughout the Pacific. He will reveal how ancient canoe navigators found their direction and determined their latitude by the stars. For the Benefit of: Martha's Vineyard Museum $8 for Members/$12 for non-Members. Lecture in the MVM Library.
It only takes a few seconds for the heads-up — if you know what you’re feeling. And in an airplane, those few seconds spell the difference between getting back safely — or not. We’re talking decompression — one of the things the flight attendants or video tell you about when they’re demonstrating the deployment and use of those bright yellow oxygen masks. “It can happen real fast,” said Dr. Warren Jensen (pictured above), a flight surgeon and Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor of Aviation in the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences. Jensen also runs the school’s altitude chamber, where students learn how to deal with decompression and hypoxia, a condition that occurs when the body is deprived of oxygen, such as when an airplane loses cabin pressure. “You want to deal with it before the hypoxia impairs you,” said Jensen, who in 2012 ran more than 200 altitude chamber classes with a total of about 850 students. “The goal of our altitude chamber training here is to teach students to recognize the symptoms of hypoxia — and they’re different for each person — and to deal with them immediately.” Decompression in an aircraft at altitude — and the resulting hypoxia for anyone aboard — can be fatal, as was likely the case the Lear 35 that crashed in South Dakota with famed golfer Payne Steward, friends, and crew aboard. As experts such as Jensen attest, hypoxia can quickly lead to confusion and blackout, but not if the crew has been trained to recognize what’s going on and takes appropriate action immediately. The altitude chamber — a unique asset at the university — is used for both aviator training and research, including Fortune 500 corporate pilots. It’s capable of simulating altitudes in excess of 80,000 feet and is used to teach flight crews the physiological effects of high altitude flight in a safe training environment. Subjects presented in the Aerospace Physiology courses include hypoxia, hyperventilation, cabin decompression issues, visual and spatial disorientation and several other related topics. Altitude chamber training works. Ask Dan Fluke. Fluke, an airline pilot and 2009 graduate of UND Aeospace, always knew he wanted to fly. He also knew he wanted the best training available and all the safety courses available. Which is why he enrolled at UND and, as part of his training, took Dr. Jensen’s altitude chamber course. Recently, while flying a Canadair CRJ commuter jet with 40 passengers aboard, Fluke noticed a familiar and ominous sensation — a numbing feeling, a kind of tingling, that he recognized only because of his UND altitude chamber training and also had trained in UND’s CRJ simulator. “I knew what it was right away,” said Fluke, who also runs a business in Florida, writing and publishing aeronautical training guides. “That sensation is what triggered me to look at the indicates, which told me that the aircraft, in fact, was depressurizing. It all rung a lot of bells for me, back to my training at UND. I went for my (oxygen) mask. We had to make a quick decision to make a descent to the closest airport.” “Basically what you get is a sensation, happening at your core and progressing outward toward you arms,” said Fluke. “You know to go for the mask first rather than fumble with the instrumentation or worry about other things. You want to get ahead of the situation.” Jensen, himself a UND alum and an Air Force veteran, earned a master’s in aerospace medicine from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, in 1993. Today, he serves as UND Aerospace director of aeromedical research and as its flight surgeon. Jensen’s research areas include human flight performance, decision-making in emergency settings and oxygen delivery systems. He also teaches courses in human factors in aviation and aerospace physiology. Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) – for which the aerospace program at UND has become a world leader – is another research area in which Jensen has begun to collaborate with others on campus. Jensen also serves in the same capacity for the North Dakota Air National Guard. This means he determines whether a pilot is fit to fly. As a pilot, a doctor and a diabetic, Jensen knows all too well that pilots don’t like to be grounded, even if there’s a good medical reason they should be. The UND altitude chamber is run by a team that includes Jensen, Joe Schalk — who has 47 years of chamber experience — and Steve Martin, both Air Force attitude chamber training veterans. Additionally, Janelle Johnson, a finance associate for the UND Aerospace Foundation, works part-time as part of the altitude chamber crew. Fluke notes that among his most valued experiences at UND were those critical minutes of instruction with a flight surgeon and crew in a big steel box in Odegard Hall. “I called Doc a couple of days after the decompression incident in the CRJ and thanked him,” Fluke said “The first signal if felt in that airplane was what I’d felt in Dr. Jensen’s class.” For more information: UND.edu
Computed Axial Tomography Learn More About Cancer Treatment Centers of America: Chat with Us \| Email Us Computed Axial Tomography - Also known as a CAT scan or CT scan, computed axial tomography, or computed tomography, is an x-ray procedure that uses a computer to create three-dimensional pictures of the inside of the body. By producing cross-sectional images, CAT scans can sometimes reveal items that conventional x-rays can not. Computed axial tomography is frequently used in both cancer diagnosis and treatment to isolate the location of cancerous cells in the body. Previous: Complete Blood Count Back to the Cancer Glossary
What is in this article?: - Blow Your Cover \| Homemade Seeder Gives Cover Crops a Head Start - Agronomic benefits Beyond the engineering marvels of this machine, it offers the solid agronomic benefits of earlier cover-crop establishment. “The challenge in corn and soybeans is establishing cover crops before frost, especially the legumes,” says David Wilson, King’s Agriseeds agronomist. “You want to establish cover crop earlier in the growing season when the crop is still metabolizing nitrogen,” Wilson says. “Otherwise, by the time corn hits black-layer stage, that’s not happening, and the mineralized soil nitrates leach below the root zone where it’s wasted. “If we wait to seed cover crops until corn is harvested, the only option that late in the fall is annual winter rye for cold soil temperatures. This type of seeder should fit better with crops’ nutrient cycling. “Previous generations knew this. Some of them seeded medium red-clover cover crops by hand from horseback among midseason corn,” Wilson says. To see a video and more information on this Skyboy, see http://tinyurl.com/CSDcover. Late November 2010
\|Hep B infection through food? Sep 28, 2004 Dear Doctor Dieterich. If you can get Hep B from using toothbrushes infected with microscopic blood specks, is it also possible to become infected with Hep B through eating food contaminated by similar invisible particles (acquired from, say, dirty hands)? Also, could you possibly explain the science as to why these self-same invisible particles, lurking on environmental and public surfaces, cannot be passed between two dry surfaces or be transferred onto people's hands. Sorry to bother you with these concerns. Thank you so much. \| Response from Dr. Dieterich Tootbrushing has the possibility of passing blood to blood from cuts on the gums. Just swallowing particles of HBV is not really an issue. Hepatitis A on the other hand is virtually always passed by swallowing. The skin protects us from most viruses unless it is broken or cut. DTD Get Email Notifications When This Forum Updates or Subscribe With RSS This forum is designed for educational purposes only, and experts are not rendering medical, mental health, legal or other professional advice or services. If you have or suspect you may have a medical, mental health, legal or other problem that requires advice, consult your own caregiver, attorney or other qualified professional. Experts appearing on this page are independent and are solely responsible for editing and fact-checking their material. Neither TheBody.com nor any advertiser is the publisher or speaker of posted visitors' questions or the experts' material.
Zoo School Technology Preparing students for success in our 21st century global society is a challenging task. Rigorous and relevant curriculum is vitally important, as are small learning communities where relationships can flourish. Equally important is a philosophy of using appropriate and integral technology to facilitate and enhance these learning opportunities. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction describes three levels of technology use: traditional, enhanced and infused. Traditional technology implies use of technology tools for basic functions, such a word processing and basic spreadsheet operation. Enhanced technology allows facilitation through a higher level of interaction and computer-assisted learning. The most thorough use of technology is the infusion level, where learning uses web-based application, multiple technology and multi-media tools and where technology is an inseparable component of learning. At the AHS Zoo School, technology infusion is achieved through the use of interactive classrooms. Each classroom has its own smartboard that the teachers use on a daily basis. Students are challenged to learn in new ways that bring relevant technology to a non-traditional classroom setting. Each classroom has its own set of laptops, in which every student is assigned a laptop for in-class use. Wireless internet access allows students to work freely around the AHS Zoo School on projects and individual learning activities. Laptops can be taken throughout the Zoo for writing, notes, data collection and real-time analysis. Also there are digital cameras and video cameras available to all Zoo School students for checkout. Students can use these for group-based projects, in which the finished project is presented before the class.
Environmental Racism PCB Landfill Finally Remedied But No Reparations for Residents By Robert D. Bullard January 12, 2004 - After waiting more than two decades, an environmental justice victory finally came to the residents of predominately black Warren County, North Carolina. Since 1982, county residents lived with the legacy of a 142-acre toxic waste dump. Detoxification work began on the dump in June 2001 and the last clean-up work was slated to end the latter part of December 2003. State and federal sources spent $18 million to detoxify or neutralize contaminated soil stored at the Warren County PCB landfill. A private contractor hired by the state dug up and burned 81,500 tons of oil-laced soil in a kiln that reached more than 800-degrees Fahrenheit to remove the PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls). The soil was put back in a football-size pit, re-covered to form a mound, graded, and seeded with grass. Local Warren County environmental justice leaders and their allies across the state deserve a gold medal for not giving up the long fight and pressuring government officials to keep their promise and clean up the mess they created. This was no small feat given state deficits, budget cuts, and past broken promises. Residents and officials now must grapple with what to do with the site. This decision will not be an easy one to make nor is it likely to be absent of controversy. Justice Delayed and Justice Denied The sign at the entrance to the Warren County PCB landfill reads, "PCB Landfill -- No Trespassing." Clearly, the phrase "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied" might be more appropriate for a new sign at the entrance to the landfill. The landfill was constructed to contain 40,000 cubic yards (or 60,000 tons) of highly PCB-contaminated soil that was scraped up from 210 miles of roadside shoulders in North Carolina. The PCBs originated from the Raleigh-based Ward Transfer Company. A Jamestown, New York, trucking operation owned by Robert J., Burns obtained PCB-laced oil from the Ward Transfer Company for resale. Faced with economic loss as a result of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ban on resale of the toxic oil, the waste hauler chose the cheap way out by illegally dumping it along North Carolina roadways. Between June 1978 and August 1978, over 30,000 gallons of waste transformer oil contaminated with PCBs were illegally discharged on roadside in fourteen counties. The PCBs resulted in the U.S. EPA designating the roadsides as a superfund site to protect public health. The controversial PCB landfill is owned by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and is located about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh off North Carolina SR 1604 and U.S Highway 401. The toxic-waste dump was forced on the tiny Afton community-more than 84 percent of the community was black in 1982-helping trigger the national environmental justice movement. While the mid-night dumpers" were fined and jailed, the innocent Afton community was handed a 20-year sentence of living in a toxic-waste prison. Symbol of a National Movement After months of deliberations and a questionable site selection exercise, North Carolina Governor James B. Hunt decided to bury the contaminated soil in the community of Afton located in Warren County. This rural county might seem an unlikely spot to give birth to a global movement. Local citizens later tagged the landfill "Hunts Dump." Warren County put environmental racism on the map. The PCB landfill later became the most recognized symbol in the county. Despite the stigma, Warren County also became a symbol of the environmental justice movement. Warren County residents did not take kindly of having toxic waste dumped on them. It is here where a cross-section of America waged a frontal assault against state-sponsored environmental racism. Local county residents organized themselves into a fighting force that was later joined by national civil rights leaders, church leaders, black elected officials, environmental activists, labor leaders, and youth. The state began hauling more than 6,000 truckloads of the PCB-contaminated soil to the landfill in mid-September of 1982. Just two weeks later, more than 414 protesters had been arrested. In the end, over 500 protesters were arrested. Although the protests did not stop the trucks from rolling in and dumping their toxic loads, the marches, demonstrations, and jailings focused the national media spotlight on Warren County. The protests prompted the Congressional Black Caucus to request the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) to investigate hazardous waste landfill siting and the racial composition of the host communities. The 1983 GAO study reported that blacks made up a majority in three of the four communities with hazardous waste landfills in EPA Region IV (eight southern states) and at least 26 percent of the population in all four communities had incomes below the poverty level and most of this population was black. The Warren County struggle was the impetus behind the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice 1987 "Toxic Waste and Race" report. The protests also galvanized environmental justice as a national civil rights and human rights issue. They also ushered in a new era of national black leadership around the environment. No longer would environmentalism be viewed as the sole domain of elites and the white middle-class. Environment was redefined as "where we live, work, play, worship, go to school, as well as the physical and natural world." This new definition took hold among community based organizations, grassroots activists, analysts, and academics all across the United States-and in the last two decades spread around the globe from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg in 2002. Political Science-Not Rocket Science North Carolina state officials surveyed 93 sites in 13 counties and settled on Warren County. The landfill was permitted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Toxic Substances Control Act. The Warren County PCB landfill site was not scientifically the most suitable because the water table at the landfill is very shallow, only 5-10 feet below the surface and where the residents of the community get all of their drinking water from local wells. Selecting a landfill site is not rocket science. The Warren County decision made more political sense than environmental sense. In the end, the decision was less about the science of toxicology or hydrology and more about political science. Much of the "objective" science surrounding waste facility siting masks built-in land-use discrimination. The environmental justice framework unmasks the ugly face of racism. There is nothing inherent about black communities that make them more suitable land uses for dumps and other locally unwanted land uses or LULUs. Yet, a preponderance of LULUs somehow find their way to black and other people of color communities from New York to California. Warren County residents pleaded for a more permanent solution, rather than a cheap "quick-fix" that would eventually end up with the PCBs leaking into the groundwater and wells. Their voices fell on deaf ears. State and federal officials chose landfilling, the cheap way out. By 1993 the landfill was failing, and for a decade community leaders pressed the state to decontaminate the site. Residents of Warren County were searching for guarantees the government was not creating a future "superfund" site that would threaten nearby residents. North Carolina state officials and federal EPA officials could give no guarantees since there is no such thing as a 100-percent safe hazardous waste landfill, one that will not eventually leak. It all boiled down to trust. Can communities really trust government (state and federal) to do the right thing? Recent history and hundreds of books are filled with case studies of government deception and "white-washing" real threats to public health. A "healthy paranoia" pervades many communities beset by environmental racism, guarding them from falling victim to a false sense of safety and government protection. Many people of color activists have long held the belief, and with ample cause, that some residents "have the wrong complexion for protection." In reality, all landfills inevitably leak. The Warren County PCB-landfill is no exception. The question is not if the facility will leak but when the facility will leak PCB into the environment. Rules were bent and broken at the very beginning of the construction of the landfill. The landfill was technically designed to be a "dry-tomb" landfill, but was capped with a million gallons of water in it. Again, this is not rocket science. Even after detoxification, some Warren County residents are still questioning the completeness of the clean-up, especially contamination that may have migrated beyond the 3-acre landfill site-into the 137-acre buffer zone that surrounds the landfill and the nearby creek and outlet basin. PCBs are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic pollutants (PBTs). That is, they are highly toxic, long-lasting substances that can build up in the food chain to levels that are harmful to human and ecosystem health. PCBs are not something most Americans would want as a next-door neighbor. PCBs are probable human carcinogens. They also cause developmental effects such as low birth weight and they disrupt hormone function. A Quadruple Whammy Warren County is located in Eastern North Carolina. The 29 counties located "Down East" are noticeably different from the rest of North Carolina. According to 2000 census, whites comprised 62 percent of the population in Eastern North Carolina and 72 percent statewide. Blacks are concentrated in the northeastern and the central parts of the region. Warren County is one of six counties in the region where blacks comprised a majority of the population in 2000: Bertie County (62.3%), Hertford (59.6%), Northhampton (59.4), Edgecombe (57.5%), Warren (54.5%), and Halifax (52.6%). Eastern North Carolina is also significantly poorer than the rest of the state. In 1999, per capita income in North Carolina was $26,463, but in the eastern region it was only $18,550. Warren County is vulnerable to a "quadruple whammy" of being mostly black, poor, rural, and politically powerless. The county had a population of 16,232 in 1980. Blacks comprised 63.7 percent of the county population and 24.2 percent of the state population in 1980. The county continues to be economically worse off than the state as a whole on all major social indicators. Per capita income for Warren County residents was $6,984 in 1982 compared with $9,283 for the state. Warren County residents earned about 75 percent of the state per capita income. The county ranked 92nd out of 100 counties in median family income in 1980. Warren County population increased to nearly 20,000 in 2000. Infrastructure development in this part of North Carolina diverted traffic and economic development away from Warren County. Generally, development often follows along major highways. For example, Interstates 85 and 95 run along either side (not through) Warrenton, the county seat. Economic development bypassed much of the county. Over 19.4 percent of Warren County residents compared with 12.3 percent of the state residents lived below the poverty level in 1999. Warren County has failed to attract new business. The 1999 North Economic Development Scan gave Warren County a score of 2 (scores range from 1 to 100 with 1 being the lowest and 100 being the highest) in terms of new business rate. The economic gap between Warren County and the rest of the state actually widened over the past decade. Warren County per capita income ranked 98th in 1990 and 99th in 2001. One fourth of Warren County children live in poverty compared with the states 15.7 percent children poverty rate. A Case for Reparations It is important that the state finally detoxified the Warren County PCB landfill-a problem it created for local residents. This is a major victory for local residents and the environmental justice movement. However, it is also important that the surrounding land area and local community be made environmentally whole. Detoxifying the landfill does not bring the community back to its pre-1982 PCB-free environmental condition. Soil still containing small PCBs levels is buried at least 15 feet below the surface in the dump. Government officials say the site is safe and suitable for reuse. While there remains some question about suitable reuse of the site, there is no evidence that the land has been brought back to its pre-1982 condition-where homes with deep basements could have been built and occupied and backyard vegetables gardens grown with little worry about toxic contamination or safety. The siting of the PCB landfill in Afton is a textbook case of environmental racism. Around the world, environmental racism is defined as a human rights violation. Strong and persuasive arguments have been made for reparations as a remedy for serious human rights abuse. Under traditional human rights law and policy, we expect governments that practice or tolerate racial discrimination to acknowledge and end this human rights violation and compensate the victims. Environmental remediation is not reparations. No reparations have been paid for the two decades of economic loss, psychological damage, and mental anguish suffered by the Warren County residents. Justice will not be complete until the 20,000 Warren County residents receive a public apology and some form of financial reparations from the perpetrators of environmental racism against the local citizens. How much reparations should be paid is problematic since it is difficult for anyone to put a price tag on peace of mind. At minimum, Warren County residents should be paid reparations equal to the cost of detoxifying the landfill site or $18 million. Another reparations formula might include payment of a minimum of $1 million a year for every year the mostly black Afton community hosted the PCB-landfill or $21 million. It probably would not be difficult for a county that lacks a hospital to spend $18-$21 million. The nearest hospitals from Afton are located in neighboring Vance County (15 miles away) and across the state line in South Hill, Virginia (33 miles away). Some people may think the idea of paying reparations or monetary damages a bit farfetched. However, until the impacted community is made whole, the PCB-landfill detoxification victory won by the tenacity and perseverance of local Warren County residents will remain incomplete. Robert D. Bullard directs the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University. His most recent book is entitled Highway Robbery: Transportation Racism and New Routes to Equity (South End Press, 2004).

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