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Computer Models How Buds Grow Into Leaves Posted on March 02, 2012 at 08:24:51 am "A bud does not grow in all directions at the same rate," said Samantha Fox from the John Innes Centre on Norwich Research Park. "Otherwise leaves would be domed like a bud, not flat with a pointed tip." By creating a computer model to grow a virtual leaf, the BBSRC-funded scientists managed to discover simple rules of leaf growth. -ADVERTISEMENT-Similar to the way a compass works, plant cells have an inbuilt orientation system. Instead of a magnetic field, the cells have molecular signals to guide the axis on which they grow. As plant tissues deform during growth, the orientation and axis changes. The molecular signals become patterned from an early stage within the bud, helping the leaf shape to emerge. The researchers filmed a growing Arabidopsis leaf, a relative of oil seed rape, to help create a model which could simulate the growing process. They were able to film individual cells and track them as the plant grew. It was also important to unpick the workings behind the visual changes and to test them in normal and mutant plants. "The model is not just based on drawings of leaf shape at different stages," said Professor Enrico Coen. "To accurately recreate dynamic growth from bud to leaf, we had to establish the mathematical rules governing how leaf shapes are formed." With this knowledge programmed into the model, developed in collaboration with Professor Andrew Bangham's team at the University of East Anglia, it can run independently to build a virtual but realistic leaf. Professor Douglas Kell, Chief Executive of BBSRC said: "This exciting research highlights the potential of using computer and mathematical models for biological research to help us tackle complex questions and make predictions for the future. Computational modelling can give us a deeper and more rapid understanding of the biological systems that are vital to life on earth." The model could now be used to help identify the genes that control leaf shape and whether different genes are behind different shapes. "This simple model could account for the basic development and growth of all leaf shapes," said Fox. "The more we understand about how plants grow, the better we can prepare for our future -- providing food, fuel and preserving diversity."

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how to keep your child healthy? Need symptom or treatment information? Look under the symptom or disease headings below. information on health topics that do not concern infectious diseases, check Health Topic: Infants and Children in the CDC Health Topics A-Z pages. and major sites Ounce of Prevention Keeps the Germs Away Simple things you and your family can do to avoid getting an infectious disease. Disinfecting, vaccinating, safe pet keeping... Text and video With swimming such a popular activity, you should know how to protect you and your family from recreational water illnesses (RWIs) and help stop germs from getting into the water where you swim in the first place. Fact sheets and printable materials Salud del Bebé y CDC is not a hospital or clinical facility; we do not see patients and are unable to diagnose your illness, provide treatment, prescribe medication, or refer you to specialists. you have a medical emergency, contacting CDC is not the proper way to get immediate help. Instead, please contact your health care provider or go to the nearest emergency room. If you are a health care provider, please contact your state epidemiologist or local health department.

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Irish Druids And Old Irish EARLY RELIGIONS OF THE One of the most philosophical statements from Max Müller is to this effect: "Whatever we know of early religion, we always see that it presupposes vast periods of an earlier development." This is exhibited in the history of all peoples that have progressed in civilization, though we may have to travel far back on the track of history to notice transformations of thought or belief. When the late Dr. Birch told us that a pyramid, several hundreds of years older than the Great Pyramid, contained the name of Osiris, we knew that at least the Osirian part of Egyptian mythology was honoured some six or seven thousand years ago What the earlier development of religion there was, or how the conception of a dying and risen Osiris arose, at so remote a period, may well excite our wonder. Professor Jebb writes--"There was a time when they (early man) began to speak of the natural powers as persons, and yet had not forgotten that they were really natural, powers, and that the persons' names were merely signs? Yet this goes on the assumption that religion--or rather dogmas thereof--sprang from reflections upon natural phenomena. In this way, the French author of Sirius satisfied himself, particularly on philological grounds, that the idea, of God sprang from an association with thunder and the barking of a dog. We are assured by Max Müller, that religion is a word that has changed from century to century, and that "the word rose to the surface thousands of years ago." Taking religion to imply an inward feeling of reverence toward the unseen, and a desire to act in obedience to the inward law of right, religion has existed as long as humanity itself. What is commonly assumed by the word religion, by writers in general, is dogma or belief. The importance of this subject was well put forth by the great Sanscrit scholar in the phrase, "The real history of man is the history of religion." This conviction lends interest and weight to any investigations into the ancient religion of Ireland; though Plowden held that" few histories are so charged with fables as the annals of Ireland." It was Herder who finely said, "Our earth owes the seeds of all higher culture to a religious tradition, whether literary or oral." In proportion as the so-called supernatural gained an ascendancy, so was man really advancing from the materialism and brutishness of savagedom. Lecky notes "the disposition of man in certain stages of society towards the miraculous." But was Buckle quite correct in maintaining that "all nature conspired to increase the authority of the imaginative faculties, and weaken the authority of the reasoning ones"? It is not to be forgotten in our inquiry that, as faiths rose in the East, science has exerted its force in the West. Fetishism can hardly be regarded as the origin of religion. As to those writers who see in the former the deification of natural objects, Max Müller remarks, "They might as well speak of primitive men mummifying their dead bodies Before they had wax to embalm them with." Myth has been styled the basis of religion not less than of history; but how was it begotten? Butler, in English, Irish, and Scottish Churches, writes-- "To separate the fabulous from the probable, and the probable from the true, will require no ordinary share of penetration and persevering industry." We have certainly to remember, as one has said, that "mythic history, mythic theology, mythic science, are alike records, not of facts, but beliefs." Andrew Lang properly calls our attention to language, as embodying thought,, being so liable to misconception and misinterpretation. Names, connected with myths, have been so variously read and explained by scholars, that outsiders may well be puzzled. How rapidly a myth grows, and is greedily accepted, because of the wish it may be true, is exemplified in the pretty story, immortalized by music, of Jessie of Lucknow, who, in the siege, heard her deliverers, in the remote distance, playing "The Campbells are coming." There never was, however, a Jessie Brown there at that time; and, as one adds, Jessie has herself "been sent to join William Tell and the other dethroned gods and In the Hibbert Lectures, Professor Rhys observes, "The Greek myth, which distressed the thoughtful and pious minds, like that of Socrates, was a survival, like the other scandalous tales about the gods, from the time when the ancestors of the Greeks were savages." May it not rather have been derived by Homer, through the trading Phœnicians, from the older mythologies of India and Egypt, with altered names and scenes to suit the poet's day and clime? It would scarcely do to say with Thierry, "In legend alone rests real history--for legend is living tradition, and three times out of four it is truer than what we call History." According to Froude, "Legends grew as nursery tales grow now.--There is reason to believe that religious theogonies and heroic tales of every nation that has left a record of itself, are but practical accounts of the first impressions produced upon mankind by the phenomena of day and night, morning and evening, winter and summer." Such may be a partial explanation; but it may be also assumed that they were placed on record by the scientific holders of esoteric wisdom, as problems or studies for elucidation by disciples. The anthropological works of Sir John Lubbock and Dr. Tylor can be consulted with profit upon this subject of primitive religious thought. Hayes O'Grady brings us back to Ireland, saying, "Who shall thoroughly discern the truth from the fiction with which it is everywhere entwined, and in many places altogether overlaid?--There was at one time a vast amount of zeal, ingenuity, and research expended on the elucidation and confirming of these fables; which, if properly applied, would have done Irish history and archaeology good service, instead of making their very names synonymous among strangers with fancy and delusion." After this we can proceed with the Irish legends and myths, the introduction to this inquiry being a direction to the current superstitions of the race.

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You have to like the attitude of Thomas Henning (Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie). The scientist is a member of a team of astronomers whose recent work on planet formation around TW Hydrae was announced this afternoon. Their work used data from ESA’s Herschel space observatory, which has the sensitivity at the needed wavelengths for scanning TW Hydrae’s protoplanetary disk, along with the capability of taking spectra for the telltale molecules they were looking for. But getting observing time on a mission like Herschel is not easy and funding committees expect results, a fact that didn’t daunt the researcher. Says Henning, “If there’s no chance your project can fail, you’re probably not doing very interesting science. TW Hydrae is a good example of how a calculated scientific gamble can pay off.” I would guess the relevant powers that be are happy with this team’s gamble. The situation is this: TW Hydrae is a young star of about 0.6 Solar masses some 176 light years away. The proximity is significant: This is the closest protoplanetary disk to Earth with strong gas emission lines, some two and a half times closer than the next possible subjects, and thus intensely studied for the insights it offers into planet formation. Out of the dense gas and dust here we can assume that tiny grains of ice and dust are aggregating into larger objects and one day planets. Image: Artist’s impression of the gas and dust disk around the young star TW Hydrae. New measurements using the Herschel space telescope have shown that the mass of the disk is greater than previously thought. Credit: Axel M. Quetz (MPIA). The challenge of TW Hydrae, though, has been that the total mass of the molecular hydrogen gas in its disk has remained unclear, leaving us without a good idea of the particulars of how this infant system might produce planets. Molecular hydrogen does not emit detectable radiation, while basing a mass estimate on carbon monoxide is hampered by the opacity of the disk. For that matter, basing a mass estimate on the thermal emissions of dust grains forces astronomers to make guesses about the opacity of the dust, so that we’re left with uncertainty — mass values have been estimated anywhere between 0.5 and 63 Jupiter masses, and that’s a lot of play. Error bars like these have left us guessing about the properties of this disk. The new work takes a different tack. While hydrogen molecules don’t emit measurable radiation, those hydrogen molecules that contain a deuterium atom, in which the atomic nucleus contains not just a proton but an additional neutron, emit significant amounts of radiation, with an intensity that depends upon the temperature of the gas. Because the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen is relatively constant near the Sun, a detection of hydrogen deuteride can be multiplied out to produce a solid estimate of the amount of molecular hydrogen in the disk. The Herschel data allow the astronomers to set a lower limit for the disk mass at 52 Jupiter masses, the most useful part of this being that this estimate has an uncertainty ten times lower than the previous results. A disk this massive should be able to produce a planetary system larger than the Solar System, which scientists believe was produced by a much lighter disk. When Henning spoke about taking risks, he doubtless referred to the fact that this was only the second time hydrogen deuteride has been detected outside the Solar System. The pitch to the Herschel committee had to be persuasive to get them to sign off on so tricky a detection. But 36 Herschel observations (with a total exposure time of almost seven hours) allowed the team to find the hydrogen deuteride they were looking for in the far-infrared. Water vapor in the atmosphere absorbs this kind of radiation, which is why a space-based detection is the only reasonable choice, although the team evidently considered the flying observatory SOFIA, a platform on which they were unlikely to get approval given the problematic nature of the observation. Now we have much better insight into a budding planetary system that is taking the same route our own system did over four billion years ago. What further gains this will help us achieve in testing current models of planet formation will be played out in coming years. The paper is Bergin et al., “An Old Disk That Can Still Form a Planetary System,” Nature 493 ((31 January 2013), pp. 644–646 (preprint). Be aware as well of Hogerheijde et al., “Detection of the Water Reservoir in a Forming Planetary System,” Science 6054 (2011), p. 338. The latter, many of whose co-authors also worked on the Bergin paper, used Herschel data to detect cold water vapor in the TW Hydrae disk, with this result: Our Herschel detection of cold water vapor in the outer disk of TW Hya demonstrates the presence of a considerable reservoir of water ice in this protoplanetary disk, sufficient to form several thousand Earth oceans worth of icy bodies. Our observations only directly trace the tip of the iceberg of 0.005 Earth oceans in the form of water vapor. Clearly, TW Hydrae has much to teach us. Addendum: This JPL news release notes that although a young star, TW Hydrae had been thought to be past the stage of making giant planets: “We didn’t expect to see so much gas around this star,” said Edwin Bergin of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Bergin led the new study appearing in the journal Nature. “Typically stars of this age have cleared out their surrounding material, but this star still has enough mass to make the equivalent of 50 Jupiters,” Bergin said.

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Fill out the form below to find out if you have a case. A new program is making physical and occupational therapy more convenient for adults with cerebral palsy. Using the Internet, the program connects adult cerebral palsy patients to “virtual trainers” who help them complete movement-based training from the comfort of their own homes. The Upper Limb Training and Assessment Program, also known as ULTrA, is part of a joint research and movement therapy project aimed at helping adults who have upper limb and hand impairment. “Physical and occupational therapy are the most important treatments for cerebral palsy. The ULTrA program works with the idea of bringing therapy into the home to allow adults to do their therapy at a time that’s convenient for them,” said Dr. Edward Hurvitz of the University of Michigan. Patients participating in the program have their homes equipped with the computer-based training unit, a training CD, and a high-speed Internet connection. They then complete five 40-minute training sessions a week over the course of an eight-week period. “The computer interface in the individual’s home includes computer-generated images of people stretching, and we also have people in our lab who are able to coach and provide encouragement to participants via web cameras. Being connected to the patients allows us to modify their program as needed, without them coming into the research lab or clinic,” said Susan Brown, Ph.D. Brown, who directs the Motor Control Lab at the U-M School of Kinesiology, said that the technology has “real potential to open up the world for people who have mobility issues.” One cerebral palsy patient, 41-year-old Laura Grable, praised the project. “The ULTrA project is a step toward moving cerebral palsy treatment into the 21 st century. There’s the potential to figure out how to improve range of motion and daily quality of life for people with CP,” she said.

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Good news. There are simple ways to save money especially if you go back to the time-honored concept of BYO – “bringing your own” container of coffee, lunch or water as part of your daily routine. This can do a world of good not only for your pocketbook, but also for the environment, and even your health. Here are some tips to get you started: * Bring your own coffee or tea According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans throw away 25 billion foam cups each year. And 500 years from now, those cups will still be sitting in a landfill. Despite the convenience of foam cups, small changes such as bringing coffee or tea in a reusable container can have both an environmental and economic impact. For example, Genuine Thermos(R) Brand makes a vacuum insulated commuter bottle that will keep a beverage hot for eight hours or cold for 12 hours. Not only is this great for a day at the office or running errands around town, it saves the cost of purchasing beverages day in and day out. If you still like an occasional custom-made coffee or chai latte, some retailers will fill your own bottle. * Bring your own lunch Many grownups still have fond memories of a school lunchbox featuring their favorite TV or movie character. Bringing your own lunch in an insulated lunch carrier is a good way to keep your favorite foods fresh and tasty, and a smart way to save money. According to a report in Time magazine, bringing your lunch to work can cut your weekly costs by 80 percent. To keep foods fresh while on the go, insulated reusable containers are an ideal option. They come in all shapes and sizes to keep snacks or lunch foods hot or cold for hours, saving you the cost of going out and making it easier to stay away from unhealthy temptations. * Keep yourself hydrated As you get in the habit of bringing your own reusable portable container, don’t neglect the one thing every human needs for basic good health – water – to help you hydrate throughout the day. According to the Mayo Clinic, water makes up about 60 percent of your body weight. Lack of appropriate water intake can lead to dehydration, draining your energy and making you feel tired. The Institute of Medicine determined that adequate water intake for men is roughly 104 ounces and is roughly 72 ounces for women. Instead of purchasing bottled water in containers that will also end up in landfills, bring plenty of your own water in a portable, reusable container. One easy option for quenching thirst while on the go is the 24 oz. Hydration Bottle with Meter that is made of BPA-free Eastman(TM) Tritan and has a rotating meter built into the lid to help keep track of your daily water consumption. Embracing the bring-your-own mentality can make a world of difference economically and environmentally. So, take the first step to “bringing your own” on May 23, which is the inaugural National Fill Your Thermos Brand Bottle Day, and celebrate the doing-good and money-saving power of the reusable container.

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Cameron Park Elementary School in Hillsborough held an Early Earth Day Celebration on April 11 with visits from two special guests: NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and UNC's Nobel Prize-winning scientist Oliver Smithies.Williams went to the International Space Station aboard the shuttle Discovery in December 2006 and remained in space for 195 days, setting the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman. While she was in the space station, another astronaut cut her long ponytail and sent the hair back to Earth to be donated to Locks of Love, which makes wigs for cancer patients. She also ran the Boston Marathon in space last year to draw attention to fitness for kids. Students also learned Williams worked seven-hour days wearing a 300-pound space suit, ate dehydrated food and exercised frequently to help prevent bone loss due to the lack of gravity. She told the students about the special respect and appreciation for the earth that she gained from her perspective in space.Smithies, who won the 2007 Nobel Prize in medicine, engaged Cameron Park students in a discussion about the excitement of discovery. Using a basketball, he showed how daylight moves around the earth as it rotates. He also showed students a helix and mentioned his laboratory experiments in genetics. Smithies' work has been recognized as revolutionizing research into the genetic basis of disease.Students also enjoyed outdoor games and lots of learning about conservation, recycling and environmental protection.Outdoor learning exhibits were presented by the North Carolina Fossil Club, SEEDS, North Carolina Fisheries, Orange County Soil and Water Conservation, Orange County Erosion Control, Orange County Solid Waste and Recycling, Bountiful Backyards, and Occaneechi leader John Blackfeather Jeffries.

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1.True / false: A violin string can only produce a single frequency unless its tuning is change. 2.True / false: Most of the sound from a violin comes directly from the strings. 3. As a violin string vibrates, its motional energy is changing rapidly with time. What 2 types of energy are involved in the motion of an oscillating string such as a violin string (ignore friction and changes in GPE):

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Consider four vectors ~ F1, ~ F2, ~ F3, and ~ F4, wheretheir magnitudes are F1= 43 N, F2= 36 N, F3 = 19 N, andF4 = 54 N.Let θ1 =120o, θ2 = −130o,θ3 = 200, and θ4 = −67o, measured from thepositive x axis with the counter-clockwiseangular direction aspositive. What is the magnitudeof the resultant vector ~F , where ~F = ~ F1 +~ F2 +~ F3 +~ F4? Answer in units of N. What is the direction ofthis resultant vector~F? Note: Give the anglein degrees, use counterclockwise as the positiveangular direction, between the limits from the positive xaxis. Answer in units ofo I worked out the first part of thequestion by using trigonomic rules. My X value=-5.68671and my Y value=-33.5474. The magnitude came out to 34.026N. I tried finding the direction by usingθ=tan-1(y/x) but i cant get the rightanswer.

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A common virus that affects 50-70% of adults. If a woman acquires cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection during pregnancy, there is about a 15% chance that her infant will have infection and serious complications. Women who have had CMV infection and who are considering breastfeeding their prematurely born infant should check first with their child's doctor since there is a risk of transmitting the virus to the infant through breast milk. Prematurely born infants may not be able to fight off the CMV infection as do infants born at term. CMV infection is usually a mild infection in adults. Infants born to women who have had CMV long before they became pregnant are at low risk of having an infant with serious CMV infection.

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The cardinals were deadlocked. They had been deadlocked for 27 months, since 1292 when Pope Nicholas V died. There were only twelve cardinals and they were evenly divided between two factions of the Roman nobility. Neither side would give way. Each hoped for the perks that would accrue from having one of their number named pope. And then a message arrived from the mountains. Peter Murrone, the hermit founder of the Celestines, a strict branch of Benedictines, warned that God was angry with the cardinals. If they did not elect a pope within four months, the Lord would severely chastise the church. Eager for a way out of their deadlock, the cardinals asked themselves, why not elect Peter himself? Finally the cardinals could agree. In a vote that they declared to be "miraculous" they unanimously chose Peter. When three of the cardinals climbed to his mountain roost to tell Peter he had been chosen, the hermit wasn't happy. All of his life, he had tried to run away from people. Dressed like John the Baptist, he subjected himself to fasts, heavy chains, and nights of prayer without sleep. But when the cardinals and his friend King Charles II of Naples insisted that he must accept the position for the good of the church, Peter reluctantly agreed. Charles II prompted him to name a number of new cardinals--all of them from France and Naples, changing the consistency of the group which would elect future popes. Peter, who was too trusting, made many mistakes. A babe in political matters, he was used by everyone around him. The Vatican staff even sold blank bulls with his signature on them. The business of the church slowed to a crawl because he took too much time making decisions. Within weeks it became apparent he had to resign for the good of the church. But could a pope resign? Guided by one of the cardinals, Benedetto Caetani, Celestine as pope issued a constitution which gave himself the authority to resign. All sorts of rumors followed this resignation. Peter had built himself a hut in the Vatican where he could live like a hermit. Supposedly Caetani thrust a reed through the wall of the hut and pretended he was the voice of God ordering Celestine to resign. Since his mind was undecided as to his proper course, this trick is said to have convinced him. Celestine stepped down on this day, December 13, 1294, having actually filled the position of pope only three months. He was replaced by Caetani who took the name Boniface VIII. Afraid that Peter would become a rallying point for troublemakers, Boniface locked the old man up. He destroyed most of the records of Celestine's short time in office, but he could not unmake the cardinals. Peter escaped and wandered through mountains and forests. He was recognized and recaptured when he tried to sail to Greece, his boat having been driven back by a storm. The last nine months of his life he spent in prayer as a prisoner of Boniface, badly treated by his guards. When he died in 1296, rumor had it that Boniface had murdered him. He was about 81-years-old. In 1313, Pope Clement V declared him a saint. - Brusher, Joseph Stanislaus. Popes through the Ages. Princeton, N. J.: Van Nostrand, 1959. - "Celestine V." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997. - De Rosa, Peter. Vicars of Christ; the dark side of the papacy. Dublin: Poolbeg Press, 2000; especially pp.75ff. - Loughlin, James F. "Pope St. Celestine V." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1908. - Montor, Chevalier Artaud de. Lives and Times of the Popes. New York: Catholic Publication Society of America, 1909. Source of the picture. - Rusten, E. Michael and Rusten, Sharon. One Year Book of Christian History. (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 2003). - Silone, Ignazio. The Story of a Humble Christian. [Dramatic account with historical addenda.] New York: Harper and Row, 1970. - Various encyclopedia and internet articles. Last updated July, 2007

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Interviewing Children About Past Events: Evaluating the NICHD Interview Protocol This study, conducted by the NICHD in collaboration with Lancaster University in Lancaster, England, will evaluate the accuracy of information obtained from children using AN ADAPTED VERSION OF NICHD's interview protocol. The NICHD protocol was developed to help forensic interviewers OBTAIN INFORMATION FROM children who may be victims of or witnesses to a crime ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES. This study does not involve forensic interviews, but is DESIGNED TO OBTAIN INFORMATION FROM children ABOUT an event that takes place at their school. The study will examine how children report a brief interaction with an unfamiliar adult, how the memory of the event changes over time, and how the use of different interview techniques can help children give a fuller and more accurate accounts of past experiences. Children 5 and 6 years of age who attend local schools in the Lancaster, England, area may be eligible for this study. Participants will be told that they are going to have their pictures taken and will be escorted by a researcher to a room at the school with another researcher who is posing as a photographer. The "photographer" and the child will put on a costume, such as a pirate's outfit, over their street clothes, helping each other put on pieces of the costume. The photographer will take pictures of the child in the costume. They will each take off the costumes and the child will be told that he or she will receive the photographs at a later time. Another researcher posing as a photographer will come into the room, interrupting the event, and begin to argue with the first photographer about who had booked the equipment. They will resolve the argument and apologize to the child for the interruption. About 6 weeks after the event, the children will be interviewed using the ADAPTED VERSION OF NICHD interview protocol. Half will be interviewed first about the staged event (the photo session), followed by an interview about a fictitious event (e.g., a class visit to the fire station) that could plausibly have happened but did not. The other half of the children will be interviewed first about the fictitious event and then about the staged event. The children will be interviewed according to one of the following three procedures: - The NICHD protocol preceded by a rapport-building phase that includes the rules of the interview and open-ended questions about the child and a recently experienced event - The NICHD protocol preceded by a rapport-building phase that includes the rules of the interview and direct questions about the child and a recently experienced event, or - The NICHD protocol preceded by the rules of the interview and open-ended questions about the child, but no opportunity to practice talking about a recently experienced event. After the interviewer has elicited as much information as is likely to be gained from verbal questions, he or she will present the child with a line drawing of a gender neutral person and ask the child to indicate where the child was touched by the photographer and where the child touched the photographer. Any child who provides a report of the fictitious event will be interviewed in the same way about the fictitious event. After 1 year, the children will be interviewed again in the same manner as the 6-week interview. The interviews will be audio- and videotaped to record the kind of information the children talk about and compare it to what actually happened in the event. |Official Title:||Evaluating the NICHD Interview Protocol in an Analog Study| |Study Start Date:||January 2004| |Estimated Study Completion Date:||October 2006| The NICHD interview protocol was designed to aid forensic interviewers in adhering to best standards of practice when interviewing children. Field studies evaluating its use have demonstrated improvements in both interviewer behavior, and the amount and quality of information obtained from children, compared to interviews conducted prior to its implementation in test sites. Because field studies were conducted in forensic settings, however, it has not been possible to evaluate the protocol's effect on the accuracy of information reported by children. This present study therefore aims to evaluate the accuracy of information obtained using the NICHD interview protocol in an analog study. In addition the study is designed to explore children's willingness to provide details of a suggested, non-experienced event, and the effectiveness of including a human figure drawing as an auxiliary technique for eliciting further information. Furthermore, we will explore the importance of the pre-substantive/rapport-building phase of interviews, and the impact this has on children's reports of experienced and suggested events. Finally, we will explore the effectiveness of the interview protocol with children when a long delay has occurred between the event and the interview. Children will take part, individually, in a staged event at their school, and approximately six weeks later, be interviewed at the university about what they experienced. In addition, children will be asked to talk about a suggested fictitious event (one that has not happened). The order of the interviews will be counter-balanced across children and rapport-building conditions. Some children will be interviewed with an open-ended script that includes practice in episodic memory, some with a script made up of direct questions, including a practice in episodic memory, and some with one that uses open-ended questions but does not provide practice in talking about an event from episodic memory. Approximately one year later children will be interviewed again, so that we can examine children's reports in protocol interviews over a long delay. Children's reports will be analyzed for both overall amount and accuracy of information reported, as well as in response to the different cues and props given in the course of the interview. It is not anticipated that the study will pose any risks to the children involved, and we expect that both the staged event and the interviews will be enjoyable and stimulating. We expect that the results of the study will provide further support for the use of NICHD interview as a safe and effective means of interviewing children about past experiences. In addition to general information on children's eyewitness capabilities, the study is expected to supplement field studies by contributing knowledge about the accuracy of children's memory using the NICHD interview protocol. |United States, Maryland| |National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)| |Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20892|

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Growth Hormone and Endothelial Function in Children Objective: This study is designed to determine whether growth hormone treatment in children 8 to 18 years of age alters function of the lining of the arteries. This may play a role in increasing or decreasing the risk of heart disease. Methods. Twenty children, for whom growth hormone therapy will be otherwise provided, will be studied before and 3 months after starting growth hormone. Subjects can be on other hormonal replacements but no other medications. Each study will be done in the fasting state. The blood vessel function will be determined by measuring the change in forearm blood flow before and after blocking flow to the arm for 5 minutes. Blood will be drawn after the test to measure glucose, insulin and fats. Growth Hormone Deficiency Drug: growth hormone |Study Design:||Allocation: Non-Randomized Endpoint Classification: Safety Study Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment Masking: Open Label Primary Purpose: Treatment |Official Title:||Growth Hormone and Endothelial Function in Children| - Change in Reactive Hyperemic response after 3 months of growth hormone [ Time Frame: 3 months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ] - Glucose, Insulin, lipid measurements [ Time Frame: 3 months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ] |Study Start Date:||January 2005| |Study Completion Date:||December 2007| |Primary Completion Date:||June 2007 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)| The purpose of the research is to learn more about how the lining of arteries in the body (called the endothelium) is affected by growth hormone treatment in children and adolescents. Poor function by the blood vessels is associated with increased risk of heart disease or stroke. This research is being done because growth hormone treatment has been shown to make the endothelium work better in adults. Growth hormone treatment may have the same or different effects in children because the dose is larger in children. Children between 8 and 18 years who are to be started on growth hormone will be eligible to participate. Blood vessel function will be studied before starting growth hormone and 3 months after. This will be done by measuring blood flow to the arm before and after 5 min of stopping blood flow to the arm. The three months of growth hormone will be given free. |United States, Ohio| |Ohio State University| |Columbus, Ohio, United States, 43210| |Study Chair:||Robert P Hoffman, MD||Ohio State University|

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the National Science Foundation Available Languages: English, Spanish This classroom-tested learning module gives a condensed, easily-understood view of the development of atomic theory from the late 19th through early 20th century. The key idea was the discovery that the atom is not an "indivisible" particle, but consists of smaller constituents: the proton, neutron, and electron. It discusses the contributions of John Dalton, J.J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, and James Chadwick, whose experiments revolutionized the world view of atomic structure. See Related Materials for a link to Part 2 of this series. atomic structure, cathode ray experiment, electron, helium atom, history of atom, history of the atom, hydrogen atom, neutron, proton Metadata instance created July 12, 2011 by Caroline Hall October 10, 2012 by Caroline Hall Last Update when Cataloged: January 1, 2006 AAAS Benchmark Alignments (2008 Version) 4. The Physical Setting 4D. The Structure of Matter 6-8: 4D/M1a. All matter is made up of atoms, which are far too small to see directly through a microscope. 9-12: 4D/H1. Atoms are made of a positively charged nucleus surrounded by negatively charged electrons. The nucleus is a tiny fraction of the volume of an atom but makes up almost all of its mass. The nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons which have roughly the same mass but differ in that protons are positively charged while neutrons have no electric charge. 9-12: 4D/H2. The number of protons in the nucleus determines what an atom's electron configuration can be and so defines the element. An atom's electron configuration, particularly the outermost electrons, determines how the atom can interact with other atoms. Atoms form bonds to other atoms by transferring or sharing electrons. 10. Historical Perspectives 10F. Understanding Fire 9-12: 10F/H1. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, the idea of atoms reemerged in response to questions about the structure of matter, the nature of fire, and the basis of chemical phenomena. 9-12: 10F/H3. In the early 1800s, British chemist and physicist John Dalton united the concepts of atoms and elements. He proposed two ideas that laid the groundwork for modern chemistry: first, that elements are formed from small, indivisible particles called atoms, which are identical for a given element but different from any other element; and second, that chemical compounds are formed from atoms by combining a definite number of each type of atom to form one molecule of the compound. 9-12: 10F/H4. Dalton figured out how the relative weights of the atoms could be determined experimentally. His idea that every substance had a unique atomic composition provided an explanation for why substances were made up of elements in specific proportions. This resource is part of a Physics Front Topical Unit. Topic: Particles and Interactions and the Standard Model Unit Title: History and Discovery This classroom-tested learning module gives a condensed, easily-understood view of the development of atomic theory from the late 19th through early 20th century. The key idea was the discovery that the atom is not an "indivisible" particle, but consists of smaller constituents: the proton, neutron, and electron. It discusses the contributions of John Dalton, J.J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, and James Chadwick, whose experiments revolutionized the world view of atomic structure. %0 Electronic Source %A Carpi, Anthony %D January 1, 2006 %T Visionlearning: Atomic Theory I %I Visionlearning %V 2013 %N 21 May 2013 %8 January 1, 2006 %9 text/html %U http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=50&l= Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.

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An electron is a subatomic particles of spin 1/2. It couples with photons and, thus, is electrically charged. It is a lepton with a rest mass of 9.109 * 10 − 31kg and an electric charge of − 1.602 * 10 − 19 C, which is the smallest known charge possible for an isolated particle (confined quarks have fractional charge). The electric charge of the electron e is used as a unit of charge in much of physics. Electron pairs within an orbital system have opposite spins due to the Pauli exclusion principle; this characteristic spin pairing allows electrons to exist in the same quantum orbital, as the opposing magnetic dipole moments induced by each of the electrons ensures that they are attracted together. Current theories consider the electron as a point particle, as no evidence for internal structure has been observed. As a theoretical construct, electrons have been able to explain other observed phenomena, such as the shell-like structure of an atom, energy distribution around an atom, and energy beams (electron and positron beams). - ↑ Massimi, M. (2005). Pauli's Exclusion Principle, The Origin and Validation of a Scientific Principle. Cambridge University Press. pp. 7–8 - ↑ Mauritsson, J.. "Electron filmed for the first time ever". Lunds Universitet. Retrieved 2008-09-17. http://www.atomic.physics.lu.se/research/attosecond_physics - ↑ Chao, A.W.; Tigner, M. (1999). Handbook of Accelerator Physics and Engineering. World Scientific. pp. 155, 188. ISBN 981-02-3500-3.

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The Eflo UFBF is a highly efficient biological process utilising beneficial bacteria to reduce harmful elements to acceptable levels. The filters can operate in an aerobic or anaerobic manner. Nitrate removal in drinking water is achieved in an anaerobic manner by supplying the biomass within the filter vessels with a suitable carbon source such as methanol or acetic acid. The nitrate is reduced and converted by the beneficial bacteria to nitrogen gas and water. Some 93% reduction is typical. The efficiency of the process is determined by the media within the filter vessels. This supports high levels of fixed film growth. Eflo use Filtralite media, an expanded clay product in various grades but typically providing very high specific surface areas and light density. As with all biological processes, there will be a build up of excess biomass and the Eflo UFBF process allows for the automatic removal and collection of this waste.

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Questions Relating To The Future Of Humankind By Jason G. Brent 24 October, 2011 WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY FROM THE NUCLEAR BOMBS DROPPED ON JAPAN IN 1945--20,000 TONS TNT EQUIVILENT--- TO NUCLEAR DEVICES WHICH PRODUCE OVER 57,000,000 TONS TNT EQUIVILENT. 1. After many years of thinking and research I could come up only with three ways by which the growth of the human population can be reduced to zero or made negative, if that were necessary for the survival of our species. a) By war, with or without weapons of mass destruction, starvation, disease, ethnic cleansing, rape, mutilation, and other horrors. This most likely would occur as humanity got close to the carrying capacity of the earth and almost certainly would occur after humankind reached or exceeded the earth's carrying capacity. b) By the voluntary action of all of humanity. This most likely would occur prior to reaching the carrying capacity of the Earth. Of course, this also could happen after humanity reached or exceeded the carrying capacity of the Earth and be used to reduce the human population to the carrying capacity of the Earth without violence---provided the horrors in (a) above have not commenced. This action would include education of women, raising their standard of living, modifying the culture of many societies, increasing the standard of living of all of humanity, and many other actions of a similar nature. Voluntary action includes any and all non-violent steps humankind could take to reduce population growth to zero or make it negative except coercive action. c) By the coercive action of society limiting the number of children a person or a couple could produce. This most likely would occur prior to reaching the carrying capacity of the Earth. Of course, it could also be used to reduce human population to the carrying capacity of the Earth after humanity has exceeded the carrying capacity of the Earth, provided the horrors in (a) above have not commenced. There isn't a single accepted definition of "carrying capacity". For the purposes of this essay I will define "carrying capacity" as the number of human beings combined with the average per capita usage of resources which will permit that number of human beings to exist and survive on this planet for a minimum of 1000 years. An alternative definition of "carrying capacity" is the number of human beings combined with the average per capita usage of resources which if exceeded even for a short period of time will result in the inability of the Earth provide the resources necessary for civilization to continue causing a rapid and horrendous decline in the human population. While no one knows what the carrying capacity of the Earth may be, it cannot be infinite-- it must be finite. No matter how much the average per capita usage of resources is reduced the Earth could not support 1 trillion human beings. Similarly, if the per capita usage of resources were increased such that each human being used 30 times the amount of resources used by the average American is highly unlikely that the Earth could support 1 billion human beings. At present human population is growing. It is highly likely that the average per capita usage of resources will continue to increase due to the rapidly growing economies of India and China and the growing economies of many of the other nations of the world. Therefore, a very strong case can be made that humanity will shortly exceed the carrying capacity of the Earth, if humanity already has not exceeded that capacity. If humanity exceeds the carrying capacity and takes no immediate action to reduce the population and/or the usage of resources to reduce it's impact on the planet below carrying capacity, then humans will enter into a violent competitions for the resources necessary to survive and the horrors set forth in 1(a) will occur. In simple terms, it will be each and every man/group/religion/nation/culture against every other man/group/religion/nation/culture in order to obtain resources which the Earth can provide so that the individual survives-- pure violent Darwinism. Billions will die and die horribly and more importantly the catastrophe will use up and/or destroy any remaining resources such that civilization will be unable to restart forever or at least for thousands of years 2. Does society, no matter how defined, have a right to limit the number of children a person produces by coercion or is the right to determine how many children a person produces absolute and society has no right to interfere with that decision? In considering this question limit yourself to the right I have set forth above and do not consider how that right could or would be enforced and whether enforcing that right would be harmful or beneficial to society. Those questions and any and all others would have to be considered, evaluated and discussed only if the right to limit the number of children a person produces by coercion exists in society. As far as I have been able to determine after doing many years of research I could not find a single human right that was not subject to control or modification by society. Even the right to life is not absolute-- many nations and cultures take away right to life when a person has committed certain types of murder. The right walk the streets as a free person is not an absolute right-- almost every nation or culture takes away that right and places a person in prison when a serious/heinous crime has been committed. Your reasons for your answer are requested. 3. While United Nations issues about eight different projections of the future human population, the most quoted and accepted projection is the "medium" projection. The most recent medium projection/estimation/prediction/prognostication (use whatever word you desire) issued by the UN predicts that the human population will exceed 10 billion and still be growing by the year 2100. Do you agree with that prediction after giving due consideration to the rate by which humanity is using the limited finite nonrenewable resources of our planet and the rate our species is using resources normally considered renewable? Do you agree with that prediction after giving consideration to the projected increase in per capita usage of resources by the nations of the world and in particular by the ever increasing per capita usage of resources of China and India? You may want to review the work of Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute as to the future usage of resources by China. Do you believe that the carrying capacity of the Earth, no matter how defined, is substantially less than 10 billion of our species and that the continued population growth will result in the collapse of society/the social order/civilization and the horrors set forth in paragraph 1 (a) above will happen prior to the year 2100? You may want to consult the works of William Catton, Richard Heinberg, Chris Clugston, David Pimental, James Lovelock and many others. Clugston's work can be viewed free of charge on his web site www.wakeupamerika.com (it is spelled with a 'k" and not a "c")-- pay particular attention to his book "Scarcity". The reasons for your answers to these questions would be most appreciated. Since no rational person would want to control population growth by the horrors set forth in paragraph 1(a) above, there are in reality only two ways to control population growth/reduce population growth to zero/make it negative. No one can present a logically and factually supported case that the voluntary action (as defined in paragraph 1 above) of humanity will reduce population growth to zero prior to the commencement of the horrors described in paragraph 1(a) with absolute certainty. In other words, there is some level of probability that if humanity were to limit itself to voluntary action to control population growth that action will fail and humanity will exceed the carrying capacity of the Earth such that the horrors described in paragraph 1(a) would occur. No one knows what is the chance of success or what is the chance of failure of voluntary action-- no one knows if the chance of success is 70% and the chance of failure is 30% or 80/20 or 60/40 or 50/50 or any other combination of numbers. However, there is a chance of failure and failure will lead to the collapse of society/the collapse of the social order/the destruction of civilization and to the horrors described in paragraph 1(a). More importantly, there is a vastly greater chance of failure of voluntary action if population growth not only has to be reduced to zero but made negative to substantially reduce the human population from the current 7 billion or from the future 10 billion (year 2100) to a much lower number in order for our species to survive for a reasonable period of time. A number of experts (whatever the word "expert" means) ( David Pimental of Cornell University and James Lovelock of Gaia fame, for example) have presented factually and logically supported cases that the Earth's carrying capacity is 2 billion or less of our species. Humanity ignores at its peril the work of these experts. If the chance of success/failure is one set of numbers for voluntary action relating to reducing population growth zero, then there is a second set of numbers for success/failure in which the success side of the equation is substantially reduced and failure side of the equation is substantially increased in considering voluntary action in relation to population reduction. Since chance of failure of voluntary action could result in the horrific deaths of billions, perhaps as many as 9.6 billion--(10.1 billion alive in 2100 less the possible carrying capacity of 0.5 billion = reduction of 9.6 billion),the question becomes---- what level of possible failure of voluntary action is acceptable to humankind? Of course, the number of horrific deaths could be substantially less than 9.6 billion. However, since no one can guarantee with 100% certainty that the voluntary action will not prevent a substantial number of horrific deaths, the leaders of humanity have a duty to convene one or more conferences of the best minds presently on our planet to evaluate and consider coercive population control. It cannot be denied that many arguments can be made against coercive population control--- the experiment in India a number of years ago was a failure, humanity could equate coercive population control with the actions of Adolph Hitler or racists, it will take as long to impose coercive control as to make voluntary action successful and many others. Coercive population control need not be discriminatory. If each couple in the entire world were limited to one child, no religion, group, nationality, race, culture, etc., would benefit at the expense of any other religion, group, nationality, race or culture. This essay is not intended discuss or debate the advantages/disadvantages, or the problems/benefits of coercive population control. Rather, the purpose of this essay is to show that humanity must consider and evaluate coercive population control because there is a substantial, but undefined, risk that voluntary action will lead to the horrific deaths of a substantial number of human beings in the very near future----probably before the year 2050 and almost certainly before the year 2100. Jason G. Brent [email protected] Comments are not moderated. Please be responsible and civil in your postings and stay within the topic discussed in the article too. If you find inappropriate comments, just Flag (Report) them and they will move into moderation que.

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HealtheTimes guides and inspires readers to be proactive about their health and make informed decisions about every aspect of wellness, from lifestyle and dietary choices to environmental issues. It is brought to you by Carlson Labs In the News Obesity and Heart Disease in Kids An obese child’s arteries may be just as clogged as the arteries of a middle-aged adult, finds a recent study. A buildup of plaque in the arteries puts kids at risk for a heart attack or stroke as early as age 30. In the study of 70 mostly obese children ages 6 to 19, researchers used an ultrasound to measure the thickness of the kids’ artery walls in the neck. “We wanted to gauge their vascular age,” says Geetha Raghuveer, MD, MPH, referring to the age at which the level of plaque in the arteries would be normal. In these children, the vascular age was generally 30 years older than their chronological age. Although the growing research linking obesity with heart disease in children is alarming, Dr. Raghuveer is hopeful. “A lot of these kids’ arteries, even though they are in the early stages of atherosclerosis, are not hardened or calcified, not really advanced.” she says there may be an opportunity to implement lifestyle alterations, including exercise and diet. “Perhaps it may be reversed.”

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Use it or lose it? Researchers investigate the dispensability of our DNA| October 2, 2008 Our genome contains many genes encoding proteins that are similar to those of other organisms, suggesting evolutionary relationships; however, protein-coding genes account for only a small fraction the genome, and there are many other DNA sequences that are conserved across species. What are these sequences doing, and do we really need them at all? In a study published online today in Genome Research (www.genome.org), researchers have delved into this mystery and found that evolution has actively kept them in our genome. Before the human genome was sequenced, researchers estimated the genome might contain upwards of 140,000 protein-coding genes, but surprisingly, sequencing revealed only about 20,000, accounting for less than 2% of the entire genome. Previously, Dr. Gill Bejerano of Stanford University found that lurking within the other 98% of the genome are stretches of sequences, known as ultraconserved elements, which are identical between humans and animals such as rodents and chickens, even though hundreds of millions of years of independent evolution separates them. Other evidence has suggested that ultraconserved sequences can harbor critical functions, such as regulation of the activity of certain genes. Yet research in this field has produced laboratory results that are seemingly in disagreement: some ultraconserved elements can be deleted from the mouse genome and produce no observable effect on mice. Bejerano cautions that laboratory experiments such as these may not be able to detect slow evolutionary forces at work. "With this in mind, we set out to examine the genomic data, much as someone would examine archaeological data, in search of similar deletion events that have happened naturally, and more importantly, were retained in the wild." "An analogy I like to entertain is that of plate tectonics: a fraction of the phenomena may be strong enough to be directly measured by our instruments, but to appreciate its full magnitude we must dig into the geological record," said Bejerano. "This digging into the genomic record is what our current work was all about. Bejerano and graduate student Cory McLean studied the genomes of six mammals, investigating ultraconserved elements that are shared between primates and closely related mammals, were present in the ancestor of modern rodents, but have been lost in the rodent lineage more recently. The researchers found that the genomic evidence supports an important biological role for ultraconserved elements, as well as thousands of other non-coding elements that are resistant to deletion. "The functional importance of ultraconserved elements is reinforced by the observation that the elements are rarely lost in any species," said McLean. "In fact, they are over 300-fold less likely to be lost than genomic loci which evolve neutrally in our genome." Bejerano explained that while loss of some elements may have a significant impact on the fitness of a species and the loss of other elements might be harder to detect in the laboratory, nearly all changes to these regions are picked up by evolution and swept out of the population. "Perhaps our most striking observation is one of sheer magnitude," Bejerano said. "Our work highlights how essential these dozens of thousands of regions are to the natural evolution of a species even as their actual functions remain, at large, a mystery." Scientists from Stanford University (Stanford, CA) contributed to this study. This work was supported by a Stanford Bio-X Graduate Fellowship and the Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation. Gill Bejerano, Ph.D. ([email protected]; +1-650-723-7666) has agreed to be contacted for more information. Interested reporters may obtain copies of the manuscript from Peggy Calicchia, Editorial Secretary, Genome Research ([email protected]; +1-516-422-4012). About the article: The manuscript will be published online ahead of print on October 2, 2008. Its full citation is as follows: McLean, C., and Bejerano, G. Dispensability of mammalian DNA. Genome Res. doi:10.1101/gr.080184.108. About Genome Research: Genome Research (www.genome.org) is an international, continuously published, peer-reviewed journal published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. Launched in 1995, it is one of the five most highly cited primary research journals in genetics and genomics. About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press is an internationally renowned publisher of books, journals, and electronic media, located on Long Island, New York. It is a division of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, an innovator in life science research and the education of scientists, students, and the public. For more information, visit www.cshlpress.com. Genome Research issues press releases to highlight significant research studies that are published in the journal.

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Are Britons becoming nature nitwits? One in five don't know oak trees come from acorns It's the national tree of England and a symbol of Britain’s seafaring power for hundreds of years. Yet according to a new survey, one in five adults have no idea that oak trees spring from tiny acorns. Instead, millions of ‘nature ninnies’ believe acorns fall from sycamore, elm or birch trees. Scroll down for video Worrying: Millions of 'nature ninnies' believe acorns fall from sycamore, elm or birch trees The survey also found that 15 per cent of adults think cows’ milk comes from male cattle, while a similar number are unaware that tadpoles turn into frogs. The shocking state of ignorance about nature is highlighted by an opinion poll of 2,000 adults carried out in the run up to Open Farm Sunday, when hundreds of farmers will open their gates to the public. Fewer than half the adults surveyed said correctly that bees make honey from nectar, with 59 per cent wrongly believing that honey comes from pollen. Only half knew that robins live in Britain all year round, while two thirds did not realise that sparrows – one of the most common UK birds – also live here all year. And although the call of the cuckoo is one of the great symbolic heralds of the spring, one in ten people said the birds live in the British Isles all through the winter. Farmer and TV presenter Adam Henson admitted he was disappointed by the level of public ignorance revealed in the poll, commissioned by the farming and environment charity Leaf. ‘As a farmer I am passionate about the great British countryside and like most farmers I spend a considerable amount of my time looking after it – along with all the wildlife that lives there too,’ he said. ‘I’m disappointed to see that so many people seem to be confused about the countryside and the role that farmers like me play in nurturing wildlife and tending the land.’ Three out of ten people questioned could not identify the red triangular road sign for frogs or toads crossing – with one in six believing it means ‘beware of frogs’. Women and men got a similar number of answers wrong. However, women were more likely to know that oak trees come from acorns – and that milking cows are female. All ages were unaware of the role of farmers in looking after the countryside, Leaf said. Around 95 per cent did not know that they manage over three quarters of the UK’s land, and fewer than one in four knew that farmers look after most of the hedge- rows, walls and fences in the countryside.

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The shared anger of mice and men: Scientific breakthrough linking humans to rodents could lead to new treatments for Alzheimer's and autism By Rob Preece It is one of life's great mysteries - how some people can fly off the handle and become aggressive and violent seemingly without warning. But scientists now believe they know why some humans are more likely to show aggression than others, after they managed to block pathological rage in mice. Researchers found that overly hostile mice and angry men share biological similarities which make them more susceptible to rage - a major breakthrough which could pave the way for new treatments for conditions including Alzheimer's disease and autism. Breakthrough: Researchers found that overly hostile mice and angry men share biological similarities which make them more susceptible to rage In a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers from the University of Southern California and Italy identified a brain receptor in mice, which malfunctions in overly hostile rodents. When the scientists shut down the brain receptor, which also exists in humans, the excess aggression disappeared. The findings are expected to help experts develop drug targets for pathological aggression, which is a component in Alzheimer's, autism, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Marco Bortolato, the study's lead author and an assistant professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences at the USC School of Pharmacy, told Science Daily: 'From a clinical and social point of view, reactive aggression is absolutely a major problem. 'We want to find the tools that might reduce impulsive violence.' Scientists had already found that both male humans and mice respond violently to stress if they have low levels of the enzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAO A). Similarities: Scientists found that both male humans and mice respond violently to stress if they have low levels of the enzyme monoamine oxidase A 'The same type of mutation that we study in mice is associated with criminal, very violent behaviour in humans,' Bortolato said. 'But we really didn't understand why that is.' Bortolato and his USC colleague Jean Shih worked backwards to replicate elements of human pathological aggression in mice. This meant not only low enzyme levels but also the interaction of genetics with early stressful events, such as trauma and childhood neglect. 'Low levels of MAO A are one basis of the predisposition to aggression in humans,' Bortolato. 'The other is an encounter with maltreatment, and the combination of the two factors appears to be deadly. 'It results consistently in violence in adults.' The research found that, in excessively aggressive rodents lackomh MAO A, high levels of electrical stimulus are required to activate a specific receptor in the brain. Even when this brain receptor does work, it stays active only for a short period of time. Bortolato said: 'The fact that blocking this receptor moderates aggression is why this discovery has so much potential. It may have important applications in therapy. 'Whatever the ways environment can persistently affect behaviour - and even personality over the long term - behaviour is ultimately supported by biological mechanisms.'

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Federal Government Seceded From the States and the Constitution first in 1913.Submitted by realman2020 on Mon, 11/19/2012 - 01:01 In 1861. The Federal government seceded from the states and our constitution first. The southern states broke away from the union. The reason is the Federal government broke the compact or contract. The Federal government overstepped their boundaries in the Constitution. Southern States seceding had nothing to do with slavery. It had everything to do with states’ rights. In 1913. The 16th and 17th Amendment were announced ratified without three-fourths of the states. The Federal Reserve act passed on Christmas eve in 1913. It happened in the dark of night when Congress was in recess. A handful of congressmen and senators by a voice vote passed this backdoor legislation. President Woodrow Wilson singed the bill into law. The Federal government seceded from the Constitution for the bankers. To read more click link below

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Heat is a sad fact of life for current generation electronics. Any Android, iPhone, or BlackBerry user can tell you that smartphones tend to get pretty hot at times. And by today's standards a balmy 85 degrees Celsius, while hot enough to cook an egg, is a pretty "good" operating temperature for a high-powered PC graphics processing unit. But that could all soon change, according to the results of a new study by researchers at the University of Illinois. Examining graphene transistors, a team led by mechanical science and engineering professor William King [profile] and electrical and computer engineering professor Eric Pop [profile] made a remarkable discovery -- graphene appears to self-cool. I. What is Graphene? Graphene is somewhat like a miniature "fence" of carbon. The material consists of a single-atom thick layer composed of hexagonal units. At each point of the hexagon sits a carbon atom that is bonded to its three close neighbors. The material behaves like a semiconductor, despite being made of organic atoms. It offers remarkable performance at an incredibly small scale, thus the electronics industry views it as a potential material to power electronic devices of the future. A variety of methods exist for producing graphene. The earliest method was an exfoliation technique that involved stripping individual graphene layers off a layer of graphite (the material found in pencil lead) -- this technique (as of 2008) cost as much as $100M USD to produce a single cubic centimeter of material. However, rapid advances in production have allowed manufacturers to begin scaling up production to the point where tons of exfoliated graphene can now be produced. techniques promise to drop the price even further. One method, epitaxial growth on silicon cost $100 per cubic centimeter in 2009. Its limitation is that, obviously, it requires silicon (eliminating some desirable properties like flexibility). South Korean researchers have tested another promising method, nickel metal transfer. Graphene is fascinating from a physics perspective. In 2005 physicists at the University of Manchester and the Philip Kim group from Columbia University demonstrated that quasiparticles inside graphene were massless Dirac fermions. These unusual particles help give rise to the material's unique characteristics. II. Graphene as a Self-Cooling Device Despite the extreme interest in the material, deal of mystery still surrounds Graphene. Because it is so extremely thin, it is difficult to test and measure accurately certain properties of the material. Overcoming technical challenges, the University of Illinois team used an atomic force microscope tip as a temperature probe to make the first nanometer-scale temperature measurements of a working graphene What they found was that the resistive heating ("waste heat") effect in graphene was weaker than its thermo-electric cooling effect at times. This is certainly not the case in silicon or other semiconductors where resistive heating far surpasses cooling effects. What this means is that graphene circuits may not get hot like traditional silicon-based ones. This could open the door to dense 3D chips and more. Further, as the heat is converted back into electricity by the device, graphene transistors may have a two-fold power efficiency gain, both in ditching energetically expensive fans and by recycling heat losses into usable electricity. Professor King describes, "In silicon and most materials, the electronic heating is much larger than the self-cooling. However, we found that in these graphene transistors, there are regions where the thermoelectric cooling can be larger than the resistive heating, which allows these devices to cool themselves. This self-cooling has not previously been seen for graphene devices." Professor Pop adds, "Graphene electronics are still in their infancy; however, our measurements and simulations project that thermoelectric effects will become enhanced as graphene transistor technology and contacts improve." A paper has been published [full text] in nanotechnology's most prestigious peer-reviewed journal, Nature Nanoscience. University of Illinois graduate student Kyle undergraduate Feifei Lian and postdoctoral researcher Myung-Ho Bae [profile] are listed as co-authors on the paper. III. What's Next? The study should provide even more motivation for semiconductor manufacturing companies like Intel, GlobalFoundries, and TMSC to lay down the process work necessary to mass-produce circuits based on graphene transistors, capacitors, etc. As for the University of Illinois team, they plan to next use their new measurement technique to analyze carbon nanotubes and other novel structures that are of interest to future electronics applications. Their work is funded via a grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Office of Naval Research.

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Corn crop residues are often left on harvested fields to protect soil quality, but they could become an important raw material in cellulosic ethanol production. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) research indicates that soil quality would not decline if post-harvest corn cob residues were removed from fields. This work, led by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) soil scientist Brian Wienhold, supports the USDA priority of developing new sources of bioenergy. ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency. Wienhold, with the ARS Agroecosystem Management Research Unit in Lincoln, Neb., led studies that compared runoff rates and sediment loss from no-till corn fields where postharvest crop residues were either removed or retained. The scientists also removed cobs from half of the test plots that were protected by the residues. After the test plots were established, the scientists generated two simulated rainfall events. The first occurred when the fields were dry, and the next occurred 24 hours later when the soils were almost completely saturated. During the first event, on plots where residue was removed, runoff began around 200 seconds after the "rain" began. Runoff from plots protected by residues didn't start until around 240 seconds after it started to "rain." Runoff from the residue-free plots contained 30 percent more sediment than runoff from all the residue-protected plots. But the presence or absence of cobs on the residue-protected plots did not significantly affect sediment loss rates. Wienhold's team concluded that even though cob residues did slightly delay the onset of runoff, sediment loss rates were not significantly affected by the presence or absence of the cobs. The results indicated that the cobs could be removed from other residue and used for bioenergy feedstock without significantly interfering with the role of crop residues in protecting soils. In a related study, Wienhold examined how the removal of cob residues affected soil nutrient levels. Over the course of a year, his sampling indicated that cobs were a source of soil potassium, but that they weren't a significant source of any other plant nutrients.

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Los Gallardos, nestled between the Bedar mountain range and the valley down to the coast, is a pleasant small town, well communicated and an important nexus in the road transport system of the area. It is a rich town, from which several of the local important Spanish dynasties have their homesteads, and it’s beginnings as a base for the mining experts and investors of the mines above it gave it a good start in life. Indeed, it is almost unique in the area as being one of the few towns that has never had a natural spring – the drinking water for the town was piped in from natural springs a couple of kilometers away. Nobody seems sure as to why it is called “Los Gallardos”, the most common explanation being that it was the name given to the rich foreigners who settled there at the turn of the last century. A “Gallardo” in Spanish was a gentleman, and the name was given to mining engineers and investors who came to exploit the mines of Bedar. An alternate theory, expounded to me by a 90 year old man who heard it from his grandfather when he was small, was that it came from the man who built the first house where Los Gallardos now is – a rich sailor from Mojacar, who disliked Mojacar and brought a plot of land next to the old Almeria – Vera route. His surname was “Gallardo” and as his family settled there the hamlet that sprung up was known locally as “el pueblo de los Gallardos”, or the village of the Gallardos [family]. Since the original Almeria – Vera route ran past Los Gallardos (the actual CN340 that runs past the village), and a track split off to go Bedar and Lubrin, it was the logical place for the (mainly British) engineers and investors to settle for their base. Bedar was where the miners lived; Los Gallardos the owners. Ease of communication from that point to nearly all the mines in the area, plus Garrucha (the main port) meant that it was easier for them to build a new base there rather then flog up and down the track to Bedar, which in those days would have taken the better part of a day. Los Gallardos was part of Bedar until 1924, when it was incorporated as a municipio, or a town hall. (Bedar has been mentioned in the records since before 1505, when the position of Bishop of Bedar was created in order to cement Christianity in the mountains). Until the latter part of the 1910s Bedar was a much larger community then Los Gallardos, being the main work base. As the mines close to Bedar started to close, the miners moved to new exploitations, causing a net loss of population and a small surge in the many (now often abandoned) villages in the mountains. The truth of the matter was that the intense mining activity that took place at the end of the 19th century, and whose financial and technical centre was based in Los Gallardos, created and consolidated a large number of villages in the area, such as Bedar, Garrucha, Seron, El Pinar and others. Upon the incorporation of Los Gallardos as an independent village, the new mayor was eager to get up and running with all the trappings of power. Since there was an economic downturn in the area, there were quite a few empty buildings lying around. The town hall was installed in a palm tree warehouse, which was rented from the owners until the late 80′s when money was made available to purchase it, knock it down and rebuild (preserving the original look of the building). The church was installed in another warehouse, which is currently being rebuilt and restored. Check out Sebastians bakery across the plaza from the Church, which has the oldest wood fired bakery in the area (well over a hundred years old, and in one of the original buildings). The square in front of the Church is the original square from the foundation of the village. Calle Seron was it’s first official street. The tarmacking of the main road in 1927 was a pivotal event in the history of Los Gallardos, as it cemented it’s position as the “doorway to the Levante”. Older people in the village still reminisce about a story that shocked the area at the time: The asphalt arrived in large cheaply made barrels of wood, metal lorries not existing at the time. The asphalt would then be mixed and poured onto the surface. The barrels were held together with simple hoops of metal. The children of Los Gallardos were envious of these hoops, and any discarded ones would be pounced upon and used as playthings, although almost all of them were taken away with the workmen. Over one weekend a group of older children hatched a cunning plan – gathering at dusk, they seized their opportunity and stole as many hoops off the barrels as possible. The scandal that erupted on the Monday was, by all accounts, enormous. The foreman of works was incandescent with rage, especially as without the hoops all the barrels had broken and the asphalt split out into the fields. The local judge arrived to investigate, accompanied by the dreaded Civil Guard, famed even before Francos day. After his investigation, he passed a number of fines, ranging from 5 to 20 pesetas, on the parents of the children, but stated that the onus on punishment for the children should be on the local headmaster of the school. The headmaster, as grandfathers still remember, enthusiastically doled out some quite heavy punishments upon the culprits! However, the asphalting of the road lead to the consolidation of Los Gallardos as a transport nexus for the area. A large number of taxi, transport and bus services sprang up over the next few years, although almost all vehicles were confiscated for the war effort during the civil war. Los Gallardos has always been known as “the taxi village”, and several large transport companies were born out of these humbles beginnings. The transport industry in Los Gallardos did not start to reestablish itself until the late 1950′s. The father of the current main taxi driver in Los Gallardos recounts a tale in which he was lucky enough to have a cousin working in SEAT in Barcelona, who was able to help him obtain a coveted car during this austere period. Other marques seem in the area were Peugots and Citroens, usually brought from France, and quite a few Fords. Apparently, although I can’t confirm this, there was for many years a Ford garage in the village. Large companies such as Jerasa, Rodriguez buses, Nilasa and others were all founded in or by Los Gallardos families, and most came out of those early years experimenting with early transport industries. Telephones arrived in the area in 1957, and the switchboard operator (on duty 24/7, 365 days a week) was paid 150 pesetas a month, a lot in 1957 but not so much 10 years later when she was still on the same pay level! She was on duty all day, but since there were only 10 phones in the village, any important calls were usually arranged the day before. Water problems throughout the area were endemic from the turn of the century until the creation of the Almanzora dam, caused by a lowering of the water level as population and agriculture increased, and a corresponding drying up of natural springs. Despite constant promises throughout these decades, no major investment in water infrastructure were made until the 80′s. This lead to the infamous protests by the side of the road as the Caudillo (old Franco himself) drove by on his way to Almeria in the mid 60′s. The old railway bridge by La Perulaca still has graffiti on it saying such things as “Franco mas agua!”. There is no indication that Franco noticed the demonstrations. No doubt he would have had them all shot. Currently Los Gallardos is in a strong expansionist phase. From 1996 to 2006 it was the 4 fastest growing town in Almeria, going from 1761 inhabitants to 3126. Last updated 18th July 2008.

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Banded - Found is coastal drainages of Alabama and Florida from Conecuh River to the Ochlockonee system, male banded topminnows are olive green with orange highlighting the upper gill covers. Bayou - The bayou topminnow has rows of dots and vertical bars, and it has a limited distribution, ranging from the Escatawpa and Mobile basins west to the Lake Pontchartrain drainage in Louisiana. Blackspotted - Blackspotted topminnows are characterized by a dark lateral stripe extending from the mouth to the caudal fin base and by small, distinct black spots along the back and upper sides (a useful characteristic for separating the blackspotted topminnow from the blackstripe topminnow). Blackstripe - The blackstripe topminnow can usually be distinguished from the blackspotted topminnow by the absence of small dark dots along the upper sides and back. Bluefin Killifish - The colorful bluefin killifish is found in Georgia, Florida, and only one pond in extreme southeast Alabama. Golden - When not breeding the golden topminnow is similar in appearance to the banded topminnow; in Alabama, the golden topminnow is limited to tributaries and backwaters of the Mobile Delta, Mobile Bay, and coastal lowland systems. Northern Starhead - The northern starhead topminnow is difficult to identify because of the sexual dimorphism. Northern Studfish - The northern studfish is a colorful topminnow that occurs in the Ozark and Ouachita mountains, upland regions of the Tennessee, Cumberland, and Green river drainages, and in isolated populations in Indiana and Mississippi. Pygmy Killifish - Perhaps Alabama's smallest fish, this fish is very rare in Alabama, but more common in Georgia and Florida. Rainwater Killifish - One of Alabama's smallest fish, it can be confused with the mosquitofish; the edges of the scales of rainwater killifish are edged in black, giving them a diamond-shaped appearance. Russetfin - In Gulf coastal drainages, Fundulus escambiae is distributed from the Perdido River drainage eastward to the Santa Fe River in Florida. Southern Starhead - The southern starhead topminnow is listed as a distinct species because individuals in Alabama are distinguishable from the bayou topminnow on the basis of body coloration. Southern Studfish - Found in the Coosa system and some lower Alabama River tributaries, the southern studfish is most closely related to the northern studfish and stippled studfish. Stippled Studfish - Only found in the Mobile basin, the stippled studfish is characterized by a series of darkened spots on individual scales that form a unique stippled pattern. Whiteline - The whiteline topminnow is an extinct fish that was first found in Spring Creek, Madison County, Alabama, now a part of Huntsville.

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Who doesn’t love hippos? Aren’t they the strangest creature? My second and third grade students agree and we discussed the anatomy of the hippo as we drew their robust bodies. Using a basic oil pastel and watercolor resist, the children turned their drawings into an underwater collage. To start, the children drew a hippo onto a piece of 12″ x 18″ white paper with an oil pastel. After drawing the body, the students drew a water line through the middle of the hippo’s head just below the eyes. Everything above this line was considered the sky and below; the murky water. I provided liquid watercolors so the children could run their brushes over the entire drawing. For a final flourish, children used foam 3-D dots to add fish and birds and tissue paper for watergrass. Lots of techniques in this lesson: directed line drawing, watercolor resist, oil pastel rendering, composition and collage. Whew! Second and Third grade Hippos….

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Dry sockets can on rare occasion result after a tooth is extracted. The blood clot healing in the extraction socket is unexpectedly dislodged leaving a bare painful open area. The technical term for this condition is acute alveolar osteitis. Generally the pain involved with a dry socket is intense, throbbing and unceasing. This pain is often worse than the pain associated with the tooth prior to extraction. A foul odor may be associated with this condition. Pain medication often does a sub par job of relieving the discomfort associated with this situation. What causes dry sockets to occur? Difficult surgical extractions leave patients more susceptable to this problem. Any action that forms suction within the mouth can raise risk level and should be avoided. Actions that should be avoided include but are not limited to: smoking, sucking through through a straw, spitting, vigorous mouth rinsing, sneezing, or coughing. Eating should be very light within the first 24 hours after tooth extraction to protect the affected area. In addition to the sucking action smokers use with cigarettes, smoking is thought to decrease the amount of oxygen available to the healing tissue, thereby, increase the risk of having a dry socket. Avoid smoking for at least the first 48 hours post extraction. Alveolar osteitis seem to occur in 5-10% of extractions. Frequency is greater with teeth of the lower jaw(mandible) and in cases involving wisdom teeth. Women are at greater risk than men for this condition due to hormone fluctuations associated with the menstrual cycle. Women taking oral contraceptives are at even greater risk. Prevention of Acute Alveolar Osteitis. cleanings and xrays. This regimen will hopefully allow problems to be when they are small and easily treatable. Mainaining good oral hygiene during the healing period. Women should schedule extractions during the last week of their menstrual cycles (days 23 through 28). This is when estrogen levels are lowest. Commence with a light, warm salt water rinse beginning 24 hours post tooth extraction. Avoid drinking through a straw, smoking or spitting for at least the first 48 hours post tooth extraction. Avoid alcohol for 48 hours as it can change bleeding patterns after an extraction. Avoid hard foods for 24 hours then carefully chew on the opposite side for an additional 24 hours to minimize injury to the extraction site. Carefully follow the post operative instructions given by the dentist and/or his staff. Treatment for a dry socket. Follow all post operative instruction very closely to avoid getting one. The pain associated with this condition will cause many regrets for patients that deviate from the healing protocol. The dentist may debride the socket of debris which also will cause new blood flow and clotting. Dental staff may place eugenol based iodoform gauze packing material into the socket to ease discomfort while healing commences. The site may need packed daily for up to 7-10 days although most need on 3-5 placements of analgesic packing. Take oral pain relievers. These have varied effectiveness for each individual. Even though the oral cavity is in discomfort, maintaining a proper diet is important to facilitate socket healing. can be a very uncomfortable and unforgettable experience. No patient wants to add this situation to their list of dental experiences. They are best avoided through prevention by receiving regular dental checkups, cleanings and xrays. By following this regimen, problems are usually found when small and extraction of teeth hopefully can be avoided. When tooth removal can not be avoided, closely follow the instructions provided by the dental staff.

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A new approach to improving system performance By Terry Costlow Embedded.com (01/05/10, 08:20:00 PM EST) Speed is a key element in most every electronic design. Whether engineers are creating complex image processing applications or designing systems that extend battery life by working swiftly before returning to sleep mode, speed is a critical factor in a product's success. Though hardware usually gets first consideration when design teams look for ways to improve speed, that's not usually the most effective path. It's fairly straightforward to run the features and functions of a product faster without making any hardware changes. Streamlining software so it runs at optimal rates can bring significant improvements in a way that's so easy to implement units in the field can be enhanced. That's far more cost effective than redesigning hardware. Three of the four basic components in system speed are in software: operating systems, compilers and application software. Hardware is the critical fourth phase, but altering processors, memories, bus architectures and data channels is difficult. Altering the operating system is also difficult once the OS has been selected. That leaves optimizing the software that runs above the operating system as the most straightforward way to increase speed. Applications packages, middleware and drivers take center stage when development teams focus on the features and functions that attract customers. But this software is typically overlooked when the focus shifts to performance. That's a mistake. Significant performance increases can be achieved when acceleration techniques are applied to software that resides above the operating system. It's rare that speed can't be boosted by 20 percent (or even doubled or quadrupled) especially when utilizing an outside firm that specializes in software acceleration who can assist with streamlining programs. Click here to read more ...

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Michael Specter has an interesting article in The New Yorker about global warming and how "dazzlingly complex" it all is once you start to take all of the factors into account. the calculations required to assess the full environmental impact of how we live can be dazzlingly complex. To sum them up on a label will not be easy. Should the carbon label on a jar of peanut butter include the emissions caused by the fertilizer, calcium, and potassium applied to the original crop of peanuts? What about the energy used to boil the peanuts once they have been harvested, or to mold the jar and print the labels? Seen this way, carbon costs multiply rapidly. A few months ago, scientists at the Stockholm Environment Institute reported that the carbon footprint of Christmas—including food, travel, lighting, and gifts—was six hundred and fifty kilograms per person. That is as much, they estimated, as the weight of “one thousand Christmas puddings” for every resident of England. This passage caught my attention. We need to look at the whole picture and not just the impact of our individual actions. Remember all of the "save the rain forest" campaigns during the 1980's? My 7th grade science class wrote a letter to the Ecuadorian Embassy to encourage them to stop deforestation. It's great that carbon emissions are getting so much attention, but they're just a piece of the overall puzzle. Just two countries—Indonesia and Brazil—account for about ten per cent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Neither possesses the type of heavy industry that can be found in the West, or for that matter in Russia or India. Still, only the United States and China are responsible for greater levels of emissions. That is because tropical forests in Indonesia and Brazil are disappearing with incredible speed. “It’s really very simple,” John O. Niles told me. Niles, the chief science and policy officer for the environmental group Carbon Conservation, argues that spending five billion dollars a year to prevent deforestation in countries like Indonesia would be one of the best investments the world could ever make. “The value of that land is seen as consisting only of the value of its lumber,” he said. “A logging company comes along and offers to strip the forest to make some trivial wooden product, or a palm-oil plantation. The governments in these places have no cash. They are sitting on this resource that is doing nothing for their economy. So when a guy says, ‘I will give you a few hundred dollars if you let me cut down these trees,’ it’s not easy to turn your nose up at that. Those are dollars people can spend on schools and hospitals.” The ecological impact of decisions like that are devastating. Decaying trees contribute greatly to increases in the levels of greenhouse gases. Plant life absorbs CO2. But when forests disappear, the earth loses one of its two essential carbon sponges (the other is the ocean). The results are visible even from space. Satellite photographs taken over Indonesia and Brazil show thick plumes of smoke rising from the forest. According to the latest figures, deforestation pushes nearly six billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. That amounts to thirty million acres—an area half the size of the United Kingdom—chopped down each year. Put another way, according to one recent calculation, during the next twenty-four hours the effect of losing forests in Brazil and Indonesia will be the same as if eight million people boarded airplanes at Heathrow Airport and flew en masse to New York. Read Big Foot In measuring carbon emissions, it’s easy to confuse morality and science. by Michael Specter Via: The Frontal Cortex

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I came accross this website the other day, and was intrigued at the concept behind the site. The concept, quoted from www.blackle.com states: "Blackle was created by Heap Media to remind us all of the need to take small steps in our everyday lives to save energy. Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. "Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen." Roberson et al, 2002 In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance of the energy savings that can be achieved and the cost in terms of readability of black web pages." As environmentally conscious attitudes pervade society more frequently, environmental endeavours, however small, are popping up all over the place.

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A form of carbohydrate that will raise blood glucose levels relatively quickly when ingested. The term “fast-acting carbohydrate” is generally used in discussions of treating hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar. However, as research accumulates on the subject of carbohydrates and how quickly they are absorbed, some diabetes experts say the term has become outdated. What defines hypoglycemia varies from source to source, but it generally refers to a blood glucose level below 70 mg/dl. In many cases, this will produce the typical symptoms of low blood sugar, which include trembling, sweating, heart palpitations, butterflies in the stomach, irritability, hunger, or fatigue. Severe hypoglycemia can cause drowsiness, poor concentration, confusion, and even unconsciousness. Diabetes care experts generally recommend checking one’s blood sugar level whenever possible to confirm hypoglycemia before treating it. To treat hypoglycemia, the standard advice is to consume 10-15 grams of “fast-acting” carbohydrate. Each of the following items provides roughly 10-15 grams of carbohydrate: - 5-6 LifeSaver candies - 4-6 ounces regular (non-diet) soda - 4-6 ounces of orange juice - 2 tablespoons of raisins - 8 ounces of nonfat or low-fat milk - One tube (0.68 ounces) of Cake Mate decorator gel. There are also a number of commercially available glucose tablets and gels. Benefits to using commercial products include the following: - They aren’t as tempting to snack on as candy is. - They contain no fat, which can slow down digestion, or fructose, which has a smaller and slower effect on blood glucose. - The commercial products are standardized, so it’s easy to measure out a dose of 10-15 grams of carbohydrate. If someone is unconscious from low blood sugar, don’t attempt to give him anything to eat or drink. Rather, take him to the nearest emergency room, or inject glucagon if you have been instructed how to do it. If you can’t get emergency help fast enough and can’t inject glucagon, it may help to rub a little glucose gel between the person’s gums and cheek.

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heated (part of speech: verb) fired, seared, roasted, grilled, baked, scalded, parched, fried, burned, broiled, sweltered, singed, scorched, warmed, boiled, charred, heated, cooked, simmered, toasted, stewed, braised, barbecued, poached - But strange to see, when women and men herein, that live all the season in these waters, that cannot but be parboiled, and look like the creatures of the bath! - "Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete Transcribed From The Shorthand Manuscript In The Pepysian Library Magdalene College Cambridge By The Rev. Mynors Bright", Samuel Pepys Commentator: Lord Braybrooke. - It was intermingled with an oily smell of boiled and parboiled coffee, overpowering in its intensity. - "The Coffin Cure", Alan Edward Nourse. - Should a very highly- flavoured seasoning be preferred, the onions should not be parboiled, but minced raw: of the two methods, the mild seasoning is far superior. - "The Book of Household Management", Mrs. Isabella Beeton.

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Micro vs Macro Micro and macro are prefixes that are used before words to make them small or big respectively. This is true with micro and macroeconomics, micro and macro evolution, microorganism, micro lens and macro lens, micro finance and macro finance, and so on. The list of words that makes use of these prefixes is long and exhaustive. Many people confuse between micro and macro despite knowing that these prefixes signify small and large respectively. This article takes a closer look at the two prefixes to find out their differences. To understand the difference between micro and macro, let us take up the example of micro and macro evolution. To signify evolution that takes place within a single species, the word microevolution is used whereas evolution that transcends the boundaries of species and takes place on a very large scale is termed as macroevolution. Though the principles of evolution such as genetics, mutation, natural selection, and migration remain the same across microevolution as well as macro evolution, this distinction between microevolution and macroevolution is a great way to explain this natural phenomenon. Another field of study that makes use of micro and macro is economics. While the study of the overall economy and how it works is called macroeconomics, microeconomics focuses on the individual person, company, or industry. Thus, the study of GDP, employment, inflation etc. in an economy is classified under macroeconomics. Microeconomics is the study of forces of demand and supply inside a particular industry effecting the goods and services. So it is macroeconomics when economists choose to concentrate upon the state of the economy in a nation whereas the study of a single market or industry remains within the realms of microeconomics. There is also the study of finance where these two prefixes are commonly used. Thus, we have microfinance where the focus is upon the monetary needs and requirements of a single individual where there is also macro finance where financing by the banks or other financial institutions is of very large nature. Micro and macro are derived from Greek language where micro means small and macro refers to large. These prefixes are used in many fields of study such as finance, economics, evolution etc. where we have words like micro finance and macro finance, micro evolution and macro evolution etc. Studying something at a small level is micro while studying it on a large scale is macro analysis. Financing the needs of an individual may be micro financing whereas the financial needs of a builder requiring money for a very large infrastructural project may be referred to as macro finance.

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Pioneering astronomer and physicist Sir Bernard Lovell has died aged 98. Sir Bernard, who was born near Bristol and studied in the city, was the founder of University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory. Jodrell Bank and the surrounding Cheshire countryside is dominated by the Lovell Radio Telescope, which was conceived by Sir Bernard. Professor Brian Cox, who knew Sir Bernard, said he was "an inquisitive scientist all the way". A book of condolence has been opened at the observatory's Discovery Centre. Sir Bernard was born in Oldland Common, Gloucestershire, in 1913 and studied at the University of Bristol before joining the University of Manchester's Department of Physics in 1936. During World War II he led a team developing radar technology, for which he was later awarded an OBE. Following the war, he returned to the university and set about planning the observatory. His iconic 76m (249ft) telescope was completed in 1957. Within days of it becoming operational, it tracked the rocket that carried Sputnik 1 into orbit. The structure remains the third largest steerable telescope in the world and plays a key role in global research on pulsating stars, testing extreme physics theories including Einstein's general theory of relativity. The telescope and his other contributions to radio astronomy led to him being knighted in 1961. Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, said: "Bernard Lovell ranks as one of the great visionary leaders of science. "He had the boldness and self-confidence to conceive a giant radio telescope, and the persistence to see it through to completion, despite the risk of bankruptcy. "What is even more remarkable is that, more than 50 years later, this instrument (after several upgrades) is still doing 'frontier' science. "I recall the celebrations of the telescope's 50th anniversary in 2007. Lovell, though nearly blind, played a full part in the festivities and made a superb speech. "He rightly took great pride in this lasting monument." A spokesman for the university said Sir Bernard was "warm and generous". He said the astronomer had "retained a keen interest in the development of science at Jodrell Bank and beyond," and added: "Indeed he continued to come in to work at the Observatory until quite recently when ill health intervened." Sir Bernard was also an accomplished musician, a keen cricketer and an internationally-renowned arboriculturalist who created an arboretum at Jodrell Bank. He is survived by four of his five children, 14 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Professor Cox, who met Sir Bernard after joining the University of Manchester in the 1990s, said: "I remember once I went to his house and immediately he said 'ah Cox, tell me about this muon' [a sub-atomic particle]. "He knew that I was doing particle physics and thought back to the last time he had thought about such things - he'd been thinking about astronomy for decades - and that's what he wanted to talk about. "That was him - all his life, he was a scientist. "He was a pioneer of radio astronomy and almost invented the subject. "He built the leading telescope and that radio study of the sky has contributed a vast amount to our understanding of the universe." RIP Sir Bernard.

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Presenting - 'Amasia', The Next Supercontinent! Ever since Earth has been in existence there have been the formation and breaking apart of many supercontinents - While Pangaea, that existed between 150-300 million years ago is the most well-known, prior to that was Nuna (1.8 billion years ago), Rodina (1 billion years ago) and many more that cannot be verified because 2 billion year-old rocks containing evidence of magnetic fields, are hard to find. And while most scientists are in agreement that Rodina, Nuna and Pangaea did exist, there is very little consensus on the continents they comprised of - Some experts believe that they were the same ones, while others think that the wandering landmasses reassembled on the opposite sides each time - about 180° away from where the previous supercontinent had come together. Now, a group of geologists led by Yale University graduate student Ross Mitchell have a new theory - They think that each supercontinent came together about 90° from its predecessor. That is, the geographic center of Rodina was about 88° away from the center of Nuna, whilst the center of Panagea, believed to have been located near modern-day Africa, was about 88° away from the center from its super giant predecessor, Rodina. These calculations that were reported earlier this year were based not only on the paleolatitude (The latitude of a place at some time in the past, measured relative to the earth's magnetic poles in the same period) of the ancient supercontinents, but also, for the first time the paleolongitude, that Ross measured by estimating how the locations of the Earth's magnetic poles have changed through time. While the theory is interesting, what is even more so is that the team has also come up with a model of the next supercontinent. If their estimates are accurate, over the next few hundred million years, the tectonic plates under the Americas and Asia will both drift northward and merge. This means that modern day North and South America will come together and become one giant landmass, displacing the Caribbean Sea completely. A similar movement in Eurasia (Australia and South Eastern Asia) will cause the Arctic Ocean to disappear causing the continents to fuse with Canada. The result? A ginormous continent that they call 'Amasia'. The one thing that is not too clear is if Antarctica will be part of this or just be left stranded. While many researchers believe that the Yale team's theory is quite feasible, nobody will ever know for sure - Because unfortunately, none of us are going to be around few 100 million years from now - But it's sure fun to envision the new world, isn't it?

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Advice for Parents of ADD/ADHD Children In the United States, 17 million children are diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, and oftentimes it is accompanied by hyperactivity. Dr. Phil and Dr. Frank Lawlis, author of The ADD Answer, offer advice for parents whose children are diagnosed with the disorder. Educate yourself about ADD. In his book, Dr. Lawlis explains that an ADD diagnosis is not a sign of inferior intelligence or a handicap. It does not result in a damaged personality, criminal tendencies, or immoral behavior. ADD is not necessarily a learning disability or a mark of mental immaturity, although such conditions can coexist with ADD. Much of the time, the problems of ADD are related to the brain performing at lowered, subdued ranges. Obtain a proper diagnosis. Many times, parents are quick to make evaluations of their children's unruly behavior. "I always look for other reasons, other causation, whenever I see behavior spinning out of control," Dr. Phil explains. The symptoms a child exhibits may be caused by factors such as divorce, death of a parent, or a change in school and living situation. There are at least two well-documented ways to determine if your child has a neurologically based disorder of ADD or ADHD: a spectrogram or an EEG can identify specific patterns in certain parts of your child's brain. Examine your parenting style. Is the child more difficult with one parent than with the other? It could be that your parenting style is contributing to the problem. Parents need to have a unified front that they both can stand behind and enforce. You must support one another in your actions and discipline. Look at ways that you can change your child's environment, including avoiding fights in front of the kids or reacting to your child differently. Don't feel guilty about disciplining your child. Dr. Phil tells one mom whose child suffers from ADHD: "You have to be willing to visit the structure. You have to be willing to bring the predictability, the consistency and the discipline. It's not something you should feel guilty about; you should feel guilty if you don't do it because he needs the structure. He needs the guidance. He needs the order. He needs the rhythm. He needs all of the things that are necessary to give him a chance to have a flow to his life." Know all the facts before giving your child medication to treat ADD. Dr. Phil and Dr. Lawlis both agree that we are overmedicating our children. In his book, The ADD Answer, Dr. Lawlis asks, "Are we using drugs to control our children's behavior instead of being responsible parents? When we teach our children at a young age to rely on medications, I fear that we are in danger of creating a generation of pill poppers as a result." Also, medication is only about 50 percent effective, and it decreases in effectiveness from the day your child starts taking them. Dr. Phil clarifies his views about medication for ADD: "If it's working for you and your children against a backdrop of responsible parenting, then good for you and you shouldn't substitute my judgment or anyone else's for your own." Monitor your child's diet. "The brain doesn't necessarily use all the foods we give it in the best way, and actually the rawer the food, the more natural the food, the easier it is for the brain to metabolize it and use it for its use. So when you create a food that's not natural, that's been fried or created with a great deal of heat, it just doesn't work as well," Dr. Lawlis explains. Click here to take Dr. Lawlis' Audit for Diet-related Symptoms of ADD. Consider alternative options. Children can learn to control their brain activity to the point that it can affect their ADD or ADHD. The symptoms of ADD can be controlled through Biofeedback, computer images and sounds that show what's going on in the brain. (Dr. Lawlis devotes a whole chapter to this in his book, The ADD Answer). This approach is not an absolute cure for every aspect of ADD. However, it has worked well in helping children learn to control disruptive racing thoughts and impulsive behaviors that impair the ability to focus and concentrate. It offers therapies that help ADD children learn to control basic other reactions, such as heart rate and cardiovascular activity.

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Between 35,000 and 45,000 years ago, Neanderthals in Europe and Asia were replaced by the first modern humans. Why and how this transition occurred remains somewhat controversial. New research from the journal Science suggests that sheer numbers may have played a large role in modern humans’ eventual takeover; archeological data shows that early populations of modern humans may have outnumbered Neanderthals by more than 9 to 1. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/ ... -dynamics/ Humans, Neanderthals got it on By Lily Boisson, CBC News New genome shows Neanderthal trace in humans A new study adds more evidence to the theory that humans and Neanderthals interbred thousands of years ago. The study found that many humans outside of Africa share DNA with the long-extinct species. An international team of researchers has found that a small part of the human X chromosome, which originates from Neanderthals, is present in about nine per cent of individuals from outside of Africa. http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story ... eding.html

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— Copyright Dorothy Sloan 2013 — Early Railroad Map of Missouri & Eastern Kansas Very Rare Pocket Map 389. [MAP]. WELLS, J[ohn] G[aylord]. Wells’ New Rail Road and Township Map of Missouri and Eastern Kansas from the Latest Government Surveys. J.G. Wells, 11 Beekman St. New York. 1857. Scale of Miles... Explanation [with symbols] State Capital. County Towns. Rail Roads. Proposed Rail Roads. [pictorial seal] Great Seal of the State of Missouri [below lower neat line at left] Lith. V. Keil 181 William St. N.Y. [centered below lower ornamental border] Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by J.G. Wells, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. New York, 1857. Lithograph map of Eastern Kansas, all of Missouri, and parts of Indian Territory, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas, and Illinois, printed on bank note paper, full hand coloring, borders in bright rose pink, ornate border of grapes, grape leaves, Native American portrait in oval at each corner; neat line to neat line: 42.8 x 63 cm; border to border: 51 x 71 cm; overall sheet size: 60 x 79 cm; folded into original green embossed cloth (14.7 x 9.5 cm), title lettered in gilt on upper cover (Wells’ New Map of Missouri and Eastern Kansas), printed yellow endpaper affixed to inside upper cover (Wells’ List of New Publications). Mild age toning to map, a few stains at top left, clean splits at a few folds (no losses), overall a fine copy with brilliant color. Uncommon (one copy of the 1858 edition located by OCLC, University of Virginia at Charlottesville). First edition. Not in Modelski’s railroad bibliographies, or other standard sources. Railroads began to be important in the region in the late 1850s, but ironically, the only railroad shown on this map is the Pacific Railroad Line between St. Louis (“The Gateway to the West”) and Jefferson City, with shorter trunk lines to the north and south of St. Louis. Slowly the emigrant and other trails were being replaced by railroad tracks. On the other hand, several proposed lines are indicated, such as one from Jefferson City to Kansas City, and another from Keosauqua, Iowa, to Kansas City. Tooley lists cartographer J.G. Wells (1821-1880) but notes only one map (Ohio) by him. Other located publications indicate that he was active principally in 1857. Circa 1856, Wells published a map of Kansas and Nebraska. In 1857 Wells published an extraordinary amount of material, such as pocket guides for Iowa (Howes W250), Nebraska (Howes W251), and popular guides, such as Wells’ National Hand-Book, and even a book on how to be your own attorney. Other maps by Wells in 1857 include New Sectional Map of Minnesota (1857); New Sectional Map of Kansas (1857); Kansas and Nebraska (1857); New Sectional Map of Nebraska (sold at our Auction 20 in 2007 @ $8,225). He also published an undated panoramic map of the Civil War in the 1860s (one copy located at University of Virginia at Charlottesville). The list of Wells’ forty publications on the front pastedown is impressive. The mysterious Wells’ cartographic output was short-lived and vigorous, and all his maps are very rare. DSRB Home | e-mail: [email protected]

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JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald DELTA – In a climate-controlled warehouse here, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, much like a squirrel storing acorns for hard times, is putting away seeds of native plants and grasses for forest restoration and wildlife habitat improvement. “We have three mixes here, maybe 15 species in all, that are going to Grand Junction for aerial reseeding in the area burned by the Pine Ridge Fire last summer,” Jim Garner, a habitat biologist, said last week while moving pallets of seed bags with a forklift onto a truck. The seed mixes, concocted for what will best fit steep slopes, harsh soil and general burn conditions, are among the estimated 140,000 pounds of seed that will be dropped on the Pine Ridge burn area. The recently opened 9,000-square-foot seed repository, built at a cost of $1.2 million, is on a mesa in the Escalante Wildlife Area about six miles west of Delta. The seed warehouse is an effort to be proactive instead of reactive, Garner said. “We used to buy seed when we needed it,” Garner said. “But we were subject to the market price.” As the size, intensity and frequency of wildfires across the West grew, forest officials began to look to the long-range future, Garner said. It was clear that stocking up on seeds would avoid scrambling when they were needed for reseeding, he said. Reseeding helps hold off the invasion of non-native species of plants, Garner said. Increased recreation and energy exploration can transport non-natives on vehicles. The state agency collects seeds or acquires them from collectors and companies, then sends them to nurseries where they can be produced in great number in greenhouses and outdoors, Garner said. The majority of the seeds stocked in the warehouse will be preferred native species, but some non-natives are being produced because of cost, Garner said. “Squirrel tail costs $10 to $15 a pound, but crested wheat is cheap, $2 to $3 a pound,” Garner said. “Aspen fleabane and sulfur flowered buckwheat are $80 a pound.” Use of expensive seeds has to be evaluated in the light of project goals and how critical the situation is, he said. The warehouse eventually will store about 50 to 70 species of grass and flower seeds, among them sagebrush, mountain brome, dusty penstemon, basin wildrye, Sandberg bluegrass, Oregon daisy, western yarrow and sulphur buckwheat. The American dragon head is a native, but it’s aggressive so it has to be used judiciously so as to maintain plant diversity, Garner said. Warehouse stock will include seeds for the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management as well as parks and wildlife projects, Garner said. Temperature is important for storing seeds, Garner said. Seeds have been known to remain viable for 25 to 30 years at room temperature, but it’s not a sure thing, he said. Fans at balcony level will keep the temperature in the ground-floor storage area in the high 70s or low 80s in the summer when the temperature outside is blistering, Garner said. A small cooler is reserved for more finicky seeds, Garner said. Sagebrush seed in a natural setting, for example, lasts a year, but, in the freezer, the seed can be viable for five years. In the cooler, the operative rule is to maintain the combination of temperature and relative humidity less than 100, Garner said. The temperature is kept in the low 40s and the relative humidity at 32 percent, well below the target. On a more expansive scale, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has a National Center for Genetic Resource Preservation at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Plant scientists and researchers globally have turned to the bank after natural disasters and in their search for plants with properties that increase their ability to meet medicinal, nutritional and climatic demands. The Delta warehouse has no ties to the federal program, Garner said. The 140,000 pounds of seed will be spread on almost 14,000 fire-scorched acres north of Grand Junction, said David Boyd, spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management in northwest Colorado. “The reseeding is expected to take five days of flying,” Boyd said. “We want to do it while there is snow on the ground.” The cost of seed and airplanes is $1 million, Boyd said. “We want to get native seeds down to stabilize the soil before invasive species get started,” Boyd said. “Cheat grass is a concern because it’s not good for livestock or wildlife and it tends to dry quickly, which perpetuates the fire cycle.” Reseeding with seeds from the same area is preferable because the same species can have slight differences depending on latitude. Sagebrush in Colorado and Idaho could differ slightly, Joe Lewandowski, a spokesman for Colorado Park and Wildlife in Durango, said. The idea for the seed warehouse germinated as a result of the Uncompahgre Plateau Project, a native plant program of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, federal and state agencies and utility companies. Since 2002, the partners have harvested seeds from 1.2 million acres of timberland west of Montrose and sent them to growers.

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Can Nutrition Affect Hair Growth? Tocotrienols—a natural compound related to vitamin E—may increase hair growth by as much as 34% Hair loss can cause low self-esteem and a lack of confidence in both men and women. Now a study in Tropical Life Sciences Research holds promise for hair-loss sufferers and reports that tocotrienols—a natural compound related to vitamin E—may increase hair growth by as much as 34%. Counting the hairs on your head Vitamin E is made up of four tocotrienols and tocopherols, respectively called alpha, beta, gamma, and delta. In this study, 38 people (mostly men) with hair loss, were randomly assigned to receive 100 mg of mixed tocotrienols plus 46 IU of vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) or placebo daily for eight months. The number of scalp hairs in a specific area of each participant’s head was monitored at four and eight months. The tocotrienol group experienced an average of 34% more scalp hairs compared with the placebo group who experienced a slight decrease. There was no significant increase in the weight of hair clippings in either group during or after the intervention. The study authors comment, “A possible explanation for the effects could be due to the potent antioxidant activity of tocotrienols that help to reduce lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress in the scalp, which are known to be associated with alopecia (hair loss).” This is a small study, and further research is needed to investigate and confirm the role of tocotrienols in preventing hair loss. Tips for dealing with hair loss - See a doctor. If you are experiencing hair loss that concerns you, see a doctor. A doctor can help determine if your hair loss is a natural result of aging or is caused by other factors such as nutritional deficiencies, medication side effects, or thyroid, skin, or autoimmune disease. A doctor can also help you choose from a number of conventional and natural options that may help reduce hair loss and improve growth. - Don’t let it get you down. In addition to hair’s social importance, it also serves physical functions, such as protecting your scalp from the sun. Hair loss can affect a person emotionally, and anyone who experiences unwanted hair loss should reach out to a health professional for help. (Tropical Life Sciences Research 2010;21:91–9) Jane Hart, MD, board-certified in internal medicine, serves in a variety of professional roles including consultant, journalist, and educator. Dr. Hart, a Clinical Instructor at Case Medical School in Cleveland, Ohio, writes extensively about health and wellness and a variety of other topics for nationally recognized organizations, websites, and print publications. Sought out for her expertise in the areas of integrative and preventive medicine, she is frequently quoted by national and local media. Dr. Hart is a professional lecturer for healthcare professionals, consumers, and youth and is a regular corporate speaker.

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The Smart Student's Handbook provides information to motivate and guide students on the path to a successful academic career. It will also help parents and organizations that are sponsoring students to monitor their educational performance. Author Leevon Washington Phillips's unique scholastic guide is filled with valuable information to help students get and stay organized, such as: - Goals for individual terms and the year as a whole - Study, assignment, and examination tips - Assignment and performance tracking forms - Class and study timetables - A monthly planner/journal By helping students to better organize their studies, The Smart Student's Handbook inspires students to succeed in their academic pursuits, provides a means of assessing performance, and identifies areas that need improvement.

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Researchers at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have developed an inexpensive solar cell that can be painted or printed on flexible plastic sheets. “Someday, homeowners will even be able to print sheets of these solar cells with inexpensive home-based inkjet printers. Consumers can then slap the finished product on a wall, roof or billboard to create their own power stations,” said Somenath Mitra, Ph.D., lead researcher, professor and acting chair of NJIT’s Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences. Harvesting energy directly from abundant solar radiation using solar cells is increasingly emerging as a major component of future global energy strategy, Mitra said. Yet, when it comes to harnessing renewable energy, challenges remain. Expensive, large-scale infrastructures, such as windmills or dams, are necessary to drive renewable energy sources, such as wind or hydroelectric power plants. Purified silicon, also used for making computer chips, which continue to rise in demand, is a core material for fabricating conventional solar cells. However, the processing of a material such as purified silicon is beyond the reach of most consumers. “Developing organic solar cells from polymers, however, is a cheap and potentially simpler alternative,” Mitra said. “We foresee a great deal of interest in our work because solar cells can be inexpensively printed or simply painted on exterior building walls and/or rooftops. Imagine some day driving in your hybrid car with a solar panel painted on the roof, which is producing electricity to drive the engine. The opportunities are endless.” The solar cell developed at NJIT uses a carbon nanotubes complex, which is a molecular configuration of carbon in a cylindrical shape. Although estimated to be 50,000 times smaller than a human hair, just one nanotube can conduct current better than any conventional electrical wire. Mitra and his research team took the carbon nanotubes and combined them with tiny carbon fullerenes (sometimes known as buckyballs) to form snake-like structures. Buckyballs trap electrons, although they can’t make electrons flow. Add sunlight to excite the polymers, and the buckyballs will grab the electrons. Nanotubes, behaving like copper wires, then will be able to make the electrons or current flow. “Someday, I hope to see this process become an inexpensive energy alternative for households around the world,” Mitra said. EC

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Food systems are often described as comprising four sets of activities: those involved in food production, processing and packaging, distribution and retail, and consumption. All encompass social, economic, political, and environmental processes and dimensions. To analyze the interactions between global environmental change and food systems, as well as the tradeoffs among food security and environmental goals, a food system can be more broadly conceived as including the determinants (or drivers) and outcomes of these activities. The determinants comprise the interactions between and within biogeophysical and human environments that determine how food system activities are performed. These activities lead to a number of outcomes, some of which contribute to food security and others that relate to the environment and other societal concerns. These outcomes are also affected directly by the determinants. Food security is the principal policy objective of a food system. Food security outcomes are described in terms of three components and their subcomponents: food availability, i.e., production, distribution, and exchange; food access, i.e., affordability, allocation, and preference; and food use, i.e., nutritional and social values and safety. Although the food system activities have a large influence on food security outcomes, these outcomes are also determined directly by socio-political and environmental drivers. These outcomes vary by historical, political, and social context. To capture these concepts holistically and to allow the analysis of impacts of global environmental change, adaptations, and feedbacks, a food system must include:

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Contrary to popular belief cranberries do not grow in water. They grow in beds called 'bogs' made of impermeable layers of sand, peat, gravel, clay and organic decaying matter from the cranberry vines. The vines can only grow and survive when special conditions exist such as an acid peat soil, an adequate supply of fresh water for irrigation and periodic flooding, a supply of sand and a long growing season that extends from April to November. There are two main methods of harvesting cranberries - dry and wet harvesting. EDEN Organic Dried Cranberries are a native American variety Vaccinium macrocarpon organically grown on family owned cranberry bogs in Québec, Canada. Ours are wet harvested, considered by some to be the best way to harvest cranberries. First our grower floods the bog with about 12 to 18 inches of water. Next, a simple machine called a 'water reel' stirs up the water and loosens the cranberries from their vines. The water reel is nicknamed the 'egg beater' and resembles a paddle boat. Cranberries have small air bubbles in the center, and once loosened from the vines they float to the surface of the flooded bog. Harvesters wade out into the bog when all the cranberries are on the surface. Using a specially designed gathering device they hand corral the berries into a large circle forming a thick red carpet of berries which are then loaded into trucks and taken to the processing station. Here the cranberries are cleaned, sorted, and quick frozen. When ready for drying, the cranberries are thawed and infused by immersing them in organic apple juice concentrate that is circulated over them until they reach just the right sweetness or 'Brix'. The infused cranberries are then rinsed, low heat dried, and coated very lightly with a mist of organic sunflower oil to prevent clumping. The low heat drying is warm air circulated until they are dry enough to become shelf stable, requiring no refrigeration. Unlike most commercial dried fruit, EDEN Organic Dried Cranberries contain no added refined sugar or high fructose corn syrup. We use NO sulfites, chemical preservatives, or additives of any kind. Cranberries are native to North America and were first used centuries ago by native Americans. A versatile fruit, they discovered that it could be used not only as a food source, but also as a dye for rugs, blankets and clothing, and as a healing plant to treat arrow wounds. American Indians had many names for the cranberry such as 'sasamanesh, ibimi, and atogua'. To the Delaware Indians it was a symbol of peace. Many native Americans believed that the berries had a special power that could calm the nerves. It's current name comes from early Dutch and German settlers who named the fruit, 'crane berry', because its small, pink blossoms resembled the head and bill of a Sandhill crane. Although folklore and anecdotal accounts of cranberries healthful properties (especially the benefits to urinary tract health) have been touted for centuries, it is recently that scientific research began revealing how healthful cranberries can be. Packed with nutrients like antioxidants and other natural compounds, cranberries are a great choice for the health conscious. The USDA recently found that the high phenolic content in cranberries delivers a potent antioxidant punch, rating it one of the highest out of 20 common fruits rated. To determine the antioxidant activity of various foods, the USDA uses a system referred to as Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC). By testing the ability of foods and other compounds to subdue oxygen free radicals, the USDA was able to determine each compound's antioxidant capability. The ORAC value of cranberries is 1,750. Cranberries recently became the first fruit to carry a certified health claim in France. EDEN Organic Dried Cranberries are a delicious, healthy snack, but there's no need to limit them to mere snacking. Use EDEN Organic Cranberries in baking bread, in cakes and muffins, in pie fillings and puddings, in grain and bread stuffing, in hot cereals or on cold cereals. They can also used in making granola, granola bars, popcorn balls and caramel corn.

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Effect on Instruction and Classroom Management By thinking of assessment as part of instruction, teachers obtain immediate instructional suggestions and make any adjustments that are necessary. Teacher observation is a legitimate, necessary, valuable source of assessment information. By asking children to read aloud or to retell a portion of a selection they are reading, the teacher receives immediate information about the level of challenge that the selection presents to various students (Bembridge, 1992; Classroom organization and management suggestions flow from ongoing assessment data. Children who need added support, for example, may be encouraged to work in cooperative groups. Students who are having difficulty gain the support they need, and very able students gain deeper understanding of the materials they are reading as they explain the materials to others (Johnson & Johnson, 1992). Go on to Portfolio Assessment Back to Classroom Assessment Reading/Language Arts Center | Education Place | Copyright © 1997 Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms and Conditions of Use.

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Prevent or control diabetes, reduce your risk for heart disease |PATIENT STORIES: JUDY HENDERSON, 66 If you have diabetes, you're much more likely to have heart disease, a heart attack or a stroke. In fact, two out of three people with diabetes die from heart disease or stroke. But you can cut your chances of having these problems by taking special care of your heart and blood vessels. Judy Henderson, 66, of Naperville, took action and now has her diabetes under control. "I was discouraged," says Henderson. "For six years my A1C scores had been going up, even though I was taking insulin." A1C, a test of average blood glucose levels over two to three months, is a key indicator of how well diabetes is controlled. "In March 2010 when my score reached 7.5 – it's supposed to be under 7 – my doctor sent me to the Edward Diabetes Center. Three months later, my A1C was 6.1 and I'd lost 35 pounds, without focusing on losing weight. Now I need less medication and feel much better." Staff at the Edward Diabetes Center work with patients like Judy to help them make lifestyle changes that lead to healthier diets, increased activity and, ultimately, lower A1C scores. "Goals have to be doable," says Brenda Jagatic, a clinical nurse educator with the Edward Diabetes Center. "If the person hasn't exercised in 15 years, we're not going to recommend starting with 45 minutes of daily exercise. Instead, we might suggest a 10-15 minute walk, three times a day." Henderson says they discussed her A1C numbers and reviewed her log to determine what might work best. "It helped to take my blood sugar four times a day instead of just once," says Henderson. "The most beneficial thing was learning to keep records. I now log meter readings, the carbs I eat, my activities and medications." For more information about the Edward Diabetes Center, visit www.edward.org/diabetes or call (630) 527-3213.

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A typical BPM uses a differential pressure sensor to measure cuff or arm pressure. As the output of this sensor lies within a few micro volts (30-50µV), the output pressure signal has to be amplified using a high-gain instrumentation amplifier with a good common mode rejection ratio (CMRR). Usually the gain and CMRR need to be around 150 and 100 dB respectively. The frequency of oscillatory pulses in the pressure signal lies between 0.3-11Hz with an amplitude of a few hundred microvolts. These oscillations are extracted using band-pass filters with gain around 200 and cutoff frequency at 0.3-11Hz. A 10-bit ADC with a speed of 50 Hz is used to digitize the pressure sensor and oscillatory signal. Two timers are used to calculate the heart rate and implement safety timer functionality. A safety timer regulates the pressure kept on a subject’s arm for a certain period of time. This safety timer is a part safety regulation in AAMI standards. A microcontroller core calculates the systolic and diastolic pressures values using an oscillometric algorithm. The cuff is inflated and deflated using motors driven by PWMs. A typical non-contact digital thermometer uses a transducer, also called a thermopile, consisting of a micro machine embedded membrane with thermocouples to measure thermocouple temperature and a thermistor to measure ambient temperature. The thermocouple generates a DC voltage corresponding to the temperature difference in its junctions. The output of the thermocouple is on the order of a few µV. The signal from the thermocouple is amplified using a low-noise precision amplifier. A voltage divider is constructed with the thermistor and external precision voltage reference. This voltage divider converts the change in thermistor resistance with respect to temperature to change in voltage. Voltages from the thermocouple and thermistor are used to calculate the thermocouple and ambient temperatures. The temperature is obtained from voltages using a polynomial function given by the sensor manufacturer or through a look-up table with pre-stored readings. The ambient temperature is added to the thermocouple temperature to get the final temperature measurement. A segment LCD driver, RTC, push buttons, EEPROM and USB are the other peripherals needed in both of the above applications. The components which are external to microcontroller like the transducer, ADC, LCD driver/controller, USB controller, filter, and amplifiers are the peripheral components. These components interface to the microcontroller through either a GPIO or a dedicated pin. The more external components there are, the more limitations and constraints developers have to account for, such as managing the bill of materials, higher PCB complexity, achieving FDA certification for each and every component, increased design/development time, and reduced analog IP protection.

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Topic 6: Writing and Typing Tips Using the features in the AutoCorrect Options and teaching students the quickest way to spell check and find synonyms will enhance their writing. Create a template that includes the information that a student needs to correctly head a paper will reduce frustrations and allow the student to immediately begin work on the content. - Participants will use the autocorrect, and auto text features to reduce the number of keystrokes and errors. - Participants will use the right mouse button to quickly check their spelling and find synonyms of words. - Participants will create a template that contains the necessary student information for a paper heading. Such as name, date, class name. To begin the first Learning Activity, click here.

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Skip to main content More Search Options A member of our team will call you back within one business day. Teens on average need about 9 to 9.5 hours of sleep at night. But most don’t get the amount of sleep they need. School, friends, homework, activities, television, and the computer may all have a higher priority for a teen than sleep. Sleep deprivation can have serious consequences for a teen’s health and well-being. Here’s how to better understand your child’s sleep needs and what you can do to help. Teens tend to stay up late and want to sleep late in the morning. This isn’t due to laziness or stubbornness. It is actually due to natural rhythms of the teen’s body. Body chemicals in teens work to make the teen naturally want to go to bed around midnight or later and wake up in the late morning. Early school start times conflict with these natural body rhythms. And pressures on a teen’s time after school keep him or her from going to bed early to compensate. The result is often a sleep-deprived teen. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports that teens who don’t get enough sleep have trouble focusing in class and often have lower grades than they are capable of. The NIH has also found growing evidence linking a chronic lack of sleep in teens with an increased risk of being overweight, developing diabetes or heart disease, and getting infections. Teens who are sleep deprived may fall asleep in class or other inappropriate places. And for teens who are driving, being sleepy can raise the risk of a serious accident. Is your teen sleep deprived? Watch for the following signs: Trouble concentrating or remembering Need for caffeine or other stimulants to stay awake Need for naps after school Trouble sleeping (problems falling asleep or staying asleep) Tips to help your child get more sleep and be more alert during the day: Encourage your teen to get a full night’s sleep on a regular basis. Try to set a regular bedtime. Help your teen avoid staying up late to do homework or study. If extracurricular activities after school are too time-consuming, consider cutting back. Have your teen get up at the same time every morning. Discourage sleeping in on weekends to “catch up on sleep.” This does more harm than good by throwing sleep rhythms off. Limit caffeine intake. Don’t let your child have caffeine after lunchtime. Discourage doing anything in bed other than sleeping, such as reading, writing, eating, watching TV, talking on the phone, or playing videos or other games. Restrict TV and computer use (which can be stimulating) for at least an hour before bedtime. Instead, encourage reading, listening to quiet music, writing in a journal, or other calming activity during this time. Give your teen a warm, non-caffeinated beverage (such as milk) before bed. Make the bedroom conducive to sleep. Take the TV, computer, and phone out of the bedroom. Make sure the bedroom is cool and as dark and quiet as possible. Turn a bright light on in the child’s room in the morning. The bright light helps the body wake up and shuts down production of sleep hormones. Alarm clocks with a light feature are available on the Internet. The following can be signs of a more serious problem that can be treated. Let the child’s doctor know if your child: Falls asleep during the day Has leg twitching or moving when trying to fall asleep, or extremely restless sleep Has insomnia (trouble falling asleep or staying asleep) often

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- [noun] (physics) the process of diffusing; the intermingling of molecules in gases and liquids as a result of random thermal agitation - [noun] the spread of social institutions (and myths and skills) from one society to another - [noun] the property of being diffused or dispersed - [noun] the act of dispersing or diffusing something; "the dispersion of the troops"; "the diffusion of knowledge" Synonyms: dispersion, dispersal, dissemination

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Arterial Blood Gases Made EasyBy - Iain Hennessey, MBChB(Hons), BSc(Hons), MRCS, MMIS, Specialty Registrar, Paediatric Surgery, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, UK - Alan Japp, MBChB(Hons), BSc(Hons), MRCP, Clinical Research Fellow, Department of Cardiovascular Research, University of Edinburgh, UK Arterial blood gas analysis plays an indispensable role in the assessment and management of patients with a huge range of acute medical and surgical problems. Its importance as a key tool in the work-up of acutely unwell patients rivals that of the ECG and the chest x-ray. This book covers all aspects of the arterial blood gas in a simple, user-friendly manner. The first part explains the technique, the values obtained and common patterns of abnormalities, while the second part comprises a series of worked examples and case scenarios to allow the reader to put this system into practice. Medical Undergraduates at all stages of training, junior doctors in A&E, anaesthetics, surgery, acute medicine and respiratory medicine Paperback, 152 Pages Published: September 2007 Imprint: Churchill Livingstone - Part 1: The ABG explained Pulmonary gas exchange: the basics Disorders of gas exchange Acid base balance: the basics Disorders of acid base balance ABG sampling technique When and why is an ABG required? Making ABG interpretation easy Part 2: The ABG in Practice The 2nd part of the book contains a series of 25 clinical scenarios each requiring interpretation of an arterial blood gas as the end point. Each scenario comprises a 2 page spread. The first page includes information on history and examination findings, with or without other important test results. The opposing page shows the ABG result in the style of a computer print-out and list a series of questions for the reader to answer. Each scenario has a corresponding "explanation" page at the back of the book.

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No, no Con-Con By Henry Lamb The U.S. Constitution provides two ways to offer amendments to the Constitution: by resolution of the Congress; and by a Constitutional Convention requested by two-thirds of the states. In either case, the proposed amendment(s) must be ratified by three-fourths of the states. There is a very good reason why all 27 amendments to the Constitution were offered by Congressional resolution: a Constitutional Convention is an invitation to disaster. Proponents of a Constitutional Convention claim that opponents of a Con-Con use "…half-truths, myths and outright falsehoods…" to instill fear of the process. They do not, however, provide any examples of the alleged "half-truths, myths, and outright falsehoods." Here is the whole truth, which is neither a myth nor a falsehood. Article V of the U.S. Constitution allows states to apply to the Congress for a Constitutional Convention. Should two-thirds of the states issue such an application, Congress is compelled to call a Constitutional Convention. Note, however, that the Constitution provides the states only with the authority to call for a convention for the purpose of "…proposing amendments…." There is no authority for the states to specify what those amendments might be, or to set, or limit the agenda of a convention. When 34 states have applied for a Constitutional convention, Congress is compelled to call a convention. Here's where the scary begins. Congress sets the time and location for the Con-Con. Congress determines how the delegates are chosen, and how many delegates will be chosen. Congress could designate the existing Senate to be the delegates. Congress could designate the Electoral College from the last Presidential election to be the delegates. Or, Congress could allow the states to choose their own delegates in whatever manner Congress might contrive. But this is not the scariest part. Should a Constitutional Convention ever be assembled, neither Congress nor any state would have any authority or control over what the convention might do. There is no way for Congress to set or limit the agenda of a Constitutional Convention, regardless of what proponents might say. As evidence, consider the only Constitutional Convention that was ever assembled. It was assembled expressly to amend the existing Articles of Confederation, with explicit instructions from some states for their delegates to walk out should the convention stray beyond this specific purpose. History demonstrates that the convention ignored its instructions and abolished the Articles of Confederations while creating an entirely new Constitution. There is nothing to prohibit another Constitutional convention from doing precisely the same thing. Proponents of a Con-Con say that the requirement that three-fourths of the states must ratify whatever comes out of a Constitutional Amendment is a safeguard to prevent radicals on either side from imposing radical provisions. These folks forget that the convention can specify what it takes to ratify whatever they produce. They could produce a new Constitution with an entirely new form of government and specify that ratification would occur upon a simple majority vote in national referendum. They could specify that the new document would be ratified when approved by state legislatures in any combination of states that represent more than 50-percent of the population. Under this scenario, a handful of blue states could transform the government of the United States. Scary? You bet. Scenarios such as this should instill fear and force people to reject the idea of a Constitutional convention for any reason. Here is a thorough explanation of the dangers. There is great need, however, to amend the Constitution. The imbalance in powers between the states and the federal government grows in the favor of the feds every time Congress meets or the President speaks. The United States of America originally was a unique experiment in shared sovereignty - in which the states' power was centered in the Senate, which had to approve virtually every legislative proposal suggested by the President or that originated in the people's House of Representatives. The tension between what the states considered to be in their interest, and what the people's representatives and the President considered to be in their interests created a competition that could not move any idea forward until all parties had agreed. This is the genius of the American System that made America the greatest nation on Earth. The 17th Amendment removed the states altogether from participation in the federal government. The federal government's power and budget has expanded ever since. The time has come to restrain the powers of the federal government, and the best way to do it is to return to the design created by our Founders. Repeal the 17th Amendment!

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Australian Heritage Commission, 2001 26 - An outer suburban house of the 1950s 6 Lewellin Grove, Carrum, Victoria Lewellin Grove house in 1997. After World War II Australia shared in an economic boom created by the rejuvenation of the world economy. Work was plentiful and to ease labour shortages the federal government introduced an immigration program, which added to the economic momentum. These were good times, coming after years of depression and war which had restricted consumer spending and household formation, but the building industry was unable to meet the demand for housing. For around 15 years after the war, shortages of labour and building materials meant that average income earners had to downscale their expectations of housing space, style and amenity. Many built their own houses, or provided unskilled labour to cut construction costs and delays. New houses were smaller and more expensive than before the war. As Robin Boyd put it, 'the traditional plan and structure remained unaltered, but one by one the decorations and embellishments went'. This simple weatherboard house, built in outer suburban Melbourne in 1955, was typical. Modest and unadorned, it enabled the owners to live and raise a family in a suburban setting, during a period of escalating building costs. In 1948 John 'Jack' Frost, a toolmaker from Coventry, migrated to Australia. Born in 1919, he was still single and by making a new start in a new land he hoped to put the sadness of the war years, in which his mother and brother had been killed during the Blitz, behind him. After stints as a mechanical fitter at Yallourn, and as a gold miner in Kalgoorlie, Jack worked as a toolmaker around Melbourne. He was never out of work until the day he retired. He met Gwen Warry, an Australian, and they married in 1954. Jack Frost in the 'bush' on his Lewellin Grove block, 1955. Gwen lived with her parents in Carrum, a seaside resort on Port Phillip Bay, around 35 kilometres from Melbourne. It was located at the edge of a large area of swampland which had been drained and made available for selection during the 1870s. Like most of the small towns along the Bay, Carrum in 1945 was ready to blossom as a suburb. The railway to Frankston had been electrified in the 1920s and provided an excellent service for commuters. A fine beach was nearby and there were ample homesites, their cheapness compensating for the lack of sewers and made roads. Carrum would never be a salubrious suburb because it was flat and flood-prone, but the area had useful community facilities, including a primary school, and later, a high school. After they married the Frosts lived with Gwen's parents. They liked the area and bought a nearby block of land. Close to the shops, school, station and beach, it was an ideal homesite, but a lot of work was needed before a house could be built on it. The lot was covered in tea-trees and banksias and the road was a sand dune. But the land was cheap, and cost only £300; similar lots in nearby Chelsea, served by made roads, were around double the price. The co-operative building society said they didn't mind me building the house myself, as long as I had each progressive stage checked by a qualified builder. The man who sold me the land recommended a builder. 'I've seen people who try to build their own place and then get into all sorts of difficulties', the builder said. 'Why don't you let me build it for you and you can do as much of the building and painting as you can yourself.' The Frosts chose a design within their price range from the builder's book of plans. A fibro-cement garage was included in the price. Jack was earning little more than the basic wage, which in 1955 was less than £12 per week. New three-bedroom houses in Melbourne's outer suburbs typically cost around £3,000. The Frosts could only afford to borrow £2,500, which was still over four times their annual household income. This indicates how difficult things were at the time for working-class families. The house under construction at Lewellin Grove. Many families in Carrum responded to these high costs by building small, basic bungalows at the rear of their property and living in them until they could afford to build a full-size house. The Frosts instead chose to compromise their living space. Their house was only 11 squares; before the war 15 squares had been closer to the norm. It had only two bedrooms; luckily, this did not cause accommodation problems later, for Gwen and Jack's two children were boys (in the late 1960s the lack of space was partially alleviated when Jack built a fibro-cement bungalow in the backyard, which became a third bedroom). The hallway was a mere 38 inches wide. The dining room was a token area too small for its intended purpose and the family and visitors took meals in the kitchen. The dimensions of the front porch ran to only a few square feet. Moulded cornices in the lounge/dining room and an iron porch light and screen door were the only ornamentation. The bathroom did have a separate shower and bath, and the laundry and toilet were inside. Having the house built professionally took a lot of the stress out of the construction process. Jack recalls that, 'A man further up the street who was building his own place was constantly chasing materials which were in short supply - even nails. He insisted on going to pick his own wood, and chose the wood which looked the best, but which turned out to be the worst'. The builder used his contacts to obtain materials promptly, but because he was working on three or four jobs at the time 'progress was jerky'. 'There'd be times when things moved really quickly. Then there'd be frustrating periods when nothing happened. Our hopes would go up and down.' The house under construction at Lewellin Grove. Jack and Gwen provided 'sweat equity' by doing much of the unskilled labour. On weekends they painted weatherboards and window frames. They painted the interior, varnished floorboards and put down the linoleum. Jack and a neighbour built the fences. When a hole was dug in the sand for a septic tank it flooded so quickly that the plumber was convinced that a pan toilet would be necessary. Instead, Jack designed and built a handpump to draw out the water while the septic tank was being built. This toil took up all of their spare time, but they ended up with a soundly-built home. Barbara and Graeme Davison have detected a pioneer spirit amongst post-war suburbanites who 'did battle with the elements, creating little oases of domestic safety and comfort in a dangerous world'. Jack's perspective was that, 'I felt rather like a pioneer because you don't have the chance to do that sort of thing in England. In England you saved up and bought a house which was already built. This idea of a buying a block of land and building your own house was new to me.' Gwen died in 1984, at the age of 59. Jack still lives in his first home: he feels a strong sense of attachment to the place he worked so hard for and sees no reason to move. The house is now sewered, has a concrete driveway and path (laid by Jack), and has been painted inside and out several times, but essentially has remained unchanged. The open fireplace remains the main source of heating and in summer the windows are opened and sea breezes relied upon for cooling. Acknowledgements and Bibliography The 1955 photographs are from Jack Frost and the 1997 photograph was taken by Lionel Frost. Boyd, Robin, Australia's home: Why Australians built the way they did, Penguin, Harmondsworth 1952. Davison, Barbara and Graeme Davison, 'Suburban pioneers', in G Davison, T Dingle and S O'Hanlon, eds, The cream brick frontier: histories of Australian suburbia, Monash Publications in History, Clayton 1995. Greig, Alastair, The stuff dreams are made of: housing provision in Australia 1945-1960, Melbourne University Press, Carlton 1995. Hibbins, GM, A history of the City of Springvale: constellation of communities, Lothian Publishing, Port Melbourne 1984. McGuire, Frank, Chelsea: A beachside community, The City of Chelsea Historical Society, Chelsea 1985. Lionel Frost is an Associate Professor in the School of Business at La Trobe University. He has written several books and articles on aspects of Australia's urban history, including Australian cities in comparative view (1990) and The new urban frontier: urbanisation and city-building in Australasia and the American West (1991). In 1994 he was co-winner of the prestigious Dyos Prize in Urban History, awarded by the Centre for Urban History at the University of Leicester. Links to another web site Opens a pop-up window

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The Middle School enjoys its own spirited identity at Episcopal while still maintaining a close connection to the Upper and Lower Schools. It is a place where there are opportunities for students to develop a sense of belonging, ownership and responsibility for this community and any other communities in which they participate. We use the Ten Stripes (Self-Control, Faith, Honesty, Courtesy, Kindness, Generosity, Gratitude, Courage, Respect and Sportsmanship) as the foundation of all of our interactions to inspire students to embody these qualities. We have Chapel and advisory programs that are in place to empower and support students to acquire the skills and develop the character and confidence to make good decisions, engage fully and act mindfully. We encourage and teach our students to reflect on the many ways they interact with the community and strive to help them see different perspectives in all that we do. We strive to teach, model and promote important academic ideas, dexterity in communication and strong interpersonal skills. Students are challenged to develop organizational skills, study habits and habits of mind that support individual growth and allow for the pursuit of a challenging academic curriculum. We work to balance Mind, Body and Spirit through participation in a rigorous academic program where we pursue knowledge, big ideas and questions and use a variety of instructional strategies to foster curiosity, exploration, and creativity. We strive for our students to become critical thinkers, independent and lifelong learners, strong communicators, healthy risk takers and good global citizens. A Step Up in Middle School In Sixth Grade, students begin interscholastic competition in athletics and are required to participate in chorus, band, or string ensemble; modern language offerings include French, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. In I and II Form, Latin and classical studies are required and a vibrant elective program is offered. Students can take an active role in shaping the Middle School community through Student Council, Chapel Council, and yearbook for 7th and 8th grade students. Courses in 2-D design, ceramics, music technology, and community theater are offered in the arts and electives like robotics and digital video production push students to weave creativity with technology. Students are expected to gain independence, speak their mind and defend their opinions and are encouraged to develop the confidence in themselves they’ll need to succeed Upper School, in college, and beyond.

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Satellites are tracing Europe's forest fire scars Burning with a core heat approaching 800°C and spreading at up to 100 metres per minute, woodland blazes bring swift, destructive change to landscapes: the resulting devastation can be seen from space. An ESA-backed service to monitor European forest fire damage will help highlight areas most at risk of future outbreaks. Last year's long hot summer was a bumper year for forest fires, with more than half a million hectares of woodland destroyed across Mediterranean Europe. So far this year fresh fires have occurred across Portugal, Spain and southern France, with 2500 people evacuated from blazes in foothills north of Marseille. According to the European Commission, each hectare of forest lost to fire costs Europe's economy between a thousand and 5000 Euros. The distinctive 'burn scars' left across the land by forest fires can be identified from space as a specific reddish-brown spectral signature from a false-colour composite of spectral bands from optical sensors in the short wavelength infrared, near infrared and visible channels. A new ESA-backed, Earth Observation-based service is making use of this fact, employing satellite imagery from SPOT and Landsat to automatically detect the 2004 burn scars within fire-prone areas of the Entente region of Southwest France, within the Puglia and Marche regions of Italy and across the full territory of Spain. Burn scar detection is planned to take place on a seasonal basis, identifying fires covering at least one hectare to a standard resolution of 30 metres, with detailed damage assessment available to a maximum resolution of 2.5 metres using the SPOT 5 satellite. Partner users include Italy's National Civil Protection Department, Spain's Dirección general para la Biodiversidad – a directorate of the Environment Ministry that supports regional fire-fighting activities with more than 50 aircraft operating from 33 airbases – as well as France's National Department of Civil Protection (DDSC) and the country's Centre D'Essais Et De Recherce de l'Entente (CEREN), the test and research centre of the government organisation tasked with combating forest fires, known as the Entente Interdépartementale. "To cope with fire disasters, the most affected Departments in the south of France have decided to join forces to ensure effective forest fire protection," explained Nicolas Raffalli of CEREN. "Within the Entente region we have an existing fire database called PROMETHEE, which is filled out either by firemen, forestry workers or policemen across the 13 Departments making up the region." Current methods of recording fire damage vary greatly by country or region. The purpose of this new service – part of a portfolio of Earth Observation services known as Risk-EOS – is to develop a standardised burn scar mapping methodology for use throughout Europe, along with enabling more accurate post-fire damage assessment and analysis of vegetation re-growth and manmade changes within affected areas. "We want to link up PROMETHEE with this burn scar mapping product from Risk-EOS to have a good historical basis of information," Raffalli added. "The benefit is that it makes possible a much more effective protection of the forest." Characterising the sites of past fires to a more thorough level of detail should mean that service users can better forecast where fires are most likely to break out in future, a process known as risk mapping. Having been validated and geo-referenced, burn scar maps can then be easily merged with other relevant geographical detail. The vast majority of fires are started by the actions of human beings, from discarding cigarette butts up to deliberate arson. Checking burn scar occurrences against roads, settlements and off-road tracks is likely to throw up correlations. These can be extrapolated elsewhere to help identify additional areas at risk where preventative measures should be prioritised. And overlaying burn scar maps with a chart of forest biomass has the potential to highlight zones where new blazes would burn the fiercest. Once such relatively fixed environmental elements, known as static risks, are factored in, other aspects that change across time – including temperature, rainfall and vegetation moisture – can be addressed. These variables are known as dynamic risks. At the end of the risk mapping process, the probability of fire breaking out in a particular place and time can be reliably calculated. The Risk-EOS burn scar mapping service began last year. The intention is to develop further fire-related services by the end of 2007, including daily risk maps combining EO with meteorological and vegetation data. Another planned service will identify 'hot spots' during fires, and map fire events twice a day, permitting an overall assessment of its development and the damage being done. A 'fires memory atlas' set up at national or regional level will allow the routine sharing of all information related to forest fire events and fire risk. "For the future I think near-real time fire and hot spot mapping would obviously be extremely useful," Raffalli concluded. "With these products those managing the situation could see where the fire is, as well as the hot spots inside it. They can then deploy ground and aerial resources with maximum efficiency." Building on ITALSCAR Italy's National Civil Protection Department is providing advice on the implementation of the Risk-EOS service, based on previous experience with an ESA Data User Programme (DUP) project called ITALSCAR. Run for ESA by the Italian firms Telespazio una Societá Finmeccanica and Vitrociset, ITALSCAR charted burn scars across the whole of Italian territory occurring between June and September during the years 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000. For the last quarter of a century, Italian legislation had required that all burned areas be recorded and mapped, as no land use change is permitted to occur on such terrain for 15 years after a blaze, no new building construction for the next ten years, and no new publicly funded reforestation for a half-decade. However the mapping of burn scars is the responsibility of local administration and their methodologies and overall effectiveness are highly variable. No central cartographic archive of burn scar perimeters exists: the closest equivalent is a cardset index (Anti Incendio Boschivi or AIB) recording fire-fighting interventions by the Italian Forest Guards. The ITALSCAR burn scar maps were produced across a wide variety of different forest classes. Burn scars were mapped pixel by pixel using an automated software system, followed up with manual photo-interpretation for quality assurance. To ensure confidence in the results they were validated using ground surveys and checked against reports from local fire brigades and Forest Guards' AIB records. The Risk-EOS burn scar mapping service is based around this same methodology. Managed by Astrium, Risk-EOS also incorporates services for flood as well as fire risk management. It forms part of the Services Element of Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), an initiative supported jointly by ESA and the European Commission and intended to establish an independent European capability for worldwide environmental monitoring on an operational basis.

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|"money doesn't grow on trees" = don't waste money because it isn't always easy to come by| "Watch how much you spend because money doesn't grow on trees." "have a green thumb" = special ability at making plants grow well "She has a real green thumb for growing beautiful decorative trees." More of Randall's Favorite Learning Resources [ Quiz Script | Text Completion Quiz ] Recycling and protecting the environment is very important in our world today. Now, you will listen to an award-winning essay on trees in which a girl explains why she loves trees? What ideas would you expect to hear in such an essay? |I. Pre-Listening Exercises [Top]| HELPFUL TIP: Deforestation is a serious problem around the world, and planting new trees never seems to keep up with the demand. You can help by recycling paper and even just simply reusing paper for different purposes.| Listen to the conversation by pressing the "Play Audio" button and answer the questions. Press the "Final Score" button to check your quiz. |II. Listening Exercises [Top]| [ Other Audio Options: Play RealMedia | Play Window Media ] Listen to the conversation again as you read the Quiz Script and do the Text Completion Quiz. |III. Post-Listening Exercises [Top]| What environmental problems can you think that pose great danger to nature and our world (e.g., acid rain, deforestation, water pollution)? Are these threats caused by human activity or by natural occurrences? What are some solutions to these problems? Share your ideas on these important issues. Now, write your opinions on a similar topic at Randall's ESL Blog HERE. Randall's Sites: Daily ESL | ESL Blog | EZSlang | Train Your Accent | Tips For Students | Hiking In Utah

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This little LED-lit cube is much more than just a paper lantern: It’s a translucent and flexible thin-film electronic circuit that hooks up a battery to an LED, limber enough to be folded into an origami box. And the coolest thing about circuits like these? You can make them at home. In what follows, we combine basic electronics (an LED Throwie) and papercraft (a traditional origami balloon) to make what might be called an “LED Foldie.” The circuitry consists of aluminum foil traces, ironed onto adhesive paper such as freezer paper, photo mounting paper, or even a laser printed pattern. Something constructed this way can then be folded so fit an LED and battery to complete the circuit. The first step in designing a three-dimensional circuit like this is to see where the parts go. After that we will unfold the model, draw circuit paths between the points that we want to connect, and go from there. To get started, we first folded an origami balloon, and then inserted the components where we wanted them. The balloon has a convenient pocket on the side for a lithium coin cell, and a single hole that allows you to point an LED into the interior of the balloon. (And you can follow along with balloon folding in this flickr photo set.) We marked up the locations of the battery and LED terminals on the origami balloon– while still folded– and then unfolded our “circuit board.” At this point, we have the component locations marked, but no lines drawn between them. The next step is to add those circuitry lines (circuit board wires, or traces) between the battery and LED. One thing to keep in mind for interfacing papercraft to electronics: it’s helpful if the circuit traces fold over the leads for the LED in order to maintain good contact. After connecting the dots (so to speak) we have the resulting layout of our circuit. (See PDF below as well.) Pretty simple here– only two wires! The two round pads contact the two sides of the battery, and the two angled pads contact the two leads of the LED. The next step is to actually fabricate our circuit board. We’ve actually found two slightly different techniques that work well, so we’ll show you both. First is the “Freezer paper” method (which also works with sheets of dry mount adhesive), where you laminate foil traces to the plastic-coated paper. Second is the “Direct Toner” method, where you print out a circuit diagram on a laser printer and laminate the foil to the printed toner. (Both of these methods of fabricating paper circuitry can be applied in all kinds of other arenas besides origami. Our origami balloon example provides a good demonstration of the techniques!) METHOD I: The “Freezer paper” method Next, cut out your traced pattern. Scissors work well, of course. Be careful not to tear the foil! Prefolding your paper and comparing to your circuit layout will show you where to lay the aluminum foil pieces out on your paper. Then, use an iron to laminate the foil to the paper. What kind of paper? The easiest (but slightly obscure) choice is “dry mount adhesive,” which is tissue paper infused with high-quality hot-melt glue. You can get sheets or rolls of it from art supply places for use in mounting artwork and photography. Much more common and equally workable is freezer paper. Freezer paper is a common plastic-coated paper that you can get on rolls at the grocery store– look in the section with the aluminum foil. (Place foil on the shiny side of the freezer paper). We used a small hobby iron to fuse the foil to our different papers, but a regular iron works just as well. The dry mount adhesive did not require much heat, while the freezer paper needed the iron to be on high– that plastic has to melt. We folded a larger sheet of parchment paper over the whole circuit during ironing in order to keep the adhesives from sticking to the iron and other surfaces. We also experimented with waxed paper, which was not sticky enough for the aluminum foil. We even tried ironing copper leaf onto waxed paper, and though it adhered well, it was too fragile and the traces broke upon folding. It would probably work reasonably well in an application where folding isn’t required: It was absolutely beautiful and completely unreliable for origami. Once the foil is adhered to the paper, it is time to refold it. Insert the components, and it lights up. If it doesn’t light up, try turning your battery around. If it still doesn’t light up, make sure your LED leads are contacting the traces. Hint for this circuit: You won’t hurt the LED by plugging it in backwards to that little battery, so this is a better method than actually trying to keep track of the polarity. The LED Foldie naturally wants to sit on the heaviest part, the battery, with the LED projecting into the side of the balloon. The weight of the battery helps keep the circuit connected. METHOD II: The “Direct Toner” method Our last breakthrough came when we created a pdf pattern to print out. We realized that you could fuse the foil directly to the toner from a laser printer. You can print out the pattern (laser printers only: no inkjet!) and iron your foil pieces directly to the paper. Caveat: while the foil sticks well to the toner, it isn’t quite strong enough that you can just iron on a giant sheet of foil and have it only stick where there’s toner, so you still need to cut out the foil shapes, at least roughly. Place your foil carefully over the pattern, and iron very well, very hot. Be sure to cover your work with parchment paper or you will get toner on your iron. When your foil is stuck to the toner, cut out the square and get ready to fold. Inflate, add battery and LED, and admire the glow. As before, if you have trouble, try turning your battery around and making sure that the leads of the LED are making contact with the foil. And there it is: a bridge between papercraft and electronics, or perhaps between etch-at-home printed circuit boards and high-end flex PCBs. We think that there’s some potential here. Your turn! What kinds of origami can you light up? As always, we’d love to see your project pictures in the Evil Mad Science Auxiliary.

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The Evolution Deceit Imaginary Dinosaur-Bird Links As you saw in earlier chapters, it's impossible for birds to have evolved from dinosaurs, since no mechanism can have eliminated the enormous physiological differences between the two groups. Despite this, evolutionists still raise the scenario of birds being evolved from dinosaurs in various ways. They frequently resort to news reports, using pictures of reconstructions and sensational headlines regarding these so-called dino-birds, as if they represented the true facts. These accounts are intended to convince people feathered dinosaurs once lived on Earth. This scenario is presented persistently as it were a proven fact. All objections, criticisms and counter-evidence are totally ignored, clearly indicating that this is deliberate propaganda intended to impose dino-bird myths on society. The biased fossil interpretations we shall examine in the following pages reveal their hollow, deceptive nature. The claim that birds evolved from dinosaurs is actually opposed by a great many paleontologists or anatomists who otherwise support the theory of evolution. As you have seen, two renowned ornithologists, Alan Feduccia and Larry Martin, think this scenario is completely erroneous. This is set out in the textbook Developmental Biology, taught in U.S. universities: Not all biologists believe that birds are dinosaurs... This group of scientists emphasize the differences between dinosaurs and birds, claiming that the differences are too great for the birds to have evolved from earlier dinosaurs. Alan Feduccia, and Larry Martin, for instance, contend that birds could not have evolved from any known group of dinosaurs. They argue against some of the most important cladistic data and support their claim from developmental biology and biomechanics. 170 Many evolutionist publications refer to the thesis that birds evolved from dinosaurs as if it were based on solid evidence and accepted by the entire scientific community. They try to give the impression that the only subject up for debate is which species of dinosaur birds evolved from. Although Martin earlier supported the dino-bird claim, he eventually realized in the light of his research that it was invalid, and abandoned his former ideas: Every time I look at the evidence formerly discovered and then make a claim about the origins of the theropod, I saw its inaccuracy. That is because everything shows its inadequacy. The truth of the matter is that…I seriously suspect that they have the same features with birds and don't think that there exist striking features supporting that birds are of theropod origin. 171 Feduccia admits that concerning the origin of birds, the theory of evolution finds itself in a state of uncertainty. He attaches no credence to the deliberately maintained dino-bird controversy, which is in fact groundless. Important information is contained in his article, "Birds Are Dinosaurs: Simple Answer to a Complex Problem," published in October 2002 in The Auk, the journal of the American Ornithologists' Union, in which the most technical aspects of ornithology are discussed. Feduccia describes in detail how the idea that birds evolved from dinosaurs, raised by John Ostrom in the 1970s and fiercely defended ever since, lacks any scientific evidence, and how such an evolution is impossible. Feduccia is not alone among evolutionists in this regard. Peter Dodson, the evolutionist professor of anatomy from Pennsylvania University, also doubts that birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs: I am on record as opposing cladistics and catastrophic extinction of dinosaurs; I am tepid on endothermic dinosaurs; I am skeptical about the theropod ancestry of birds. 172 Despite being an evolutionist, Dodson admits the unrealistic claims of the theory of evolution, and has come in for severe criticism from his evolutionist colleagues. In one article, he responds to these criticisms: Personally, I continue to find it problematic that the most birdlike maniraptoran theropods are found 25 to 75 million years after the origin of birds . . . .Ghost lineages are frankly a contrived solution, a deus ex machina required by the cladistic method. Of course, it is admitted that late Cretaceous maniraptorans are not the actual ancestors of birds, only "sister taxa." Are we being asked to believe that a group of highly derived, rapidly evolving maniraptorans in the Jurassic gave rise to birds, as manifested by Archaeopteryx, and then this highly progressive lineage then went into a state of evolutionary stasis and persisted unchanged in essential characters for millions of years? Or are actual ancestors far more basal in morphology and harder to classify? If the latter, then why insist that the problem is now solved? 173 Alan Feduccia sets out an important fact concerning the dino-birds said to have been found in China: the "feathers" on the fossils said to be those of feathered dinosaurs are definitely not bird feathers. A considerable body of evidence shows that these fossil traces have nothing at all to do with bird feathers. He says this in an article published in The Auk magazine: Having studied most of the specimens said to sport protofeathers, I, and many others, do not find any credible evidence that those structures represent protofeathers. Many Chinese fossils have that strange halo of what has become known as dino-fuzz, but although that material has been "homologized" with avian feathers, the arguments are far less than convincing. 174 Citing Richard O. Prum, one of the supporters of the dino-bird claims, as an example, Feduccia goes on to mention the prejudiced approach so prevalent on the subject: Prum's view is shared by many paleontologists: birds are dinosaurs; therefore, any filamentous material preserved in dromaeosaurs must represent protofeathers. 175 Latest Research Has Dealt a Severe Blow to Feathered Dinosaur Claims The fossilized structures referred to as dinosaur feathers were shown by Theagarten (Solly) Lingham-Soliar, a paleontologist from Durban-Westville University in South Africa to be nothing more than decayed connective tissue. Professor Lingham-Soliar performed an experiment by burying a dolphin in river mud, semi-permeable to air for a year. The reason a dolphin was selected was that its flesh is easy to analyze. At the end of this period, the professor examined the dolphin's bunches of collagen—which constitutes connective tissue in the bodies of most living things— under a microscope. According to him, the decayed collagen in the dolphin's body bore "a striking resemblance to feathers."1 The German magazine Naturwissenschaften commented that: "The findings throw serious doubt on the virtually complete reliance on visual image by supporters of the feathered dinosaur thesis and emphasize the need for more rigorous methods of identification using modern feathers as a frame of reference." 2 With this finding, it emerged that even a dolphin could leave behind traces of apparent feathers. This once again showed that there are no grounds for regarding extinct dinosaurs with "feathers" as proto-birds. 1. Stephen Strauss, "Buried dolphin corpse serves science," 11 November 2003; http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20031111/UDINO11/TPScience/ According to Feduccia, one factor that invalidates this preconception is the presence of these same traces in fossils that have no relationship with birds: Most important, "dino-fuzz" is now being discovered in a number of taxa, some unpublished, but particularly in a Chinese pterosaur and a therizinosaur, which has teeth like those of prosauropods. Most surprisingly, skin fibers very closely resembling dino-fuzz have been discovered in a Jurassic ichthyosaur and described in detail. Some of those branched fibers are exceptionally close in morphology to the so-called branched protofeathers ("Prum Protofeathers"") described by Xu. That these so-called protofeathers have a widespread distribution in archosaurs is evidence alone that they have nothing to do with feathers. 176 Feduccia recalls that various structures found around these fossils and thought to belong to them, were later determined to consist of inorganic matter: One is reminded of the famous fernlike markings on the Solnhofen fossils known as dendrites. Despite their plantlike outlines, these features are now known to be inorganic structures caused by a solution of manganese from within the beds that reprecipitated as oxides along cracks or along bones of fossils. 177 The fossil beds preserve not only an indefinite structure such as dino-fuzz but also bird feathers. But all the fossils presented as feathered dinosaurs have been found in China. Why should these fossils have not emerged from anywhere else in the world—Feduccia draws attention to this intriguing state of affairs: One must explain also why all theropods and other dinosaurs discovered in other deposits where integument is preserved exhibit no dino-fuzz, but true reptilian skin, devoid of any featherlike material (Feduccia 1999), and why typically Chinese dromaeosaurs preserving dino-fuzz do not normally preserve feathers, when a hardened rachis, if present, would be more easily preserved. 178 Feduccia states that some of these creatures portrayed as feathered dinosaurs are simply extinct reptiles with dino-fuzz and that others are genuine birds: There are clearly two different taphonomic phenomena in the early Cretaceous lacustrine deposits of the Yixian and Jiufotang formations of China, one preserving dino-fuzz filaments, as in the first discovered, so-called "feathered dinosaur" Sinosauropteryx (a compsognathid), and one preserving actual avian feathers, as in the feathered dinosaurs that were featured on the cover of Nature, but which turned out to be secondarily flightless birds. 179 Peter Dodson, on the other hand, says, "I hasten to add that none of the known small theropods, including Deinonychus, Dromaeosaurus, Velociraptor, Unenlagia, nor Sinosauropteryx, Protarcheaeopteryx, nor Caudipteryx is itself relevant to the origin of birds."180 He means that these creatures cannot be the ancestors of birds because the earliest known bird, Archaeopteryx, lived long before the Cretaceous Period. In short, the fossils portrayed as feathered dinosaurs or dino-birds either belong to certain flightless birds like today's ostriches, or else to reptiles possessed of a structure known as dino-fuzz which has nothing to do with actual feathers. There exists not a single fossil that might represent an intermediate form between birds and reptiles. Therefore, the claim that fossils prove that birds descended from dinosaurs is completely unrealistic. 1) The Alleged Intermediate From: Mononychus Mononychus is one of the fossils used as a vehicle for evolutionist propaganda and depicted with feathers in the 26 April 1993 edition of Time magazine. It was later realized, on the basis of further evidence, that this creature was not a bird. One of the best-known fossils in the alleged dino-bird chain is Mononychus, discovered in Mongolia in 1993 and claimed to be an intermediate form between dinosaurs and birds. Although not the slightest trace of feathers was found in this fossil, Time magazine reconstructed the creature with feathers on the cover of its 26 April, 1993 issue. Subsequent evidence revealed that Mononychus was no bird but a fossorial (digging) theropod. The fact that this fossil had a bird-like breastbone and wrist bones led evolutionists to interpret Mononychus as an intermediate form. Biased interpretations and support from the media gave the impression that some proof existed to back this up. However, the anatomical features depicted as evidence are also found in other animals, such as moles. These inferences represent no evidence at all and they have only led to misinterpretations. Writing to Science News, Richard Monastersky reports, based on observations, why this fossil cannot be classified; Mongolian and U.S. researchers have found a 75-million-year-old bird-like creature with a hand so strange it has left paleontologists grasping for an explanation. . . Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago notes that Mononychus had arms built much like those of digging animals. Because moles and other diggers have keeled sternums and wrists reminiscent of birds, the classification of Mononychus becomes difficult.181 In addition, this fossil is at least 80 million years younger than Archaeopteryx—which totally undermines any proposed 2) Bambiraptor Feinbergi, Depicted with Imaginary Feathers Evolutionist media immediately give certain bird-like features to biased interpretations. The fossil Bambiraptor feinbergi, claimed to be an intermediate form between dinosaurs and birds, was depicted as a feathered reptile in media illustrations. However, there is no evidence that this creature ever had feathers. In 1994, another dino-bird claim was made on behalf of a fossil called Bambiraptor feinbergi, estimated to be 75 million years old. Found in the Glacier National Park in northern Montana, the fossil is 95% complete. Evolutionists promptly claimed that it represents an intermediate form between dinosaurs and birds. When the fossil, belonging to a dinosaur, was introduced as an alleged dino-bird, the report admitted, "Feathers, however, have not yet been found."182 Despite this reservation, the media drew the animal as a feathered creature, and the missing details were added using plenty of creative imagination. The most evident objection to this so-called missing link is again, an error in dating. This alleged intermediate form fossil is 75 million years younger than Archaeopteryx, itself a species of flying bird. This fossil is therefore a specimen that demolished the ancestral relationship claimed by evolutionists. In the same way that this fossil provides no evidence for evolution, it also demolished the ancestral relationship claimed by evolutionists. According to Ohio University professor of zoology John Ruben: A point that too many people always ignored, however, is that the most birdlike of the dinosaurs, such as Bambiraptor and Velociraptor, lived 70 million years after the earliest bird, Archaeopteryx. So you have birds flying before the evolution of the first birdlike dinosaurs. We now question very strongly whether there were any feathered dinosaurs at all. What have been called feathered dinosaurs were probably flightless birds. 183 Evolutionists use a few bird-like characteristics as grounds for their preconceived interpretations. Yet the effort of building a line of descent based on similarities is full of contradictions that evolutionists cannot explain. Whenever evolutionists construct an alleged evolutionary relationship between clearly different living things based on similar structures, they immediately close the subject by describing it as "parallel evolution." They claim that living things with similar complex organs but with no ancestors in common, evolved independently. However, since they cannot account for the origin of these complex organs in even one living thing, their statements that these organs supposedly evolved several times presents a serious predicament. Alan Feduccia states that certain similarities between birds and dinosaurs do not show any evolutionary relationship between the two groups: Bambiraptor is a small dinosaur, but it does have a number of birdlike features, as do many other forms. However there is nothing special about hollow bones, as some mammals and frogs have them. The problem, of course, is that Bambiraptor is some 80 million years beyond Archaeopteryx, and yet is claimed to be the dinosaur most close to bird ancestry. That alone should be a red flag, and a warning that the situation is far more complicated than suspected. 184 3) Confuciusornis Sanctus: Identical to Modern Birds Two paleontologists, Lianhai Hou and Zhonghe Zhou, researching at the Vertebrate Paleontology Institute in China in 1995, discovered a new species of fossilized bird, which they named Confuciusornis sanctus. This was presented to the public as the earliest flying dinosaur, even as evidence for how hands used for grasping turned into hands used for flight. According to Alan Feduccia, however, this fossil is one of the frequently encountered beaked birds. This one had no teeth, and its beak and feathers share the same features as present-day birds. There are claws on its wings, as with Archaeopteryx, and its skeletal structure is identical to those of modern-day birds. A structure known as the pygostyle, which supports the tail feathers, can also be seen. In short, evolutionists regarded this fossil as a semi-reptile, the earliest ancestor of all birds, of a similar age (about 142 million years) as Archaeopteryx and, bearing a close resemblance to present-day birds. This clearly conflicts with the evolutionist theses that Archaeopteryx is the earliest ancestor of all birds. 185 This is also definitive proof that Archaeopteryx and other archaic birds are not intermediate forms. These and similar fossils show no evidence that different bird species evolved from earlier ones. On the contrary, it proves that present-day birds and certain unique bird species similar to Archaeopteryx lived at the same time. Some of these species, such as Confuciusornis and Archaeopteryx, are extinct, but a few have survived to the present day. What is in the heavens and in the Earth belongs to Allah. Allah encompasses all things. (Surat an-Nisa, 126) 4) Protarchaeopteryx Robusta and Caudipteryx Zoui: Vehicles for Biased Interpretations Caudipteryx zoui , Protarchæopteryx robusta The fossils Protarchæopteryx robusta and Caudipteryx zoui do not belong to dinosaurs, but to extinct flightless birds. The efforts to portray these creatures as dinosaurs is an example of evolutionists' eagerness to produce evidence. In the summer of 1996, farmers working in the Yixian Formation found three separate turkey-sized fossils, so well preserved as to give genuine evidence of bird feathers. At first, Ji Qiang and his colleague Ji Shu-An concluded that these fossils must belong to a single species. Noting their surprising similarity to Archaeopteryx, they gave the creature the name Protarchaeopteryx robusta. During his research in the autumn of 1997, Philip Currie concluded that these fossils belonged to two different species, neither of which resembled Archaeopteryx. The second species was given the name Caudipteryx zoui. 186 The discoveries of the Protarchæopteryx robusta and Caudipteryx zoui fossils were depicted as evidence that birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs. 187 The popular press stated that these fossils were definitely the so-called ancestors of birds. One commentator even wrote that the dinosaur-bird link was "now pretty close to rock solid."188 However, this certainty was again, only a biased interpretation. According to evolutionist claims, Caudipteryx and Protarchaeopteryx were small dinosaurs whose bodies were largely covered in feathers. But on their wings and tails were longer and more complex feathers, arranged like those in present-day birds. However, it is no surprise that these creatures should have feather arrangements similar to modern birds', because their feathers are symmetrically shaped, as observed in present-day flightless birds.189 Therefore, the creatures in question are flightless birds, not dinosaurs. In severely criticizing the dino-bird dogma, Larry Martin and Alan Feduccia stated that these fossils were flightless bird species like the modern ostrich. 190 But adherents of the dino-bird theory are reluctant to accept this because they want to classify the creatures as dinosaurs, even though this fossil provides no support for evolutionist claims. Indeed, this fossil represents a new contradiction to evolutionists' alleged ancestral relationships. According to the evolutionist scenario, these dinosaurs and modern birds both have a special bone that lets them bend their wrists. Again according to evolutionist claims, this feature enabled them to move their forefeet in a wide manner, to catch fleeing prey with their long arms and gripping talons. This allegedly powerful beating movement represented an important part of the wingbeats the today's birds use to fly. However, such interpretations are scientifically invalid, because flight consists of far more complex actions than just wing beating: Any forward beating movement gives rises to a counter impulse that propels the bird backward. For the purpose of flight, the main flight feathers are arranged at such an angle as to push the air back and propel the birds forwards. As in planes, the wings have a special aerofoil shape, which causes air to flow faster over the upper surface than the lower. This, according to the Bernoulli principle, reduces air pressure on the upper surface and creates lift. This is the main factor in take-off, but there is also the question of Newton's Third Law—the reaction to the air being propelled downward.). 191 While refuting the theory of evolution's dino-bird claims, the world of science also confirms that living things are perfectly created. The attitude of evolutionist scientists clearly reveals that they are blindly devoted to the theory in question. In addition, the structure of a wing hypothesized to catch prey is very different from that created for beating in flight. A feathered wing is no advantage to a bird using its wings to catch prey, because a feathered wing's broad surface will only increase air resistance and make movement more difficult. If, the bird flapped for hunting, as evolutionists maintain then its wing structure should help the bird move forward by pushing air back. Therefore, it would be a greater advantage for the bird's wings to let air pass through them, like a sieve or flyswatter. Thus evolutionist accounts are full of illogicalities that conflict with their own claims. In addition to its feathers, Caudipteryx has a series of other features showing it to be a bird—such as that it was carnivorous. Caudopteryx was portrayed as a theropod since it was first unearthed, it was thought to be a carnivore.192 But there were no teeth in its lower skull and lower jaw, and the first two fossil specimens contained the remains of crops that birds use for digesting plant materials.193 Organs such as the crop are found only in birds and not in any species of the theropod family. 194 Protarchæopteryx and Caudipteryx are therefore extinct birds. The only reason they are referred to as dinosaurs is because that's what evolutionists want them to be. 5) Sinosauropteryx: Another Fossil Subjected to Speculative Claims Today's evolutionists have entirely abandoned their claim that the creature was feathered. But a dogmatic approach towards evolution and accepted preconceptions make such errors inevitable. With every new fossil discovery, evolutionists speculate about the dinosaur-bird link. Every time, however, their claims are refuted as a result of detailed analyses. One example of such dino-bird claims was Sinosauropteryx, announced with enormous media propaganda in 1996. Some evolutionist paleontologists maintained that this fossil reptile possessed bird feathers. The following year, however, examinations revealed that these structures so excitedly described as feathers were actually nothing of the sort. One article published in Science magazine, "Plucking the Feathered Dinosaur," stated that the structures had been misperceived as feathers by evolutionist paleontologists: Exactly 1 year ago, paleontologists were abuzz about photos of a so-called "feathered dinosaur" . . . The Sinosauropteryx specimen from the Yixian Formation in China made the front page of The New York Times, and was viewed by some as confirming the dinosaurian origins of birds. But at this year's vertebrate paleontology meeting in Chicago late last month, the verdict was a bit different: The structures are not modern feathers, say the roughly half-dozen Western paleontologists who have seen the specimens. . . . Larry Martin of Kansas University, Lawrence, thinks the structures are frayed collagenous fibers beneath the skin—and so have nothing to do with birds. 195 About the speculative claims regarding feathers and Sinosauropteryx, Alan Brush of Connecticut University had this to say: The stiff, bristlelike fibers that outline the fossils lack the detailed organization seen in modern feathers. 196 Another important point is that Sinosauropteryx had bellows-like lungs, like those in reptiles. According to many researchers, these show that the animal could not have evolved into modern-day birds with their high-performance lungs. 6) Eoalulavis Hoyasi Shares with Wing Structure of Modern-Day Birds The wing structure in Eoalulavis hoyasi is also present in certain present-day flying birds. The feathers on this bird's wing contain a small bunch of feathers attached to the "finger". When the bird wishes to slow down or descend to earth, it decreases the angle of the wing to the horizon. This allows air to flow over the wing's top surface and to stop without falling. Another fossil to demolish evolutionist claims was Eoalulavis hoyasi. This, estimated at some 120 million years old, is older than all the known theropod specimens. Nonetheless, wing structure in Eoalulavis hoyasi is identical to some modern-day flying birds. This proves that vertebrates identical in many respects to modern birds were flying 120 million years ago.197 Any suggestion that theropods, which appeared after this creature, were the ancestors of birds is clearly irrational. This bird's wing has a bunch of small feathers attached to the "finger." Recognizable as the alula, this structure is a basic feature of many birds alive today and consisting of several feathers that permits the bird to engage in various maneuvers during flight. But it had never before been encountered in a fossil bird from the Mesozoic. This new bird was given the name Eoalulavis hoyasi, or "ancient bird with an alula."198 Its presence shows that this bird, the size of a chaffinch, was able to fly and maneuver as well as modern-day birds. The alula functions like the wing flap on an airplane. When the bird wants to reduce its speed or landing, it increases of its wing to the horizon. The drag produced by this wing position helps the bird to slow down. But when the angle between the direction of the air flow and the wing surface gets too steep, turbulence over the wing increases until the bird loses the lift necessary to maintain flight. Like an airplane under similar circumstances, the bird is in danger of stalling in midair. The alula now enters the equation. By raising this small appendage, the bird creates a slot between it and the main part of the wing, similar to what happens when a pilot deploys a craft's wing flaps. The slot allows air to stream over the main wing's upper surface, easing turbulence and allowing the bird (or plane) to brake without stalling. 199 Birds 120 million years ago were using the same technology as that employed present. This realization added yet another insuperable difficulty facing the theory of evolution. 7) Unenlagia Comahuensis: A Dino-Bird Based On Artists' Imaginations Fernando E. Novas of the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences in Buenos Aires and Pablo F. Puerta of the Paleontology Museum in Trelew announced a new fossil, said to be 90 million years old, in the 22 May, 1997, edition of Nature magazine, under the caption "Missing Link."200 They named this fossil Unenlagia comahuensis, meaning "half-bird from north-west Patagonia." This fossil, discovered in Argentina's Patagonia region, consisted of more than 20 pieces of the creatures leg, rib and shoulder bones. Based on these fragments, artists drew a creature complete with a neck, jaw and tail—and subsequently announced that this fossil was an intermediate stage in the transition from dinosaurs to birds. However, Unenlagia comahuensis is manifestly a dinosaur, in many respects. In particular, certain features of its skull and the bone formations behind its eyes closely resemble those of theropods. There is also no evidence at all that it bore feathers. Evolutionist scientists, however, claimed that by raising its forearms, it could make similar movements to those used by birds for flying. But clearly, these prejudiced guesses and assumptions cannot be regarded as definitive proof. On account of its different features, Lawrence M. Witmer of Ohio University describes this creature as a genuine "mosaic". 201 Alan Feduccia also states that Unenlagia comahuensis cannot be a missing link between dinosaurs and birds, emphasizing that it lived 55 million years after Archaeopteryx. 202 As Feduccia stressed in a 1996 article written together with several other authors in Science magazine, almost every dinosaur said to resemble the bird dates back to long after the emergence of the first true birds.203 This creates the problem that scientists refer to as the time paradox. 8) Dromaeosuar: The Dinosaur That Evolutionists Were

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Keeping fit and active in old age or taking cholesterol-busting statins are both vital for preventing early death. And when the two are combined, it dramatically slashes the chances of dying early by up to 70 per cent, scientists found after a 10-year study of 10,000 people. Experts are already calling for everyone over the age of 50 to be prescribed statins to ward off chronic and potentially fatal conditions, even if the patients are at low risk. They say administering statins to an extra five million people would cut heart attacks and strokes by 10,000 a year and save at least 2,000 lives. The pills, which cost as little as 40p a day and are taken by eight million Britons to reduce cholesterol and protect against heart attacks, heart disease and stroke, have also been shown to be a potent cancer-buster. Treatment with statins is important, but better fitness improves survival significantly and is a valuable additional treatment or an alternative when statins cannot be taken US scientists studied 10,000 men and women with an average age of 60 and diagnosed with the high cholesterol condition dyslipidaemia. All had their fitness graded and were divided into those taking statins and those not. Over 10 years, death rates were lowest for people who were both fit and taking statins. That group had a 70 per cent reduced risk of death. For those who were fit but not taking the pills, the chances of dying were reduced by just under 50 per cent. According to the study, published in The Lancet, the differences could not be explained by factors such as age, weight, ethnicity, sex, heart disease history and other drugs. Leader of the study, Dr Peter Kokkinos, of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, said unfit middle-aged and older people would only need to undertake “moderate and feasible” activity such as walking, gardening, and gym classes to gain the same or greater protection than that achieved by statins. He urged people with high cholesterol to improve their fitness to at least a moderate level. He added: “Treatment with statins is important, but better fitness improves survival significantly and is a valuable additional treatment or an alternative when statins cannot be taken.” Natasha Stewart, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “This research shows that the two together (statins and exercise) can provide a winning combination to further improve your heart health, with higher intensity exercise possibly offering more protection. “If you have high cholesterol, speak to your doctor about the best treatment regime.” The most common dyslipidaemias are high blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels (hyperlipidaemia), high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL or “bad”) cholesterol and low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL or “good”) cholesterol. Statins slightly raise the chance of some “at risk” patients developing diabetes, but their benefits in reducing the likelihood of cardiovascular disease far outweigh risks. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence currently recommends that statins are given to those with a 20 per cent or greater chance of developing cardiovascular disease within 10 years.

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Released September 2, 2009 INSITITE, W.V. – Students are notorious for the amount of paper, plastic and energy they use, says Monica Graff Haines of Green Apple, a maker of eco-friendly school supplies. When going back to school, take the opportunity to teach children some lessons about green living. Packing lunch reduces waste. Fill reusable containers with organic foods; avoid plastic baggies and disposable juice boxes. New is not always better. Before hitting the store to purchase new school supplies, see how many materials you have around the house that you can reuse. Doing small things helps the environment. When picking up or dropping off your child at school, don't idle your car. Idling for more than 10 seconds uses more fuel and produces more pollution than restarting the engine, according to the Consumer Energy Center (http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/).

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Air pollution is a broad term applied to all chemical and biological agents that modify the natural characteristics of the atmosphere. Some definitions also consider physical perturbations such as noise pollution, heat, radiation or light pollution as air pollution. Some definitions include the term harmful as a requisite to consider a change to the atmosphere as pollution. The sources of air pollution are divided in two groups: anthropogenic (caused by human activity) and natural. Natural sources include: Anthropogenic sources are mostly related to burning different kinds of fuel. They include: - Volcanic activity - Dust from natural sources, usually large areas of land with little or no vegetation - Gases, such as methane, emitted by the digestion of animals, usually cattle. - Smoke from wildfires. - Dust and chemicals from farming, especially of erodible land, see Dust Bowl - Industrial activity in general. - Vehicles with internal-combustion engines. - Stoves and incinerators, specially coal ones. - Paint fumes, or other toxical vapors. Contaminants of air can be divided in particles and gases. Particles are classified by their sizes. A usual division is in PM10 and PM2.5. PM10 are particles whose size is less than 10 microns (0.01 mm); they are dangerous to humans because they can be breathed and reach the lungs. PM2.5 are particles whose size is less than 2.5 microns (0.0025 mm), and they are even more dangerous because they can pass the alveoli and reach the blood. Important pollutant gases include: The worst single incident of air pollution to occur in the United States occurred in Donora, Pennsylvania in late October, 1948 - Davis, Devra, When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution, Basic Books, 2002, hardcover, 316 pages, ISBN 0-465-01521-2

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Donald Ervin Knuth Knuth, Donald Ervin (nōth, kənōthˈ) [key], 1938–, American mathematician and computer scientist, b. Milwaukee, Wis., grad. Case Institute of Technology (B.S. and M.S., 1960) and California Institute of Technology (Ph.D., 1963). While still a graduate student, Knuth was contracted to write a book about the construction of computer compilers (see programming language). What he wrote instead turned into his monumental series The Art of Computer Programming (3 vol., 1968–), an overview of programming algorithms, each described with mathematical rigor, that has been translated into six languages. Disappointed with the state of computer typesetting, Knuth developed a typesetting program that has become the standard for mathematics and physics. He taught at the California Institute of Technology from 1962 until 1968, when he joined the faculty at Stanford Univ., becoming professor emeritus in 1993. His writings include Surreal Numbers (1974), Literate Programming (1992), and Digital Typography (1999). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on: Computers and Computing, Biographies

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Sir George Somers Somers, Sir George, 1554–1610, English naval commander. The leader of several successful privateering ventures against the Spanish, he was knighted in 1603. He was a founder (1606) of the London Company and set out with settlers for Virginia in 1609. They were shipwrecked and landed in the Bermudas, which Somers claimed for Britain. He continued to Virginia but returned to Bermuda (1610), where he died. Several versions of his shipwreck were written at the time, one of which may have inspired Shakespeare's The Tempest. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. More on Sir George Somers from Fact Monster: See more Encyclopedia articles on: British and Irish History: Biographies

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What reaction can I expect from my small children when I tell them we’re separating and in the months following? Posted on January 10, 2012 While no child wants to hear that their parents are breaking up, children often have predictable responses when you tell them that you are separating that relate to their developmental stage. Knowing what these might be will hopefully make you more prepared for the emotional, behavioral and physical changes that will follow. Young children do not fully understand the concept of marriage and separation. They will only understand that mommy or daddy will no longer be living together. Be prepared for them to find it difficult to grasp what is happening. Try to make them understand otherwise they will be frustrated and confused. Children under the age of 5 years old will have various reactions depending on their personality. They will either cry, pretend you never mentioned the separation, they may change the subject because they want to stop their feelings or they go back to focus on what they were doing before you started talking to them or they may show no emotion at all at the time but then leave the room to process their feelings. Once they have been able to process some of the information you tell them they will have lots of feelings and fears about the future. The fear of abandonment is very common and is expressed in a variety of ways. Children may cling, whine and have tantrums when left at childcare. They want the security of being with their main carer and don’t want to be left. When you pick them up they may also be upset because you left them but also relieved and pleased to see you. Children may get upset when moved between parents during access visits and will feel unsettled if their main carer changes e.g. they may have a new person looking after them if mum has to go to back to work. Being around unfamiliar people can make them tearful and anxious. Often they will struggle with a new routine and having to be moved between both parents. Some children often regress in their behaviour. They may return to the comfort of a security blanket or a toy they had outgrown or they may have a lapse in toilet training. It is not unusual for children to have disturbed sleep either. Bear with them, as it won’t be forever. These types of behaviour rarely last for more than a few weeks. Some children may become irritable and engage more in physical activity and fighting. This is because of the hurt they feel and the anger towards the situation. Other children may become more fearful of aggression and being hurt. Children under five may become less imaginative and co-¬‐operative in their play. They may prefer to play by themselves rather than with friends and they may show a preference for adult company as being near adults makes them feel secure. They can show more anger and apathy in their play and in their interactions with peers and adults as they act out how they feel and the situation they are in e.g. when dad comes to the house to pick them up for the day. Many children grow up emotionally together and psychologically strong even though they have had the adverse childhood experience of their parents separating. Young children do not necessarily carry their wounds through into their adult life. If a young child’s life improves and changes, especially during the ages of two and six, the negative effects of early childhood can be reversed. Young children are likely to do just as well in school as they did before the separation. The Kids Coach

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Math is the basis for music, but for those of us who aren’t virtuosic at either, the connection isn’t always easy to grasp. Which is what makes the videos of Vi Hart, a “mathemusician” with a dedicated YouTube following, so wonderful. Hart explains complex phenomena--from cardioids to Carl Gauss--using simple (and often very) funny means. As Maria Popova pointed out yesterday, Hart’s latest video is a real doozy. In it, she uses a music box and a Möbius strip to explain space-time, showing how the two axes of musical notation (pitch and tempo) correspond to space and time. Using the tape notation as a model for space-time, she cuts and folds it to show the finite ways you can slice and dice the axes. Then, she shows us how you can loop the tape into a continuous strip of twinkling notes: If you fold space-time into a Mobius strip, you get your melody, and then the inversion, the melody played upside down. And then right side up again. And so on. So rather than folding and cutting up space-time, just cut and tape a little loop of space-time, to be played over, and over. It’s a pretty magical observation, and it makes even me--the prototypical math dunce--wish I’d tried harder. Yet there’s still time: Hart works for the Khan Academy, a nonprofit that offers free educational videos about math, biology, and more. Check it out. [H/t Brain Pickings]

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The colors are the different echo intensities (reflectivity) measured in dBZ (decibels of Z) during each elevation scan. "Reflectivity" is the amount of transmitted power returned to the radar receiver. Reflectivity (designated by the letter Z) covers a wide range of signals (from very weak to very strong). So, a more convenient number for calculations and comparison, a decibel (or logarithmic) scale (dBZ), is used. The dBZ values increase as the strength of the signal returned to the radar increases. Each reflectivity image you see includes one of two color scales. One scale (far left) represents dBZ values when the radar is in clear air mode (dBZ values from -28 to +28). The other scale (near left) represents dBZ values when the radar is in precipitation mode (dBZ values from 5 to 75). Notice the color on each scale remains the same in both operational modes, only the values change. The value of the dBZ depends upon the mode the radar is in at the time the image was created. The scale of dBZ values is also related to the intensity of rainfall. Typically, light rain is occurring when the dBZ value reaches 20. The higher the dBZ, the stronger the rainrate. Depending on the type of weather occurring and the area of the U.S., forecasters use a set of rainrates which are associated to the dBZ These values are estimates of the rainfall per hour, updated each volume scan, with rainfall accumulated over time. Hail is a good reflector of energy and will return very high dBZ values. Since hail can cause the rainfall estimates to be higher than what is actually occurring, steps are taken to prevent these high dBZ values from being converted to rainfall.

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It is from the traditional family that we absorb those universal ideals and principles which are the teaching of Jesus, the bedrock of our religious faith. We are taught the difference between right and wrong, and about the law, just punishment and discipline. What do you first do when you learn to swim? You make mistakes, do you not? And what happens? You make other mistakes, and when you have made all the mistakes you possibly can without drowning - and some of them many times over - what do you find? That you can swim? Well - life is just the same as learning to swim! Do not be afraid of making mistakes, for there is no other way of learning how to live! The past is for learning from and letting go. You can't revisit it. It vanishes. Every human being is born an heir to an inheritance to which he can succeed only in a process of learning. We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progressive narrowing of the personality and prevents exploration and experimentation. There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you. I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel it would be truer to give prayer the first, second, and third places, and teaching the fourth. I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship. On any longer view, man is only fitfully committed to the rational to thinking, seeing, learning, knowing. Believing is what he\'s really proud of. Racing is a process of learning where the edge lies. The soul of man is nourished by learning, as the body is by food. It is because modern education is so seldom inspired by a great hope that it so seldom achieves great results. The wish to preserve the past rather than the hope of creating the future dominates the minds of those who control the teaching of the young. Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning. Teaching is the greatest act of optimism The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards. If we value independence, if we are disturbed by the growing conformity of knowledge, of values, of attitudes, which our present system induces, then we may wish to set up conditions of learning which make for uniqueness, for self-direction, and for self-initiated learning. The praises of others may be of use in teaching us, not what we are, but what we ought to be. Liberty without learning is always in peril and learning without liberty is always in vain Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don't look back at it too long. Mistakes are life's way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come. Don't look for more honor than your learning merits. You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives. I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue. Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere. Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. The only kind of learning which significantly influences behavior is self-discovered or self-appropriated learning - truth that has been assimilated in experience.

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A lot of pilots are satisfied to fly away with the terminal forecasts and metars (in plain language, please) and I suppose that might meet the letter of the law on weather information. But there is so much more than that to weather and the pilot who puts some effort into understanding weather, and how it affects his flying, will find less weather-related surprises as a flight unfolds. Let's look at some of the basics that are available to us and see what we learn from them. The Synopsis:Maybe the word is misunderstood, but as it appears at the beginning of an area forecast it is basically a description of the weather map. It is followed by a clouds and weather forecast. Do pay attention to the note "Non MSL hgts denoted by AGL or CIG." That means cloud bases are generally above sea level except where noted. Big difference in the mountains. Why is this basic item important? The location of high and low pressure areas and fronts tells a lot about the conditions that will be available for flying. If a trip is headed toward a low or a front, conditions will likely deteriorate the closer the airplane gets to the condition. Tops will probably be higher and bottoms lower. At lower altitudes, there will likely be turbulence in the frontal zone. This may not be wing-bending but it will make the flying more difficult and any passengers less comfortable. We have to be careful with weather maps. The ones on TV in the morning generally show weather for the whole day. For flying, we need to know what is expected to exist at a specified time. Official prog (for prognostic) charts are available on the web at adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov. There is a lot of other good stuff there, including a useful icing forecast. Lows: Low pressure areas are more important to flying weather than high pressure areas because the lows make the inclemencies that challenge us. The circulation around a low is counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and air flows around and into a low and then circulates upward. Low pressure areas almost always move, though they can become stationary or erratic in their movement. The normal movement of a surface low is roughly with the wind flow at the 500-millibar level, or about 18,000 feet. The prog charts will show the projected movement of lows, or you can look at the 18,000-foot wind forecast and visualize the movement. Upper lows are just that: complete circulations aloft. They are complex, it is difficult to forecast the formation, movement or dissipation of an upper low, and they can make nasty weather over a wide area. Called cut-off or closed lows aloft, if one is overhead nearby, the best surface forecast is for continuous clag. Any surface low might not be directly below the low aloft, and the air swirling into the surface low and then up into the low aloft can be quite bothered. Bad place to fly. Fronts: They come in cold, warm, stationary or occluded versions. The cold variety can spawn serious thunderstorms, especially when the low is strong and the temperature difference on the warm and cold side of the front is great. Warm fronts make for inclement weather over a wider area and can harbor embedded thunderstorms. Occluded fronts, generally found where a cold front overtakes a warm front because of an exceptionally strong circulation around a low, can make for nasty, bumpy flying. This is especially true just as the fronts are starting to occlude. Stay as far away from the driving low as possible. Stationary fronts come when a low peters out or moves so far away that the circulation is no longer strong enough to move the fronts. The weather might stay bad for days in a stationary frontal zone and only the development of a strong new low will change things. If all the parameters for a front are not met, the condition might be called a trough and, to a pilot, it might seem for all the world like a real front. Source Regions:That's simply where the air is coming from. Visualize the flow around the low and if the source of the low-level air along your route is moist, as in that coming from over the oceans or the Gulf of Mexico or California, then there will be plenty of ingredients for clouds and rain. The stronger the flow, the more important this becomes. Wind: A complete pilot studies wind, especially surface and wind aloft forecasts. If the forecasts are bang-on, that means the model of the atmosphere is accurate and the other forecasts should be pretty good. If the wind forecast is incorrect, then the other forecasts might be too. Generally, a wind that is more southerly or easterly than forecast means the surface weather will be worse than forecast. A stronger wind than forecast means that the low pressure area causing the wind is stronger than forecast. Wind shear is important, too. Defined as a change in direction and/or velocity over distance or height, wind shear can result in enthusiastic turbulence and can create low-altitude hazards around airports. There is always wind shear in frontal zones and where areas of strong wind (jet streams, streaks or cores) aloft interact with areas of lighter winds. Temperature & Dewpoint: This is really basic, but these items give clues to a lot of things. We learn early and often that if they are close, the flying weather suffers. They are especially important as the day is ending and beginning, when a small spread can result in rapidly deteriorating weather after sunset, or fog at and just after sunrise. If there is a big difference in the temperature and dewpoint ahead of and behind a cold front, there is probably a lot of action in the frontal zone. Also, if the temperature aloft is warmer than forecast, that means more moisture. The ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture doubles with every 11 degrees Celsius rise in temperature. That is why, when the talking heads say a heavy rain would have been so much snow, they don't know what they are talking about.

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In this edition, illustrated with beautiful Sung Dynasty paintings that reflect Confucian subjects and ideas, every reader can profit from the timeless philosophy that remains at the heart of Chinese civilisation and tradition. Ponder the issues of life, existence and knowledge with classic books by some of the greatest thinkers in all history. Political theory, philosophical treaties from the ancient Greeks to the modern era and more are included in the Folio Society’s collection of beautiful books on Philosophy and Politics. Each title features carefully researched or original commissioned illustrations, and presented in specially designed hardback covers. See below for the full list of Folio Philosophy and Politics books. The Bhagavad Gita is the cornerstone of the Hindu faith and one of the world’s greatest religious texts. Gandhi called it his ‘spiritual dictionary’, while as a secular work it inspired Einstein, Yeats and Jung. Our edition uses Juan Mascaró’s acclaimed translation, with illustrations by Anna Bhushan. So impossible to vanquish with words that Mark Antony put him to death, Cicero was a master of rhetoric and declamation. His Orations live on, echoed by the most famous speakers of modern times, from Winston Churchill to Barack Obama. In a rare commission for Folio, Tom Phillips, RA, has illustrated this edition. A ‘political turncoat, a dangerous adventurer’; a ‘delightful rogue who lacked political judgement’ – today few people would guess that these were descriptions of one of the most admired statesmen of the 20th century – Winston Churchill. Yet as historian John Lukacs points out, when Churchill took over as Prime Minister in May 1940, he was not well-liked. In his inspiring account of the first half of his life, Gandhi recounts his childhood in India, education in England and early legal career in South Africa, before his return home to take up the cause of Indian self-determination. Albert Einstein was a complex, fascinating man, as brilliant when writing about pacifism, religion and anti-Semitism as about theoretical physics. Ideas and Opinions is a wonderfully engrossing collection of Einstein’s major articles, speeches and letters on all these subjects, and more. How do we know that what we think is true is actually true? Can we prove the existence of God? Descartes’ questions endure. The Folio edition of Meditations is wittily illustrated by Shout, with an introduction by psychologist Nicholas Humphrey. Blaise Pascal (1623–62) was a mathematician and physicist who invented the mechanical calculator and developed probability theory. After experiencing a crisis and renewal of faith, he set out to write what he titled a ‘Defence of the Christian Religion’.

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Foreign Minister Bob Carr has welcomed a new framework to support the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Senator Carr said the framework involves scientific and technical cooperation between Australia and New Zealand to promote a permanent and effective ban on nuclear weapon tests. "International cooperation enhances the ability of scientific experts to provide advice to their governments on whether a nuclear test has occurred," Senator Carr said. "Cooperation between Australia and New Zealand can serve as a model for others around the world and will strengthen the CTBT. "Australia strongly advocates the earliest possible entry into force of the CTBT, so we are taking technical steps to prepare for that time." In the 16 years since the CTBT opened for signature, the CTBT Organization has largely completed work on a global network of over 300 facilities to monitor the environment for acoustic waves and radionuclide particulates and gases from a possible nuclear explosion. Data collected by these facilities is made available to CTBT parties, who have the final responsibility in determining which events – about 30,000 per year - could be a nuclear explosion. Although the CTBT has not yet entered into force, its monitoring system has already shown its potential by readily detecting nuclear tests conducted by North Korea in 2006 and 2009. Technical agencies in Australia monitoring for nuclear explosions are Geoscience Australia and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency. The framework for bilateral cooperation is set out in a memorandum of understanding between the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs. - Minister's office: (02) 6277 7500 - DFAT Media Liaison: (02) 6261 1555

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A stinky little problem: True to its name, malodorous bug invades many area homes DOVER — A small insect notorious for generating big headaches around the Seacoast is once again giving homeowners reason to gripe. Stink bugs — small, smelly pests that can damage crops and overwhelm buildings — have been a recent source of frustration as they congregate in masses outside and inside homes in preparation for the winter months. “I'm not sure why, but this has been a great year for them,” said Alan Eaton, an entomologist at the University of New Hampshire's Cooperative Extension program. “They search for cracks or crevasses to hide in and form huge masses on buildings.” And these masses have been visible as of late, with large numbers invading homes in search of overwintering sites. As Eaton explained, most of these stink bugs are known as the western conifer seed bug — an insect which has expanded eastward since first being detected in Pennsylvania in 1992. The western conifer seed bug is a relative of the brown marmorated stink bug — another insect that has contributed to this sudden influx. The brown marmorated stink bug, however, is currently only present in eight municipalities statewide. Therefore, Eaton credited the western conifer seed bug as the primary source of these recent headaches. “Sealing holes, cracks, and other openings is the best approach,” Eaton said. “There are a lot of places people might not think about that are actually great for these insects.” Although neither bites, is poisonous, or spreads disease, these dime-sized bugs emit terrible odors when triggered and are classified as agricultural pests. Stink bugs can cause widespread damage to fruit and vegetable crops, including peaches, apples, green beans, soybeans, cherries, raspberries, and pears, among others. And once inside homes, neither insect needs much space to feel comfortable and secure — they've been known to settle around window sills, picture frames, and behind television screens. Once nestled in their new locations, these insects pass the winter months in a deep hibernation, returning once again around May or June. For now, effective strategies to reduce these insects remain unclear — although sprays are somewhat effective, researchers have said numbers are too big to eradicate entire populations. And although Eaton said Sept. 15 is normally the deadline to seal up any holes, crevasses, or cracks the bugs may take advantage of, he noted it's still worth the effort to take precautionary measures today.

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Looking for a spooky way to light your home and yard this Halloween? Consider the eerie illuminations of candles, lamps, and solar lights. Many people carve Jack-o-Lanterns every autumn when the leaves begin to fall, but not everyone thinks of pumpkins in terms of their sustainable energy potential. A stroll around the Farmer’s Market provides a ton of options for finding that perfect pumpkin. This year, I will be carving my very first Jack-o-Lantern! I’ve watched others carve pumpkins and hollow out gourds for birdhouses, but now it’s time for me to give it a go. Jack-o-Lantern Carving Tips: 1. Choose a flat-bottomed pumpkin so it won’t roll around. 2. Cut out the lid at an angle to prevent it from dropping inside. 3. Sprinkle cinnamon or pumpkin spice inside the lid so it smells like a pumpkin pie! By placing candles inside jars with loose beans, rice or gravel, they can light a path to your porch for trick-or-treaters (or gently illuminate the garden while you drink hot cocoa around a bonfire). Need more jars? Clean out your used jam or spaghetti sauce jars and instead of recycling them, reuse them for candles. Alternatively, create “iluminarias” from tea lights and paper bags. Just place a couple inches of sand inside the paper bag, and nestle the tea light into the center. Candles are almost as controversial as Harry Potter. Candles themselves aren’t always sustainable, and can pollute our indoor air, depending on the ingredients and where they’re sourced. Avoiding palm oil and paraffin (a petroleum by-product) is a good place to start. Paraffin candles release carcinogenic toxins into the air, and palm oil is sometimes farmed using unsustainable methods that harm overseas ecosystems and displace local populations. You can keep your holiday celebrations cleaner with options like beeswax or soy candles, which often burn longer than paraffin even though they are more expensive. Now you can dress up like a super hero and capture the power of the sun — literally! If you’re like me, and think the tiny pumpkin strings of lights are super cute, you don’t have to miss out on them this year to save electricity. Buy solar-powered or LED string lights instead. There are all sorts of pumpkin and holiday-themed solar lights online these days. Sustainable lighting isn’t just great for giving a ghostly glow to your porch, they’re great all year ‘round. Alternative lights like luminarias, lanterns, candles and solar-powered strings of lights can create a perfect romantic atmosphere or bring a Christmas tree to life without using any electricity. Working with nature allows nature to work for you. And lighting a candle is more fun than flicking a switch! Ripples is a blog connecting people to resources on sustainable living while chronicling their off-grid journey and supporting the work of nonprofit organizations. Read more on this topic and others at www.RipplesBlog.org

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#104604. Asked by madkeen4. (Apr 11 09 6:01 AM) It is based on the tradition of giving gifts (a "Christmas box") to the less fortunate members of society. The name derives from the fact that the day is traditionally marked by the giving of Christmas boxes, or gifts, to service workers (such as service staff, postal workers and trades people) in the United Kingdom. "Ask FunTrivia" is for entertainment purposes only, and answers offered are unverified and unchecked by FunTrivia. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or veracity of ANY statement posted. Feel free to post an updated if you feel that an answer is inadequate or incorrect. Please thoroughly research items where accuracy is important to you using multiple reliable sources. By accessing our website, you agree to be bound by our terms of service.

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Garden Talk: August 25, 2011 From NGA Editors Native Bee Basics Native bees are important and often under-appreciated pollinators. If you'd like to find out more about these helpful insects and what you can do to conserve and protect them on your property and in your community, start by reading about them in Bee Basics: An Introduction to Our Native Bees by Dr. Beatriz Moisset and Dr. Stephen Buchmann. This forty-four page booklet, published by the USDA Forest Service and Pollinator Partnership, is available as a free download from the Pollinator Info website or can be ordered in a print version. With information on bee anatomy, nesting, and foraging needs, along with profiles of native bees and an extensive section on conservation and what you can do to help keep native bee populations healthy, the booklet provides a wealth of information written in an accessible manner. For those who want to delve deeper, there is a helpful resource section. The Pollinator Info website that is offering the free download contains an interview with one of the co-authors of Bee Basics, along with extensive information on all kinds of pollinators. To download Bee Basics and find out more about pollinators, go to: Pollinators Info. Lingering Effects of Invasive Species The ecological disruption caused by invasive plants species is a worldwide problem. The cost of the environmental and economic impact of these invaders is estimated to be in the neighborhood of $1.4 trillion annually! Much research is being done to come up with strategies to control the spread of undesirable plants and minimize their impact on natural ecosystems. Now new research suggests that simply removing invasive species may not return plant communities to their pre-invasion condition. Part of developing control strategies for invasive plants involves understanding the characteristics that allow certain species to become invasive in the first place, factors such as freedom from natural enemies, disturbance in the environment, and the ability of plants to release substances that prevent competing plants from growing. To study how the interactions between all of these factors affect the success of an invasive species, investigators from the University of California and the University of Wisconsin studied invasive velvetgrass, Holcus lanatus,(illustrated) and its effect on a native daisy, Erigeron glaucus, in California. As described in an article in Science Daily on August 10, 2011, they found that direct competition between velvetgrass and the daisy accounted for much of its initial success due to the dense growth of the grass and its abundant propagules. But they also found that velvetgrass altered the structure of the native community of soil organisms, specifically the mycorrhizal fungi in the soil. This change reduced the benefits of the mycorrhizae to the native daisy without having any negative impact on the velvetgrass. And the changes in the soil community persisted even after the velvetgrass was removed, potentially affecting the reestablishment of the native plants. These findings suggest that studying the negative effects invasive species have on the ecology of the soil has important implications for researchers who are looking at ways to mitigate their effects. To read more about the effects of invasive plants even after removal, go to: Science Daily. Move Gypsy Moth Free The gypsy moth is an introduced insect that is one of the most destructive pests of trees and shrubs ever to reach our shores. Its immature stage, a dark, hairy caterpillar with rows of red and blue spots on its back, is a general feeder that devours more than 450 species of plants! The caterpillars feast on leaves, leaving defoliated plants weakened and perhaps even killed. This pest overwinters as inch-and-a-half long egg masses that look like a clumps of tan or buff-colored hairs on tree trunks, outdoor furniture, or the sides of buildings. Native to Europe and Asia, the gypsy moth was accidentally introduced in the Boston area in the 1860's and has since spread to much of the eastern United States. There have also been some infestations on the West Coast that came from Asia. In an effort to keep this pest from spreading further, the USDA requires homeowners to inspect and remove gypsy moth egg masses from household goods prior to moving from an infested to a non-infested area. If you have a move planned, first find out if you are in a gypsy moth-quarantined area by checking out the Your Move Gypsy Moth Free website. There you can also learn how to inspect your outdoor household articles such as lawn furniture, yard equipment, outdoor toys, and the like, for gypsy moth egg masses and remove them. Without checking, you can unwittingly bring the moth with you and risk harm to the landscape trees and shrubs and natural forests in your new community. Print out a handy self-inspection checklist or download a brochure with all the information you need to move safely and comply with federal law. To hone your detection skills, you can even play the fun, on-line Bust-a-Moth game. For more information, go to: Your Move Gypsy Moth Free. Landscape Problem Solver We all probably wish we had an experienced gardener we could call on for advice whenever problems arise in the garden. For those of us without such a fount of knowledge, the Landscape Problem Solver from the University of Maryland's Home Garden Information Center may be the next best thing. This site offers photographic keys to help diagnose and solve plant problems, using integrated pest management principles. Choose from a list of broad categories, such as shade trees, vegetables, or houseplants. Then select the affected plant part from the drop-down menu. This brings up a photographic selection of symptoms. Choose the one that seems to fit and you get a page of information on the problem, its cause, and environmentally responsible ways to treat it. There is also information on how to look at a plant to best assess its symptoms, beneficial insects, and emerging pest threats. The information has been put together with the Mid-Atlantic region as its focus, but there is lots of good information that will be of use to gardeners in other parts of the country. To check out this great resource, go to Plant Diagnostics.

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Few things spark up a dull winter landscape like the glowing red-orange stems of coral bark willow. This hardy, fast-growing plant grows naturally as a large tree, but it can easily be turned into a multi-stemmed shrub by annual coppicing (cutting stems back nearly to the ground). The brightest stem color occurs only on young stems, so coppicing keeps the plant small and leads to the best bark display. Coral bark willow has narrow, medium green leaves that turn yellow in the fall. It can be grown singly or, for real punch, in groups or as hedges. Common name: Coral bark willow Botanical name: Salix alba subsp. vitellina ‘Britzensis’ (syn. S. alba ‘Britzensis’) Plant type: Deciduous tree Zones: 3 to 8 Height: 40 to 60 feet (6 to 10 feet if grown as a coppiced shrub) • Sun: Full sun • Soil: Adaptable to most soil types • Moisture: Average to moist • Mulch: 2 to 3 inches of wood chips or other organic mulch • Pruning: To grow as a shrub, cut all stems back to within a few inches from the ground in early spring each year. For tree form, just prune lightly to improve form and remove any damaged branches. • Fertilizer: None, or apply compost or balanced fertilizer as needed Pests and diseases • Susceptible to some insects (willow leaf beetle, stem borer, aphids) and diseases (cankers, leaf blights) • As with most willows, coral bark willow prefers moist soil and does especially well near ponds or streams. • The colorful stems look great in winter arrangements outdoors or indoors. All in the family • Coral bark willow is a member of the willow family (Salicaceae), which also includes poplars and aspens (Populus spp.). • There are about 400 species of willow (Salix) ranging from trees 80+ feet tall to creeping alpine plants less than 6 inches tall. • Willow bark extract has been used as an anti-inflammatory for centuries; it contains salicylic acid, which was a key ingredient in the first forms of modern aspirin. Where to buy • Bluestem Nursery, Christina Lake, BC; 250-447-6363; www.bluestem.ca • Joy Creek Nursery, Scappoose, OR; 503-543-7474; www.joycreek.com

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Tombs of the sacrificers? A few tombs share the characteristic of containing a few very specific objects : full warrior equipment including a sword in its sheath, spear, shield and also a knife or cleaver (butcher's blade) and an axe with an eye handle, together with one or more small buckets, a bronze pan, a toolbox, and fragments of amphorae. One or other of these objects may be missing, depending on the chronology, but the assembly is still remarkable . The trilogy of weapon(s)-small bucket(s)-axe/cleaver is always found and the general destruction of the weapons is reminiscent of the Gauls' sacred sites. One of the axes fits perfectly into the wound in the skull of the murdered man discovered at the settlement and this similarity, together with the specific sets of metal objects, could indicate the tombs of sacrificers . The replacement of the axe with the butcher's cleaver, at a time when hundreds of ewes were ritually slaughtered at the settlement, is another argument for viewing these remains as those of men of religion.

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14 October 2005 GSA Release No. 05-37 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Mars' Climate in Flux: Mid-Latitude Glaciers New high-resolution images of mid-latitude Mars are revealing glacier-formed landscapes far from the Martian poles, says a leading Mars researcher. Conspicuous trains of debris in valleys, arcs of debris on steep slopes and other features far from the polar ice caps bear striking similarities to glacial landscapes of Earth, says Brown University's James Head III. When combined with the latest climate models and orbital calculation for Mars, the geological features make a compelling case for Mars having ongoing climate shifts that allow ice to leave the poles and accumulate at lower latitudes. "The exciting thing is a real convergence of these things," said Head, who will present the latest Mars climate discoveries on Sunday, 16 October, at the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Salt Lake City (specific time and location provided below). "For decades people have been saying that deposits at mid and equatorial latitudes look like they are ice-created," said Head. But without better images, elevation data and some way of explaining it, ice outside of Mars' polar regions was a hard sell. Now high-resolution images from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft's Thermal Emission Imaging System combined with images from the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera and Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter can be compared directly with glacier features in mountain and polar regions of Earth. The likenesses are hard to ignore. For instance, consider what Head calls "lineated valley fill." These are lines of debris on valley floors that run downhill and parallel to the valley walls, as if they mark some sort of past flow. The same sorts of lines of debris are seen in aerial images of Earth glaciers. The difference is that on Mars the water ice sublimes away (goes directly from solid ice to gas, without any liquid phase between) and leaves the debris lines intact. On Earth the lines of debris are usually washed away as a glacier melts. The lines of debris on Mars continue down valleys and converges with other lines of debris - again, just like what's seen on Earth where glaciers converge. "There's so much topography and the debris is so thick (on Mars) that it's possible some of the ice might still be there," said Head. The evidence for present day ice includes unusually degraded recent impact craters in these areas - just what you'd expect to see if a lot of the material ejected from the impact was ice that quickly sublimed away. Another peculiarly glacier-like feature seen in Martian mid-latitudes are concentric arcs of debris breaking away from steep mountain alcoves - just as they do at the heads of glaciers on Earth. As for how ice could reach Mars lower latitudes, orbital calculations indicate that Mars may slowly wobble on its spin axis far more than Earth does (the Moon minimizes Earth's wobble). This means that as Mars' axis tilted to the extremes - up to 60 degrees from the plane of Mars' orbit - the Martian poles get a whole lot more sunshine in the summertime than they do now. That extra sun would likely sublime water from the polar ice caps, explains Head. "When you do that you are mobilizing a lot of ice and redistributing it to the equator," Head said. "The climate models are saying it's possible." It's pure chance that we happen to be exploring Mars when its axis is at a lesser, more Earth-like tilt. This has led to the false impression of Mars being a place that's geologically and climatically dead. In fact, says Head, Mars is turning out to be a place that is constantly changing. WHEN AND WHERE Lineated Valley Fill at the Dichotomy Boundary on Mars: Evidence for Regional Mid-Latitude Glaciation Sunday, 16 October, 3:15 p.m. MDT, Salt Palace Convention Center Room 257 View abstract: http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2005AM/finalprogram/abstract_94125.htm Click photo for larger image with caption. During the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, 16-19 October, contact Ann Cairns at the GSA Newsroom, Salt Palace Convention Center, for assistance and to arrange for interviews: +1-801-534-4770. - After the meeting contact: - James Head III - Department of Geological Sciences - Brown University, Providence, RI - Phone: +1-401-863-2526 - E-mail: [email protected]

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The clock Command The clock command has facilities for getting the current time, formatting time values, and scanning printed time strings to get an integer time value. The clock command was added in Tcl 7.5. Table 13-1 summarizes the clock command: Table 13-1. The clock command. |clock clicks||A system-dependent high resolution counter.| |clock format value ?-format str?||Formats a clock value according to str.| |clock scan string ?-base clock? ?-gmt boolean?||Parses date string and return seconds value. The clock value determines the date.| |clock seconds||Returns the current time in seconds.| The following command prints the current time: clock format [clock seconds] => Sun Nov 24 14:57:04 1996 The clock seconds command returns the current time, in seconds since a starting epoch. The clock format command formats an integer value into a date string. It takes an optional argument that controls the format. The format strings contains % keywords that are replaced with the year, month, day, date, hours, minutes, and seconds, in various formats. The default string is: %a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Z %Y Tables 13-2 and 13-3 summarize the clock formatting strings: Table 13-2. Clock formatting keywords. |%%||Inserts a %. | |%a||Abbreviated weekday name (Mon, Tue, etc.). | |%A||Full weekday name (Monday, Tuesday, etc.). | |%b||Abbreviated month name (Jan, Feb, etc.). | |%B||Full month name. | |%c||Locale specific date and time (e.g., Nov 24 16:00:59 1996).| |%d||Day of month (01 ?31). | |%H||Hour in 24-hour format (00 ?23). | |%I||Hour in 12-hour format (01 ?12). | |%j||Day of year (001 ?366). | |%m||Month number (01 ?12). | |%M||Minute (00 ?59). | |%p||AM/PM indicator. | |%S||Seconds (00 ?59). | |%U||Week of year (00 ?52) when Sunday starts the week.| |%w||Weekday number (Sunday = 0). | |%W||Week of year (01 ?52) when Monday starts the week. | |%x||Locale specific date format (e.g., Feb 19 1997).| |%X||Locale specific time format (e.g., 20:10:13).| |%y||Year without century (00 ?99).| |%Y||Year with century (e.g. 1997).| |%Z||Time zone name.| Table 13-3. UNIX-specific clock formatting keywords. |%D||Date as %m/%d/%y (e.g., 02/19/97).| |%e||Day of month (1 ?31), no leading zeros. | |%h||Abbreviated month name. | |%n||Inserts a newline. | |%r||Time as %I:%M:%S %p (e.g., 02:39:29 PM).| |%R||Time as %H:%M (e.g., 14:39).| |%t||Inserts a tab. | |%T||Time as %H:%M:%S (e.g., 14:34:29).| The clock clicks command returns the value of the system's highest resolution clock. The units of the clicks are not defined. The main use of this command is to measure the relative time of different performance tuning trials. The following command counts the clicks per second over 10 seconds, which will vary from system to system: Example 13-1 Calculating clicks per second. set t1 [clock clicks] after 10000 ;# See page 218 set t2 [clock clicks] puts "[expr ($t2 - $t1)/10] Clicks/second" => 1001313 Clicks/second The clock scan command parses a date string and returns a seconds value. The command handles a variety of date formats. If you leave off the year, the current year is assumed. Year 2000 Compliance Tcl implements the standard interpretation of two-digit year values, which is that 70?9 are 1970?999, 00?9 are 2000?069. Versions of Tcl before 8.0 did not properly deal with two-digit years in all cases. Note, however, that Tcl is limited by your system's time epoch and the number of bits in an integer. On Windows, Macintosh, and most UNIX systems, the clock epoch is January 1, 1970. A 32-bit integer can count enough seconds to reach forward into the year 2037, and backward to the year 1903. If you try to clock scan a date outside that range, Tcl will raise an error because the seconds counter will overflow or underflow. In this case, Tcl is just reflecting limitations of the underlying system. If you leave out a date, clock scan assumes the current date. You can also use the -base option to specify a date. The following example uses the current time as the base, which is redundant: clock scan "10:30:44 PM" -base [clock seconds] The date parser allows these modifiers: year, month, fortnight (two weeks), week, day, hour, minute, second. You can put a positive or negative number in front of a modifier as a multiplier. For example: clock format [clock scan "10:30:44 PM 1 week"] => Sun Dec 01 22:30:44 1996 clock format [clock scan "10:30:44 PM -1 week"] Sun Nov 17 22:30:44 1996 You can also use tomorrow, yesterday, today, now, last, this, next, and ago, as modifiers. clock format [clock scan "3 years ago"] => Wed Nov 24 17:06:46 1993 Both clock format and clock scan take a -gmt option that uses Greenwich Mean Time. Otherwise, the local time zone is used. clock format [clock seconds] -gmt true => Sun Nov 24 09:25:29 1996 clock format [clock seconds] -gmt false => Sun Nov 24 17:25:34 1996

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The data on species level is structured in four areas (see picture below): 1. At the top in light yellow, the species' name is shown together with, when applicable, its IUCN code (click on the code and you will be redirected to IUCN's webpage with detailed information about this threatened species) and, if you have ticked the species, a green tick to the right 2. In the rich yellow field you also have the species name and a scroll function up (left) or down (right) the sequence of the chosen checklist (click on Filter if you want to change the active checklist). 3. Below the yellow field, the taxonomic tree down to the chosen level is shown (click on any higher level to get a new selection of species groups). 4. The submenu in black shows the information sets available: * Info - species info including a distribution map, a photo and, if applicable, subspecific information and taxonomic notes * Names [# of] - shows the species' name in different languages (recommended as well as optional names) and within brackets # of names * Photo [# of] - all photos on the GT Network of this species and within brackets # of photos * Distribution - a distribution map and countries where this particular species/subspecies has been recorded and also its status * Who X - list of GT members that have ticked the species and in which countries * My ticks [# of] - my own ticks on country level and within brackets # of ticks * My notes [*]- a free text field where you can save your personal notes related to this species; if you have saved information you will have a [*] marker * Literature - in which book and on which plate is the taxon depicted (this is work-in-progress so not many references so far...) * xeno-canto - click and you will be redirected to xeno-canto's website to hear voice recordings of the species * Wikipedia - click on the icon and you will be redirected to Wikipedia's website * Google images - click on the icon and you will be redirected to Google's website

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A recursive function typically contains a conditional expression which has three parts: Recursive functions can be much simpler than any other kind of function. Indeed, when people first start to use them, they often look so mysteriously simple as to be incomprehensible. Like riding a bicycle, reading a recursive function definition takes a certain knack which is hard at first but then seems simple. There are several different common recursive patterns. A very simple pattern looks like this: (defun name-of-recursive-function (argument-list) "documentation..." (if do-again-test body... (name-of-recursive-function next-step-expression))) Each time a recursive function is evaluated, a new instance of it is created and told what to do. The arguments tell the instance what to do. An argument is bound to the value of the next-step-expression. Each instance runs with a different value of the next-step-expression. The value in the next-step-expression is used in the do-again-test. The value returned by the next-step-expression is passed to the new instance of the function, which evaluates it (or some transmogrification of it) to determine whether to continue or stop. The next-step-expression is designed so that the do-again-test returns false when the function should no longer be repeated. The do-again-test is sometimes called the stop condition, since it stops the repetitions when it tests false.

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Scientists at the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH) have developed a new gene therapy that could have the potential to save the lives of children with a life threatening tumour called neuroblastoma. The technique, which uses novel tumour-homing nanoparticles has proved to be effective in a first stage trial in which researchers successfully targeted the tumours in a mouse model. The details of the study are published online today in the international journal Biomaterials. Stephen Hart, reader in molecular genetics at the ICH, explains: “It has long been a major technical challenge for medical researchers to use gene therapy to target this type of tumour, particularly when the cancer has spread. Now with the development of these novel nanoparticles in our laboratory, we’ve been able to deliver the genes to where they are needed, via an intravenous injection.” Neuroblastoma is one of the most aggressive malignancies, affecting around 100 children each year in Britain. New treatments are urgently needed to tackle the disease, which is often fatal. Two thirds of children have widespread disease at diagnosis, making treatment even more challenging for specialist clinicians. “In the mouse tumour model we have demonstrated that the nanoparticles can home in on tumours after injection into the blood stream, avoiding the liver, lung and spleen, organs that might otherwise remove the particles from the circulation. We have then used the nanoparticles to deliver a cargo of anti-tumour genes, which in turn stimulated the mouse’s immune cells to attack and destroy the tumour. We observed that tumour growth was slowed significantly and in a third of mice, tumours were eradicated completely, surviving long-term.” “These nanoparticles are composed of peptides (small pieces of protein) and liposomes (fatty globules), as well as the therapeutic genes. Although similar to artificial viruses, the nanoparticles are safe and non-infectious.” Dr Penelope Brock, consultant oncologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital said: “This is an extremely exciting breakthrough with enormous promise for improving clinical care of children and adolescents suffering from a very aggressive disease. I look forward to seeing results of early phase clinical trials.” Dr Hart continues, “We now need to study the efficacy, safety and side-effects of the nanoparticles and hope that in the future our findings will translate into a viable treatment for some of the most challenging cases.” For further information please contact Hayley Dodman, Great Ormond Street Hospital press office on 020 7239 3126 or email [email protected] For genuine and urgent out of hours call speak to switchboard on 020 7405 9200

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http://www.gosh.nhs.uk/news/press-releases/2010-press-release-archive/new-gene-therapy-hope-for-one-of-the-most-lethal-childhood-cancers/

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With predictions of polar bears being extinct in 50 years, On Thin Ice follows bears as they emerge from their dens and navigate their rapidly changing environment. On Thin Ice shows how the frozen expanses of the Arctic are shrinking at an unprecedented rate, with the very survival of the polar bear literally on thin ice. Over the last year, producer/presenter Greg Grainger has mounted a series of expeditions across the Arctic to document the plight of the polar bear. * Researcher Nick Lunn tranquillises polar bears from his helicopter, cataloguing the diminishing health of the Western Hudson Bay bear population and finding the remains of a bear thought to have died from starvation. * Close and wild encounters with rangers from the Polar Bear Alert team as they chase bears out of the township of Churchill, built in the middle of the bears’ migration route. Follow one family of bears that have to be darted after they attempt to break into a building food for food, while another bold bear becomes trapped inside a garbage truck. * Hungry bears and husky dogs fighting one another at an isolated weather station north of Norway. * Polar bears in the wild as they capture seals and devour whale carcasses. There is no more iconic symbol of strength and adaptation to survival than the polar bear.... an animal so superbly suited to its environment that it thrives in the most hostile corners of the planet – until now. On Thin Ice - A moving account of Polar bears struggling to survive as climate change melts their summer hunting ground - the Arctic sea ice.

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I refuse to believe that rainbows are the result of light refracting through air-borne water droplets. Is this the thread where be refuse to believe facts just because? Somebody Else's Problem wrote: Well no, I'm not a geneticist. And I don't think there'll be adequate DNA evidence from 40,000 years ago to make such a comparison in the first place. See: Neanderthal Genome Project Alvin Flummux wrote: Harry Bizzle wrote: I've read that lactose tolerance developed within the last 10,000 years or so. Interesting, I'd like to know more about this. Unsurprising, considering the Neolithic Revolution occurred around 10,000 years ago. Up until that point, lactase production stopped once individuals surpassed the weaning age and were no longer drinking milk. Domestication of cattle, goats and camels allowed neolithic humans to continue to drink milk without having to suck on their mothers teats their entire lives. So lactase (the enzyme that breaks lactose into glucose and galactose) production continued into adulthood. Lactose intolerance by population of people correlates with the access to domesticated mammals that neolithic humans living in that area had.

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"They tell me that isn't right," Harding said. Judy Ellinghausen, archivist at The History Museum in Great Falls, agreed, calling such an account "unlikely." In all the reading she has done on the 1908 flood, she has seen no references to serious flooding in the center of town. Great Falls was not the only community affected by the precipitation in June 1908. Lewis and Clark County commissioners estimated the Helena area lost $100,000 worth of its roads and bridges, while the Tribune quoted a Fort Benton resident as saying the water had never been as high in that historic town along the Missouri as it was in 1908. Great Falls still sports one clear public reference to the Flood of 1908 — a plaque located on a railroad overpass pier next to 6th Street North between Park Drive and River Drive North. The plaque on the east pier shows the peak water level of the June 1908 flood. Based on that high-water mark, floodwaters would have intruded only a short distance into the Lower North Side residential area. However, the West Side was inundated with water in 1908, just as it was in 1964, another disastrous flood year for west Great Falls. Harding said the worst recorded flooding on the Sun River, which runs through the West Side and connects to the Missouri River near the Meadow Lark Country Club area, occurred in 1964. "The 1908 (flood) always was the granddaddy of them all until '64," Harding said. Along the Sun River, water levels were higher in 1964 "by about a foot and a half," than they were in 1908, he added. Other notable floods in Great Falls occurred in 1953 and 1975, which gave rise to a theory that big floods took place in Great Falls every 11 years. Before 1986 rolled around, much of west Great Falls formed a flood district, and contractors built a thick earthen dike to keep out any flooding. Sun River dikes in Great Falls have yet to be seriously tested. Reach Tribune Staff Writer Richard Ecke at [email protected], or at 406-791-1467 or 800-438-6600.

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Saving energy: California clamps down on ‘vampire’ chargers Wasteful battery chargers for smartphones, tablet computers, laptops, etc., will be subject to new, stricter rules in the US state of California. ‘Vampire’ battery chargers can waste up to 60% of the energy they take from electrical outlets. California is the first US state to confront this problem, with the California Energy Commission voting unanimously to improve efficiency standards, which will cover some 170 million chargers. The manufacturers of consumer appliances of course strongly objected to the new regulations, despite projections that the improved energy standards would save $306 million per year on commercial and residential electricity bills. From the Los Angeles Times: This means that we can have the devices that we like in our lives and that make our lives easier. But by taking a few relatively simple steps to improve battery chargers, we can save so much electricity, take care of the environment and save ratepayers money. –Commissioner Karen Douglas, California Energy Commissioner California’s energy plan has a tradition of placing a priority on energy efficiency, above the development of renewable power, starting with air conditioner regulations back in 1977. This strategy has helped keep the state’s per capita energy consumption the same over the past 30 years, as opposed to the US as a whole, which saw consumption increase by 50% over the same period. The chargers are called vampires because they continue to suck energy from the wall if plugged in, even when they are not charging their battery-powered devices. (Tip: don’t leave your laptop, smartphone, tablet charger, etc., plugged into the wall!).

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Saturdays: Feburary 2, 9, 16 and 23, 2013 Family Resource Library, 1st floor Children's Medical Center $30 per child 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. This course is developed for teenagers to learn site signs in American Sign Language. Students will learn the alphabet in ASL and the production of numbers used in sign language. The course is designed for students between the ages of thirteen (13) and seventeen (17) years old. It will consist of four (4) consecutive classes for one (1) hour each week. The students will receive weekly handouts and will have opportunities to practice their skills. The instructor will provide activities and games to support the concepts taught. To register or for more information, please contact Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) 706-721-6929.

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High selection pressure on domestic cattle has led to an undesirable increase in inbreeding, as well as to the deterioration of some functional traits which are indirectly selected. Semen stored in a cryobank may be a useful way to redirect selection or limit the loss of genetic diversity in a selected breed. The purpose of this study was to analyse the efficiency of current cryobank sampling methods, by investigating the benefits of using cryopreserved semen in a selection scheme several generations after the semen was collected. The theoretical impact of using cryopreserved semen in a selection scheme of a dairy cattle breed was investigated by simulating various scenarios involving two negatively correlated traits and a change in genetic variability of the breed. Our results indicate that using cryopreserved semen to redirect selection will have an impact on negatively selected traits only if it is combined with major changes in selection objectives or practices. If the purpose is to increase genetic diversity in the breed, it can be a viable option. Using cryopreserved semen to redirect selection or to improve genetic diversity should be carried out with caution, by considering the pros and cons of prospective changes in genetic diversity and the value of the selected traits. However, the use of genomic information should lead to more interesting perspectives to choose which animals to store in a cryobank and to increase the value of cryobank collections for selected breeds. Within the context of farm animal biotechnologies, cryopreservation is one of the most useful tools for selection improvement, dissemination of genetic progress and ex situ conservation. In its Global Plan of Action, the FAO recommended the implementation of ex situ programmes to complement in situ conservation of animal genetic resources. It was also suggested that cryopreserved bio-specimens could be used as a backup material to redirect the selection scheme of a given breed, if needed [2,3]. Consequently, several gene banks have been created with different strategies and policies that vary with the breed, species, and country concerned [4,5] and methods have been proposed to use ex situ genetic resources to optimise the management of genetic diversity in endangered breeds . Breeds with large populations are subject to high selection pressures and have rates of inbreeding greater than the desired values . In these cases, the use of stored semen from male ancestors has seldom been investigated, although breeding organisations could be interested in doing so. For instance, in the dairy cattle breed Abondance (a local selected breed in the French Northern Alps), the semen of a bull born in 1977 (called Naif), which was rarely used in the 1980's, was used from 2004 to 2007, to produce 20 young bulls in order to reintroduce some genetic variability in the breed. Depending on the country, different strategies have been implemented to sample individuals for national collections. In the Netherlands, most of the tested bulls are sampled for preservation in the gene bank , while in the USA, the selection of animals for cryopreservation is aimed at optimizing genetic diversity within the collection, by sampling animals from clusters determined through computed genealogical relationships . In France, based on the idea that individuals sampled for a cryobank should be as diverse as possible and carry special genotypes , regulations have been implemented to conserve frozen sperm from three main origins: (I) animals from endangered breeds, (II) original animals from non-endangered breeds (with either extreme positive or negative Estimated Breeding Values (EBV), carrying rare alleles or representing rare pedigree lines), and (III) representative animals from non-endangered breeds . The purpose of this study was to analyse the efficiency of current cryobank sampling methods by investigating the benefits of using cryopreserved semen in a selection scheme several generations after the semen was collected. Based on simulations, we examined two situations in which cryopreserved sperm was used (1) to redirect the selection goal, by including a trait which, in the past, had shown a negative correlated selection response (e.g. fertility in dairy cattle), and (2) to limit the loss of genetic diversity in the breed. The impact of using cryopreserved sperm was measured by estimating the evolution of two negatively correlated traits and the evolution of the breed's genetic diversity, assessed through pedigree information. A simplified cattle breed was simulated with 13 discrete generations, each consisting of 100 males and 10000 females. In each generation, 10 bulls and 50 cows were chosen as parents of the male progeny, and 20 bulls and 10000 cows were chosen as parents of the female progeny (with no selection on the dam to dam path). Mating was random resulting in random variation of progeny size among parents, i.e. the sire and dam of a given newborn were randomly chosen in the corresponding lists of parents. Simulation of genetic values and EBV We considered two traits A and B. Trait A corresponded to a production trait which had been recently and intensively selected and improved (such as milk production in dairy cattle). Trait B corresponded to a functional trait which had deteriorated because of a negative correlation with trait A (e.g. fertility or longevity). The genetic standard deviation of each trait (σA and σB, respectively) was set to 1 and the correlation between traits (ρ) was set to -0.3. For each trait, an additive polygenic model was assumed and the simulation of correlated genetic values was based on the bivariate normal distribution (see, e.g. ). At generation 0 (base population), genetic values for trait A were randomly and independently drawn from a N (0, 1) distribution. For a given individual (i), the genetic value for trait B (Bi) was generated from its value for trait A (Ai): where βi is a N (0, 1) random number independent of Ai. In the following generations, genetic values of individual i were simulated from the genetic values of its sire (Ap and Bp) and its dam (Am and Bm), taking into account the parent's coefficients of inbreeding (Fp and Fm, resp.) [12,13]: In these equations, γi and δi are two numbers randomly drawn from a N (0, 1) bivariate normal distribution with a correlation equal to ρ. EBV were directly simulated from genetic values, assuming an evaluation procedure leading to an accuracy (CD = square of the correlation between the EBV and the true genetic value) equal to 0.6 for bulls and 0.4 for cows, whatever the trait and the generation considered. Therefore, the EBV of a given individual for trait A (EBVAi) and for trait B (EBVBi) were computed as follows: where εi and ϕi are two independent numbers drawn from a N(0, 1) distribution. Finally, a Total Merit Index (TMIi) was computed, weighting the two EBV by wA and wB = 1 - wA, respectively: Sampling and use of cryopreserved semen Simulations comprised two stages. During stage 1 (generations 0 to 8), the lists of parents were selected based on their EBV for trait A only, without considering the evolution of the genetic mean for trait B or the average coefficient of inbreeding. During stage 2 (generations 9 to 12), the bulls were also used to improve trait B or to introduce genetic diversity in the breed. During stage 1, the semen of some bulls was sampled and cryopreserved if the animals fulfilled one of the three following conditions, which correspond to the current sampling rules of the French National Cryobank for type "II" (original bulls) : - (i) EBVA is three standard deviations above or below the mean of the generation, - (ii) EBVB is two standard deviations above the mean of the generation (trait B is considered as a functional trait and for functional traits, only animals above the average are considered), - (iii) the bull is a sire of sires with no male offspring selected after the evaluation process (these bulls were actually selected with one generation lag). To check the validity of this elaborate sampling method, we tested a simpler sampling method (similar to the one used in the Netherlands), where the semen of all young bulls is stored in the cryobank. In the simulations performed here, we investigated the impact of a one-time use (i.e. during a single generation) of cryopreserved semen. At generation 9, four bulls with cryopreserved semen were selected (hereafter referred to as 'cryobank bulls'), these bulls fulfilling one of the following conditions either (i) they are the best cryobank bulls for the TMIi or (ii) they have the lowest average kinship with the existing population (males and females taken together). We studied the impact of various selection orientations (use of cryopreserved semen, conservation of male lines, etc.) only on the male path, because applying the above conditions on the female path would be much more restrictive, less effective, and would require a larger amount of semen, all the more since the number of doses is generally limited in cryobanks (200, in France) . For these reasons, we considered that cryobank bulls were used only to procreate young bulls for progeny testing. The 9th generation of young bulls was then generated using either the bulls from the cryobank or the group of 10 sires selected as described in previous sections. Depending on the scenario (see following section), 0, 40 or 80 individuals (among the 100 newborn bull calves) were sired randomly by one of the four selected cryobank bulls. Simulation scenarios and results Six simulation scenarios were completed with two main options (Table 1). Table 1. Description of simulation scenarios Firstly, in scenario "b", emphasis was put on the selection of both traits B and A. To achieve this goal, three methods were compared: - b1: at generation 9, the four bulls with the highest TMI (wB = 0.5) were used to sire 40% of the young bulls, while the selection criterion during stage 2 remained unchanged (improving EBVA). The other young bulls were sired by bulls randomly sampled within the group of 10 sires; - b2: at generation 9, no cryobank bull was used, and during stage 2, TMI (wB = 0.5) was used as the selection criterion instead of EBVA; - b3: at generation 9, the four cryobank bulls with the highest TMI were used to sire 40% of the young bulls, and during stage 2, TMI was used as the selection criterion instead of EBVA. To test more or less drastic selection changes, scenario b3 was tested with an increasing weight given to trait B (wB increasing from 0.5 to 1). Secondly, in scenarios "d", emphasis was put on genetic variability while trait A remained the breeding goal. Three methods were also compared: - d1: at generation 9, the four cryobank bulls having the lowest kinship with the existing population (scenario b1) were used to sire 40% of the young bulls; - d2: at generation 9, no cryobank bull was used, while during stage 2, the progenies on the sire to sire path were given the same size i.e. for each sire of sires, 10 male offspring were created among which those with the two best EBVA became the sires of dams and that with the best EBVA became a sire of sires; - d3: at generation 9, the four cryobank bulls having the lowest kinship with the existing population (scenario b1) were used to sire 40% of the young bulls, while during stage 2, selection was used to equalise progeny sizes on the sire to sire path. Simulations were performed with 1000 runs for each scenario. For each generation, individual inbreeding coefficients and genetic values were computed and averaged for the entire male and female populations. The individual coefficients of kinship were also computed and averaged over males only and over the entire populations. The proportion of genes originating from cryobank bulls was computed on the basis of the gene dropping procedure (one locus averaged over the 1000 runs). Stage 1: evolution of selected traits, diversity loss, and sampling of cryobank bulls As expected, the results of the different scenarios did not differ significantly for generations 0 to 8 given that in stage 1, the conditions were the same whatever the option chosen, (here we present results averaged over the 1000 runs of one scenario only). With the parameters chosen for the simulation, each sire of sires had on average 10 male offspring (across sires standard deviation s.d. = 2.9) and each sire of dams had on average 500 female offspring (across sires s.d. = 21.6). As expected (see Figure 1), selection on trait A during stage 1 led to a major increase in the mean of this trait (+ 6.7 initial genetic standard deviation) from generation 0 to 8, while at the same time, the mean of B decreased to a lesser extent (-2 initial genetic standard deviation). The average coefficient of inbreeding increased simultaneously. Young bulls were slightly more inbred than cows, as they originated from a smaller number of sires and dams. In parallel (generation 0 to 8), the average coefficient of kinship among the young bulls and among the entire population increased to 8.1% and 6.9%, respectively. Figure 1. Changes in genetic values (a) and in genetic diversity (b) (scenario b1). Dotted lines: young bulls; solid lines: whole population; red: trait A, blue: trait B; green: average between A and B; purple: inbreeding F; pink: kinship Φ. An average of 31 cryobank bulls was sampled per replicate, 58% being sampled because of outstanding EBVB (see Table 2). Table 2 shows that cryobank bulls chosen for their genetic diversity were generally born earlier than others, which can be explained by the fact that they were chosen with one generation lag compared to other sampling procedures. Table 2. Average number and birth generation of bulls selected for conservation Stage 2 in scenarios b: change in breeding goals As shown in Figure 1, introducing cryobank bulls with exceptional TMI without changing the selection criterion during stage 2 (scenario b1) had a temporary impact on traits A and B as well as on the diversity indicators of the young bulls. At the whole population level, the impact was negligible, since young bulls sired by cryobank bulls were rarely subsequently selected as sires: three generations after introduction (generation 12), the cryobank contribution to genetic diversity was less than 3% (Table 3). Table 3. Origin and impact of cryobank bulls used in the different scenarios When TMI was used as a selection criterion (considering wB = 0.5), without using cryobank bulls (scenario b2), there was a per generation increase in the mean of trait B from generation 9 on (b1: -0.3 vs b2: +0.4), while the genetic gain for trait A decreased (b1: +1.0 vs b2: +0.4, see additional file 1). The change in breeding goals had no impact on diversity indicators. Additional file 1. Changes in genetic values (a) and in genetic diversity (b) (scenario b2). The data represent the simulation results for scenario b2. Dotted lines: young bulls; solid lines: whole population; red: trait A; blue: trait B; green: average between A and B; purple: inbreeding F; pink: kinship Φ. Format: PDF Size: 58KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Adobe Acrobat Reader Combining the use of cryobank bulls and TMI as a selection criterion (scenario b3 for wB = 0.5) resulted in a slight but significant (P < 0.001) reduction in average kinship (-0.3% between scenario b2 and b3, with 40% of the males from generation 9 sired by cryobank bulls, see additional file 2). Concerning the selected traits, the genetic gain for trait A decreased slightly when cryobank bulls were used (-0.12 between scenarios b2 and b3, P < 0.001), while the genetic gain for trait B increased slightly (+0.06 between scenarios b2 and b3, P = 0.02). These tendencies increased slightly when 80% of the males from generation 9 were sired by cryobank bulls (see additional file 2). According to the results from Table 3, cryobank bulls contributed to 6.5% of the diversity three generations after their introduction. It should be noted that the cryobank bulls used were generally sampled in recent generations, their average birth generation being 6.6 (Table 3). Additional file 2. Changes in genetic values (a) and in average kinship (b) when trait B was added to selection goals. The data represent the simulation results when selection is redirected with a new trait accounting for 50% of the total merit index and when the use of semen from cryobank bulls is increased. Scenario b3 and whole population are considered with the weight wB given to trait B accounting for 50% of the total merit index and an increased use of the semen from cryobank bulls. Brown: no cryobank bull is used (scenario b2); red: cryobank bulls are used to produce 40% of sons (scenario b3); yellow: cryobank bulls are used to produce 80% of sons; o: genetic value for trait A; ♦: genetic value for trait B; dotted line: average genetic value between A and B; x: kinship Φ. Format: PDF Size: 57KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Adobe Acrobat Reader As a result of the increased weight of trait B within TMI (see Figure 2), there was a per generation increase in genetic gain for trait B, while there was a slightly lower increase or even a decrease in genetic gain for trait A, as well as in average kinship, when trait B accounted for more than 80% of EBV. When only trait B was taken into account for TMI, the genetic value of traits A and B reached 4.7 and 1.37, respectively at generation 12 (versus 8.4 and -0.41 respectively when wB = 0.5), while average kinship reached 8.9% at generation 12 (versus 11.9% when wB = 0.5). Figure 2. Changes in genetic values (a) and in average kinship (b), when trait B was added to selection goals. Scenario b3 and whole population are considered with the weight wB of trait B increasing for computation of the total merit index. Black: wB = 0 (scenario b1); brown: wB = 0.5; red: wB = 0.6; orange: wB = 0.7; green: wB = 0.8; light blue: wB = 0.9; dark blue: wB = 1; o: genetic value for trait A; ♦: genetic value for trait B; x: kinship Φ. Stage 2 in scenarios d: improvement in genetic diversity As shown in Figure 3, the use of cryobank bulls with a minimised kinship with the current generation (scenario d1), had no impact if the selection policy was not modified, since none of the offspring of the cryobank bulls were selected as sires. Equalising progeny sizes on the sire to sire path alone (scenario d2) decreased diversity a little less (in generation 12, Φ = 12% for scenario d1 and Φ = 11% for scenario d2), with an almost negligible impact on genetic progress. Combining this option with the introgression of cryobank bulls (scenario d3) resulted in a significant reduction in average kinship (-2% in comparison to d1). Under such a scenario, the genetic mean of trait B also increased slightly (+0.3 between scenario d1 and d3, P < 0.001), while that of trait A and the average of both traits decreased slightly (-0.08 and -0.02 respectively, between scenarios d1 and d3, P < 0.001). It should be noted that most of the cryobank bulls used originated from the founder population, their average birth generation being 0.3 (Table 3). Figure 3. Changes in genetic values (a) and in average kinship (b), when the aim was to manage genetic diversity. The whole population is considered Brown: no change in selection; cryobank bulls used to produce 40% of male offspring (scenario d1); red: conservation of male lines (scenario d2) (curve overlapping the preceding one); yellow: conservation of male lines and cryobank bulls used to produce 40% of male offspring (scenario d3); o: genetic value for trait A; ♦: genetic value for trait B; dotted line: average genetic value between A and B; x: kinship Φ. Modifying which bulls entered the cryobank by preserving semen for all the young bulls did not significantly alter the results of scenarios b3 and d3, either for the selected traits or for kinship evolution (data not shown). It should be noted that in this case, the average birth generation of the cryobank bulls used was 7, in scenario b3 (instead of 6.6, in the first cryobank sampling method), and 0, in scenario d3 (instead of 0.3, in the first cryobank sampling method). In this study, we assessed the impacts of using cryopreserved bull semen either to redirect selection or to improve the genetic variability of a selected cattle breed. Simulation parameters were chosen as a compromise between realism in the scenarios, their applicability, and the simplicity of the model. For instance, with respect to the choice of population size, a breed with 20 breeding males and 10000 potential dams could be considered quite small, especially with reference to the FAO endangerment status . In our simulation, sires and dams were randomly chosen from lists of reproducers. This differs significantly from what occurs in real breeds, in which an unbalanced use of reproducers is frequently the case, leading to a reduced size of the effective population. In terms of effective size, our breed would correspond to a much larger population with a similar inbreeding rate per generation (1.07%) to that found in real dairy cattle breeds e.g. . Concerning sampling conditions in the simulations, as mentioned above, the procedure chosen to select bulls for cryopreservation is similar to that currently applied in France. This choice was made to test if bulls selected this way could be effectively used in a selected breed. Compared to the case in which all young bulls are sampled for cryopreservation (which corresponds more or less to the current procedure in the Netherlands), the results were basically the same. This shows that the French sampling procedure is reasonably efficient to select useful bulls, and could be applied in situations when only a limited number of semen samples can be stored in a cryobank (for financial reasons, for instance). One of the main conclusions of this study is that using cryopreserved semen is relevant for a breed for which major changes in selection objectives or practices are considered. Since genetic progress is rapid in dairy cattle breeds (e.g. ), a bull for which semen has been stored for a few generations, is likely to have a lower genetic value than current bulls, if the selection goals remain the same. Thus the latter's offspring may not be used, as illustrated by scenarios b1 and d1, and using cryobank bulls is then meaningless. The results of scenario b3 demonstrate that using cryobank bulls has a significant impact on the selected traits and on genetic diversity only if a relatively large change is implemented in the selection programme (i.e. introducing a new trait formerly negatively selected but subsequently accounting for more than 50% of EBV). Under that scenario, when trait B accounted for less than 70% of EBV, the cryobank bulls selected were those more recently collected, since they generally had a higher value for trait A than older cryobank bulls, which compensated for a slightly lower value for trait B. When trait B accounted for 80% or more of EBV, most of the cryobank bulls finally used, originated from generation 0 (data not shown), which explains the sudden decrease in average kinship after introgression of the cryobank bulls (see Figure 2). Therefore if managers of a selection scheme want to redirect breeding goals, using cryobank bulls is viable only if the breeding goals are subjected to a major modification (i.e. if the weight of the new trait accounts for more than 50% of EBV). Our results also indicate that cryobank bulls that have been sampled for functional traits with high EBV will tend to be used more frequently than other cryobank bulls, independently of the aim. If the objective is to introduce genetic diversity into the breed, using cryobank bulls appears to be a valid choice. However, it is imperative that other measures are also taken to guaranty that genes are spread within the breed i.e. either conserving male lines (scenario d3), when their use is promoted among breeders, or setting up more restrictive and effective breeding schemes. Several methods of varying complexity have been proposed to minimise kinship , or to maximise breeding values for a predefined inbreeding rate , or to minimise average kinship for a desired average EBV , usually by optimising the contribution of reproducers. On the one hand, decreasing inbreeding in a selected breed may improve selected traits; for instance, it has been shown that in Holstein cattle, milk production (over 305 days) can decrease by about 20 litres per 1% inbreeding increase . On the other hand, using semen from cryobank bulls has a negative impact on previously selected traits, as illustrated by our simulations. In the case of local breeds, in which genetic progress is not as effective as in breeds with a larger population size, the difference in EBV between current bulls and bulls from earlier generations should be minimised. This could lead to an effective use of cryobank bulls to reintroduce diversity without overly affecting selected traits. As an illustration in the Abondance breed, one of the male offspring of the bull born in 1977 was found to have quite a high EBV (Vaccin, born in 2003, ), and was therefore recently confirmed as a sire of dams. Among all the sires of dams, this bull shared the lowest average kinship with the 2004-2007 female cohorts (4.6% vs. 6.5% on average, personal communication). The impact of using this bull on the genetic variability of the breed remains to be assessed. Based on our results, using semen from cryobank bulls should be useful either to introduce drastic changes in selection goals or to reintroduce genetic diversity within a given population. However, it is important to carefully assess the pros and cons of the potential changes in genetic diversity and values of the selected traits. Our simulations were based on a classic quantitative selection scheme. Recent progress in genomic tools should make it possible to identify semen from cryobank bulls that share specific alleles or QTL of interest for selection. This could then be taken into account when choosing cryobank bulls as well as how they will be used. Using such reproducers should be investigated in further studies, which opens exciting perspectives for an improved exploitation of cryobank collections. The authors declare that they have no competing interests. EV, CDB and GL jointly conceived the design of the study and discussed the results. GL wrote and checked the simulation program. GL wrote the first draft of the manuscript, which was then modified by CDB and EV. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. This study was funded by the Bureau des Ressources Génétiques (BRG) (Contract 2007-14 "CryoSitu"). The authors wish to thank Emilie Setlakwe, Daphne Goodfellow and Hélène Hayes for linguistic revision. Verrier E, Danchin-Burge C, Moureaux S, Ollivier L, Tixier-Boichard M, Boichard D, Maignel MJ, Bidanel JP, Clement F: What should be preserved: genetic goals and collection protocols for the French National Cryobank. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Cryopreservation of Animal Genetic Resources in Europe: 23 February 2003; Paris. Edited by Planchenault D. Bureau des Ressources Génétiques; 2003:79-89. Gandini G, Oldenbroek K: Strategies for moving from conservation to utilisation. In Utilisation and conservation of farm animal genetic resources. Edited by Oldenbroek K. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers; 2007:29-54. Genet Res 2002, 80:27-30. PubMed Abstract Danchin-Burge C, Hiemstra SJ: Cryo-preservation of domestic animal species in France and the Netherlands: Experience, similarities and differences. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Cryopreservation of Animal Genetic Resources in Europe: 23 February 2003; Paris. Edited by Planchenault D. Bureau des Ressources Génétiques; 2003:15-28. Livest Sci 2009, 120:196-203. Publisher Full Text Livest Prod Sci 1984, 11:37-48. Publisher Full Text Theor Appl Genet 1989, 77:142-148. Publisher Full Text Philipsson J, Forabosco F, Jakobsen JH: Monitoring sustainability of international dairy breeds. [http://www-interbull.slu.se/bulletins/bulletin40/Philipsson.pdf] webcite Coopérative d'élevage et d'insémination animale de Haute-Savoie [http://www.ceia74.fr/Index/GenetiqueLait.php?Race=12] webcite

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http://www.gsejournal.org/content/43/1/36

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Amid doubt, disappointment and division, the world's governments came together in Rio on Friday to declare "a pathway for a sustainable century". At the close of the Rio+20 Earth Summit, heads of state and ministers from more than 190 nations signed off on a plan to set global sustainable development goals and other measures to strengthen global environmental management, tighten protection the oceans, improve food security and promote a "green economy". After more than a year of negotiations and a 10-day mega-conference involving 45,000 people, the wide-ranging outcome document – The Future We Want – was lambasted by environmentalists and anti-poverty campaigners for lacking the detail and ambition needed to address the challenges posed by a deteriorating environment, worsening inequality and a global population expected to rise from 7bn to 9bn by 2050. But the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon said the document would guide the world on to a more sustainable path: "Our job now is to create a critical mass. The road ahead is long and hard." US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said it was a time to be optimistic. "A more prosperous future is within our reach, a future where all people benefit from sustainable development no matter who they are or where they live." However, civil society groups and scientists were scathing about the outcome. Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo called the summit a failure of epic proportions. "We didn't get the Future We Want in Rio, because we do not have the leaders we need. The leaders of the most powerful countries supported business as usual, shamefully putting private profit before people and the planet." Rio+20 was intended as a follow up on the 1992 Earth Summit, which put in place landmark conventions on climate change and biodiversity, as well as commitments on poverty eradication and social justice. Since then, however, global emissions have risen by 48%, 300m hectares of forest have been cleared and the population has increased by 1.6bn people. Despite a reduction in poverty, one in six people are malnourished. While the problems have grown, the ability of nations to deal with them has diminished because the EU is distracted by economic crisis, the US is diverted by a presidential election, and government power has declined relative to that of corporations and civil society. With Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and David Cameron absent, the BRICS nations dominated proceedings. Brazil artfully – and, according to some delegates, aggressively – pushed through the compromise text, thereby avoiding the conflict and chaos that marked the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009. But that also left heads of state and ministers with little but a ceremonial function, wasting an opportunity for political leaders to press for a more ambitious outcome. "Our final document is an opportunity that has been missed. It contributes almost nothing to our struggle to survive as a species," the Nicaraguan representative Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann at the conference. "We now face a future of increasing natural disasters." Other delegates expressed disappointed, but said the agreement could be built upon. "The document does not entirely match our ambition or meet the challenge the world faces. But it's an important step forward … That's why we support it. That's why we must engage with it," said Janez Potočnik, European commissioner for environment. The main outcome of the conference is a plan to set sustainable development goals (SDGs), which Brazil described as the "crown jewels" of the conference. But the gems have not yet been chosen, let alone cut, polished and set. Negotiators at Rio were unable to agree on themes, which will now be left to an "open working group" of 30 nations to decide upon by September 2013. Two years later, they will be blended with Millennium Development Goals. The new goals look set to be the focus of tussles between rich and poor nations over the coming years. The G77 group of developing countries is adamant that the goals must include strong social and economic elements, including financing and technology transfer. "When the EU, US say land, water – they usually emphasise environment. The G77 insist that it also has strong economic and social pillars. It needs to be better and bolder than the millennium development goals," said Bhumika Muchhala, of the Third World Network. The 49-page document contained many other – mostly loosely defined – steps. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP), long a poor relation of other UN organisations, will get a more secure budget, a broader membership and strong powers to initiate scientific research and coordinate global environment strategies. Rio+20 also established a "high-level" forum to coordinate global sustainable development, though its format is still to be defined. Achim Steiner, head of UNEP, said it was an agenda for change: "World leaders and governments have today agreed that a transition to a green economy – backed by strong social provisions – offers a key pathway towards a sustainable 21st century." Hopes that Rio would commit the world to move towards a green economy were diluted by suspicions among some developing nations that this was another way for wealthy nations to impose a "one-model-fits-all" approach. Instead, the green economy was merely named as an "important tool" that countries could use if they wished. Nations agreed to think about ways to place a higher value on nature, including alternatives to GDP as a measure of wealth that account more for environmental and social factors, and efforts to assess and pay for "environmental services" provided by nature, such as carbon sequestration and habitat protection. Among the many vague, but potentially promising developments, was a recognition by all 192 governments that "fundamental changes in the way societies consume and produce are indispensable for achieving global sustainable development". This appeared to mean different things to different people. EU officials suggests it could lead to a shift of taxes so workers pay less and polluters and landfill operators pay more. Hillary Clinton said it should be reflected in the way products are advertised and packaged. All nations "reaffirmed" commitments to phase out harmful fossil fuel subsidies. Such changes will cost, but nobody wanted to put money on the table, which was cited by the G77 as a major cause of the weak outcome. Developing countries wanted a $30bn per year fund to help in the transition to sustainability, but in the midst of a financial crisis in Europe, nobody was willing to say how much money they would contribute. Instead, there was a promise to enhance funding, but by how much and by whom were left to future discussions. Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said rich nations had not kept Copenhagen promises on "green funding" and so were in no position to criticise others for a lack of ambition: "All countries must take responsibility. Nobody can point the finger." There was frustration that Rio+20 did not do more to guarantee the reproductive rights of women or to protect the world's oceans. A plan to rescue the high seas – which are outside national jurisdictions – was blocked by the US, Nicaragua, Canada and Russia. Instead, leaders say they will do more to prevent over-fishing and ocean acidification. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature called the decision a "deep disappointment". The strongest initiatives were made outside the negotiating halls, where significant agreements have been struck on investing in public transport, commitments made to green accounting by corporations and strategies agreed by cities and judicial bodies on reducing environmental impacts. The dynamism has been found in a 10-day "People's Summit" and campaigns to reduce plastics in the ocean and create a new sanctuary in the Arctic. "There are real solutions to the problems governments have been unable to solve and those solutions have been on display all week in Rio, just not at the conference centre," said Lidy Nacpil, director of Jubilee South – Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development. The weak leadership shown in the conference halls has prompted many in civil society to rethink their strategies. Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, said a "red/green alliance was the only way forward". If the current development model doesn't change, "we are going to see economic dislocation greater than we're facing now," she said. "There will be more wars around water and energy, so we need labour and environment walking hand in hand."

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There was a brief warm spell around 9 September, on which date the highest September temperature for six years was recorded, but much of the rest of the month was cool. In fact it was the coolest September since 1993, and heavy rain during the third week caused floods. This was the result of a deep and slow-moving low pressure system delivering copious rain between 23 and 25 September. Prior to that it was dry in East Anglia and south-east England. The mean maximum temperature in September ranged from 20.2C at St James's Park, London, to 12C at Lerwick, Shetland. The Central England Temperature (CET) was 13.1C, which is 1 degree below average. Daytime temperatures were between 0.2 degrees above average in East Anglia and 1.3 degrees below in western Scotland. The highest recorded temperature was 29.3C at both Writtle in Essex and Cambridge on the afternoon of 9 September. The coldest night was that of 22/23 September, when Braemar, Aberdeenshire, recorded a minimum temperature of -4.1C. Across England and Wales there was 78mm of rain, which is 102% of the average. Scotland had 81mm, exactly on the average, while Northern Ireland had 98mm, or 123% of average. Much of that rain came from the slow-moving storm during the last week of September. Up to 22 September it was relatively dry, but the following three days had widespread heavy rainfall which led to significant floods. During that period 131mm of rain fell on Ravensworth, North Yorkshire. The wettest location through the month was Cluanie Inn, Wester Ross, which measured 325mm of rain, while Otterbourne in Hampshire was the driest with 24mm. England and Wales had an average 171 hours of sunshine, which is 116% of the mean. Only 11 Septembers have been sunnier in the last 100 years. Scotland had 127 hours, or 111% of its average, and Northern Ireland recorded 139 hours, which is 113% of the average. Manston in Kent was the sunniest location with 196 hours of sunshine, while Kinlochewe, Wester Ross, had the lowest sunshine total with only 62 hours.

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A Second Degree for Your Tech Career Think you want another degree? Join the club. Many techies decide to pursue graduate degrees as a way to advance their careers, hone an area of expertise or switch specialties. Years ago, graduate program choices were limited, with many students choosing between an MBA and a master's degree in computer science, depending on whether they wanted to seek a management job or maintain a technical career track. While those choices are still popular, the possibilities for extending education beyond a bachelor's degree have expanded as jobs for tech professionals have become more varied and multidimensional. This means game programmers are pursuing educational technology degrees to leverage their experience into a new industry, database pros are pursuing MBAs to show off their management acumen and network engineers are studying multimedia to make a wholesale switch in a technical specialty. So techies need to start thinking about an advanced degree by sorting through the options. The Old Standbys - Computer Science: Graduate programs in computer science offer a research-intensive environment for students to pursue specialties such as human-computer interaction and information networking. A master's may be required for top-notch positions at leading tech companies, while a PhD is usually required for academia. Graduate programs in computer science are known for being challenging and rigorous; a bachelor's degree in computer science is typically required. - Educational Technology: Master's degrees in educational technology offer students the chance to gain expertise in the use and theoretical foundations of technology to support learning - Electrical and Computer Engineering: Students seeking a master's in electrical and computer engineering delve into areas such as semiconductors, signal processing, microprocessors and digital system design. Students will typically need an undergraduate degree in the field. - Information Systems: Graduate programs in information systems (or sometimes information systems management or information technology) emphasize the use of IT to tackle business problems with coursework on topics such as e-commerce, information security and knowledge management. - Library Science and Information Studies: Though far from a traditional technology degree, techies are increasingly drawn to studies involving information architecture, knowledge management and content management. - MBA (Master of Business Administration): The MBA gives techies the chance to develop their business skills with coursework in areas such as entrepreneurship, finance, marketing and organizational behavior. With companies increasingly interested in well-rounded techies with business acumen, the degree is often a top choice among techies seeking to move beyond purely technical roles. The New Guard - Techno-MBA: The techno-MBA combines traditional MBA coursework with studies on the integration of IT in the corporate world. Techno-MBA students often take courses dealing with information systems, IT design and architecture and telecommunications. - Computer Animation, Graphics and Multimedia: These cutting-edge graduate programs typically focus on the skills and expertise required to work in areas such as film, TV and Web production. The programs may be offered in different settings; some may be part of a graduate school of arts and sciences, others might be in fine arts programs or film schools. - Telecommunications: Advanced degrees in telecommunications offer students the chance to explore areas bridging the business and regulatory realms by studying media policy, wireless networks, and communications systems and their development. Which Is Best for You? Before you decide on a program, consider your goals. Techies seeking another degree are often motivated by boosting their salaries, positioning to enter management, developing an area of technical expertise and/or switching from one specialty to another. Once you know what you want to achieve, you will have an easier time deciding what sort of program is for you. Unlike undergraduate programs, graduate programs don't usually give you much time, if any, to roam from one interest to another. You will likely get the most out of the program if you enter it with a clear sense of what you want from your studies -- and from your career after graduation.

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The house ranks architecturally with many of the great mansions built in the late Colonial period; however, it is the only house directly inspired from a plate in Palladio’s, I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura. It is arguably the most exquisite house remaining from the Colonial period in America. Architect William Buckland cleverly adapted Palladio's Villa Pisani design to satisfy the tastes of colonial Annapolis. He re-designed the plan to accommodate the tastes for asymmetrical regional preferences and modified the hyphens from Palladio's arched entries to more practical single storey connecting links. He also incorporated fashionable urban design by sinking the windows in the method mandated by the London Building Act of 1774. This device provided better protection from fire and gave the overall design a greater degree of visual solidity and three dimensionality (see image at right). This adaptation from Palladio's model marks his maturity as an architect and ranks him as one of America's first and finest architects. The initial design of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello was taken from the Villa Cornaro in Piombino Dese, Italy, in Book II, Chapter XV of I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura, but this façade was later covered up by Jefferson’s own expansions to his house. Thomas Jefferson made two drawings of the Hammond-Harwood House when he served the government in Annapolis in 1783-4. One could assume that Jefferson recognized the house as derived from Palladio because his knowledge of The Four Books of Architecture was extensive. He referred to the book as his architectural “bible” and the plate of the Villa Cornaro follows the Villa Pisani plate; and directly opposite the Villa Cornaro in some 18th century English transcriptions of the work.

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Most pet owners can tell you that the first few days with a puppy in the house can be a handful, but the job of being a good pet parent does not stop when your new pal sleeps through the night for the first time. After you finish guiding your pup through his earliest life stages, it is important to keep in mind that he will be going through his own version of the "teen" years and will rely on a guiding hand. The accelerated development of dogs may make it seem as though they move straight from puppy to adult, but just like people, they also have an adolescent stage. Although they may look grown up, they are still experiencing changes that can have a major impact on their behavior and health. "Many pet owners may not realize that dogs experience adolescence," says Jeff Werber, DVM, a nationally known veterinarian. "At this developmental stage, dogs are no longer puppies, but they are also not quite adults. Adolescent dogs have specific mental, social, physical and nutritional requirements that often go unmet, so it is important to make sure we are addressing all the aspects that are part of these 'teenage' years." When your dog goes through the "teen" life stage - from about 6 months to 2 years - keep these tips in mind. - Curb bad behaviors: Chewing shoes, soiling the carpet, surfing the counter for scraps of food - these are just some of the behaviors that come up as your still-young dog grows into his adult body. It is important to focus on training during this time to break bad habits - otherwise you could be dealing with them for life. Attending training classes not only helps your dog learn how to behave, it also helps owners discover solutions for unwanted behaviors. The added benefit of training is that it provides an opportunity to create a strong bond at one of the most impressionable periods of your dog's life. - Establish good eating habits: Just as kids have different nutritional needs than infants and adults, adolescent dogs need food uniquely tailored to their in-between needs. As your dog's body grows and changes, certain nutrients are particularly important for brain and skeletal development and digestive health. - Supervise socializing: Letting your dog interact with other animals is an essential part of responsible pet ownership. However, at the adolescent stage, it is important that you guide your dog's interactions carefully. As dogs' reproductive systems develop, both males and females can show signs of aggression. You may also find your male dog marking his territory and female dogs might try to flirt with males. When you start to see these behaviors frequently, it is probably time to discuss spaying or neutering with your vet. Not only can these procedures help correct some hormonally driven bad habits, they will also prevent unwanted litters of new puppies. GateHouse News Service

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Fast Food Tied to Asthma, Eczema and Hay Fever in Kids MONDAY, Jan. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Kids who eat fast food three or more times a week are likely to have more severe allergic reactions, a large new international study suggests. These include bouts of asthma, eczema and hay fever (rhinitis). And although the study doesn't prove that those burgers, chicken snacks and fries cause these problems, the evidence of an association is compelling, researchers say. "The study adds to a growing body of evidence of the possible harms of fast foods," said study co-author Hywel Williams, a professor of dermato-epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, in England. "Whether the evidence we have found is strong enough to recommend a reduction of fast food intake for those with allergies is a matter of debate," he added. These finding are important, Williams said, because this is the largest study to date on allergies in young people across the world and the findings are remarkably consistent globally for both boys and girls and regardless of family income. "If true, the findings have big public health implications given that these allergic disorders appear to be on the increase and because fast food is so popular," he said. However, Williams cautioned that fast food might not be causing these problems. "It could be due to other factors linked to behavior that we have not measured, or it could be due to biases that occur in studies that measure disease and ask about previous food intake," he said. In addition, this association between fast foods and severe allergies does not necessarily mean that eating less fast food will reduce the severity of disease of asthma, hay fever or eczema (an itchy skin disorder), Williams said. The report was published in the Jan. 14 online issue of Thorax. Williams and colleagues collected data on more than 319,000 teens aged 13 and 14 from 51 countries and more than 181,000 kids aged 6 and 7 from 31 countries. All of the children were part of a single study on child asthma and allergies. Kids and their parents were asked about whether they suffered from asthma or runny or blocked nose along with itchy and watery eyes and eczema. Participants also described in detail what they ate during the week. Fast food was linked to those conditions in both older and younger children. Consuming three or more weekly fast food meals was associated with a 39 percent increased risk of severe asthma among teens And three such meals for younger children was associated with a 27 percent increased risk of severe asthma, as well higher risk of rhinitis and eczema. Fruit, however, appeared to reduce the incidence and severity of these conditions for all the children, and for incidence and severity of wheeze and rhinitis among the teens. According to Williams, three or more weekly servings of fruit reduced the severity of symptoms 11 percent among the teens and 14 percent among the children. When looked at closely, the data among children was not as convincing as among teens. However, fast food meals were still associated with symptoms except for current eczema, and in poorer countries, except for current and severe asthma. "Eating fast food is not healthy for a multitude of reasons," said Samantha Heller, an exercise physiologist and clinical nutrition coordinator at the Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn. It's notorious for being high in sodium, saturated fat, trans fats and refined and processed carbohydrates, and low in essential healthy nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, healthy unsaturated fats and fiber, she said. "I cannot imagine any parent would choose the convenience of fast food over their child's health if they fully understood how deleterious a diet of fast and junk food is to children," Heller added. Healthy compounds like vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and healthy fats are essential players in whole-body immunity. Kids eating fast food regularly are subject not only to the disease-promoting and inflammatory effects of trans and saturated fats, excess sodium and refined carbohydrates but also likely to suffer from deficiencies of essential health-promoting compounds, Heller said. "This can lead to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, behavior problems, and as this study suggests, possibly asthma, eczema and colds," she said. Eating at home more often not only saves money but also keeps families healthier, Heller said. "For example, you can make healthy fast-food dishes in your own kitchen, such as black bean veggie burgers on whole-wheat buns with tomato and avocado, mashed potatoes with low-fat milk and olive oil or roasted sweet potato fries," she suggested. For more about healthy eating for children, visit the Nemours Foundation. SOURCES: Hywel Williams, Ph.D., professor of dermato-epidemiology, University of Nottingham, U.K.; Samantha Heller, M.S., R.D., exercise physiologist and clinical nutrition coordinator, Center for Cancer Care, Griffin Hospital, Derby, Conn.; Jan. 14, 2013, Thorax, online

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Roman Catholic priests from the Order of the Sacred Hearts and led by Father Alexis Bachelot, first arrived from Europe in July of 1827. Three priests and three lay brothers celebrated the first mass of record on Hawaiian soil on July 14, 1827. Under pressure by American Protestant missionaries, who considered Catholic doctrine a damning religious error, Kamehameha III twice expelled the Catholics. When priests reappeared in 1837 and again faced expulsion, the Sandwich Island Gazette newspaper came to the defense of religious freedom. The French in 1839 also brought pressure upon the king, and in that year Kamehameha III proclaimed a Declaration of Rights and Edict of Toleration that granted religious toleration throughout the Islands. This was a period of fierce verbal attacks between Catholics and Protestants. The Catholic Mission wanted to have its own press. In 1841, it bought the Gazette’s old equipment and set up a print shop on the site of the present Our Lady of Peace Cathedral, but Father L. D. Maigret complained to his European superiors: “The Protestants have excellent presses of the new kind, while we have only a bad one, the characters of which do not work.” Maigret received a new press from Europe, and in 1852, the first Catholic newspaper appeared, He Mau Hana I Hanaia, Works Done, to begin a tradition of Catholic publication that continues to the present. By Helen G. Chapin

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Hemoglobin is a crystallizable, conjugated protein consisting of an iron-containing pigment (called heme or hematin) and a simple protein, globin. In the lungs, it combines readily with oxygen to form a loose, unstable compound called oxyhemoglobin, a process called oxygenation. In the tissues of the body, where oxygen tension is low and carbon dioxide tension is high, oxyhemoglobin liberates its oxygen in... A Swedish study has shown that teaching type 2 diabetes patients about their disease results in greater decreases in the hemoglobin A1c... Read more » You may have been told that you need to lower your LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, and increase your HDL (good) cholesterol levels. While... Read more » So you don’t have diabetes. Should you still be worried about having an elevated risk of Alzheimer’s disease? A new study out of the... Read more » Diabetes is much more prevalent in African-Americans than other groups of people, and unfortunately if you already have diabetes you are... Read more » Source: ADAM Encyclopedia of ComplicationsHigh Blood Pressure and Heart DiseaseAll patients with diabetes and high blood pressure should adopt lifestyle changes. These include... Read more »

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THURSDAY, July 19 (HealthDay News) -- You may think of your birthday as only being important to your age and the possible presence of candles, cards and cake, but a new study suggests a link between your month of birth and longevity. Researchers found that those who were born between September and November from the years 1880 to 1895 were more likely to reach the 100-year mark than their siblings who were born in March. The study does not prove a cause-and-effect link, just an association. The meaning of the findings is unclear, and a researcher who studies lifespan called them mostly irrelevant to modern times. But, Leonid Gavrilov, from the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago, who wrote the study with his wife, Natalia Gavrilova, said the findings point to the importance of the environment in which a child is conceived and later grows. "We believe that avoiding any potential sources of damage to developing fetus and child may have significant effects on health in later life and longevity," Gavrilov said. "Childhood living conditions may have long-lasting consequences for health in later life and longevity." The researchers looked at 1,574 centenarians -- people who reached the age of 100 -- in the United States. They found that those people born between September and November had about a 40 percent higher chance of living to 100 than those born in March. Of course, the chances that people born in 1889-1895 would even reach the century mark was very low to begin with. Of those born in 1900 who were still alive at 50, just a third of 1 percent of men made it to 100, and just shy of 2 percent of women accomplished the feat, Gavrilov said. Why might month of birth -- or month of conception -- affect how long someone lives? One possibility is that seasonal diseases played a role, Gavrilov said. S. Jay Olshansky, a professor of public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago who's familiar with the findings, said the study is not newsworthy. "The results are probably valid, but largely irrelevant in our modern world since they apply to birth months from more than a century ago." Regardless of the month someone was born or conceived, the odds are slim that you'll live to be 100. "This prospect has been rising through the 20th century, but not dramatically," Olshansky said. At best, he said, "this research might offer a partial and extremely small explanation for a small fraction of why some people conceived and born more than a century ago lived for 100 years." What does all this mean for your chances of living to 100 if you were born around the fall or -- perhaps less luckily -- in March? Good question -- and one that won't be answered until people around your age start hitting the century mark. The study appeared in the Journal of Aging Research. For more about healthy aging, try the U.S. National Library of Medicine. SOURCES: Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D., research associate, Center on Aging, University of Chicago; S. Jay Olshansky, Ph.D., professor, public health, University of Illinois at Chicago; 2011 Journal of Aging Research Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. HealthDayNews articles are derived from various sources and do not reflect federal policy. healthfinder.gov does not endorse opinions, products, or services that may appear in news stories. For more information on health topics in the news, visit Health News on healthfinder.gov.

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|This is a measure of the brightness of a celestial object. The lower the value, the brighter the object, so magnitude -4 is brighter than magnitude 0, which is in turn brighter than magnitude +4. The scale is logarithmic, and a difference of 5 magnitudes means a brightness difference of exactly 100 times. A difference of one magnitude corresponds to a brightness difference of around 2.51 (the fifth root of 100). The system was started by the ancient Greeks, who divided the stars into one of six magnitude groups with stars of the first magnitude being the first ones to be visible after sunset. In modern times, the scale has been extended in both directions and more strictly defined. Examples of magnitude values for well-known objects are; |Sun||-26.7 (about 400 000 times brighter than full Moon!)| |Brightest Iridium flares||-8| |Venus (at brightest)||-4.4| |International Space Station||-2| |Sirius (brightest star)||-1.44| |Limit of human eye||+6 to +7| |Limit of 10x50 binoculars||+9| |Limit of Hubble Space Telescope||+30|

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- HHMI NEWS - SCIENTISTS & RESEARCH - JANELIA FARM - SCIENCE EDUCATION - RESOURCES & PUBLICATIONS noscripttags. Include a link to bypass the detection if you wish. Investigate the specks, flecks, and particles in the air—with airborne junk detectors you can easily make. Directions are in this activity from HHMI’s Cool Science for Curious Kids. Involve children in collecting leaves, rocks, and other natural items, and use the collections to teach children math and science skills. This resource from Oregon State University tells you what to do. Use the insect fact sheet in this middle school curriculum from Clemson University to help children identify and classify insects they might find outdoors. Taking a “virtual” field trip is almost as good as being outdoors. Explore a cove forest and a salt marsh with this program from Clemson University. The HHMI Bulletin is now available for your iPad—inspiring stories, beautiful art, and MORE. Read. Play. Listen. Learn about the innovative work of biomedical researchers and science educators worldwide supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Look for the FREE app in the iTunes App Store. What Is Cool Science? At Cool Science, we entertain questions of all kinds (Ask a Scientist). We encourage young scientists to get their hands dirty-virtually (Curious Kids). We offer high school and college students new approaches to cutting-edge science topics (BioInteractive). We provide educators with a host of innovative resources they can use in their classrooms (For Educators). We reveal what it takes to become a scientist (Becoming a Scientist). And we showcase an undergraduate science discovery project that may one day change the way science is taught (SEA). We invite you to explore the many cool features of Cool Science. Image: University of Washington Help children study plants and animals in local outdoor settings by adapting some of the activities from this curriculum developed by Oregon State University. Use these Yale University activities—which require simple, inexpensive, and easily obtainable materials—to help children learn about volcanoes, magnetism, and other topics. When it’s too hot to be outdoors, educators, older students, and parents can try their hand at this visual and motor test that involves learning a new motor skill. This activity is from HHMI’s Biointeractive.

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< Browse to Previous Essay | Browse to Next Essay > Seattle's Union Station re-opens as Sound Transit headquarters on October 16, 1999. HistoryLink.org Essay 7751 : Printer-Friendly Format On October 16, 1999, Seattle's historic Union Station is formally rededicated as the headquarters of the Sound Transit, the regional transit authority for King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. The building was restored and adapted as part of a larger project directed by Union Station Associates, LLC, a partnership between Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc. and Nitse-Stagen & Company, developer of the former Sears Building, among other projects. Union Station was built in 1911 as the Oregon & Washington Railroad Station to serve the Union Pacific Railroad and Milwaukee Road. Passenger rail service was consolidated in the nearby King Street Station by Amtrak in 1971, and Union Station was vacated except for occasional special events in its vast barrel-roofed waiting room. The facility was the subject of numerous studies for a possible "multi-modal" transportation center for rail, light rail, and bus services. This vision was partially realized with the opening of the adjacent International District Station of the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel in 1990. The voters of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties approved creation of a regional transportation agency, Sound Transit, and a $3.9 billion rail and bus plan on November 5, 1996. The board of Sound Transit agreed on June 19, 1998, to locate its executive offices in Union Station. Nitze-Stagen organized the $21-million project, which involved NBBJ as the interior architects, Ron Wright & Associates as the exterior architects, Baugh Construction Co. as the general contractor, Maria Barrientos as project manager for Sound Transit under ST Property Manager Jeri Cranney, and scores of artisans and craftspeople. The building re-opened on the evening of October 16, 1999, with a gala benefit for Historic Seattle and the release of a commemorative history prepared by History Ink. Shortly before the event, Sound Transit Board president Paul Miller commented, "We've asked how history will judge us. I see the restored Union Station as a symbol of the answer. We will be remembered by what we as an agency and we as a community can achieve. I believe that at the end of the next century, Union Station will stand as a tribute to a generation that stopped talking about the transportation problems that threaten our region and acted upon them." Walt Crowley and Heather MacIntosh, The Story of Union Station in Seattle (Seattle: History Ink for Sound Transit, 1999). Travel through time (chronological order): < Browse to Previous Essay Browse to Next Essay > Roads & Rails | Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact the source noted in the image credit. Major Support for HistoryLink.org Provided By: The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins | Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry | 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle | City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private Sponsors and Visitors Like You

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