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Photo courtesy of PEXELS.COM by ROBERT MIRANDA What is light? It is a question that has persisted throughout time, which many, from Greek philosophers, to the gurus of India, to Christian theologians have attempted to answer. The word “light” brings to mind a powerful force, one that is capable of crushing darkness and overcoming the evils of the world with good. To study the nature of light is to study humanity itself. Humans have always existed in an endless limbo between the forces of good and evil, as it were. Our actions are not always good, but not entirely evil, either. We wonder about our purpose in life and whether or not we are doing the right things, but what exactly does it mean to be “right”? Historically, humans have turned towards the divine to answer these essential questions of life, its meaning and its purpose. Throughout the ages, the gods of men have served them by providing answers in a religious context. With the Greeks came the idea of philosophers: men who proposed theories using reason. Through many other cultures have come belief systems that strive to provide answers. Yet even now, in 2015, despite all our advances in science and progress, we are no closer to finding these answers than before. Most people would agree that one goal of life is to be a good person. It is a universally accepted tenet of the world’s major belief systems. However, what exactly defines a good person is hard to explain. Some ideas, such as treat others with kindness, do not cheat or lie to others, are accepted by religions and taught by philosophers, but some other definitions are often debated in a social or political context. Recent debates about whether or not to accept gay marriage are proof of this. As supporters argue they are “better” for understanding the LGBT community, detractors often point to their own religion or belief system and say that it is they who are being “good” for following their values in combating it. This debate extends to perceptions of the Muslim community. As recent attacks perpetrated by the radicalized fundamentalists heighten many Americans’ fears of Islam and its followers, it is worth noting that the religion of Islam does not advocate violence. No major religion supports the use of violent acts against others. The hate that has been engendered by the misinformation and apprehension following the San Bernandino and Paris attacks is unfounded and profoundly unbalanced. The same people who would condemn Muslims for terrorizing others fail to note that the accused shooter who gunned down three people in the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood attack in late November was motivated by his extreme views toward abortion. In the midst of celebration, holiday observances provide an opportunity to search for meaning in an increasingly complex world. The end of the year is exactly two weeks away. It is a curious fact that many cultures celebrate a major holiday at the end of the calendar year. New Year’s, Christmas, Solstice, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa—all these celebrations nearly overlap, with close proximity to each other. It is also important to note that these holidays are not necessarily religious in nature. For example, Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday derived from African traditions of feasting and community, first celebrated in 1966 by California State University, Long Beach professor Dr. Maulana Karenga, according to officialkwanzaawebsite.org. Holidays are “lights” of hope and kinship that empower individuals to think kindly of their fellow man. The holidays should not be the exception, however. To be truly “good,” we need to follow our principles with actions throughout the year. We need to channel the forces we have for good and determine how best to help others without falling into hate and radicalism. The Greeks used the term philia to refer to this; an unceasing, unselfish, benevolent love for humanity. This word originally was translated in English as “charity,” but over five centuries, it has now come to us as simply “love.” In the end, the greatest thing we can all do is support each other in love: love for humanity and our fellow man.

What is the substance of money and how does money work – we should understand this to live in the modern society. Nowadays, many researchers learn money as social value. A lot of great philosophers and economists studied a social phenomenon in the past. What about a philosophical approach to economic research? We use money in our everyday live, it helps us to maintain a social status, and find our place in the world. Sometimes money creates problems that ruin our life. We have an illusion, that we control our money and we do not notice that money sometimes control us. Each person wants to understand the essence of money. People want to find an answer – how understand money? Nobody knows is money good or evil, but all people use them to live effectively. Money can unite people, build cities and make wars. So, maybe money is not something bad or good – it is just a tool that people can use. Philosophy of Money studied in every economic science. Most economists and philosophers have doubts about the effectiveness of the modern economic theory because it has many mathematical methods, quantitative analysis. A lot of economics setting themselves the task to find out how much money an economy needs, what factors influence on the money supply. We need a philosophical approach to economic research, the methods of intellectual investigation to embrace a social phenomenon. For the analysis of money flows we need to unravel the mystery of money. We need to understand the role of money in the life of society and a philosophical approach. An exchange of money has a huge influence on the development of all people, purposeful activity, and attitude to work. Money changes ideas of moral standards of humanity. According to Aristotle’ thought money is necessary to devoid of any boundaries. Karl Marx analyzed the money and showed how money can be transformed into capital. Spirit of capitalism combined developing market economy, growing of economic man and the historic mission of money. Money has changed the system of human values, interests, ideas, moral criteria, defining itself a grand role as a universal value. We can speak about the real value of money when it’s in the form of noble metals. Money’s value stems from the content of the social process. Money as the socio-normative regulation of the economic life shows the mechanism of social interaction. They create the need for a person to rationally estimate his or her actions because and play a huge role in the modern society. What is the substance of money and how does money work – we should understand this to live in the modern society. Nowadays, many researchers learn money as social value. A lot of great philosophers and economists studied a social phenomenon in the past.

In the typical A&P course, students get the message that sodium and chloride are essential to life. In fact, throughout the course they learn about many of the central roles these ions play in the function of the human body. It's no wonder that salt has played such a central role in human history. Which reminds me of a great book I listened to (it was the audio version) a couple of years ago. Salt: A World History (by Mark Kurlansky) ought to be on your list of "must read books for A&P professors." Besides learning about salt, you'll also come away with an appreciation of the interconnectedness of things. If nothing else, it will give you a lot of anecdotes and factoids that you can use in your A&P class. One of the questions that I often get in class is, "if salt [or sodium] is so essential to life, why is it bad for you?" Wow, what a great teaching moment! I can help bring the student to a higher level of thinking by dissecting the false choice of "good" and "bad" in this case and revealing the "gray." But of course, what is the latest story on the role of salt in creating hypertension (HTN) or other problems? Check out this recent article from the LA Times to help sort out the latest thinking on this one: Salt and high blood pressure: New concerns raised by Emily Sohn Los Angeles Times online, 27 October 2008 [Article summarizing the link between HTN and salt] Here's a FREE video that does a good job of outlining some central ideas about salt's health connections: [The video may not appear in your news feed or emailed newsletter. Go to The A&P Professor blog to access the video viewer. Go to The A&P Professor website to learn how to embed the video in your PowerPoint or webpage . . . or simply link to it from your own email or webpage.] For additional FREE resources, visit the expanded version of this article at The A&P Professor website. Want to check out that Salt book I recommended? Click the Amazon link below to see reviews or to download the audio version.

Names and addresses collected as part of the 2016 Census, to be conducted on August 9, will be retained to enable the census to be linked to other national data. Names and addresses had previously been retained for 18 months, but the information is now planned to be kept for up to four years. Opponents of longer retention of names and addresses have cited concerns relating to privacy, security, coercion and identification of individuals and minority populations. Some concerned about the changes have called for sabotage and boycott. Proponents have heralded the benefits of retaining names and addresses for longer to enable the census to be more accurately linked to other data. Such data are long overdue and have the power to provide innovation and efficiencies through stronger evidence, they argue. They have also expressed concern over the quality of data if opponents sabotage or boycott the census. Misinformation about the census and the retention of names and addresses has featured heavily in this debate. But the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) safeguards to protect privacy and secure data outweigh possible risks associated with the longer retention of names and addresses, and census linkage with other data. Privacy and data security Because the census is the only opportunity to get the data it collects about population composition and geographic distribution, it provides a great deal of information for policy and planning. It also collects information about the Indigenous population, and data about homelessness and little-known populations are captured. It has been argued this year’s census won’t be anonymous, so the only way to protect privacy is to not collect data at all. The ABS has safeguards to protect privacy and security. Its computing environment adheres to strict government standards for encryption and storage. Names are kept separately from addresses, and these data are separate from the rest of census data. Names and addresses have always been used for quality checks, and addresses have been used to determine coding of houses into geographical areas. The 2016 Census will use names and addresses to create a statistical linkage key for a unique identifier. Names and addresses will be destroyed no later than 2020. Data are released as aggregates only and won’t include personal identifiers. Also, the ABS cannot release identifiable data to “any court, tribunal or other agency”. The acts under which the ABS operates ensure data that may identify anyone are not released. The ABS has reported breaches to its system, but these haven’t included census data. Linkage can be done without names, but it’s more accurate with them. The ABS linked a sample of the 2011 to the 2006 Census without names, which has proven to be an important asset, but it has limitations. Overseas, national statistical agencies have retained names and addresses and linked the census data with other data with much success in terms of data, privacy and public support. Canada, the UK and New Zealand are just a few countries that collect names and addresses and conduct data linkage using the census. Canada’s recent census serves as a good example Australia can learn from. Its 2016 Census was met with overwhelming public support following poor-quality data obtained in the 2011 Census after a shift to collecting less data. It was reported that the lack of complete data in 2011 was a great loss to the country. Australia is in a position now where it risks incomplete data due to sabotage and boycott. Given Australia’s demographic and fiscal outlook, poor census data risks jeopardising the future. Planning is ever more important, and the census provides the necessary information to do so effectively. A census for the future Most would agree that making decisions requiring financial investment should be based on evidence and need. The census provides data to inform such an evidence base. The changes to this year’s census will deliver many improvements for Australians, which will play a powerful role in informing the future.

Last week as I was strolling down the beach I noticed a starfish that had just washed up. Although this creature, a Royal Starfish, probably named for its bright purple color, is often cast on the shore in great numbers after storms and hurricanes, it is not so common normally. The scientific name of the Royal Starfish is Astropecten articulatus. It's margin is orange, giving this starfish a striking appearance. If you find one of these count yourself lucky, but be prepared for the color to fade as it dries out. Another "treasure from the sea." Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is the story of our island Post Office. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news042113.htm.

What is it? Jet lag is the feeling of tiredness and fatigue that may come with traveling across time zones. When traveling across time zones, your body's internal clock gets "out of synch." The pineal gland (in the brain) makes melatonin (a hormone) in response to changes in the daylight. This cyclic production of melatonin can regulate several important functions in the body. If you cross time zones, the body's internal clock can easily and slowly reset itself. With airplane travel, several time zones can be quickly crossed, going faster than the speed with which the body's internal clock can reset itself. This may be a bigger problem when time is lost traveling from West to East. Signs and Symptoms: There may be many symptoms with jet lag. These include fatigue, daytime drowsiness, headaches, nausea (upset stomach), and not being able to sleep. You may also not be able to do normal activities. - After the airplane lands, take a brisk walk to get the circulation going again. If possible, get out into the sun. Bright light helps reset the internal rhythm. - Drink lots of water. - Take a steam bath or sauna to get rid of any toxins in your body. - Instead of napping, an early bedtime, close to the local time zone is good. - Keep your regular exercise routine if you can. - If possible, fly during the day instead of at night. It is best to arrive at your destination in the early evening, go for a walk, have a light dinner, and get to bed by 11 pm local time. - Eat a high fiber diet many days before you travel. This can help prevent constipation on a long trip. - Several days before your trip, set a regular routine. Go to bed and wake up at your normal time. Try to get at least 30 extra minutes of extra sleep a night. - The following diet has been modified from the Anti-Jet-Lag Diet at the Argonne National Laboratory. The military has used this diet to prevent jet lag in troops moving around the world. - In general: On days one and three, eat high protein breakfasts and lunches and high carbohydrate vegetable dinners to stimulate the body's active cycle. - On day two and the day of travel, these lighter eating days with decreased calories will use up the liver's store of carbohydrates and prepare the body's clock for resetting. - When you begin your flight, change your watch to the time zone of where you are going. If you are going to Europe and it is midnight at your arrival destination and you are scheduled to arrive early in the morning the next day; try to sleep as soon as you get on the plane. Shut your window shade and sleep. Do not eat. If dinner is being served and you eat, your body will think it is 8 pm again. What you do on a plane should mimic what is being done where you are going. If it is daylight where you are going, turn on the overhead light, read, watch the movie, walk around, and stay active. Eat your meals according to the time it is where you are going. Drink plenty of fluids on the flight. Pressurized airplane cabins are dry and your body will be able to fight jet lag better if you are well hydrated. Sleeping medicine may help you sleep on a long flight. It may also help jet lag symptoms after you arrive at the place you are going. - Drink plenty of water on the flight but only from sealed water bottles. - Eat lightly during the flight, especially when crossing several time zones. Food is harder to digest at high altitudes. - Do not drink alcohol on the airplane. Alcohol will make you more tired and increase fatigue. - Do not drink liquids that have caffeine in them when flying. Sugar and caffeine make it harder for the body to adjust to time changes. Like alcohol, caffeine is a diuretic and causes dehydration on planes because of the low humidity. - Bring fruit, such as oranges, grapefruit, apples, pear, or pineapple with you on your flight. - Use earplugs to shut out noise. - To encourage good blood circulation, walk around the cabin every hour on long flights. Herbs and Supplements: Before taking any herbs or supplements, ask your caregiver if it is OK. Talk to your caregiver about how much you should take. If you are using this medicine without instructions from your caregiver, follow the directions on the label. Do not take more medicine or take it more often than the directions tell you to. The herbs and supplements listed may or may not help treat your condition. - Phototherapy with bright lights in the early morning may decrease jet lag symptoms. Other ways of treating your symptoms : Other ways to treat your symptoms are available to you. Talk to your caregiver if: - You would like medicine to treat jet lag. - Your symptoms have not gone away or improved by these self-help measures. - You have questions about what you have read in this document. You have the right to help plan your care. To help with this plan, you must learn about your health condition and how it may be treated. You can then discuss treatment options with your caregivers. Work with them to decide what care may be used to treat you. You always have the right to refuse treatment. 1. Petrie K, Conaglen JV, Thompson L et al: Effect of melatonin on jet lag after long haul flights. BMJ 1989; 298(6675):705-707. 2. Sasaki M: Jet lag syndrome. Nippon Rinsho 1998;56(2):396-403. Thomson Micromedex. All rights reserved.

Saņem informāciju par jaunajiem Atlants.lv darbiem! Akcija: ZiņotājsPRO uz 6 mēnešiem - bezmaksas!Abonēt bez maksas Transformation: Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead The text Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead (Ragad) written by playwright Tom Stoppard in the 1960s is a transformation of Shakespeare's canonical play Hamlet. Ragad is not merely just a reproduction of Hamlet but it creates an entirely new meaning to Shakespeare's play. Tom Stoppard raises contextual issues, which are evident in his play such as the externalist view of life, the convention and radical theatre; sixteenth century theatre in comparison to Absurd theatre, tragedy and tragi- comedy of the common man, language to elucidate a new meaning that he wishes to communicate. … E-pasta adrese, uz kuru nosūtīt darba saiti: Saite uz darbu:

Saņem informāciju par jaunajiem Atlants.lv darbiem! Akcija: ZiņotājsPRO uz 6 mēnešiem - bezmaksas!Abonēt bez maksas According to J.J.C. Smart, utilitarianism is a theory that all actions are judged by their consequences. The following paper will deal with two forms of utilitarianism: 1) extreme utilitarianism, and 2) restricted utilitarianism. J.J.C. Smart outlines the various aspects of each of these forms of utilitarianism in his paper, Extreme and Restricted Utilitarianism. These aspects will be discussed in the current paper. The differences between the two forms of utilitarianism will also be discussed. Within his paper, J.J.C. Smart poses some very valid challenges towards uti… E-pasta adrese, uz kuru nosūtīt darba saiti: Saite uz darbu:

Saņem informāciju par jaunajiem Atlants.lv darbiem! Akcija: ZiņotājsPRO uz 6 mēnešiem - bezmaksas!Abonēt bez maksas Was the fall of the Habsburg Empire Inevitable. Was the collapse of the Habsburg Empire an inevitable one? Was the downfall of such a once great state actually pre-determined by a culmination of factors? Or was the sole cause of the demise of Austria-Hungary simply a war too great for the empire to sustain (that of the first world war)? These are questions which really can be argued either way. In his article, "The Healthy Invalid: How Doomed the Habsburg Empire?", Joachim Remak maintains the position that in fact it was merely World War one which managed to destroy Austria-Hungary. One of the first of many convincing points put fo… - Islam, The Byzantine Empire, and Germanic Tribes - The importance of tradition Christmas and fall celebration in Latvian culture - Was the fall of the Habsburg Empire Inevitable. E-pasta adrese, uz kuru nosūtīt darba saiti: Saite uz darbu:

COLUMBUS, OH., 16 July, 2012—Battelle has for decades served as an integral resource for developing safety test methods for new vehicle technology. From alternative hydrocarbon and hydrogen fuels to battery hybrid vehicles and crash avoidance technology, engineers at the world’s largest independent research and development organization are developing the test methods that ensure the safety of new technology on all manner of cars, SUVs, trucks and buses. When new technologies are introduced in the marketplace, Battelle engineers help government and industry answer the question: “How do we know they are as safe as or safer than what we currently have?” The latest safety test developments began in 2008, when the United States Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) came calling. Battelle engineers have been crushing and crashing hydrogen fuel containers and vehicles and have been igniting hydrogen in vehicles to more fully understand the safety of hydrogen fuel systems and how to verify their safety in a vehicle crash. By the end of this year, results are expected to confirm that hydrogen fuel containers are incredibly rugged and robust, capable of maintaining structural integrity even in severe crashes and capable of remaining leak tight. Testing was performed at Battelle’s High Energy Research Laboratory in West Jefferson, as well as at vehicle crash facilities in Texas and Ohio. In the other tests, Battelle engineers learned that even very small hydrogen leaks into the interior spaces of a vehicle, can be dangerous. “We found that common assumptions concerning small hydrogen leaks were not correct,” said Denny Stephens, project manager at Battelle. Tests suggest that hydrogen from very small leaks does not disperse evenly; allowing flammable concentrations to form when conventional wisdom suggests it is safe. Fortunately, full scale crash tests of vehicles with hydrogen fuel systems demonstrated that they can remain leak tight. An additional significant finding was the indication that hydrogen permeation appears to increase flammability of interior vehicle fabrics, increasing propensity for secondary fire after hydrogen ignition. Battelle test results suggest that, with appropriate safety testing, hydrogen vehicles can be as safe as conventional vehicles on the road today. The results of testing and analysis by Battelle engineers are being carefully analyzed by NHTSA and global safety regulators as they develop national and international standards for safety of this new and novel technology. As the world’s largest independent research and development organization, Battelle provides innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing needs through its four global businesses: Laboratory Management; National Security; Health and Life Sciences; and Energy, Environment and Material Sciences. It advances scientific discovery and application by conducting $6.2 billion in global R&D annually through contract research, laboratory management and technology commercialization. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle oversees 22,000 employees in more than 130 locations worldwide, including eight national laboratories for which Battelle has a significant management role on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the United Kingdom. Battelle also is one of the nation’s leading charitable trusts focusing on societal and economic impact and actively supporting and promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. For more information contact Katy Delaney at (614) 424-7208 or [email protected], or T.R. Massey at (614) 424-5544 or [email protected].

Nehemiah Defends the Oppressed 1About this time some of the men and their wives raised a cry of protest against their fellow Jews. 2They were saying, “We have such large families. We need more food to survive.” 3Others said, “We have mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and homes to get food during the famine.” 4And others said, “We have had to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay our taxes. 5We belong to the same family as those who are wealthy, and our children are just like theirs. Yet we must sell our children into slavery just to get enough money to live. We have already sold some of our daughters, and we are helpless to do anything about it, for our fields and vineyards are already mortgaged to others.” 6When I heard their complaints, I was very angry. 7After thinking it over, I spoke out against these nobles and officials. I told them, “You are hurting your own relatives by charging interest when they borrow money!” Then I called a public meeting to deal with the problem. 8At the meeting I said to them, “We are doing all we can to redeem our Jewish relatives who have had to sell themselves to pagan foreigners, but you are selling them back into slavery again. How often must we redeem them?” And they had nothing to say in their defense. 9Then I pressed further, “What you are doing is not right! Should you not walk in the fear of our God in order to avoid being mocked by enemy nations? 10I myself, as well as my brothers and my workers, have been lending the people money and grain, but now let us stop this business of charging interest. 11You must restore their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes to them this very day. And repay the interest you charged when you lent them money, grain, new wine, and olive oil.” 12They replied, “We will give back everything and demand nothing more from the people. We will do as you say.” Then I called the priests and made the nobles and officials swear to do what they had promised. 13I shook out the folds of my robe and said, “If you fail to keep your promise, may God shake you like this from your homes and from your property!” The whole assembly responded, “Amen,” and they praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised. 14For the entire twelve years that I was governor of Judah—from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of the reign of King Artaxerxes#5:14 That is, 445–433 b.c.—neither I nor my officials drew on our official food allowance. 15The former governors, in contrast, had laid heavy burdens on the people, demanding a daily ration of food and wine, besides forty pieces#5:15 Hebrew 40 shekels [1 pound or 456 grams]. of silver. Even their assistants took advantage of the people. But because I feared God, I did not act that way. 16I also devoted myself to working on the wall and refused to acquire any land. And I required all my servants to spend time working on the wall. 17I asked for nothing, even though I regularly fed 150 Jewish officials at my table, besides all the visitors from other lands! 18The provisions I paid for each day included one ox, six choice sheep or goats, and a large number of poultry. And every ten days we needed a large supply of all kinds of wine. Yet I refused to claim the governor’s food allowance because the people already carried a heavy burden. 19Remember, O my God, all that I have done for these people, and bless me for it.

4 WAYS TO SHARE Chapter 2: The Injury Mechanism In this chapter: - What causes bisters - the blister injury - Influencing factors - Good friction / bad friction WHAT CAUSES BLISTERS - THE BLISTER INJURY Step 1 Place the tip of your right index finger on the back of your left hand. Step 2 Wobble it back and forth but keep it stuck to the same bit of skin. Notice how your skin stretches? This is shear and this is what causes blisters. Keep wobbling as you read: Shear might look like rubbing but it’s not. Notice how your finger tip has not moved relative to the skin of the back of your hand? But the skin on the back of your hand has moved relative to the underlying bone. Shear is the sliding of tissue layers over one another and it happens internally, below the skin’s surface (whereas rubbing happens on the outer skin surface). It’s that last little bit of shear that is damaging, when there is maximum skin stretch. When shear is excessive and repetitive, blisters form. Here’s the significance of friction – friction is what keeps the tip of your finger stuck to the back of your hand! Shear needs high friction to be able to approach blister-causing levels. The video below shows you what shear looks like at the back of the heel, a common site for blisters. The foot remains stationary in the shoe as the heel bone moves up and down. This causes the soft tissues (skin, fatty tissue, fascia, ligaments etc) between the skin surface and bone to shear (stretch). Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need rubbing to cause blisters.¹² ⁴⁸ ⁷³ This is one of the main misconceptions of blister formation. Rubbing underneath the skin causes blisters, not on top of it! As the bone moves one way, the force of friction keeps the surface of the skin stationary. And the skin in between is made to stretch (shear). When shear is excessive and repetitive, it causes a tear just under the skin surface – the initial blister injury. Then it fills with fluid to become a blister. Rubbing underneath the skin (between skin layers) causes blisters. Rubbing on top of the skin causes the blister to deroof. The “rub” doesn’t cause the blister. Shear is the blister injury. Rubbing (in the presence of high friction) causes further abrasive skin damage. "The injurious effects of friction on the skin and the underlying tissues can be divided into two classes, those without slip [no rubbing] and those with slip [rubbing]. The former may rupture the epidermis and occlude blood and interstitial fluid-flows by stretching or compressing the skin [blisters]. The latter adds an abrasion to this damage [deroofed blisters]." ⁴⁸ To put it simply, if you're trying to prevent blisters, start thinking less about what's rubbing on the skin surface; and more about how you're going to stop the rubbing underneath the skin! The four requirements for blister-causing shear are: - A certain type of skin - High friction and pressure (the coefficient of friction) - Moving bone Friction is the force that resists movement of one object over another. Skin friction is different to other types of friction because skin is a living and compressible tissue and so skin friction has two components: surface adhesion and tissue deformation. The degree to which one predominates over the other depends on the characteristics of the two surfaces and is the subject of debate amongst tribologists. ¹⁰ ¹⁷ ¹⁸ ²² ⁴⁸ ⁶² ⁷⁹ ⁸² ⁸⁴ ⁸⁶ ⁸⁹ ⁹⁵ ¹¹⁴ [This gets a bit technical - if you would like more information, Hendricks and Derler⁸⁹ is a recommended read]. The common expression for frictional behaviour is the coefficient of friction (COF).¹¹⁴ It is a dimensionless number (a ratio) that represents the ‘slipperiness’ or ‘stickiness’ between two surfaces and is defined by the equation: Coefficient of friction = Friction force / Force of contact. The table below gives you an idea of the coefficient of friction of several pairs of materials. There are two different COF values because the friction coefficient will be different when the surfaces are in stationary contact (static) and when they are moving relative to each other (dynamic - think rubbing). Apart from Teflon on Teflon, see how friction is higher when there is no movement! GOOD FRICTION BAD FRICTION Without friction, your foot would slide around too much in your shoe causing injuries to your feet (eg: black toenails, toenails falling off) and making your muscles work harder for balance, propulsion and overall functional efficiency. Your foot requires traction within the shoe and it gets it from friction. This concept of 'not all friction is bad' is a very important one.⁵⁶ ⁷³ ⁸⁸ By design, socks, insoles and shoe linings provide high friction – this is good. Friction only becomes bad when it’s high enough to cause skin injury (and the threshold for injury will be different for each person). And it usually exists in small localized areas, not the whole foot. Friction is a force parallel to the skin surface. It works in the opposite direction to the movement force from the bone. While the bone acts to pull the skin and soft tissue one way, the force of friction resists it, kind of pulling them the other way. Then there are compressive forces that are perpendicular to the skin surface - one from above (body weight) and one from the ground below - that cause pressure. These forces combine to define the shear load borne by the skin and soft tissue (shown below). “Shear forces are applied to the human foot during walking and running because of the mechanics of foot alignment during contact and propulsion. The foot approaches the ground at a tangential angle (not a purely vertical angle) and then pushes off in a similar tangential direction. The foot [bones] must skid to a stop and then push into the ground to propel forward. The skidding will occur in both an anterior-posterior and medial-lateral direction, depending on the activity and demands of the sport.”⁸⁸ - Blisters are an injury of shear. - Shear is the internal parallel stretching of soft tissue between skin and bone. - Friction is necessary for shear to reach blister-causing levels. - You do not need rubbing to cause blisters. Rubbing adds abrasion injury.

Child psychiatry, branch of medicine concerned with the study and treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders of childhood. Child psychiatry has been recognized as a division of the field of psychiatry and neurology since the mid 1920s. By about the mid-1950s, the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology had officially recognized the subspecialty and defined training and certification requirements for it. Subdivisions within the field include infant psychiatry and adolescent psychiatry. Because the child is living through active and critical phases of development, the approach to the diagnosis and treatment of children’s mental and emotional disturbances is necessarily different from that used with adults. Given the personality changes that occur as a child grows, the child psychiatrist must have extensive knowledge of the developmental stages of personality. Although many of the general principles relating to the therapy of adult psychological disorders apply to child psychiatry, a major distinction is that the child psychiatrist must obtain much of the critical information about the child’s behaviour from the adults who have been in frequent or close contact with the child—parents, pediatricians, psychologists, teachers, or social workers. Child psychiatry is primarily concerned with the study and treatment of behavioral disorders and emotional problems that affect children. Emotional maladjustments of children frequently are characterized by anxiety reactions. They may include habit disorders—such as nail-biting, thumb-sucking, bed-wetting, and temper tantrums—and conduct disorders—such as extreme aggressiveness, lying, stealing, destructiveness, fighting, fire setting, cruelty, and running away from home. Among infants, deprivation of mothering or problems in the infant’s relationship with the mother may lead to withdrawn behaviour, continuous crying, inability to eat, insomnia, and physical or mental retardation or both. In the last half of the 20th century, child abuse and neglect came to be seen as significant factors in childhood disorders. As in the treatment of adult patients, psychiatric treatment of children requires determining any genetic, constitutional, or physical factors that contribute to the disturbance. The parent-child relationship must also be assessed for its contribution to the disturbed behaviour. When parental actions are disruptive or disturbing—as, for example, in relationships coloured by alcoholism, hostility, cruelty, neglect, overprotection of the child, or excessive ambitions for and expectations of the child—behavioral disorders are commonly found in the children involved. Neurotic, psychotic, or psychopathic conditions in the parents often contribute to a faulty parent-child relationship. The death or loss of a parent may also have a lasting effect on a child’s emotional growth. Another source of personality problems may be the child’s relationship with brothers and sisters. Child psychiatry often involves some form of family therapy. School experiences also can create personality problems. Many children exhibit conduct and learning disturbances because they are emotionally, temperamentally, or intellectually unable to learn. Children with perceptual difficulties such as dyslexia, for example, may fail to learn to read or to develop reading skills appropriate to their age level. As a consequence, they often become frustrated and anxious over their failure to meet the standards of their family and their classmates. Many therapeutic techniques used with adults are also used with children, in addition to more-specialized methods such as play therapy. In the latter, play activities are used as the primary basis for communication between the child and the psychotherapist. Play activities enable children to express their feelings, thoughts, wishes, and fears more freely and easily than they can through purely verbal communication.

Disparities in tuberculosis (TB) persist among members of racial and ethnic minority populations. In 2015, the majority (87%) of all reported TB cases in the United States (US) occurred in racial and ethnic minorities. Black, non-Hispanic persons, have a disproportionate share of TB in the United States. In 2015, TB was reported in 1,995 black, non-Hispanic persons, nearly 21% of all persons reported with TB nationally. Also in 2015, the rate of TB in black, non-Hispanic persons was 5.0 cases per 100,000 population, which is over 8 times higher than the rate of TB in white, non-Hispanic persons (0.6 cases per 100,000 population). The proportion of TB in black, non-Hispanic persons, is even greater if only US-born (African–American) blacks reported with TB are examined. In 2015, among US-born persons reported with TB, almost 36% were African Americans (black, non-Hispanic). Although rates of TB in both blacks and whites have declined substantially over the past decade, the disparity remains. We must better target our efforts to prevent and control TB in this population. Addressing the TB disparity among African Americans and other US-born racial/ethnic groups is an important priority. - TB in Blacks (Fact Sheet) - Stop TB in the African–American Community Summit - CDC – Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities (OMHD) - CDC - HIV Among African Americans - Disparities in HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STDs, and TB - Southeastern National TB Center's African–American Resources - Page last reviewed: October 27, 2016 - Page last updated: October 27, 2016 - Content source:

Preventing Deaths and Injuries From Excavation Cave-Ins DHHS (NIOSH) Publication Number 85-110 Excavation cave-ins cause serious and often fatal injuries to workers in the United States. An analysis by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of workers' compensation claims for 1976 to 1981 in the Supplementary Data System of the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that excavation cave-ins caused about 1,000 work-related injuries each year. Of these, about 140 result in permanent disability and 75 in death. Thus, this type of incident is a major cause of deaths associated with work in excavations and accounts for nearly 1% of all annual work-related deaths in the nation. As part of the Fatal Accident Circumstances and Epidemiology (FACE) Project of NIOSH, four deaths caused by excavation cave-ins were recently investigated. Synopses of these cases follow: A 53-year-old laborer employed by a city sewer department entered an 11 1/2-foot- deep unshored, vertical-walled, manhole excavation in order to lower and level the area where the manhole foundation was to be set. As he was leaving the excavation after completing this task, one wall collapsed burying him completely and killing him. A 22-year-old laborer was manually digging a dry well and a trench 8 feet deep for a drainage pipe connection. None of the walls of the excavated areas were shored or sloped to a safe angle of repose, i.e., the greatest angle above the horizontal plane at which a material will lie without sliding. As the worker was digging the trench, one wall collapsed covering him with 6 feet of soil and killing him. A 45-year-old construction "lead man" was shoveling loose dirt from the bottom of a 21-foot-deep unshored, vertical-walled excavation to accommodate placement of a fabricated trench shield. Soil began falling from a side wall; as the worker attempted to leave the site, the soil "gave way" entirely covering and killing him. A 32-year-old construction field foreman was standing in an unshored, vertical- walled excavation approximately 7 feet deep. One wall caved in, knocking the foreman down, entirely covering him with soil and killing him. Appropriate Standards and Recommended Work Practices Standards promulgated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) establish specific requirements intended to protect workers in excavations and trenches (29 CFR 1926.651 and .652, respectively). Basically, these standards require that walls and faces of all excavations in which workers are potentially exposed to danger from moving ground be guarded by a shoring system, safe sloping of the ground, or equivalent means of protection such as trench shield or boxes. However, the standards are applicable only to trenches 5 feet or more in depth. A table published in 29 CFR 1926.652 indicates the required horizontal-to- vertical ratio for sloping the sides of excavations as they relate to specific types of soil. These requirements are intended to approximate, for each soil type, the safe angle of repose. The standards also define minimum requirements for shoring of trenches for various classifications of soils. The standards require additional shoring and bracing procedures when excavations or trenches are located adjacent to previously backfilled excavations or where excavations are subjected to vibrations from railroad or highway traffic, the operation of machinery, or other sources. A major issue surrounding existing OSHA standards for excavations, trenching, and shoring is the classification of soils. Soil classification provides an empirical estimation of the soil's stability. If the potential for cave-ins or other dangerous movements of ground is thought to exist, appropriate decisions to provide adequate protection must be reached. Regarding soil classification, however, critics have described the existing standards as vague and confusing and subject to dangerously variable interpretation . Recently, the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) and NIOSH jointly published Development of Draft Construction Safety Standards for Excavations, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 83-103 . This document recommends establishing a requirement to provide protection in excavations 5 feet deep or greater regardless of soil type. It also presents a simplified soil classification system for use in determining appropriate side-sloping requirements and for calculating the lateral soil pressures imposed on shoring systems. Application of Existing Standards and Recommended Work Practices In the fatal incidents described above, none of the excavations were found to incorporate those protective measures specified in applicable OSHA Standards or the joint NBS/NIOSH publication. Table 1 suggests that compliance with existing regulations or adherence to recommended work practices might have prevented important causative circumstances in each of the four fatal incidents. |Relevant OSHA Standards||Status of Compliance by Case| |1. The walls and faces of all excavations in which employees are exposed to danger from moving ground* shall be guarded by a shoring system, sloping of the ground, or some other equivalent means. (29 CFR 1926.651 (c))||No||No||No**||No| |2. Sides of trenches in unstable or soft material,* 5 feet or more in depth, shall be shored, sheeted, braced, sloped, or otherwise supported by means of sufficient strength to protect employees working within them. (29 CFR 1926.652 (b), Tables P-1 and P-2)||No||No||No||No| |3. Excavations (including trenches) adjacent to backfilled areas or subjected to vibrations* from railroads, highway traffic, or operation of machinery shall have additional shoring and bracing precautions taken. (29 CFR 1926.651 (m) and 1926.652 (e))||No||NA||No||No| | Relevant Recommended Work Practices (NBS/NIOSH) 1. Excavations*** from 5 feet to 24 feet**** deep in Type A and Type B soils or 5 feet to 15 feet deep in Type C soil shall either be: provided with a shoring system capable of supporting the lateral soil pressure, cut back to the steepest allowable slope for the type of soil, or a combination of both measures. Stable rock is exempt. (Vibration energies have been taken into consideration in the requirement of shoring systems or sloping.) * Subjective, vague, or unclear as to applicability. [Return to top of table] ** One hydraulic shore was in use on an intersecting trench. [Return to top of table] *** Excavations include trenches; no distinction between them is made as in present OSHA standards. [Return to body of table] **** In all excavations deeper than 24 feet, except those in unfractured rock, an engineer (qualified person) shall determine shoring, shielding, or sloping requirements. [Return to body of table] The principal objective of the investigations undertaken by NIOSH as part of its Fatal Accident Circumstances and Epidemiology (FACE) Project is to determine what factors enabled the fatality to occur. The goal is to learn how such fatalities can be prevented. In this context, whether or not an operation was "in compliance" with existing standards is but one of many variables which may or may not have contributed to the fatality. However, in the course of investigations reported here, it became obvious that full compliance with relevant OSHA standards or application of the NBS/NIOSH recommended work practices would probably have prevented each fatality. As an obvious first step in preventing such fatalities in the future, we conclude that all such operations should be done only in full compliance with existing OSHA standards. Recommendation By NIOSH The consistent absence of evidence of compliance with existing regulations in the four incidents described above suggests that employers are either (1) unaware of the existence of the OSHA standards or (2) misinterpreting the requirements of the standards as regards exemptions based on characteristics of the soil. NIOSH recommends that: - shoring systems or sloping of the walls be used in all excavations 5 to 24 feet deep in any type of soil, except solid, stable rock. - appropriate shoring, shielding, or sloping requirements for all excavations deeper than 24 feet (except those in unfractured rock) be determined by an engineer qualified to make these determinations. - all employers engaged in excavation activities familiarize themselves with the provisions of the NBS/NIOSH document (Development of Draft Construction Safety Standards for Excavation) and implement them as safe work practices in addition to compliance with the existing OSHA standards. We urge safety and trade associations, underground utility companies, municipalities and other local governments responsible for underground utility services, as well as state OSHA consultative services to bring these recommendations to the attention of employers engaged in excavations. Suggestions, requests for additional information on safe work practices, or questions related to this announcement should be directed to Mr. John Moran, Director, Division of Safety Research, 944 Chestnut Ridge Road, Morgantown, WV 26505, Telephone (304) 291-4595. Thank your for your help in protecting the lives and health of America's workers. J. Donald Millar, M.D., D.T.P.H (Lond.) Assistant Surgeon General Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Centers for Disease Control - Injury and fatality data for 1976-1981. [Unpublished data from U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Supplementary Data System]. - Hinze J. A study of work practices employed to protect workers in trenches, NBSIR No. 79-1942. National Bureau of Standards, December 1979; NTIS PB 80-167- 497. - Development of draft construction safety standards for excavations. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health/National Bureau of Standards, NBSIR 83-2693, DHHS (NIOSH) publication no. 83-103, vols 1 and 2. NTIS PB 84-100-569 (Vol. I) and NTIS PB 83-233-353 (Vol. II). - Page last reviewed: June 6, 2014 - Page last updated: April 12, 2017 - Content source: - National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Education and Information Division

One time only set of activities with a definite beginning and ending point in time. Task of getting the activities done on time within budget and according to specifications. A project is a one time only set of activities with a definite beginning and ending point. Projects vary in size and scope, from a NASA space shuttle launch to a wedding. Project management is the task of getting the activities done on time, within budget and according to specifications. Project management has actually been around for a long time in industries such as construction and movie making, but now it has expanded into almost every type of business. What explains the growing popularity of project management? It fits well with a dynamic environment and the need for flexibility and rapid response. Organizations are increasingly undertaking projects that are somewhat unusual or unique have specific deadlines, contain complex interrelated tasks requiring specialized skills, and are temporary in nature. These types of projects don’t lend themselves well to the standardized operating procedure that guides routine and continuous organizational activities. In the typical project, team members are temporarily assigned to and report to a project manager who coordinates the project’s activities with other departments and reports directly to a senior executive. The project is temporary: It exists only long enough to complete its specific objectives. Then it’s wound down and closed up., members move on to other projects return to their permanent departments or leaves the organization. What are some popular scheduling Tools? If you where to observe a group of supervisors or department managers for a few days you would se them regularly detailing what activities have to be done the order in which they are to be done, who is to do each and when they are to be completed. The managers are doing what we call scheduling. The following discussion reviews some useful scheduling devices. How do you use a Gantt chart? The Gantt chart is a planning tool developed around the turn of the century by Henry Gantt. The idea behind the Gantt chart is relatively simple. It is essentially a bar graph with time on the horizontal axis and the activities to be scheduled on the vertical axis. The bars show output, both planned and actual, over a period of time. The Gantt chart visually shows when tasks are supposed to be done and compares the assigned date with the actual progress on each. This simple but important device allows mangers to detail easily what has yet to be done to complete a job or project an to assess whether it is ahead of behind, or in schedule. Exhibit shows a Gantt chart that was developed for book production by a manager in a publishing firm. Time is expressed in months across the top of the chart. Major activities are listed down the left side. The planning comes in deciding what activities need to be done to get the book finished the order in which those activities need to be done, and the time that should be allocated to each activity. The green shading represents actual progress made in completing each activity. A Gantt chart, then, actually becomes a managerial control device as the manager looks for deviations from the plan. In this case, most activities were completed on time. However, if you look at the print galley proofs activity you will notice that it actually took two weeks longer than planned to do this. Given this information the manager might want to take some corrective action – either to make up the lost weeks or to ensure that no further delays will occur. At this point the manager can expect that the book will be published at least two weeks late if no corrective action is taken. A modified version of the Gantt chart is load chart. Instead of listing activities on the vertical axis, load charts list either whole departments or specific resources. This information allows mangers to plan and control for capacity utilization. In other words load charts schedule capacity by workstations.

Russian vs. U.S. Human Rights The pot calls the kettle black. —Cervantes, Don Quixote de la Mancha The magic number is 18. That is the number each country has selected to express its disapproval of the actions of the other. Vladimir Putin said of the United States’ action: “This, of course, poisons our relationship with the United States.” What he’s talking about is the infamous case of Sergei Magnitsky and the United States’ response to his imprisonment and death. Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian accountant and auditor who, while working at the Moscow law firm of Firestone Duncan, was investigating an alleged $230 million tax fraud in Russia that implicated tax officials and police officers. In response to his investigation Sergei was arrested in November 2008 because of allegations that he himself had colluded with a client of the firm to commit tax fraud. Under Russian law he could be held for one year without facing trial and on November 16, 2009, eight days short of one year, he died in prison. Reports suggest that during his incarceration he was placed in increasingly small spaces of confinement, denied medical care and denied contact with family members. Suffering from untreated pancreitis he ultimately died because of acute heart failure and toxic shock. The United States Congress was outraged by Mr. Magnitsky’s treatment. On June 12, 2012, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed what was called in part the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012” and on December 14, 2012, it was signed by President Obama. It had nothing to do with the rule of law as it pertained to the prisoners indefinitely detained in Guantanamo, the torturing of prisoners in U.S. custody, nor did it have anything to do with the fact that Mr. Magnitsky was held in prison for 8 days less than one year without being brought to trial. Its stated purpose was simply to punish 18 Russian officials the Congress thought were responsible for Mr. Magnitsky’s treatment. It prohibited them from entering the United States and froze their banking assets within the United States. In response to the Magnitsky act, Russia took a number of steps, the most recent of which was to ban 18 Americans from entering Russia. Those banned by the Russians include Americans the Russians believe were involved in human rights violations and others who have violated the “human rights and freedoms of Russian citizens abroad” by prosecuting those citizens. The Russians are supported in their belief that the United States was involved in human rights violations by the Constitution Project Study% that was released on April 16, 2013. In the Study’s opening statement it says “[T]he most important or notable finding of this panel is that it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture. . . . [T]his conclusion is grounded in a thorough and detailed examination of what constitutes torture in many contexts, notable, historical and legal.” ” Two people included in the Russian ban are John Yoo who was a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice who drafted memoranda justifying torture. Another is David Addington, legal counsel and chief of staff to then vice-president, Dick Cheney. He, too, supported enhanced interrogation techniques that the Study concluded were torture. The Russians may have thought those people were as bad as Mr. Magnitsky’s handlers. They may also have thought that keeping Mr. Magnitsky in jail for less than a year was much less worse than what the U.S. has done to prisoners at Guantanamo. If they thought that, they were right. On April 15, 2013 an op-ed piece written by Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel, a Guantanamo detainee, was published in the New York Times describing his treatment. Like Mr. Magnitsky, Samir has been neither charged with a crime nor tried. Unlike Mr. Magnitsky, he was not entitled to be released after being imprisoned for one year. He has been at Guantanamo for 11 years and 3 months and there is no end in sight. Unlike Mr. Magnitsky he has not been refused appropriate medical care. Indeed, on March 15, 2013 he was in the prison hospital because he was ill. Prior to being admitted to the hospital and up to the present, he was on a hunger strike. The hospital personnel did not think that a hunger strike was good for him. In response to his refusal to eat while in the hospital “eight military police officers in riot gear, burst in. They tied my hands and feet to the bed. They forcibly inserted an IV into my hand. I spent 26 hours in this state, tied to the bed. During this time I was not permitted to go to the toilet. They inserted a catheter, which was painful, degrading and unnecessary. I was not even permitted to pray. . . . I am still being force-fed. Two times a day they tie me to a chair in my cell. My arms, legs and head are strapped down. I never know when they will come. . . . ” The Russians do not understand that by torturing people and detaining people indefinitely our government believes it is doing good things because it is protecting the world from bad things except, of course, the bad things it is doing. If the Russians find that hard to understand, they are not alone.

Acoustic Beam Simulation Definition - What does Acoustic Beam Simulation mean? An acoustic beam simulation makes use of ultrasonic beams that are used in a phased array (PA) ultrasonic, which is considered to be an advanced method of ultrasonic testing. This method is better at finding flaws in manufactured materials such as welds. The acoustic beam simulation mimics how the ultrasonic beam in a PA probe can be focused and swept electronically without moving the probe and how the beam is controlled in a real world scenario. A phased array probe is made up of multiple small elements, each of which can be pulsed individually at a computer-calculated timing. This technology finds applications in the field of medical science and non-destructive testing. Corrosionpedia explains Acoustic Beam Simulation Acoustic beam simulation is the imitation of a real-world process or system using acoustic ultrasonic beams with phased array technology. In the real world, the ultrasonic beams are controlled through a computer based software program using the phased array (PA) technology that controls the acoustic characteristics such as the refracted angle, focal distance and aperture without moving the probe. When compared to conventional ultrasonic testing (UT) methods, this technology opens a series of new possibilities such as: - Multiple refracted angles and focal distances can be generated simultaneously by a single search unit. - Ultrasonic beams can be electronically moved over the length of the PA probe without any mechanical movement. - The probability of detection can be increased by using multiple ultrasonic beams. - Automated or semi-automated inspection methods can be implemented more efficiently.

Are you good at handling and understanding large amounts of data? Do you have excellent reading and analytical skills? Then a career in Information and Data Analysis could be the right choice for you! This sector is one of the fastest growing sectors across the country, with large companies constantly looking for bright students to learn, apply and develop their analytical skills through internships, apprenticeships and graduate schemes. Professionals working in this sector range from Student Advisers, Content Writers and Librarians to Statisticians, Information Scientists and Data Analysts. As the name suggests, this sector is divided into two key areas: Those working in this area of the sector tend to focus on finding, retrieving, accessing, compiling and or utilising information-based resources such as books, magazines, journals, websites, etc. Professionals working in this area tend to be in advisory or customer-facing job roles such as Librarians or Careers Advisors. Therefore, to succeed in informing roles it is essential that you have excellent communication skills on all levels. 2) Data Analysis Those who work within this area of the sector are often known as Data Analysts. These roles can be extremely broad, especially those who are working for large companies. Data analysts in corporations may be presented with varying forms of data from across the company which they are then expected to analyse and present the outcomes to their superiors accordingly. Often, data analysis involves using highly sophisticated software and spreadsheets, especially when large amounts of data need to be processed. Having technical confidence is thus a huge bonus in this profession. As well as working for large international companies; professionals may also be hired by government bodies to collect national information focussed on crime rates, health statistics or the nature of the economy. This role is very much based on report writing, so excellent written skills are crucial. Sometimes you may be required by your manager to create presentations based upon your findings; being a comfortable public speaker is beneficial. Because of the highly transferable skills involved in data analysis (such as writing reports, creating presentations, analysing data), professionals could also broaden their work in areas including HR, Market Data and Internal Systems. Some of the duties in this area of the sector include: The main aim of this role is to ultimately provide up to date, accurate and relevant data analysis for the company in which the individual works for; this data is often used for things such as tracking employer or customer satisfaction, or incorporation into marketing schemes. Those wishing to enter through a trainee programme or an apprenticeship will be expected to have 5 GCSEs grades A-C; some employers may also request A-levels. Internships are also available within this sector as part of a sandwich year at university, along with an application for a graduate scheme, candidates wishing to apply for this will need to have a degree or working towards a degree in any of the following subjects: Employers often accept no less than a 2:1 degree classification and will sometimes consider other degree subjects as long as a candidate has some relevant work experience. Individuals working within this sector receive a good salary with an entry-level salary starting between £18,000 and £25,000. With experience this could increase to and in excess of £40,000. Figures are intended as a guideline only. Salaries may differ depending on what sector they wish to work in and studies have shown that the salary is significantly higher within the finance department and those working in large cities such as London. With information being at the heart of every company, there is an increasing demand for information and data analysis services required by businesses and enterprises of all sizes. This sector is one of the fastest growing and rapidly-changing industries, heavily affected by evolving technology. The industry is expected to continue with its upward trend in the years ahead.

If we look at Chapter Twelve, which is when Maniac Magee finds his first more stable "home" compared to the shed in the park, we can see that Manic Magee defines home as being an address that is recognised in the eyes of the world. Note the way that he is unable to go to sleep in the Beale's house until he has performed one very important operation: Before maniac could go to sleep, however, there was somethign he had to do. He flipped off the covers and went downstairs. Before the puzzled faces of Mr. and Mrs. Beale, he opened th front door and looked at the three cast-iron digits nailed to the door frame: seven two eight. He kept staring at them, smiling. Then he closed the door, said a cheerful "Goodnight," and went back to bed. Maniac Magee finally had an address. For a boy so used to instability and having moved around so much, we can see the importance of an address and the way that it symbolises a fixed abode and stands in opposition to his itinerant lifestyle. However, if we look at the final chapter, when Maniac Magee is sleeping, in all places, in a buffalo enclosure, when Amanda drags Maniac Magee back to his home, we can see that home to him means something much more important. It is somewhere where he belongs and is loved and is accepted without question.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, in Act Two, scene two, Claudius receives a report from Voltemand, who has traveled to speak to Norway's present and aging king about Young Fortinbras' aggression toward Denmark. The Norwegian king's message informs Claudius that the aging monarch had no idea that his nephew, Fortinbras, had been causing Denmark any trouble. Old Norway notes that he believed that Fortinbras had been waging war against Poland. But better look'd into, he truly found It was against your Highness; whereat griev'd, That so his sickness, age, and impotence Was falsely borne in hand, sends out arrests On Fortinbras; which he, in brief, obeys, Receives rebuke from Norway, and, in fine, Makes vow before his uncle never more To give the assay of arms against your Majesty. (68-75) Upon further investigation, Old Norway discovered that his nephew had—in reality—been seeking vengeance against Denmark because of his father's death at the hands of Old Hamlet. (Old Fortinbras had challenged Old Hamlet in battle, and in losing, forfeited not only his life, but also his lands, I.i.93-102.) In truth, news about Norway's health and incapacitation were untrue, and when he learned about what his nephew had been up to, he had Fortinbras arrested. Fortinbras, obedient to the position of authority his uncle held over him, apologized for his actions and promised to put aside his attempt to avenge his father's death and take back the lands his father lost to Denmark in that battle. Norway was so pleased that he rewarded his nephew with a large sum of money. Fortinbras was, at that moment, preparing to attack Poland, and Voltemand had brought a request from Norway's king for permission to cross Danish land for his attack. It is interesting to note that Fortinbras is often seen as a foil for Hamlet. A foil is “a character that serves by contrast to highlight or emphasize opposing traits in another character.” Both have lost fathers, both are loving and loyal sons, and each has watched his uncle take the vacated throne. However, the situations are entirely different in that Old Fortinbras did not die by questionable circumstances, as Old Hamlet did. (Old Hamlet was challenged to fight by Old Fortinbras, and everything that Old Fortinbras lost and Old Hamlet won was handled honorably by a written agreement.) Norway is able to ask his nephew to desist in his attempts to equal the score with Denmark; Fortinbras agrees to obey his uncle who came to the throne rightly. On the other hand, Hamlet is unable to do what his uncle has asked because Claudius murdered his father, and Hamlet's father has asked him to avenge Old Hamlet’s "foul and most unnatural murder" (I.v.29). By comparing these two princes, we can better understand how difficult Hamlet's position is, and how untenable Claudius' actions were to Hamlet. The current prince of Norway is Fortinbras whose father was killed by Hamlet's father. The bedridden king of Norway is Fortinbras's uncle who sends Voltemand and Cornelius, ambassadors of Norway, to Denmark in order to stop concern of war. The uncle says through the ambassadors that he discovered that the prince of Norway was planning to attack Denmark, but he had him arrested. Then, the uncle turned the prince Fortinbras's "aggression" away from Denmark and onto Polland. Then, the king of Norway asks that their armies be given passage through Denmark to reach Polland. They also send three thousand crowns as an annual tribute to Denmark which should smooth relations over a bit. Claudius says that he'll consider it and gracefully supplies the ambassadors room and shelter before a feast.

Carpentry 1 - Solid Wood Products & Joinery Home > Preview The flashcards below were created by user on FreezingBlue Flashcards. Moisture and nutrients are transported upward from the roots to the branches and leaves where food is manufactured though the ________. A thin layer just inside the inner bark where all the new growth occurs, is called the _____. One annual ring is composed of one layer of light _______ and one layer of dark ________. As the tree grows and new layers of wood are added, the one closest to the center of the tree undergoes a change. The wood cells in the ____ cease to conduct sap and become darker in color from the infiltration of gum, resin, oils and tannin. Wood cells are very fine and about the same diameter as a human hair. The walls of the tubes are largely made of ______. These tubes or cells are cemented together with a material called ______. Cells that are horizontal and radiate out from the pith area are called _______. Hardwoods are cut from ______ trees that lose their leaves in the fall. Softwoods are cut from ______ trees. coniferous (needle bearing evergreen trees) An example of a soft hardwood is ______. Pine is an example of a _______. A hardwood, used for tool handles because of its strength and durability is ______. A softwood primarily used for making shingles is _______. western red cedar A sawing method used to produce mostly edge grain board is called _______. True or false: Quarter sawn lumber is less likely to warp than flat sawn lumber. Does the strength of wood increase or decrease as moisture content decreases? The moisture content for framing lumber should be between ____ % and ____%. The term ______ _____ ______ refers to when the cell cavities are free from moisture but the cell walls are saturated with moisture. Fibre saturation point Shrinkage along the annual rings is about _____ times as many as the shrinkage across the annual rings. What does the abbreviation: S-DRY on a grade stamp mean? lumber that has been dried to a moisture content NOT exceeding 19 percent when it is surfaced. What is a circular crack or separation of the grain surrounding the pith called? What is the bark that remains on the edge of lumbar? Where is a spike knot usually found? On vertical grain lumber What is lumber called when it has saw cuts still visible on a dressed surface? A bend in the length of wood that appears to a heavily loaded plank on a scaffold is called _____. A defect that causes the cross-section shape of a piece of wood to become out of square because of uneven shrinkage is called ______. What is the best grade of hard wood called? What does the abbreviation S4S on hardwood mean? Surfaced on 4 sides What is a section of wood that is 140mm thick and 140 mm wide called? How thick is eight quarter stock hardwood? How many board feet is a 2" x 8" lumber that is 12 feet long? 96 board feet What is a moulding used to protect wall corners from abuse? What is a moulding that is installed horizontally along the wall to protect it from damage from the backs of furniture? What depth are Rabbet joints usually cut to? 2/3 thickness of the material What is a joint that utilizes a narrow strip of plywood or hardboard recessed into the edges or ends? What is a joint that has almost replaced the use of dadoes? What is a joint used for drawers that is considered a sign of the best quality craftsmanship? What is a joint that has been traditionally used on furniture frames? Blind mortise and tenon joint What is a joint commonly used for baseboards where one piece is shaped to fit the profile of the other piece? What are the 5 main parts of a tree? - 1. bark - 2. cambium layer - 3. sapwood - 4. heartwood - 5. pith What are the 3 classifications of how lumber surfaces are finished? - 1. rough - 2. surfaced (planed) - 3. worked (shaped into molding) How long may the drying period of wood take? 3 months to more than a year Explain the 3 steps of how kiln drying works. - 1. Steam on low heat - 2. Reduce humidity - 3. Raise temperature in kiln What can happen if kiln drying is done too fast? Wood splits - cause serious checking How does a moisture metre work? Measuring the electrical resistance of an electrical current flow through the wood. How does wood shrink? - Shrinks very little along its length. - Shrinkage across the face is very noticeable (width) - Shrinks in thickness, but less with quarter sawn When should wood be pressure treated? When moisture content will remain high (e.g. porches/deck) What should the moisture content be for interior finishing? What does MC 15 mean? Dried to a moisture content of 15% or less when it is surfaced What does S-GRN mean? - Surfaced or machined when moisture content is 19% or higher (green) - --Machined larger than actual required size to allow for shrinkage What is the 3 characteristics that effect the grading of lumber? - 1. Natural flaws (knot, pitch, grain) - 2. Manufacturing flaws (trimming, knife burns, chipping) - 3. Seasoning flaws caused by drying (splits, checks, cupping, twisting) What is shake? Lengthwise separation of the wood along the annual rings that develops in the standing tree What are the 3 kinds of knots? What causes dog holes? Sharp handling tools that are either used by loggers or log-handlers at the mill. What is a crook? A deviation from straight in the edge from end to end. What does FAS grade stand for? First and Seconds -- usually 80-90% clear on the poorer of the 2 faces What are the 3 grades of hardwoods? - 1. FAS - 2. Select - 3. No. 1 common - (in order of best to worst) How is a board classified? Any construction lumber under 1 1/2 inches thick. How is dimension lumber classified? - 1 1/2" to 4 1/2" thick - 1 1/2" width What is a timber classified as? 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" or more What does nominal size mean? Rough cut size, before surfacing What does MBF stand for? Thousand board feet What would you like to do? Home > Flashcards > Print Preview

A bout of food poisoning is no fun! It is literally quite wretched. At minimum it can result in diarrhea and vomiting and sometimes can require a hospital stay to replenish the body of fluids through an IV. Although harmful all year round – food can go bad and grow bacteria – it is especially an issue in the summer when temperatures are high and people are neglectful about food that has been left out. While all people are at risk for food poisoning, as with so many things, the young, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems get hit the hardest. That is the bad news. The good news is that food poisoning is preventable, which means you needn’t cancel your barbeques and summertime parties. Storing in the Fridge Before your big day behind the grill, make sure you are properly storing your meats in your refrigerator. Meats should be properly covered, preferably in zip-lock bags and kept on a metal tray on the bottom-most shelf of the fridge. All other foods should be stored on other shelves. This avoids cross-contamination. Cook your Food Thoroughly Who doesn’t love to barbeque meats and in particular hot dogs and hamburgers? Dripping with mustard and ketchup, loaded with onions and your mother’s secret homemade barbeque sauce, nothing says barbeque quite like meat. Most people take great care to ensure meat is cooked properly in their ovens or on their stoves, but sometimes even the master barbequer can turn out meat that is just a little underdone. If the juice coming off your meat is pink – or worse – red, it hasn’t been cooked sufficiently and bacteria could be lurking at every bite. If you have any doubts, use the same thermometer when cooking indoors. Your Chopping Block When handling raw meat, and in particular chicken and other poultry, never cut it up on a chopping board and then neglect to wash it before chopping other non-meat foods. At every turn, you need to avoid cross contamination. This means not using the same cooking utensils that are being used for the barbequed ribs and chicken breasts that you use for your ready to eat foods that just need warming up. At Your Barbeque Don’t get so busy that you leave food out for too long. All food, even cooked, can grow bacteria. Meats, salads, especially those with mayonnaise, can spoil quickly when left in the hot sun. If it’s become clear that people are finished eating, put food in the refrigerator. It’s easier to pull it back out and warm it up than it is to have to stop your party because someone has retreated to the restroom and is vomiting ceaselessly. This can put a damper on any barbeque and quickly become emergent. Barbeques are great fun! Who doesn’t love them and they are the hallmark of summer. Don’t put your plans to have them on hold, just practice a few smart tips and yours will be memorable for all the right reasons. The Health Local Staff is a team of writers and experts dedicated to bringing you the latest health, nutrition and lifestyle information at www.healthlocal.ca.

What is a severe allergic reaction to a food? An allergic reaction occurs when a person’s immune system treats a protein (an allergen) in a food as harmful. Some children with food allergy are at risk of having a severe allergic reaction. A severe allergic reaction is very serious. It is also called anaphylaxis (an-nah-fil-axe-is). It often happens quickly and can cause death if not treated. If you are not sure whether your child is at risk of a severe allergic reaction, ask your child’s health care provider. Children and teens at risk of a severe allergic reaction should also see a pediatric allergist. If your child is at risk, ask your child’s health care provider to write an Anaphylaxis Emergency Plan that explains what to do in case of an allergic reaction. To get a blank copy of an Anaphylaxis Emergency Plan, visit Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology http://csaci.ca/patient-school-resources/. What are the symptoms of a severe allergic reaction? Symptoms of a severe allergic reaction can start within minutes of eating or being exposed to a food but usually occur within 2 hours. Do not ignore early symptoms. When a reaction begins, it is important to respond right away. Symptoms can vary from person to person. The same person may have different symptoms each time and include any of the following: - Skin: hives, swelling (including of the throat, tongue, lips or face), itching, warmth, redness, rash, pale or blue coloured skin - Breathing: coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, chest pain or tightness, throat tightness, hoarse voice, nasal congestion or hay fever-like symptoms (such as runny, itchy nose, watery eyes and sneezing), trouble swallowing - Stomach: vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain or diarrhea. - Heart: weak pulse, feeling faint, dizzy or lightheaded, passing out - Other: anxiety, headache, metallic taste, or uterine cramps in teenage girls A severe reaction can take place without hives. Children and teens that have asthma are at increased risk of breathing difficulties during a severe allergic reaction. If your child has asthma, make sure it is well controlled. For more information, visit About Kids Health www.aboutkidshealth.ca/En/ResourceCentres/Asthma/ControllingYourChildsAsthma/Pages/default.aspx. How is a severe allergic reaction treated? When a severe allergic reaction begins, it is important to respond right away. Do not wait. Treat it with the medication called epinephrine (eh-puh-NEH-fren). Epinephrine will not cause harm to your child if it is given unnecessarily. Epinephrine comes in a pre-loaded syringe called an auto-injector. Epinephrine helps reverse the symptoms of the allergic reaction and can save your child’s life. |Steps for treating a severe allergic reaction: The above section has been adapted from: Anaphylaxis in Schools and Other Settings, Copyright 2005-2015 Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. What can I do to help my child with a severe food allergy stay safe? Consider having your child wear a MedicAlert® bracelet. Help your child avoid their food allergens. Eating even a very small amount can trigger a severe allergic reaction. - Learn how to recognize your child’s food allergens on food labels. For information, visit Canadian Food Inspection Agency www.inspection.gc.ca/food/information-for-consumers/fact-sheets/food-allergies/eng/1332442914456/1332442980290. - Encourage everyone to wash their hands before and after eating. Help young children to wash their hands. - Wash kitchen equipment and surfaces before preparing foods. Use clean dishes and utensils each time you serve a different food and clean all eating surfaces well after meals and snacks. How can I prepare my child goes for school or child care? - Give child care staff a copy of your child's Anaphylaxis Emergency Plan. - Provide written consent for staff to give your child epinephrine when needed. Do not sign anything that releases the facility of responsibility if epinephrine is not given. - Give staff an epinephrine auto-injector for your child. Ask that it be kept in a secure, unlocked place that is easy to access. Provide a new one before the expiry date. - Epinephrine auto-injectors are prescribed based on body weight. As your child grows, check with your child’s health care provider to ensure you have the correct epinephrine auto-injector for their weight. For more information visit Canadian Paediatric Society www.cps.ca/documents/position/emergency-treatment-anaphylaxis. - Update staff on your child’s Anaphylaxis Emergency Plan as food allergies change. As your child matures, they can learn to take some responsibility for their safety. When your child is ready, teach them: - To carry their own epinephrine auto-injector. Most can do this by 6 or 7 years of age. It should not be kept in a school locker. - How to give themselves epinephrine. - How to avoid their food allergens. When your child is very young you can teach them to talk to you before accepting food from others. - To avoid sharing eating utensils and napkins. - To avoid putting objects, such as pencils, in their mouth. - To tell someone if they think they are having an allergic reaction. To tell their friends about their food allergy and where they keep their epinephrine auto-injector. For More Information If you have questions about food allergies, call 8-1-1 to speak with a registered dietitian. For more information about understanding and managing anaphylaxis, visit: - Food Allergy Canada www.foodallergycanada.ca - HealthLinkBC File #100c Allergy Safe Child Care Facilities

Very few plants can withstand constantly soggy soil conditions. In fact, in most cases, plant roots that remain in soggy soil will start to rot which is appropriately called "root rot." As the roots decay, they turn brown and slimy and can no longer absorb nutrients for the plant. Although your plant may look like a goner, you can reverse the root rot by watering the sick plant with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide. Stop watering the plant and wait until the soil dries out completely to the touch. If the plant is potted, place it in front of a fan or move it outdoors to speed the drying process. Fill a pitcher with a mixture of 1 qt. of water and 1 oz. of hydrogen peroxide. Stir the mixture up with a spoon to combine. Water the soil under the plant with the hydrogen peroxide solution until the soil is damp to the touch, but not soggy. Allow the soil to dry out to a 1- to 2-inch depth before adding more of the hydrogen peroxide water. Continue using the hydrogen peroxide water for as long as needed until the root rot goes away.

In previous years, if one were to consider the range of mobility aids available for the disabled, there would be little more to the list than wheelchairs and sticks. However, in the last decade there has been a boom in the market for disability aids, with many of these products not necessarily facilitating the mobility of a patient, but encouraging increased levels of mobility with novel uses of technology, especially focusing on safety as a major issue. Take for example, aids for the visually impaired to increase mobility. There are a variety of devices, which use an interesting range of technologies. There are mainly devices that detect obstacles in the path of the user, and alert the user to the obstruction. The user may be altered by a noise, either a voice imitation, or a beeping, or more favourably by vibration. Obstacle detectors use the principle that objects will deflect wave signals. Ultrasonic or laser light normal are used as wave source, because their shorter wavelengths mean that even small objects are detectable. When a wave hits an object, the wave is reflected and the detector will measure the time it takes to receive the reflection or echo. The distance to the object can be calculated by multiplying the known speed of the wave, with the measured time lapse. The signals sent to the user get stronger or more frequent as they approach the object. With an audio device, the beeping may get higher in pitch, louder or more frequent, while a vibrating device may increase the intensity or frequency of the vibrations. Some devices are built into mobility devices, such as a walking cane, whilst others will offer greater flexibility to the user, by being a separate unit. This means that the unit can be attached to anything from a wheel chair to a walking stick. However, these devices are not infallible. Objects with a soft surface will appear further away than they actually are, or be detected after a hard surface at the same distance. This is because the hard surface will reflect almost the entire wave, meaning that the echo is strong, whilst a soft surface will absorb a large portion of the wave, meaning that the signal received by the detector is much weaker. Another major problem, and a reason that these devices should be used in conjunction with a walking cane or similar aid, is that laser light will pass straight through glass. This means that it is effectively invisible to the detector and could prove to be very dangerous for a person with reduced visual capabilities. In a technologically advancing era, there are also a number of considerations which have to be made about possible sources of interference with the waves used for detection. The latest advance in aids for the visually impaired uses extensive bowed sonar waves, to assess the position of objects, relative to each other. After training, users are able to recognise a shape and position or an object, by the intensity and pitch of a sound played to them via an earpiece. This has been termed “seeing through sound”. These products may provide a solution for many disabled people. However, many problems are not that easily solved, and in these cases there are charitable organisations which can help to deliver solutions. One such charity is the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering, BIME. The charity has around 20 permanent staff, some of who are mechanical engineers, others electrical engineers and some who are support staff, and boasts mechanical and electrical engineering workshops. The charity receives between 50 and 100 requests each year from patients of clinicians, presenting either a problem or an idea. The initial contact with the charity is through an occupational therapist, who can help to clarify the problem or idea. In many cases there is already a product on the market that can be used, which the patient or clinician may not have been aware of. If there are no suitable products already available, BIME will conduct a feasibility study to assess if a product can be developed for a reasonable price. The possibly end-user base is also assessed at this point. If the potential for the product is positive, BIME will go on to develop a solution. However, if the charity feels that there is little call for the product, they will refer the patient or clinician in question, to one of a group of companies called the “Demand Forum”, who can offer one-off, bespoke solutions, to patient’s problems. Funding may come from research councils, commercial donors or endowment trusts. In the event that the charity cannot get financial funding, they have a reserve from which they may themselves fund a project if BIME feels it should definitely go ahead. If BIME takes on the development project, it may decide that it does not have the capabilities to market and distribute the products, in which case an alliance with another company will be formed. In some cases, BIME may not be able to manufacture a product. In these cases, partnerships with manufacturing companies will be formed. Of the requests received each year, just over 20 will evoke the development of a new product by BIME. For further information please contact: +44 (0) 207 915 7856

The largest uninhabited island in the world is a cold, empty, bleak place. It's a perfect spot, perhaps, if you're a muskox. Or hellbent on getting to Mars. Otherwise, Devon Island, in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago west of Greenland, remains uninhabited for a reason. It is a barren 21,000-plus square miles of rock and ice that is so unsuitable for living that the indigenous people of the island, the Inuit, left there for good in the 1930s. By the 1950s, Devon was completely abandoned. Now, it serves as a stop-by for all sorts of big dreamers and big thinkers who take samples of its mostly lifeless surface, run simulations, conduct tests and trudge around the 14-mile wide, 39 million-year-old Haughton impact crater on so-called "Mars walks" — all in preparation, they hope, for something much bigger to come. So if you know the difference between Kirk and Picard, if you go to bed with visions of the Red Planet in your head, if you can't wait for Matt Damon in "The Martian" (coming in October!), have we got a place for you. Mars on Earth Devon Island's patterned grooves bare a passing resemblance to Mars's surface. (Photo: Anthonares/Wikimedia Commons) Scientists call Devon Island a Mars "analog," which in layman's terms is a place that is as close as we're going to get to Mars. Sure, the air quality is a little better in northern Canada than it is on the fourth planet from the sun, mainly because there is air to breathe. On Mars, there's less gravity, too. It's colder — much, much colder — and dustier. A year lasts almost 700 days there. Those muskox and the occasional polar bear you run into on Devon Island? You won't find those on Mars, either. (That we know of.) But Mars is 140 million miles away. You kind of have to take what you can get. "The surface of Devon Island has been carved by a multitude of small valley networks that bear an uncanny resemblance, including in their bizarreness, to the many small valley networks on Mars," Pascal Lee of the SETI Institute, wrote in Ad Astra, the magazine of the National Space Society. "There are many other features on Devon Island with eerily similar counterparts on Mars, including vast canyons and small gullies. In the end, it is perhaps not any single parallel that should impress, but the convergence of so many in a single small area of our planet." The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station is a simulated Mars habitat that was erected on Devon Island in 2000. (Photo: Brian Shiro/Wikimedia Commons) Since 2000, The Mars Society — an international nonprofit promoting the exploration and settlement of Mars — has run a research station on Devon called the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS), a two-floor "pod" that was designed to fit inside a rocket. Another station on Devon is the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP), which is partially funded by NASA. It’s been there since 1997. To be sure, Devon Island is not the only place that is being used in Mars simulations. The Mars Society also has an outpost in the high desert of Utah. The society’s branch in Mexico announced in May that it will build a research station in the mountain desert region near Perote in the southeastern state of Veracruz. Mars Society-Australia is looking into sites Down Under, and a chapter in Europe is planning one somewhere in Europe. But the polar desert of Devon Island is in the forefront of the science. If man really is going to Mars, the trip may begin right there. In mid-August, NASA tested its latest super-engine, the RS-25, designed for the Space Launch System Rocket on the Orion spacecraft. That same week, The Mars Society held its 18th annual international convention, at Catholic University of American in Washington, D.C. There, a spirited debate was had between a team from MIT and the controversial Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, who founded Mars One in 2011 with the idea of colonizing the planet. Other speakers touched on subjects ranging from robotics and the feasibility of colonizing Mars, to construction methods on Mars, to so-called "Marsonauts." One talk was scheduled on the "Ethical Implications of Pregnancy on Mars." Back on Earth, The Mars Society is planning the second phase of Mars Arctic 365, which plans to put a team of researchers in the FMARS on Devon Island for a year. Robert Zubrin is a former engineer at Lockheed Martin, the founder of The Mars Society and co-author of, "The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must." He became frustrated when NASA put a nearly $500 billion price tag on going to Mars, back in 1990, and has been working on getting there, cheaper, ever since. He's convinced it can be done. And he's convinced it must be done. On Aug. 13, he stood in front of the convention in Washington, D.C., to update attendees on what’s happening on Devon Island and elsewhere. A banner behind him read, "Humans to Mars In A Decade." "People will go to Mars for many of the same reasons they went to colonial America: because they want to make a mark, or to make a new start, or because they are members of groups who are persecuted on Earth, or because they are members of groups who want to create a society according to their own principles," Zubrin wrote in Ad Astra in 1996. "Many kinds of people will go, with many kinds of skills, but all who go will be people who are willing to take a chance to do something important with their lives. Out of such people are great projects made and great causes won."

Farm activities are one of our favorite themes. If you haven’t added the farm to your homeschooling or your school shelves you should definitely try it out. There are so many activities to do, so much to learn and so much to experience down on the farm. Today I am sharing a few Montessori Inspired ideas that we have added to our farm themed week. If you aren’t familiar with Montessori or don’t normally incorporate it don’t worry. These hands on learning activities are fun for every child and I’ll share easy ways to do them. Montessori Farm Activities ~ Farm Theme Unit Study Last year we explored farm animals and animal matching with these Montessori 3 part cards. That was a lot of fun, so we brought them back out for this week. Farm Spelling Words You can Download your free movable alphabet printables here. Farm Animal words with Montessori Movable alphabet. Pointing to each letter and saying the sounds. Sizing activities ~ Small, Medium, Large You can use the picture printables or gather several farm animal figures in a bowl and use the actual animals figures. We did both. Labeling Parts of a Horse I hope you enjoy these Farm Activities as much as we do and can incorporate some of them into your learning. You can check out some of the other Farm Ideas we’ve shared below. Next stop the farm to pet animals.

WHAT IS a bitcoin and how it works Bitcoin is the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen. Bitcoin was the first practical implementation and is currently the most prominent triple entry bookkeeping system in existence. Bitcoin is a digital currency that is not tied to a bank or government and allows users to spend money anonymously. The coins are created by users who 'mine' them by lending computing power to verify other users' transactions. They receive bitcoins in exchange. The coins also can be bought and sold on exchanges with U.S. dollars and other currencies. How much is it worth? One bitcoin recently traded for $1,734.65, according to Coinbase, a company that helps users exchange bitcoins. That makes it more valuable than an ounce of gold, which trades at less than $1,230. The value of bitcoins can swing sharply, though. A year ago, one was worth $457.04, which means that it's nearly quadrupled in the last 12 months. But its price doesn't always go up. A bitcoin's value plunged by 23 percentage. Who's using bitcoin? Some businesses have jumped on the bitcoin bandwagon amid a flurry of media coverage. Overstock.com accepts payments in bitcoin, for example. The currency has become popular enough that more than 300,000 daily transactions have been occurring recently, according to bitcoin wallet site blockchain.info. A year ago, activity was closer to 230,000 transactions per day. In order to know how the system works read the entire process and the flow as below: Balances - block chain The block chain is a shared public ledger on which the entire Bitcoin network relies. All confirmed transactions are included in the block chain. This way, Bitcoin wallets can calculate their spendable balance and new transactions can be verified to be spending bitcoins that are actually owned by the spender. The integrity and the chronological order of the block chain are enforced with cryptography. Transactions - private keys A transaction is a transfer of value between Bitcoin wallets that gets included in the block chain. Bitcoin wallets keep a secret piece of data called a private key or seed, which is used to sign transactions, providing a mathematical proof that they have come from the owner of the wallet. The signature also prevents the transaction from being altered by anybody once it has been issued. All transactions are broadcast between users and usually begin to be confirmed by the network in the following 10 minutes, through a process called mining. Processing - mining Mining is a distributed consensus system that is used to confirm waiting transactions by including them in the block chain. It enforces a chronological order in the block chain, protects the neutrality of the network, and allows different computers to agree on the state of the system. To be confirmed, transactions must be packed in a block that fits very strict cryptographic rules that will be verified by the network. These rules prevent previous blocks from being modified because doing so would invalidate all following blocks. Mining also creates the equivalent of a competitive lottery that prevents any individual from easily adding new blocks consecutively in the block chain. This way, no individuals can control what is included in the block chain or replace parts of the block chain to roll back their own spends.

CL3361: The City: Rome to the Medieval World From ancient times, the spread of Roman culture, that process we know as Romanization, has been identified with the development and distribution of particular urban forms in the early centuries AD. Those cities are seen as the bastions of Roman civilization, spreading culture across the provinces, transforming their territories into areas of Romanity (culturally, economically, and ethnically), in the one of the most successful policies of cultural imperialism ever known. It is these cities that provided us with some of the most familiar monuments of antiquity, from Rome itself, through the great archaeological sites of the East, to the small cities of Roman Britain. In consequence, the seeming decline of those cities in the late antique period has also been as a transformation, an ending of a long of Classical urbanism that dates back to the foundations of the polis in archaic Greece. The ancient world was a world of cities, acknowledged as such by the ancients, and the rise and fall of Classical urbanism has been as marking the rise and fall the classical world: the city plays a central role in historiography, and if one was to ask most scholars when the ancient world came to an end, they would provide answers which would add up to ‘the ancient world ends, when the ancient ends’. But why is this? Why does the city have such an imaginative hold on your conceptions of antiquity? What work does the city do? How does the city change things? And how does the city itself change? In this course, we will look at ideas of the city from the early empire through to the end of antiquity, which for the purposes of this course will be in the eighth century. In so doing, we will look at a vast tract of time. We will start by looking at Augustan period geographical writings, concentrating on the description of Alexandria, and from there will look at the nature of cities in Roman Egypt. In so doing, we will be establishing a model of how a provincial city works, and how a city might be seen as a centre of change in the provinces of the Roman world. From Egypt, we will look North and West, to Asia Minor, and further to Britain, looking at how cities developed and responded to Roman rule. In the second section, we will look at theories of the city, thinking about how an urban community works, considering models of urbanism drawn from modern studies: how should we understand the city, what are the different typologies of urbanism available, are cities transformative of those who lived in them, does city life, as the medieval proverb has it, make us free? There is an impressive modern literature on cities, reflecting every kind of methodological approach, from the Marxist to the post-modern, and in this section we will try and locate the dominant theories of ancient urbanism within the nexus of modern thought, and consider where, if anywhere, we can find new or better ideas which would help us understand ancient (and modern) urban life. In the third section, we will move towards late antiquity, by looking at the Christian challenge to traditional forms of urban life. In so doing we will again be looking at material from Egypt, at the early monks and their anti-urban tendencies, assessing why and to what extent they were against the city, and locating this anti-urban thought in early Christian teaching. We will then move to Italy, looking first at the situation in late-fourth-century Rome, discussing the writings of Jerome on the city and its society. We will look at how Jerome takes on the history of the city, and how its society is disrupted by the Christianisation of its values, with particular focus on the status of women, and then to a test case, the Life of Melania, a fourth-century aristocratic woman who became a monastic leader, in spire of her marriage, and her very prominent status as an aristocrat in Rome. We will finish with Rome by looking at Augustine, one the great writers of the early Church, and how he conceived of the city, and thought of his own position within Roman tradition, looking at his Confessions and The City of God. Before leaving Italy, we will call in on Ambrose in Milan, to look at his transformation of the city, and the making of a new Christian city dominated by its self-effacing bishop, who asks nothing for himself, other than a basilica or two. From there its back to the East, to Antioch where a fourth-century teacher of rhetoric has left us numerous letters and speeches detailing the supposed collapse of his pagan culture and the social and political infrastructure of his city, and a sorry story taken literally by generations of historians, but now undermined by the rich archaeological and documentary record from the region, before we call in on Egypt, for the last stand of the pagans, besieged in the temple of Sarapis in Alexandria. And then to Aphrodisias in Asia Minor to read the inscriptions put up by the late antique community, to assess continuities and changes, and to wonder just how important the trouser-makers of the city were. But by this time, we are drifting into the sixth century, and we can now look back to the West, and assess the losses and survivals from the barbarian invasions. We look at the remnants of Roman Britian, search in the rubble that is the Arthur legend, and then to Gaul, to the re-use of Classical monuments, to the shifts in settlement in Merovingian cities, to the bishops, who proudly proclaimed their Romano-Gallic heritage, and to the bandits who roamed the countryside. And then to Italy again, to Cassiodorus and his learned letters on the games, and to city authorities, his recording of attempts to reorder the food supplies of Rome. We can look at the villas of the Italian countryside, and the attempts of the Gothic kings to establish themselves as properly Classical rulers of Roman Italy. Do we see an end to Rome here? A century or more after the Fall of Rome, is this a dark age? And we will push past the great chronological divides of the seventh century, looking at the rise of the towns along the Po valley in the eighth century, monastic settlements (especially the ‘medieval Pompeii’ at san Vincenzo al Volturno), and look at what kind of Europe was emerging in 800, when Charlemagne has himself crowned Holy Roman Emperor. Then we are back in the East with Alexandria and the Life of John the Almoner who claims to have given vast fortunes in the early seventh-century city. And then Symeon the Fool from Emesa, who, according to our seventh century life, ‘accidentally’ wandered into the women’s baths in the city, causing no little consternation, before being forcibly ejected, but whose escapade suggests strongly that there was a functioning women’s baths in the seventh century. We shall try and map the fragmentary archaeology onto the literary sources. As the Islamic armies march over the hill, we shall city communities functioning and even prospering, though all the text books will tell you that the ancient city was a shadow of its former self, but, heretically, we go on, for Islam is not an end, and in the next century we see cities in the Levant, Gerasa, Pella, Aqaba, Bet Shean, developing under their new rulers, taking our story up to the convenient break-point of 750, date of a huge earthquake and a change of Caliphate. In this course, we will not survey the End of the Roman world, but we will ask questions of what is a city, what was antiquity, how does it change, and what do the changes mean, and we will deconstruct that great historical error that is the “end of antiquity”. Term 1: Source commentary There will be two essays. Lists will be circulated at the start of the course. The first essay will ask you to examine a literary source from those being considered within the course. You will be expected to conduct a close reading of the source to extract issues of historical interest. Essay will focus on a theme, and you will be expected to demonstrate a full understand of the issues surrounding that theme. Comments will be returned on the first essay. Term 2: Essay 1 (Source question) (up to 3,750 words) Term 3: Essay 2 (Theme question) (up to 3,750 words)

End of Service Life Indicator (ESLI) Definition - What does End of Service Life Indicator (ESLI) mean? An end of service life indicator (ESLI) is a system used for breathing apparatuses to alert the wearer that the oxygen or air level is reaching its lower limits. In some cases, the indicator will also provide information about potential damage to the apparatus. A color change typically notifies the wearer before the contaminant breaks into the cartridge and becomes hazardous to that worker's health. Safeopedia explains End of Service Life Indicator (ESLI) Breathing apparatuses are equipped with end of service life indicators to indicate when the filtering capacity of the apparatus has reached its limit. The ESLI may be a feature built into the apparatus, but it may also refer to traits that show that an apparatus is damaged in some way. In a self-contained breathing apparatus the indicator works in the form of alarm. The alarm tells the wearer that he or she is running short of breathable air and should evacuate immediately.

May 27, 1911 Hubert Humphrey’s Centennial In 2011 the Senate passed a resolution commemorating the 100th birthday of Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, who was born in Wallace, South Dakota, on May 27, 1911. Humphrey trained to be a pharmacist like his father, but government and politics became his passion and eventually took him to Minnesota as a professor of political science. He became mayor of Minneapolis in 1945 and achieved national attention by advocating a strong civil rights plank in the Democratic platform of 1948. That year, Hubert Humphrey also won election as a senator from Minnesota. Senator Humphrey was a gifted orator, but his stand on civil rights caused him to be shunned by the southern senators who chaired the most important committees, putting his legislative career in danger of becoming all talk with no results. It was Texas senator Lyndon Johnson, then rising in the Democratic leadership, who identified Humphrey as a useful ally, and coached him on how to become an effective legislator. During the 1950s Humphrey blossomed into a capable, creative, and highly esteemed senator, which led to his election as Democratic whip in 1961. His crowning moment came when he served as manager for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Since Mississippi senator James Eastland would have blocked the bill within the Judiciary Committee, Majority Leader Mike Mansfield decided that the only way around Eastland would be to handle the committee work right on the floor of the Senate. Mansfield never considered anyone but Hubert Humphrey for floor manager. He knew that Humphrey had a gift for mastering legislative technicalities, a full grasp of all the issues involved, and strong ties to the civil rights groups and labor unions that could exert influence on senators to support the bill. Humphrey appointed seven "title captains," one for each of the bill’s seven titles. During the lengthy filibuster, he set up a duty roster of senators ready to establish a quorum at any time. Although he counted on support from liberal Democrats and Republicans, he recognized that they could not achieve the two-thirds vote needed to invoke cloture without support from conservatives as well. He courted Republican Leader Everett Dirksen, and arranged for the planning meetings with administration officials to be held in Dirksen’s office. When those negotiations reached their conclusion, and he knew he had the votes, Humphrey commented that he felt “like someone going off a ski jump the first time and landing on his feet.” Hubert Humphrey went on to be elected vice president, and then lost the presidential election of 1968 by just three-tenths of one percent. Shaking off that defeat, he returned to the U.S. Senate, always a “Happy Warrior” in politics and an untiring advocate of economic security, civil rights, and social justice for all.

Best Close Encounters of the Comet Kind 1 of 10 Close Encounters of the Comet KindComets are some of the most spectacular and eye-catching objects in our solar system. And they're no strangers to visitors from Earth … robotic ones, that is. A veritable fleet of unmanned spacecraft have been launched to different comets over the years to see famed icy wanderers like Halley's Comet or Tempel 1 (which NASA visited with two different probes) up close and personal. Take a look at the best close encounters of the comet kind in this short history of unmanned cometary exploration. Updated Sept. 28, 2016. 2 of 10 Comet Giacobini-ZinnerThe first spacecraft to visit a comet was the International Cometary Explorer, which zipped through the tail of Comet Giacobini-Zinner in September 1985. ICE was originally launched in 1978, as part of the International Sun-Earth Explorer mission to study Earth's magnetosphere and its interaction with the solar wind. 3 of 10 Halley's CometThe famed Halley's Comet was the first comet a spacecraft imaged up close. In 1986, the ESA's Giotto probe zoomed to within about 372 miles (600 km) of the icy wanderer's nucleus. Four other spacecraft also visited Halley that year — two each from the Soviet Union and Japan — but none approached as close as Giotto, according to NASA. Giotto returned a lot of useful information, finding that the comet's nucleus is rough, porous, dark and dusty. The probe's data also helped scientists determine that Halley is made of some of the oldest stuff in the solar system, volatiles that condensed onto dust particles about 4.5 billion years ago. Halley is about 9 miles (15 km) long by 5 miles (8 km) wide or so. It completes a circuit around the sun every 75 or 76 years. It should return to the inner solar system around 2061. 4 of 10 Comet BorrellyNASA's Deep Space 1 probe flew to within 1,364 miles (2,200 km) of Comet Borrelly in September 2001. The spacecraft returned dazzling and surprising photos, showing rolling, pitted terrain marked by grand mesas. Deep Space 1's pictures of the potato-shaped Borrelly were hailed by scientists as the best yet taken of a comet. These images showed that Borrelly is even darker than Halley, reflecting just half as much light as the surface of the moon. Comet Borrelly is about 5 miles (8 km) long and makes a complete trip around the sun once every 6.9 years. 5 of 10 Comet Wild 2Astronomers gained more insight into comet composition and behavior when NASA's Stardust spacecraft swung within 186 miles (300 km) of Comet Wild 2 (pronounced "Vilt 2") in 2004. Stardust observed lots of cliffs and hills on the comet's surface, as well as active, gas-spewing vents. The probe also collected some dust from Wild 2's coma — the cloud surrounding the comet's nucleus — and brought the stuff back to Earth. Wild 2 is a small comet, measuring just 3.1 miles (5 km) across. It makes a full lap around the sun every 6.4 years or so. 6 of 10 Comet Tempel 1The Deep Impact spacecraft served as mothership for NASA's mission to Comet Tempel 1, which crashed an 820-pound (371-kilogram) probe into the ice ball in 2005. The impact revealed a great deal of water inside and on the surface of Tempel 1, as well as many organic molecules — the building blocks of life — in its interior. Researchers also got glimpses of layered, primordial material within the comet, yielding clues to how the comet may have formed 4.5 billion years ago. Tempel 1 is about 4.3 miles (7 km) across and has an orbital period of 5.5 years. It is the only comet ever to be visited by two different NASA spacecraft, years apart. NASA's Stardust probe, fresh off its Wild 2 adventure, flew by Tempel 1 on Feb. 14, 2011, to take a new look at the comet and study how it has changed over time. 7 of 10 Comet Hartley 2After its Tempel 1 rendezvous, Deep Impact chased the comet Hartley 2. On Nov. 4, 2010, the spacecraft approached to within 435 miles (700 km) of the comet to take data with its three instruments — two telescopes with digital color cameras and an infrared spectrometer. Researchers said the flyby returned good data on the composition of the comet's icy nucleus. They were also eager to compare Hartley 2 to the four other comets spacecraft have visited, to generate a general sense of what makes comets tick. Hartley 2, while just under a mile (1.5 km) across, is incredibly active, spewing lots of dust and gas and coughing up poisonous cyanide. [Video of Comet Hartley 2 jets] The comet completes a solar-system circuit every 6 1/2 years and was discovered in 1986 by astronomer Malcolm Hartley. 8 of 10 Comet 67P/Churyumov-GerasimenkoThe European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft arrived at Comet 67P in 2014. Its lander, "Philae," would make the most detailed study of a comet to date. After a delay preventing it from heading to Comet 46P/Wirtanen as planned, Rosetta launched in March 2004 towards a new target, Comet67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. After entering orbit around Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta released its Philae lander, which touched down on the icy wanderer's nucleus. 9 of 10 Lost and Found at Comet 67PRosetta's Philae lander made a bumpy landing on Comet 67P on Nov. 12, 2014. The lander was supposed to produce the most detailed observations of a comet yet, but it got stuck in a dark crevice and ran out of power. ESA announced that they found the lander in a photo taken by Rosetta on Sept. 6, 2016 — just a few weeks before Rosetta is scheduled for a crash landing on the comet. 10 of 10

Stevens welcomed about 40 middle school girls to campus on Feb. 20 for “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day,’’ as part of the activities during National Engineering Week. Started in 2001 as a joint effort between several groups and National Engineers Week Foundation, "Girl Day 2014’’ allows male and female engineers the opportunity to introduce more than one million girls and young women to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Many universities host a Girl Day event at their school. “Today’s event shows girls what engineering is and how engineers are changing the world,’’ said Kristie Damell, Assistant Dean of Students at Stevens. “Engineers are changing the world in every way possible – it’s more than math and science; it’s being able to look at something and want to make it better.’’ At Stevens’ Girl Day, the fifth-through-eighth graders, from schools in Hoboken, Verona and Branchburg, N.J., collaborated in small groups as they participated in two hands-on activities to showcase what engineers do. “Today you’ll be working like real engineers,’’ Marissa Brock ’99, Associate Director of Recruitment and Diversity Recruitment Coordinator at Stevens, said to the students. For “Build a Paper Table,’’ each group had to design and build a table out of newspaper rolled into tubes. It had to be at least eight inches tall and strong enough to hold a yearbook. During the “Helping Hand’’ activity, the girls had to design and build a device that allows the user to grab different objects and drop them into a container that’s at least two feet away. Seven Stevens student volunteers, part of the Stevens STEM Ambassador program, worked with the groups, helping them with each activity and asking questions about what worked and what didn’t. Several ambassadors mentioned that by working in a group, the girls learned teamwork, how to listen to each other, and how to problem solve. “(It was interesting because) the girls were given the same materials, but all came up with different solutions to the problem,’’ said Laura Cerrito ’14, a STEM Ambassador. Caitlin Klose, an eighth-grader, liked how each group found a different solution to the same problem. She especially liked the chance to learn by doing. “I love doing projects like this in science class. It’s really fun,’’ she said. One ambassador felt that middle school is the right age to spark an interest in engineering and science. “This age group is perfect because it shows them what they can do with engineering,’’ said STEM Ambassador Tatyana Fedorenko ’15. “It exposes them to engineering, but it doesn’t push them into it.’’ Tours of Davidson Lab and the Design & Manufacturing Institute were also on the agenda, which seemed to be a highlight. “The tours created a real connection between the words and the actions,’’ said Nick Klose, Caitlin’s dad. “When they could see things in action, it just made it real.’’

Students will read a story titled "Red Sails and Blue Wings" from The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting. The story is followed by a series of multiple choice questions aligned with various strands of the CCSS Grade 3 English Language Arts Standards for Reading. Those strands are: RL.3.1 -- Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. RL.3.3 -- Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events DOK – 1; Depth of Knowlege Level One: Recall DOK – 2; Depth of Knowledge Level Two: Skill/Concept These worksheets are great for homework, test prep, review, and learning a variety of content. If you're buying these worksheets for a class, consider purchasing the full 3rd Grade Common Core Reading Value Bundle: You'll save 50% compared to buying the 48 packets individually! Buy a Value Bundle and save 50% Visit my store!

Surprised that your students keep forgetting the parts of speech, parts of a sentence, and types of phrases? Make grammar accessible and fun with these printable word wall cards. After teaching grammar for years, I've created these word wall cards with easy-to-understand examples, colorful graphics, and simple definitions that those visual learners will remember. My students constantly refer to classroom word walls, and with the importance of grammar in ESOL, English Language Arts, Literature, and every text-based subject, this resource will not leave them hanging! Laminate them and use them for years to come. They're also useful for students working in centers. Parts of Speech Include definitions and examples of: Parts of a Sentence cards include: Action verb predicate Linking verb predicate Verbal phrases: gerunds, infinitives, and participles This is also really helpful if you personally keep forgetting exactly what a participial phrase is, or whether the direct or indirect object comes first. Even my husband said he learned something from reading these! Print, stick, and remember!

Finally, a fun way to reinforce the vocabulary of literature with small groups or the whole class! This familiar activity will have students actively thinking about the language Barbara Cohen used to bring the characters of Molly’s Pilgrim to life. Because students only have to recognize the word matching the definition, not generate it, it is ideal for discussing both new and familiar terms. 30 game boards are included in each set to allow for whole class participation. The special calling cards, featuring fold over flaps to hide the answers, also give you the option of using them in centers - small group of students can play independently without a bingo caller. 30 vocabulary words are used on the cards, but each board only has 25; students have to really think about the words and their definitions, because they may not have a word to match every definition called. Options for extending play past the traditional 5 in a row format increase the learning potential. The words used in this activity are: admire, aisle, burst, celebrate, clothespin, corkscrew curls, Cossack, embroider, factory, heritage, ignorant, immigrant, interesting, interrupt, kerchief, modern, murmur, mutter, naturally, pilgrim, religious, smudge, stare, stumble, synagogue, taunt /tease, tenement, terrible, worship and Yiddish. Please check out my store for over 300 unique bingo games for your classroom: LITERATURE VOCABULARY BINGO for a huge variety of titles SCIENCE VOCABULARY BINGO for popular topics SOCIAL STUDIES VOCABULARY BINGO for content area vocabulary introduction or review PHONICS / SPELLING PATTERNS BINGO to approach these skills in a unique way MATH SKILLS BINGO & MATH VOCABULARY BINGO provide a new approach to math

Practice cutting and phonics at the same time! Two worksheets for each consonants allow for differentiated letter practice. Worksheet 1-Students will cut out the pictures and glue the 3 pictures that have the correct beginning sound. Worksheet 2-Students will cut out the letters and glue them in the correct order to spell each CVC word. (Sorry! There’s no Q CVC worksheet) These worksheets are also included in each phonics station pack. Hope you enjoy!

Editable Cornell Notes Outline for students to fill in. Vocabulary and Questions about physical and chemical changes including the law of conservation of mass, endothermic reactions, exothermic reactions, evidence of a change, reactants and products. Students can use several resources to find the answers including textbooks, Brain Pop and Bill Nye videos. Print the student sheet (2 to a page) for an Interactive Notebook. This is outline #43 in a series of 48 - see also: Physical and Chemical Changes Cornell Notes #33 Other notes and activities at: Sandy's Science Stuff Physical and Chemical Changes in Matter 16x20 Anchor Chart

This is a bundle of resources to supplement your Physical and Chemical Changes in Matter unit for fifth grade. It includes: *Physical/Chemical Activity Sheet *Physical Properties Apple Investigation PPT The vocabulary includes words, definitions, and spaces for students to sketch a picture of each word's meaning. The test includes 50 multiple choice/matching questions. My kids absolutely loved completing the Performance Assessment, which involves rotating through 10 stations at which students conduct a mini experiment or make observations to determine physical and chemical changes. They also loved the Apple Investigation, which is a fun, hands-on way to gain an understanding of physical changes.

Dialectic as defined by Hegel is contradictory with the concept of complex systems. Complex systems are integrated based on the conjunction “and”, and their evolution includes the complementation between the apparent opposites. This dialectical thinking of Hegel, who considers the synthesis as a result of the opposition between a thesis and an antithesis, permits the construction of parallel realities based on the disintegration of the real world and the construction of a world where the limitless evolution of ideas drives towards an ideal. Hegel builds an apparently upgrading fallacy. Marx’s perceives the fallacy implicit in Hegel’s approach but he can not get rid of his dualistic approach to reality and his need to build a better future that only depends on the promotion of an adequate antithesis. But his materialistic approach hindered him to accept an ethic of added value in the real world. He built a dialectic based on the definition that thesis is given by an existent myth and the antithesis is a utopia that will change the myth creating a new environment. This implied considering that the utopia is a response to the existing myth. But in real life, myths limit utopias, sustaining an underlying purpose which is considered a taboo. Utopias are not responses to myths but reactions to taboos. They are born to change an existing purpose to be achieved. Marxist dialectic drove to human declination because the fallacy he had built required materialistic absolute ideologies to sustain it. The perception of dialectics To perceive dialectics it is necessary to have a high abstraction capacity. Those who do not have the abstraction capacity consider the dialectical behavior based on observable facts of reality. They cannot differentiate correlations from cause-effect relations. Instead of seeing the relation between B and C as an effect relation they consider the relation causal, because they perceive the effect limiting function of C as a cause of B’s functionality. When causal relations cannot be perceived it is not possible to forecast the probabilities of success of actions. NOTE: The Unicist Research Institute was the pioneer in using the unicist logical approach in complexity science research and became a private global decentralized leading research organization in the field of human adaptive systems. It has an academic arm and a business arm.

Tinnitus is usually called as "ringing in the ears”. Tinnitus is non-specific symptom which triggered by a mental or physical ‘change’, not necessarily related to hearing in the ear or the hearing pathway. The recent clinical research trials on animals indicated the benefit of acupuncture and that may provide a good relief for some people suffered from tinnitus. Most patients with tinnitus hear the ringing or other noises in their ears or head when there is no outside source. The tinnitus can be mild and intermittent or in majority of cases is chronic and severe. It is a growing problem among few million people in the UK and Europe who consulted their GPs and ENT specialists for their medical advice and help. Tinnitus with hearing loss can be caused by head or neck injury after a whiplash injury or dental work. The severity of tinnitus is characterized by either mild form with a soft and high-pitched tone (like the sound of ocean waves) or severe form with a sound like screeching brakes. According to the British national study of hearing, more than 10% of adult population in the UK suffered chronic spontaneous tinnitus (a tinnitus which is lasting for more than 5 minutes in duration). Most doctors in the west usually concentrate on treatment of reassuring the patient that the problem is not life-threatening. Hopefully this reassurance comes after a thorough medical intake and exam. On certain occasions, the surgical intervention specifically directed at eliminating tinnitus is obsolete. Chronic tinnitus for more than 6 months is usually difficult to treat. However, preventive treatment is the good approach to tinnitus compared to curative one. The western medications for tinnitus are a major culprit. These include aspartame (NutraSweet), aspirin, steroids, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs, antihistamines, anti-epilepsy drugs, antibiotics (especially cephalosporins) and pain killers. If the cause of tinnitus is due to hypotension and anemia, then correction of these pathological disorders will have a great impact on prognosis of tinnitus. Other pathological disorder may cause tinnitus such as high cholesterol or triglyceride level, food allergies, ear infection, head injury, perforated ear drum, TMJ (Tempro-mandibular joint syndrome), long time listening to loud music and diabetes. For fact, Tinnitus is not a disease but a very distressing noise you hear in the ears that is not generated by an outside source. However, Tinnitus does not cause deafness and although there is no simple cure but many other alternative treatments can ease or reduce its. Acupuncture Treatment Approaches to Tinnitus Acupuncture points for Tinnitus Many single or double clinical research studies have indicated that acupuncture could help to improve tinnitus. The patient should search for a qualified acupuncturist who is fully trained and registered with British Acupuncture Council. In Traditional Chinese Acupuncture, chronic or intermittent tinnitus can be differentiated from an acute or sudden onset tinnitus. The principle acupuncture management of tinnitus consists of 12 to 20 sessions in order to achieve a good improvement. Sometimes ear acupuncture can also be useful to be added with an excellent outcome. Acupuncture is regarded as the best alternative treatment for relieving pressure at different points of stress in the body and this is the same thing applied to tinnitus as it can successfully relieve pressure on the nerve cells that have been triggered in tinnitus. The acupuncture treatment in tinnitus will not induce a sudden relief but it needs few acupuncture sessions to calm both the body and the nerves associated with hearing sensations. According to the Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory, needling of acupuncture points located on adjacent and distal area of the disease, can be used for strengthening the curative effect in tinnitus. If you, or someone you know, is suffering with Tinnitus , please contact ACUMEDICA CLINICS or if you want to make an appointment or need further information, feel free to contact us

Every student who is taught the American Revolution in school learns about patriots throwing tea into Boston Harbor, the first shots fired at Lexington and Concord and General George Washington leading his troops across the Delaware. But often overlooked is the pivotal role that Madeira—a fortified wine made on a Portuguese archipelago of the same name—played during this tumultuous time. Legend has it that after signing the Declaration of Independence, its authors celebrated their nation’s birth with a toast of this liquid pleasure. That’s because revolutionaries from all regions grew especially fond of this drink, as it came to symbolize their righteous struggle against the rule of King George III. And below are five reasons why it became so popular in the thirteen colonies while helping to plant the seeds of revolution. With no domestic wine industry, America’s first oenophiles were at the mercy of British sanctioned exports—and more importantly, British taxation. In order to drink Bordeaux or Champagne during this time, one would have to pay a sizable duty, making this beverage accessible only to wealthy colonists. But because Britain had an exclusive trade deal with Madeira following the marriage of King Charles II to Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza, all wine produced on these islands was exempt from this harsh taxation. It was no surprise then that sales of Madeira skyrocketed throughout the colonies as an affordable alternative to more expensive European wines. And with resentment against British policies reaching a boiling point, this drink came to symbolize what “taxation with representation” might look like following independence. Imagine you’re living in the southern colonies during the pre-revolutionary period. The heat can be unbearable during the summer months while refrigeration is still years away from becoming a reality. Wine sent across the Atlantic Ocean is frequently ruined by the rocky voyage and the odds of it lasting through a humid summer without turning into vinegar are miniscule. That is, unless it’s Madeira! While sailing the seas, ship captains discovered that despite the intense heat and constant movement on board, Madeira, unlike other wines, actually improved under these conditions. Describing its almost infinite lifespan, author Benjamin Wallace in his book The Billionaire’s Vinegar writes, “it became common for advertisements for barrels of Madeira to boast of the miles they’d traveled, the distant port seen … it was impossible to ruin something that had, essentially, perfected the taste of ruin. Further oxidation is simply making Madeira more like itself.” So in addition to its attractive price tag, colonists had found a drink that could endure both a Boston winter and a Georgia summer. Asked to name the key events that led to the American Revolution, many will bring up the Boston Massacre of 1770 or the Boston Tea Party of 1773. But another incident that proved to be just as critical in fostering the revolution was the Liberty Affair—an important turning point in American history during which Madeira played a central role. Before John Hancock became famous for his signature, he was a Boston merchant and alleged smuggler who constantly thumbed his nose in the face of British tax collectors. On May 9, 1768 however, his sloop Liberty arrived with 25 pipes (large wooden barrels) of “the best sterling Madeira,” just one quarter of the vessel’s carrying capacity. Believing that he had unloaded the rest without paying the required duties, the ship was seized while Hancock was charged with smuggling. This resulted in one of the worst riots in Boston’s history when colonists, already infuriated with the Royal Navy for impressing them, violently revolted in the defense of Hancock and his supposedly smuggled wine. Call it the Boston Madeira Party. 4. Washington’s Medicine During his time in office, President George Washington became one of the nation’s first entrepreneurs by distilling whiskey at his home on Mount Vernon. Due to this fact, America’s first president is often misrepresented as a fan of spirits when his true passion was for “the rich oily Madeira” as he described it, drinking up to three glasses a day and even before heading into battle. A possible reason for this was Washington’s chronic toothaches that haunted him his entire life. In the days before modern dentistry, the near 20% alcohol contained in Madeira proved to be a decent numbing agent for the president’s pain. Arguably, America’s greatest diplomat was Ben Franklin who successfully lured France into fighting against the British, tipping the scales in favor of the rebellious thirteen colonies. And just like Washington, Adams and Jefferson, Franklin enjoyed drinking Madeira, even having a glass at his elbow while he helped to write the Declaration of Independence. But his negotiating skills and love for Portuguese wine didn’t stop there. Needing some firepower to defend Boston, Franklin met with New York Governor George Clinton who was timid over the request. After a few glasses of Madeira, however, Clinton quickly succumbed to the powers of persuasion. “He at first refus’d us peremptorily; but at dinner with his council, where there was great drinking of Madeira wine … he softened by degrees, and said he would lend us siz. After a few more bumpers he advanc’d to ten; and at length he very good-naturedly conceded eighteen,” wrote Franklin in his autobiography. Hirsch, Colin. Forgotten Drinks of Colonial New England: From Flips and Rattle-skulls to Switchel and Spruce Beer. Charleston: The History Press, 2014. Kitman, Marvin. The Making of the Prefident 1789: The Unauthorized Campaign Biography. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1989. Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Vine, Richard. The Curious World of Wine: Facts, Legends, and Lore About the Drink We Love So Much. New York: Penguin Group, 2012. Wallace, Benjamin. The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the Most Expensive Bottle of Wine. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2009. Will-Weber, Mark. Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt: The Complete History of Presidential Drinking. Washington DC: Regnery History, 2014. You might also like:

"British lakes are on a new environmental trajectory. For the last half century scientists and managers have focused on how acidification and eutrophication affect the structure and function of lakes and their ecological quality. Now, as the effects of climate change are increasing in magnitude, it is interacting with other pressures, such as the expansion of non-native invasive species. We are therefore facing a situation where management strategies will need to be revised and restoration targets reconsidered as novel ecosystems emerge." This was one of the main messages derived from a recent workshop convened at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology's Lancaster site by CEH and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). The purpose was to discuss the outcomes of a NERC-funded project, "Whole lake responses to species invasion mediated by climate change", with colleagues in the regulatory and conservation agencies: Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Natural Heritage, Natural England, the Environment Agency and the Cumbria Freshwater Invasive Non-Native Species Initiative. The research is based on Windermere, England's largest natural lake, where unrivalled long-term records and archives exist. The project builds on more than two decades of research on lakes around the world that have revealed that climate change is affecting a range of lake properties throughout the whole lake ecosystem and that some of the changes will be hard to forecast. More specific information can be found at the Windermere Science website. |The John Lund - the CEH vessel used to carry out the long-term| monitoring on Windermere. Photo: Dr Ian Winfield. The project found that climate change has: - increased water temperature and prolonged the period of stratification - favoured species, such as the roach, from southern latitudes - disfavoured species, such as the Arctic charr, from northern latitudes - changed the fish community, leading to altered fish diet and food-web linkages - altered the zooplankton community structure - led to earlier phytoplankton growth in the spring and later growth in the autumn These findings will directly inform the future management of one of the most important lakes in England. However, there are lessons to be learned as well, as many of the changes are likely to be common across lakes in different regions. |Taking a zooplankton net tow. Photo: Dr Peter Smyntek| There was common agreement at the workshop that our lakes are a critical national resource delivering a range of ecosystem services, but they are under threat. In particular, they are sensitive to invasive species which favour already disturbed environments. The importance of having access to long-term datasets and archived samples was acknowledged but the insights they provide will be strengthened by using other techniques, such as stable isotopes to trace food-webs and by modelling. Other research priorities specific to invasive species included identification of introduction pathways, early detection, likely spatial and temporal impact of specific species, and the effectiveness of biosecurity measures. Guest blog by Dr Catherine Duigan (Head of the Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems Group, Natural Resources Wales, Bangor, @NatResWales), Prof Stephen Maberly (Head of the Lake Ecosystems Group at CEH), and Dr Jonathan Grey (Reader in Aquatic Ecology, QMUL). Lake Ecosystems Group at CEH

Class Materials for CHE 102 at Carson High School The following documents are some of the materials used in this class. Please download them and bring them to class. Syllabus for CHE 102 - Chemistry for the Citizen Chapter 1 - Living in a World of Chemistry Chapter 2 - The Chemical View of Matter Chapter 3 - Atoms and the Periodic Table Homework Problemsets for Chem102 - Chemistry for the Citizens For additional information, e-mail the instructor at Dr. Kenneth Rodriguez Department of Chemistry California State University, Dominguez Hills 1000 E. Victoria St. Carson, CA, 90747

TMJ stands for temporomandibular joint, a location where dysfunction causes pain in the jaw. This joint allows a person to speak, chew, and move the jaw as needed. Tendons, muscles, and a lot of connective tissue surrounds the joint in order to keep things moving properly. If a person begins to notice a popping or clicking sound while speaking or chewing, it may be the beginning of a TMJ problem. TMJ issues may result in a change of appearance for some. It may cause the two sides of the face to appear asymmetrical or uneven. This can occur simply due to the fact that a person chews more on one side than the other, thereby wearing the teeth down faster. This can bring about TMJ dysfunction because when the teeth wear unevenly, the body compensates for this and certain bones can move out of alignment. Other reasons for TMJ issues and asymmetry of the face are: To learn more about the connection between head and neck injuries and TMJ download our complimentary e-book by clicking the image below. - Cupping one side of the chin in the same hand on a regular basis. - Putting more weight on one leg than the other when standing up. - Twisting the body to one side to play a musical instrument like the violin. - Sitting with the same leg crossed over the other all the time. - Writing, painting, or other things that require a person only to use one hand. Where to Find Relief for TMJ TMJ dysfunction, along with facial asymmetry, can be caused by a misalignment in one of the upper two bones of the neck. A misalignment here can lead to all kinds of health problems due to the fact that the brainstem and spinal cord meet in this very location. A misalignment puts undue pressure on the spinal cord causing signals being sent to and from the brain and body to be distorted, thus leading to pain and other serious problems, such as TMJ dysfunction. Once an upper cervical chiropractor examines a patient’s neck to find the exact location of the problem, a gentle, precise method is used to help the bones of the neck to realign more naturally. This allows the healing process to take over and correct the damage done. This often leads to the resolution of TMJ problems along with facial asymmetry. To schedule a complimentary consultation with Dr. Read call our Ames office at 515-233-8880 or simply click the button below.

Binding emissions targets for all industrialised countries; a global "cap and trade" system; and a 50% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of this century should be some of the EU's core targets for the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference, says a resolution adopted by the Temporary Committee on Climate Change on Monday evening. The target for the EU at the Bali conference, according to the resolution, drafted by Satu Hassi (Greens/EFA, FI), should centre on the long term goal of limiting average global temperature increase to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. This, notes the text, effectively means reducing global greenhouse gas emissions "by at least 50% by 2050 compared to the 1990 level". Even then, the text says the latest evidence suggests that the 2°C goal "might not be sufficient to avoid significant negative effects of climate change". Binding targets and a global "cap and trade" scheme The mandate should also be based on the following elements: - binding targets for all industrialised countries; - broader participation in reduction efforts, in particular by emerging economies through fair and proportionate targets; - a global "cap and trade" system based on a fair and proportionate allocation of quotas; - strengthened financial mechanisms for adaptation; - effective incentives to avoid deforestation (accounting for some 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions) , including the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices; - instruments, financial and other, for clean development and technology transfer and deployment (including further development of the Clean Development Mechanism; - agreement by 2009 at the latest.

|The DOE states that the intent of the IEP Vision Statement From DOE, Program Quality Assurance Services, Compliance and Monitoring, Question and Answer Guide, Fall 2002 PQA Area Meetings of Administrators of Special Education, Question #22. |Some questions that Wrightslaw suggests you ask when creating your child's IEP vision statement include: The vision statement is a visual picture that describes your child in the future. (From Wrightslaw's article: Long-Term Planning & Your Child's IEP) A vision statement describes the student's and the family's hopes for the future. This is the only place that long-term goals for your child are stated. The IEP Team works with the student and family to develop a vision tailored to the student's preferences and interests. This vision provides a common foundation for dialogue for the student, family, and educators. It helps the IEP Team focus on the whole child and his or her strengths and needs in the long term. (In Massachusetts, the vision is for 5 years into the future.) The following vision statements are from: Nebraska Department of Education, Student and Family Vision. |High School students: |Below are samples from the vision statements from some of our members.| |4-year-old preschooler with motor coordination, sensory integration, symbolic language, visual perception, fine motor, and social skills delays: "The Team would like to see [this child] demonstrate growth in all areas so that he is able to access his skills and apply them to his learning environment at the same rate as his peers." |Grade K, PDD/Autism: He will function as a typical child, able to deal independently with novel situations, control his impulsivity and body, be flexible in his routines, interact appropriately with peers, and have a couple of best friends that he sees regularly in and outside of school. Although he may be a very active child and continue to have self-regulation issues, he will be able to show more self-control as needed. He will use his charismatic personality and spirit to develop leadership skills and become a strong contributor to his community. |Grade K, NLD: We hope that by the fourth grade, with minimum modifications to the school's fourth-grade curriculum (and without the use of an aide), [our child] will be able to transition smoothly and develop the appropriate emotional and social skills for a fourth grader, with decreased anxiety. We further hope that he is able to develop lasting, successful friendships and relationships throughout his years at elementary school given that misinterpreting social cues and having a low frustration tolerance have been issues. It is also our hope that he will have learned respect for himself and others no matter what their misgivings. We would also anticipate that [our child] will maintain his love for all areas of athletics which we believe will be an area of success for him and his self-esteem. It is our desire that he will continue to enjoy athletics and learn that playing a sport or any game with or without a team is not about winning but about learning to work at doing your best as a team player and developing lasting friendships from achieving common goals together. Academically, we anticipate that [our child] will achieve in all subject areas at or above a fourth-grade level with little or no academic support as he has developed his own compensatory skills to adapt to his disabilities. We might even have discovered areas of giftedness at this point for him. It is our goal that if he does need to access academic or emotional and social support, he is able to advocate for himself without compromising his self-esteem. |Grade 1, LD: The Team envisions [this child] as a well-adjusted student who is socially accepted by his peers and who reaches his potential academically. They want him to feel valued and to keep his love of learning. They see him as becoming a strong reader who is able to organize his ideas and express in writing all that he comprehends. |Grade 1, DD: We see [our child] as a capable, compassionate, loving young man with potential for success. We would like to see him guided in school with the belief that he will succeed. We'd like to continue to see him supported with caring and positive reinforcement. We'd like to see [our child] given the gifts of time and patience to develop academically and physically. We'd like to see him become a successful and enthusiastic learner and develop the attitude that learning is an adventure. We'd like to see him develop physical strength and gross motor skills within range of his peers. We would like to see [our child] strengthen his fine motor skills and handwriting, as well as develop age-appropriate social skills. Over the course of his elementary school years, we see [our child] improving his present levels of performance to reach challenging goals, to have a positive self-image and confidence, and to be aware of his value as a responsible member of the community. |Grade 2, PDD/Autism: The Team's vision for [this child] is that he will continue to be placed in a typical inclusive environment with supports throughout the next five years. He will be a joyful 13-year-old with many interests and a couple of friends that he plays with regularly. Academically, he will be considered a good student. [This child] will be more independent in the classroom and during unstructured times such as recess and lunch. He will be able to develop more peer relationships without adult facilitation. Also, he will be able to develop a better understanding of nonverbal communicators and expand his social language abilities in all settings. He will continue to be involved in team sports. [This child] will develop at least one area of interest that he is passionate and skilled at (e.g., music or writing) and that will bring him self-esteem |Grade 4, MR: We would like [our child] to be able to communicate reliably with all types of people in a variety of situations. We want him to have opportunities to socialize at school, at home, and in the community. Our hope is that his interest in solitary leisure activities will broaden beyond television and computers. We see him able to use his math skills to cook, to buy things at the store, and to figure out quantities as related to his everyday activities. We want him to have a vocabulary encompassing common familiar words so he can recognize them in books, magazines, and recipes. We see him completely independent in self-care skills such as toileting, dressing, and hygiene in the future. We hope to see him independently taking walks outside, riding a bus, and being aware of safety issues in the process. We would like to take him to places without his wandering off as soon as we turn our backs. We see him healthy and safe in all areas of his life. |Grade 4, LD: The mother envisions [her child] becoming a well-adjusted student who is socially accepted by his peers and who reaches his potential academically. He is very interested in all sports. He would like to be a vet or a police officer. His mother sees him transitioning successfully from elementary to middle school. In three years, she expects that he will transition successfully from middle school to high school on a college-bound track. |Grade 4, LD, ADD: Our vision for [our child] is for him to achieve his potential academically. We want to see him become an independent learner. His attentional issues will be addressed in order for him to produce what he is capable of doing. We hope to see an increase in self-confidence along with independence. [Our child] has many interests for his future career. He had expressed an interest in becoming a music teacher, principal, judge, engineer, or architect. |Grade 5, Autism/PDD: [This child's] parents would like to see him become more independent both in the area of academics and classroom supports. They would like to see him request what he needs appropriately. They would like to see him develop appropriate social skills with both adults and peers, succeed in the areas of strength, and increase his success in his areas of difficulty. His parents would also like to see him internalize grade importance and independent success in school and at home. They would like [this child] to become independent and integrated with his same-aged peers in traditional class and social activities. |Grade 5, NLD: The Team envisions [this child's] self flourishing in school and at home. They envisions [this child] as a well-adjusted student who is socially accepted by her peers and will reach her potential with academic success. They can see [this child] working more independently and with a strong sense of socially acceptable skills. She will become a strong writer who is able to organize her ideas and express in writing all the she can comprehend. In three years, Team expects that [this child] will transition successfully from middle school to high school on a college-bound track. |Grade 6, NLD: As parents, we envision [our son] as a successful student in both academics and extracurricular activities. He should have a lot of acquaintances and be well liked but will only have a couple of very close friends. He has a lot of general interests. Although we are not sure what career path he will follow in the future, we are sure he will do well and have the choice to pursue a college degree in the culinary arts or another area of interest. |Grade 7, NLD: [This student] will develop the skills, through direct instruction and sufficient guided practice, to be an independent, motivated, and competent learner and a good friend. She will retain her enthusiasm for life, people and animals. Her sense of her abilities will grow through the acquisition of demonstrable knowledge and skills. These skills will allow her to fulfill her dream of going to college and finding meaningful work in society. |Grade 8, LD: We expect that [this student] will be reading and writing at grade level. In high school next year, we envision him getting the remediation and support necessary in order for him to achieve academic success. We would like to see him challenge himself intellectually by taking one or two honors-level classes per year in his designated area of interest. We hope this identified gap in reading and writing will not prevent him from pursuing a curriculum that is rich in content and intellectually stimulating. In his junior and senior years, we expect that [this student] will want to pursue one or two of the numerous Advanced Placement level classes offered at the high school. [This student] will participate in the sports of his choosing. We would like to see him become involved with the music program or theater arts at the high school level. We would like to see him pursue his interests at the college level. We do not want community college to be his only option due to lack of support and progress regarding reading and writing issues. He has a keen interest in making money. He was thinking that he might like to go into sports management. We would like him to pursue his dreams at a competitive college. |Grade 8, MR: [This student]'s mother wants him to be safe. She would like him to be with peers with similar issues. She envisions him as a functional adult, able to care for himself. |Grade 9, AH/HD, LD: We envision [our son] becoming a well-adjusted student who is socially accepted by his peers and who reaches his potential academically. He is very interested in technology. He excels in math and is interested in an engineering or science career. We expect that he will transition successfully from middle school to high school on a college level track. |Grade 9, LD, ADHD: [This student] expresses an interest in pursuing post-secondary education on graduating from high school, with a possible interest in medicine. His parents envision him enrolling in the college preparatory course at the high school and being supported as needed, in the areas of reading, written language, receptive and expressive language, study and organizational skills, and self-advocacy skills. |Grade 9, LD: [Name] envisions that [this student] will be able to organize her ideas and to strengthen her writing to the level of what she is capable of articulating verbally. She sees [the student] working independently by junior year and being able to pursue one or two advance placement classes that are offered at the high school. [The student] will participate in high school softball or basketball and be an active member of the winter musicals. She will also continue her participation in chorus. Since [this student] was young she has aspired to work in the medical field either as a veterinarian or doctor. She envisions herself attending a competitive four-year college majoring in science.

The Chicago Reading Initiative is designed to ensure that all students have access to high quality instruction in reading. The initiative has five major focus areas: - A uniform instructional framework for teaching reading consisting of four major components: word knowledge, fluency, comprehension, and writing - A mandated 2 hours of literacy instruction (reading and writing) per day in elementary and high schools, and a focus on literacy instruction in all content areas - Extra support and reading specialists for schools with low performance or lack of progress - Development of high quality professional development opportunities for teachers and leadership teams in reading instruction, and implementation of the literacy framework - New materials and assessment tools, and extra support for all schools - Provide students with a strong reading and writing background that will enable them to succeed beyond their post high school careers

High in the cold, dry air of the White Mountains of California, just north of the infamous and inhospitable Death Valley, lives possibly the world’s oldest living1 organism. It’s a Bristlecone Pine tree, given the Biblical name of ‘Old Methuselah’ due to its estimated age (from counting the number of its tree rings) of 4,723 years.2 Amazingly, this tree would have been over 2,000 years old when Jesus Christ walked the Earth. This tree’s ‘ring’ age is close to the Biblical date for the globe-covering and life-destroying Flood of Noah (Genesis 6–8) of around 4,500 years ago. There should be no trees alive on Earth today which are older than the Flood. God’s judgment on sin was in the form of a global watery catastrophe which destroyed all air-breathing land vertebrates except for those whom God lovingly preserved on the Ark. A flood cataclysm of this magnitude would have laid down much of the massive thickness of sedimentary rock covering most of the Earth’s surface, and would have ensured that no trees alive at that time would have remained growing in place. So no tree growing today could have started growing from a seed in that spot more than about 4,500 years ago. It is normally assumed that for each year of growth, one growth ring will be shown. This is generally true; however, it is a demonstrable fact that in years of good growth, i.e. moist, warm conditions, more than one growth ring can readily occur. Research has actually demonstrated this with Bristlecone Pine seedlings. By supplementing the ‘normal’ winter day length with a heat lamp, extra rings were able to be grown.3 In the presumed warm, moist and changing seasonal conditions in the first few centuries after Noah’s Flood, it is likely that there would have been quite a few such extra rings. This comfortably accounts for the few hundred years (less than 10%) difference between the oldest ‘real’ tree-ring results and the Biblical date of the Flood. However, such an explanation would be strained if tree-rings on living trees gave dates of thousands of years more than this. Some scientists have now proposed a Bristlecone Pine chronology extending back more than 9,000 years from today.4 But this is by using a tree-ring dating method that links pieces of dead trees (even fossil fragments) with living ones. This ‘overlapping’ method seeks to cross-match the rings, using best-fit scenarios. These are fortified by statistical analysis to try to eliminate the subjectivity. But in the past, there has apparently been some difficulty obtaining access to the raw data to independently check these procedures. This has now been overcome, and further creationist research is underway.5 The bottom line is, however, that these apparent challenges do not arise from present-day, growing trees. Are any living trees claimed to be substantially older than the Biblical date of the Flood? Indeed so—sometimes more than 10,000 years. But we shall discover that none of these were from counting the actual number of rings in a living tree. The Huon Pine (Lagarostrobos franklinii) is a native conifer of Tasmania (Australia). In 1995, international headlines claimed that there could be Huon Pines as old as 30,000–40,000 years.6 Many people had the impression that this must refer to the number of rings, but that was not the case. How were the dates obtained? The trees in this particular stand are genetically identical to each other. That is, they have reproduced by vegetative reproduction from an original tree. The Bristlecone Pine: Using its growth rings as age indicators, it is perhaps the oldest living thing on Earth. At over 4,000 years old, these trees possibly started to grow just after the great Flood. Sequoia trees are among the tallest living things on Earth today, growing to be hundreds of feet high. The name ‘sequoia’ is in honour of the Indian Cherokee nation leader Seqouyah (1776–1842), who invented a unique alphabet and taught his people to read and write. One of the first books in Cherokee was the Bible (1825). Giant Sequoias generally have very shallow root systems of only about 3 m (10 ft) deep and are highly resistant to insect pests, disease and fire. The General Sherman tree (pictured above) is the most massive one in the world. It contains enough timber to build 40 houses of five rooms each. Its outer bark is reported to be more than 1.3 m (4 ft) thick. This could mean that they have simply transplanted themselves, possibly from fallen branches, or new growth could be occurring from underground root systems. It is assumed that this reproductive process has been continuing for many millennia, hence the speculative ‘long ages’. In some cases, the carbon-14 (14C) dating method has been used on the root system and nearby fragments, and Huon Pine pollen has been found in the sedimentary layers of a nearby lake. We have often explained the assumptions behind 14C methods and the errors made in interpreting the data. No individual Huon Pine has ever been dated, by straight-forward tree ring methods, as more than 3,500 years old. Bristlecone Pines (Pinus longaeva and Pinus aristata) grow in very extreme, harsh conditions at altitudes of more than 3,000 m (10,000 ft). The highly resinous wood of these gnarled, ghostly-looking giants ensures they resist attacks from bacteria, fungi and insects. They are extremely slow growers. During their annual growing season of only about 45 days, they can add as little as 2.5 cm (1 in) to their girth every hundred years.7 While only reaching a maximum height of around 18 m (60 ft), the girth of the largest Bristlecone, named ‘Old Patriarch’, is a massive 11.2 m (36 ft 8 in). The second-oldest known living tree, with a verified tree-ring age of 3,631 years, is an Alerce Tree from Chile, South America. Also known as the Patagonian Cypress, this species is believed to be related to North America’s giant redwoods (sequoias). Interestingly, Charles Darwin named it Fitzroya cupressoides in honour of Robert FitzRoy, captain of H.M.S. Beagle.8 The tallest known living tree is the Mendocino tree, a giant redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) found near Ukiah, California, USA. It has been officially measured at 112 m (367 ft 5 in). However, this was dwarfed by an Australian eucalypt (mountain ash), felled in Victoria, Australia, in 1872. It was believed to have been almost 150 m (492 ft) tall or as high as a 36-storey building, and remains the tallest ‘known’ tree to have ever lived.9 The location of many of these ‘prized’ trees (such as Old Methuselah or the Mendocino tree) is kept secret to deter vandals and souvenir hunters.10 The official ‘living’ record for size is held by a giant sequoia, dubbed ‘General Sherman’, which can be found in California’s Sequoia National Park. It stands at 83.8 m (275 ft) and is 31.3 m (102 ft 8 in) around its base, and (with the possible exception of an underground fungus system11) is the largest single organism existing on Earth. Its total bulk is more than ten times that of a Blue Whale. General Sherman was originally thought to be more than 6,000 years old, but this has now been revised to only 2,150 years. Nate Stephenson of the US Geological Survey said, ‘The new Sherman tree age estimate could still be off by centuries’. How, using a very simple method of ‘just counting tree rings’, can dates be subject to such dramatic alteration? Most people presume that an ‘old’ tree’s age is derived from just counting the annual rings from a full-depth core sample. But this is hardly ever so. In the case of General Sherman, only foot-long samples were taken, and cross-matched with each other by looking for similar ‘indicator’ or distinct rings. Mathematical assumptions are then made to calculate the age of the tree by comparing measurements from other sequoia stumps.12,13 A uniformitarian (the present is the key to the past) approach is then applied when calculating dates (which doesn’t allow for differences in past climates which can affect growing seasons and even produce extra rings). This has been shown, in the case of General Sherman, to be very inaccurate. It would be more accurate if samples could be taken right through to the tree’s core or pith. But such procedures are very difficult on huge trees, as core samples are usually only pencil thin. This is because a full-depth procedure using large power equipment would involve significant damage to the tree. In short, longer dates have been assumed due to the enormous size of the tree. Interestingly, Nate Stephenson also says, ‘Most of the largest sequoias are really just middle-aged. But they’re still growing like teenagers. Each year, it adds enough wood to make a tree one ft (30 cm) in diameter and more than 100 ft (30 m) tall’. He adds, ‘The relative youth of the world’s largest tree comes as something of a surprise’.12 Plant biologists agree, and even expect, that these vigorously-growing, magnificent ancient trees could continue to grow for many thousands of years into the future. And they would expect, therefore, that there is no reason why many among them could not have started their life many, many thousands of years ago. But there is no evidence that any of them predate the Flood. Even with the assumptive cross-matching method, the cut-off number seems to be around 4½ to 5 thousand rings. This is strongly consistent with expectations based on the Bible. The fact that the magnificent patriarchs of the forest discussed here have stood silently growing for thousands of years gives glory to God, the Master Designer. It also suggests that they must be virtually impregnable to attack by natural pests, diseases, wildfires and the like. The dilemma for long-age believers, who scoff at the Bible’s account of a global Flood, is this: if there are trees around that can last that long, why not longer? Why are there none growing today which are, say, 7, 8 or 9 thousand years old by straight-forward tree-ring counting? This is no mystery to the Bible believer, as it is firm evidence consistent with God’s Word. The Bible’s record of a global Flood is true and can be trusted. There have been many claims of plants other than trees being supposedly older than 10,000 years, including the King’s Holly of Tasmania (which was based on fossil remains near the plant) and a colony of Box Huckleberry (based on growth estimates over an area of 25 km2/10 miles2) in Pennsylvania, USA. The most notable claims, however, have been about the Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentate) of North America. It is a very common, unspectacular-looking shrub that thrives in the extreme, hot desert regions of both North and South America. The ‘granddaddy’ of them all is a plant named ‘King Clone’. Found in 1980, it was claimed to be 11,700 years old. But this date has been much revised, with scientists now speculating about an age of 7,500 years or less.1 In times of drought, the Creosote Bush looks more dead than alive. When there is plentiful water, it bursts to life with a foliage of waxy green leaves that ‘colours’ the desert. When crushed, its resins smell like creosote,2 hence its name. Its growth cycle begins as a single plant. As the original shrub gets older, the stem and branches at its centre die and get covered with sand. However, the branches on the outward edges continue to grow to become the main plant. This process is repeated over and over again (for many years) as each new bush grows and dies, eventually forming rings of small creosote bushes stretching out over many hundreds of metres. This is a form of natural cloning.3 Dating is assumed by estimating the growth rate at which the rings of bushes increase. The debate regarding the age of King Clone demonstrates the inexactness of this uniformitarian approach; it is impossible to accurately determine a plant’s age based on current growth rates.

On the Finger Lakes On July 4, 1814, people gathered from miles around to witness the launch of the schooner Robert Troup in Geneva. The Geneva Gazette of July 13, 1814, carried this account of the event: The 4th of July was celebrated in this village in a handsome style. The artillery and Light-Infantry companies, commanded by Captains Goundry and Sweeney, paraded at the Hotel in the morning, formed a line, with the Standard in the centre supported by officers, and, preceded by the Marshal of the day and followed by citizens, marched to the lower extremity of the village, where a large concourse of people had collected to witness the launch of the new schooner built by Mr. Spaulding, called the Robert Troup. Immediately after she reached the water, her name was announced, followed by the discharge of one gun from a field piece attached to the artillery company, a detachment from which was stationed on board. The schooner came to at Horsen's wharf, took on board the uniform companies, and stood off and on while the troops fired a national salute, which, from its novel appearance (being performed on water) attracted much attention. The military then disembarked, partook of a dinner at the Hotel, and dispersed. The Robert Troup is a handsome, well-built schooner, 50 feet keel, and will carry 60 tons; she is the largest vessel ever floated on the waters of the Seneca Lake. Lyman Spaulding, whose father, Erastus, built this schooner, recalled the vessel was built to carry plaster from Geneva to the head of the lake, where it was sold to farmers. "The ship carpenters came from Rhode Island specially to build this schooner," he said. "She is a very pretty craft, and I made several trips in her up the lake, to bring down wood to sell in Geneva. I have forgotten what disposition was made of the schooner, no doubt she went to pay debts."11 The Geneva Gazette of May 23, 1879, carried an interesting letter from a "W. Ansley" of Addison, New York, that describes the launching of the Robert Troup. The vessel was named for a well-known land agent for the Pulteney Estate that held large tracts of land in the area. A Reminiscence of the Past It is natural for the aged to recall the past and to draw from memory's casket circumstances that were more particularly of a character that make lasting impressions on the mind. One such circumstance of a novel character took place in Geneva, as near as I can recollect, about sixty-five years since, viz: the launching of a schooner at the foot of Seneca street. Notice being published, there was a general turnout from the surrounding country to witness the novel sight, as was also the case a few years subsequent when Gen. Lafayette passed through Geneva. My father, living five miles south of Geneva, on the pre-emption, gave his family the opportunity to attend. On our arrival the schooner stood high and dry on timbers prepared for her exit into her natural element. It took considerable time to unloose the fastenings and arrange matters for the grand slide. When all was ready a cannon was taken on board and the deck filled with men who, by their actions, were to precipitate the schooner into the water. After several attempts in jumping up and down by those on deck, the schooner at last shot down the timbers, but came near proving disastrous, as one of the timbers on which she slid broke, but the schooner was so far advanced she went safely. When a sufficient distance from the shore the booming of cannon and the hurrahs of those on deck denoted in unmistakable acclamations the success of the enterprise. While those on board were in the successful tide of enjoyment, those on shore, being a promiscuous assembly, were entertained by a few nude persons displaying their antics in the water. I do not mention this circumstance, however, as being in the programme of the day's proceedings. I believe the schooner was built for the wood and lumber trade. When the schooner had fulfilled her destiny, my memory is at fault what became of her. I presume there are numbers still living in Geneva who were present on the occasion alluded to. Shipwrecks also occurred on the Finger Lakes. At about 1 pm on March 22, 1822, a tremendous gale from the south developed on Seneca Lake. A schooner laden with lumber and some furniture filled with water opposite the glass works just south of Geneva. Although the vessel remained upright, it became unmanageable, and was at the mercy of the high waves. The crew, consisting of four men, lashed themselves to the mast for self preservation. The waves ran high and breached the ship. When first spotted, the schooner was about two miles out in the lake. The storm continued with unabated fury. Eventually, a pleasure boat was launched and six lifesavers went to the rescue. Even the rescue boat became almost unmanageable. Eventually the gallant crew reached the ship and rescued the four men who were suffering from exposure and exhaustion. The boat returned to shore where the crew and passengers received a hearty welcome from those on shore. The lifesavers were commended for risking their lives to save those of others.12 Presumably, the ship was lost. More than one cove on the Finger Lakes became the final resting place of commercial sailing vessels and their crews who were swept from the deck in storms. A lighter story concerns the schooner Lyre of Tioga, built at Mills Landing at Montour Falls (then called Havana) during the winter of 1826-27, and financed by local businessmen. Coincidental with this was the construction of a draw bridge over the inlet to Seneca Lake, also known as Catharine Creek. When completed, the new craft was loaded with locally-produced commodities to be taken to eastern markets through the canal system. But the Lyre could not pass through the narrow drawbridge gap where the creek entered the lake. Pleas to widen the gap had fallen on deaf ears, and the owners faced financial ruin with their boat. The boat owners solved the problem coincidental and in keeping with the Fourth of July. They placed a cannon on the prow of the schooner and loaded it with broken andirons. When a convenient distance from the drawbridge, one well-directed shot made kindling wood out of the span and the Lyre sailed on its merry way. It is said the "attack" on the drawbridge was made at night so the law was never able to prove who destroyed the bridge. A new bridge was soon built of a more accommodating size to allow passage of boats.13 Troubles faced by early businessmen are reflected in a letter to the comptroller dated June 24, 1826. Explaining why the Hector and Catharine Turnpike Road and Bridge Company had no income to report, Samuel S. Seely, the president stated: "...Soon after the Road and Bridge was completed and the prospects successful, a number of envious, designing rioters, living in the adjoining country, who pretended the Bridge obstructed the navigation of the inlet of the Seneca Lake (over which the Bridge and Road was made), and in their wisdom took the Law in their own hands, cut, burned and totally destroyed the Bridge, which has not been rebuilt nor can be, before about the close of the present year."14 Apparently the bridge was rebuilt and operated successfully for many years. In 1840 the company reported tolls of S435.37 collected and $344.80 profit after paying expenses. Net the following year was $297.87 on $494.37 received. Reserves for depreciation were not considered in those days so 4'/2% dividends were regularly paid to holders of the company's 200 shares of $25 stock. © 1993, Richard F. Palmer 11. Recollections of the War of 1812 and Early Life m Western New York by Lyman A. Spaulding. Niagara County Historical Society Publications, No.2, Lockport, N.Y., 1949. p. 12. 12. Geneva Gazette, March 27. 1822. 13. The Lake Country by John Corbett, Rochester, 1898, pp. l33-35. 14. Letter to W. L. Marcy, Comptroller of New York State. (If this is correct, then the date given by local historians of this incident is erroneous-or a year off, as they state it occurred on the Fourth of July. I thank Schuyler County Historian. Barbara Bell, for this information. Occasionally. there is a thin line between truth and fabrication. R.P.)

What Will I Die From? Statistics can give some frequencies as to what will cause your death. The top causes of death statistics (see below) are relevant overall, and also interesting is the approximate list of conditions sorted by deaths. Both of these indicate your greatest risk is from chronic conditions. Chronic diseases: Most statistics indicate that you are most likely to die of heart disease (30.3%), cancer (23.0%), stroke (7%), and COPD (5.2%). In fact, the older you get, the greater your likelihood that your cause of death will be some type of chronic condition such as these. Also high on the list for causes of your death are risk factors such as smoking or obesity that contribute to these chronic diseases. Medical errors: Another less reported possibility is death resulting from a medical error. One study estimated deaths from medical errors at 44,000 to 98,000, putting them right into the top ten list. Another report put deaths at 225,000 annually, which would make them the third leading cause of death. However, this number included 106,000 deaths from "non-error adverse events". In other words, not all these deaths are due to "mistakes" but often to unavoidable drug reactions. Another report estimated 180,000 deaths due to adverse reactions to medications. For more details see medical mistakes introduction and rates of medical mistakes. Deaths by age: Your age affects your likelihood of dying from certain conditions. Younger people have higher risks of death from accidents, homicide or suicide. Older adults have lower risks for accidents and homicide, although suicide is still a major consideration even for the elderly. For more detailed information about top ten causes of death by age group, see death information pages for newborn, infant, child, teen, 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 100's. Infant deaths: Infants have special risks of death mainly related to birth complications or congenital disorders. Leading causes of death for infants include prematurity, birth defects, chromosome conditions, and other complications of childbirth. If you live through your first year, obviously your risk of dying from these conditions is very low. Top ten causes of death overall: The overall top ten causes of death in the USA in 1999 are listed below. These statistics cover all age groups in aggregate. - heart disease (30.3% of deaths), - cancer (23.0%), - cerebrovascular diseases including stroke (7.0%), - chronic lower respiratory diseases (5.2%), - accidents (4.1%), - diabetes (2.9%), - Alzheimer's (1.9%), - kidney diseases (1.5%), - septicemia (1.3%), - all other causes (20.2%) [CDC NVSR 2001]. Deaths by condition: Various information about deaths is available for each disease, from various sources. An approximate list of conditions sorted by deaths is available. Medical Tools & Articles: - Risk Factor Center - Medical Statistics Center - Medical Treatment Center - Prevention Center - Medical Tests Center

Canada's Most Patriotic Village The Village of Arthur received this recognition in 2002, when David Tilson the M.P.P for Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey stated in the Ontario Legislature that because of Arthur's extraordinary effort in World War II the community would be recognized as "Canada's Most Patriotic Village". Achievements that garnered Arthur this title include that during World War II the government ran War Bond and Victory Bond campaigns to raise money to carry on the war effort. In the first campaign in 1940, Arthur Village led all communities in Canada in reaching its objective. In every following campaign (6 in all) the Village let all communities in the country in reaching its objective. As well, during the war, a Navy League was formed in most Canadian communities, to raise funds for Canadian Sailors at sea. In September, 1944, Arthur Council received an award for having raised the most per capita of any community in Ontario. A series of murals are featured in the downtown core in keeping with Arthur's war history. Backyard barbecues are a warm weather tradition. While some brave men and women grill year-round, many reserve their outdoor cooking to those times of year when the weather fully cooperates. The laid back vibes of spring, summer and early fall can make it easy for grillmasters to overlook safety when cooking outside. But grilling requires that cooks prioritize safety. While both charcoal and gas grills can cause fires, the National Fire Protection Association says gas grills contributed to four out of five gas grill fires. The NFPA also notes that many of those gas grill-related fires can be traced to leaks or breaks in the hoses. The following are a handful of ways cooks can safeguard themselves, their families, their grills, and their homes against leaks or breaks in their gas grill hoses. · Inspect hoses at the start of each grilling season. Leaks, breaks or cracks in the hoses may occur when moving grills into the garage or shed for the winter. So it's a good idea to inspect the hoses at the start of each season before using the grill for the first time each year. · Employ soap and water if you suspect but cannot find any leaks. Travelers Insurance recommends that men and women who suspect a leak is present but cannot find one apply a light solution of soap and water to the hose. If there is a leak, bubbles will appear. · Do not turn on the gas if the grill lid is closed. If the gas is turned on while the lid is closed, gas can build up inside and potentially ignite, causing the lid to blow off. So men and women should always make sure the lids of their grills are open before turning on the gas. · Stop grilling if you smell gas and see no flame. If there is no flame, but you still smell gas, turn off the tank and grill immediately. Some leaks may cease, at which time men and women can take their tanks to be serviced. If the leak persists, contact the local fire department. · Turn off the grill and cease cooking if you smell gas while food is on the grill. The odor of gas while cooking is another telltale sign of a leak, even if there is a flame and food appears to be cooking. Contact the local fire department if such a situation presents itself. · Close the valve after cooking. Always make sure the valve is tightly closed after cooking. · Store tanks away from the house. Propane tanks should always be stored away from the house. Near the end of each grilling season, homeowners may want to use what's left of the gas in their propane tanks so they don't have to store tanks over the winter.

in Darwin's prophecy, evolutionary paleontologists have been digging up fossils and searching for missing links all over the world since the middle of the nineteenth century. Despite their best efforts, no transitional forms have yet been uncovered. All the fossils unearthed in excavations have shown that, contrary to the beliefs of evolutionists, life appeared on earth all of a sudden and fully-formed. Robert Carroll, an expert on vertebrate paleontology and a committed evolutionist, comes to admit that the Darwinist hope has not been satisfied with fossil discoveries: Despite more than a hundred years of intense collecting efforts since the time of Darwin's death, the fossil record still does not yield the picture of infinitely numerous transitional links that he expected.41 Another evolutionary paleontologist, K. S. Thomson, tells us that new groups of organisms appear very abruptly in the fossil record: When a major group of organisms arises and first appears in the record, it seems to come fully equipped with a suite of new characters not seen in related, putatively ancestral groups. These radical changes in morphology and function appear to arise very Biologist Francis Hitching, in his book The Neck of the Giraffe: Where Darwin Went Wrong, states: If we find fossils, and if Darwin's theory was right, we can predict what the rock should contain; finely graduated fossils leading from one group of creatures to another group of creatures at a higher level of complexity. The 'minor improvements' in successive generations should be as readily preserved as the species themselves. But this is hardly ever the case. In fact, the opposite holds true, as Darwin himself complained; "innumerable transitional forms must have existed, but why do we not find them embedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth?" Darwin felt though that the "extreme imperfection" of the fossil record was simply a matter of digging up more fossils. But as more and more fossils were dug up, it was found that almost all of them, without exception, were very close to current living animals.43 There is no gradual development in the fossil record such as Darwin had predicted. Different species emerged all at once, with their own peculiar bodily structures. The fossil record reveals that species emerged suddenly, and with totally different structures, and remained exactly the same over the longest geological periods. Stephen Jay Gould, a Harvard University paleontologist and well-known evolutionist, admitted this fact first in the late 70s: The history of most fossil species include two features particularly inconsistent with gradualism: 1) Stasis - most species exhibit no directional change during their tenure on earth. They appear in the fossil record looking much the same as when they disappear; morphological change is usually limited and directionless; 2) Sudden appearance - in any local area, a species does not arise gradually by the steady transformation of its ancestors; it appears all at once and 'fully formed'.44 only strengthened the facts of stasis and sudden appearance. Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge write in 1993 that "most species, during their geological history, either do not change in any appreciable way, or else they fluctuate mildly in morphology, with no apparent direction."45 Robert Carroll is forced to agree in 1997 that "Most major groups appear to originate and diversify over geologically very short durations, and to persist for much longer periods without major morphological or trophic change."46 At this point, it is necessary to clarify just what the concept of "transitional form" means. The intermediate forms predicted by the theory of evolution are living things falling between two species, but which possess deficient or semi-developed organs. But sometimes the concept of intermediate form is misunderstood, and living structures which do not possess the features of transitional forms are seen as actually doing so. For instance, if one group of living things possesses features which belong to another, this is not an intermediate form feature. The platypus, a mammal living in Australia, reproduces by laying eggs just like reptiles. In addition, it has a bill similar to that of a duck. Scientists describe such creatures as the platypus as "mosaic creatures." That mosaic creatures do not count as intermediate forms is also accepted by such foremost paleontologists as Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge.47 41 Robert L. Carroll, Patterns and Processes of Vertebrate Evolution, Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 25. 42 K. S. Thomson, Morphogenesis and Evolution, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1988, p. 98. 43 Francis Hitching, The Neck of the Giraffe: Where Darwin Went Wrong, Tichnor and Fields, New Haven, 1982, p. 40. 44 S.J. Gould, "Evolution's Erratic Pace", Natural History, vol. 86, May 1977. (emphasis added) 45 Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge, "Punctuated Equilibria: The Tempo and Mode of Evolution Reconsidered", Paleobiology, 3 (2), 1977, p. 115. 46 Robert L. Carroll, Patterns and Processes of Vertebrate Evolution, Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 146. 47 S. J. Gould & N. Eldredge, Paleobiology, vol. 3, 1977, p. 147.

Crystallography. an imaginary line bisecting either the acute angle (acute bisectrix) or the obtuse angle (obtuse bisectrix) of the optic axes of a biaxial crystal. Geometry. a bisector. Scientific American Supplement, No. 794, March 21, 1891 Various noun (pl) bisectrices (baɪˈsɛktrɪˌsiːz) another name for bisector the bisector of the angle between the optic axes of a crystal to cut or divide into two equal or nearly equal parts. Geometry. to cut or divide into two equal parts: to bisect an angle. to intersect or cross: the spot where the railroad tracks bisect the highway. to split into two, as a road; fork: There’s a charming old inn just before the road bisects. […] a line or plane that bisects an angle or line segment. Historical Examples The Teaching of Geometry David Eugene Smith The Teaching of Geometry David Eugene Smith noun (maths) a straight line or plane that bisects an angle a line or plane that bisects another line n. an ancient Roman seat of honor for two persons. Historical Examples Pompeii, Its Life and Art August Mau Rambles in Rome S. Russell Forbes of or relating to the correlation between two sets of measurements, one set of which is limited to one of two values. Historical Examples Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 3 Various The Elements of Botany Asa Gray Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Various A Guide to the Study […]

containing tin, especially in the bivalent state. of or containing tin, esp in the divalent state stannous stan·nous (stān’əs) Of, relating to, or containing tin, especially with valence 2. Containing tin, especially tin with a valence of 2. Compare stannic. noun, Chemistry. 1. a white, crystalline, water-soluble solid, SnCl 2 ⋅2H 2 O, used chiefly as a reducing and tinning agent, and as a mordant in dyeing with cochineal. noun 1. a white, crystalline powder, SnF 2 , slightly soluble in water: used as a source of fluorine in the prevention of dental caries, especially as a toothpaste additive. stannous fluoride n. A preparation of stannous tin and fluoride used to fluoridate toothpaste and other dental preparations. noun 1. tin. noun 1. an obsolete name for tin (sense 1) stannum stan·num (stān’əm) n. The element tin. stanolone stan·o·lone (stān’ə-lōn’) n. See dihydrotestosterone.

noun, plural series. a group or a number of related or similar things, events, etc., arranged or occurring in temporal, spatial, or other order or succession; sequence. a number of games, contests, or sporting events, with the same participants, considered as a unit: The two baseball clubs played a five-game series. a set, as of coins or stamps. a set of successive volumes or issues of a periodical published in like form with similarity of subject or purpose. Radio and Television. a daily or weekly program with the same cast and format and a continuing story, as a soap opera, situation comedy, or drama. a number of related programs having the same theme, cast, or format: a series of four programs on African wildlife. a sequence of terms combined by addition, as 1 + ½ + ¼ + ⅛ + … ½ n. Rhetoric. a succession of coordinate sentence elements. Geology. a division of stratified rocks that is of next higher rank to a stage and next lower rank to a system, comprising deposits formed during part of a geological epoch. Electricity. an end-to-end arrangement of the components, as resistors, in a circuit so that the same current flows through each component. Compare parallel (def 13). Chemistry. a group of related chemical elements arranged in order of increasing atomic number: the lanthanide series. Electricity. consisting of or having component parts connected in series: a series circuit; a series generator. noun (pl) -ries a group or connected succession of similar or related things, usually arranged in order a set of radio or television programmes having the same characters and setting but different stories a set of books having the same format, related content, etc, published by one firm a set of stamps, coins, etc, issued at a particular time (maths) the sum of a finite or infinite sequence of numbers or quantities See also geometric series a configuration of two or more components connected in a circuit so that the same current flows in turn through each of them (esp in the phrase in series) (as modifier): a series circuit Compare parallel (sense 10) (rhetoric) a succession of coordinate elements in a sentence (geology) a stratigraphical unit that is a subdivision of a system and represents the rocks formed during an epoch series se·ries (sēr’ēz) n. pl. series A number of objects or events arranged or coming one after the other in succession. A group of objects related by linearly varying successive differences in form or configuration, as in a radioactive decay series. The sum of a sequence of terms, for example 2 + 22 + 23 + 24 + 25 + … A group of rock formations closely related in time of origin and distinct as a group from other formations. adjective 1. situated or occurring under a serous membrane. subserous sub·se·rous (sŭb-sēr’əs) adj. Located beneath a serous membrane. - Subserous plexus subserous plexus n. The subserous part of the enteric plexus of autonomic nerves. verb (used with object), subserved, subserving. 1. to be useful or instrumental in promoting (a purpose, action, etc.): Light exercise subserves digestion. 2. Obsolete. to serve as a subordinate. verb (transitive) 1. to be helpful or useful to 2. (obsolete) to be subordinate to adjective 1. serving or acting in a subordinate capacity; subordinate. 2. servile; excessively submissive; obsequious: subservient persons; subservient conduct. 3. useful in promoting a purpose or end. adjective 1. obsequious in behaviour or attitude 2. serving as a means to an end 3. a less common word for subordinate (sense 2)

HTML is a document-layout and hyperlink-specification language. It defines the syntax and placement of special, embedded directions that aren't displayed by the browser, but tell it how to display the contents of the document, including text, images, and other support media. The language also tells you how to make a document interactive through special hypertext links, which connect your document with other documents--on either your computer or someone else's, as well as with other Internet resources, like FTP and Gopher. The basic syntax and semantics of HTML are defined in the HTML standard, currently Version 3.2. HTML is a young language, barely five years old, but already in its third iteration. Don't be too surprised if another version appears before you finish reading this book. Given the pace of these standards matters, one never knows when or if a new standard version will come to fruition. Browser developers rely upon the HTML standard to program the software that formats and displays common HTML documents. Authors use the standard to make sure they are writing effective, correct HTML documents. Nonetheless, commercial forces have pushed developers to add into their browsers--Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer, in particular--nonstandard extensions meant to improve the language. Many times, these extensions are implementations of future standards still under debate. Extensions can foretell future standards because so many people use them. In this book, we explore in detail the syntax, semantics, and idioms of HTML 3.2, along with the many important extensions that are supported in the latest versions of the most popular browsers, so that any aspiring HTML author can create fabulous documents with a minimum of effort. Like many popular technologies, HTML started out as an informal specification used by only a few people. As more and more authors began to use the language, it became obvious that more formal means were needed to define and manage--to standardize--HTML's features, making it easier for everyone to create and share documents. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was formed with the charter to define the standard versions of HTML. Members are responsible for drafting, circulating for review, and modifying the standard based on cross-Internet feedback to best meet the needs of the many. Beyond HTML, the W3C has the broader responsibility of standardizing any technology related to the World Wide Web; they manage the HTTP standard, as well as related standards for document addressing on the Web. And they solicit draft standards for extensions to existing Web technologies, such as internationalization of the HTML standard. If you want to track HTML development and related technologies, contact the W3C at http://www.w3.org/. Several Internet newsgroups are devoted to the Web, each a part of the comp.infosystems.www hierarchy. These include comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html and comp.infosystems.www.authoring.images. Even broader in reach than W3C, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is responsible for defining and managing every aspect of Internet technology. The World Wide Web is just one small part under the purview of the IETF. The IETF defines all of the technology of the Internet via official documents known as Requests For Comment, or RFCs. Individually numbered for easy reference, each RFC addresses a specific Internet technology--everything from the syntax of domain names and the allocation of IP addresses to the format of electronic mail messages. To learn more about the IETF and follow the progress of various RFCs as they are circulated for review and revision, visit the IETF home page, http://www.ietf.org/.

Mass extinction at the boundary of the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods, which occurred approximately 66 million years ago, ceased to exist 18% of families of land vertebrates, including almost all large and medium-sized. As shown by a new study conducted by experts from the US and China, the frogs, or rather the group of the tailless, were one of those living beings who took advantage of the opportunity to develop and successfully developed the liberated ecological niches. According to the latest estimates, modern taillesses number more than 6,700 species. But the scattered genetic data did not give scientists an integral picture of their evolutionary history and interrelations between families. To solve this problem, a team of specialists traced 95 nuclear genes in 156 species of frogs. New information was combined with the already available data for another 145 species. Then, to compile a time scale for the divergence of individual frog lines, the researchers raised fossil samples. The analysis showed a parallel evolutionary development of three phylogenetic branches – Hyloidea, Microhylidae and Natatanura. It turned out that as many as 88% of modern tailless species came out of them. As a result, an evolutionary tree was compiled that covers representatives of all the known 55 families of tailless. The results of the study were published in the publication PNAS. “Frogs have existed for more than 200 million years, but our research shows that only after the disappearance of the dinosaurs did a real explosion of their diversity take place, leading to the number of species that we see today,” says David Blackburn, co-author of the study, in a press release. David Blackburn) from the University of Florida. “This discovery was completely unexpected.” The fact is that the origin of most of the tailless was previously attributed to the Mesozoic era, that is, to the period between 250 and 66 million years before our era. And this was the only explanation for their modern diversity. However, at the same time, many biologists have stymied the genetic similarity of species inhabiting different parts of the globe under similar conditions. The new data offers a completely different version of the development of events. The authors of the study believe that in the time of that mass extinction, significant, and, most likely, catastrophic changes in ecosystems, in particular, the widespread destruction of forests, occurred. It is well known that frogs are not bad at coping with survival in limited areas, which could well have been preserved in the general chaos. And when the vegetation regained its position, a number of ecological niches were formed, which quickly filled with surviving species. Most likely, adaptation of animals to new conditions occurred similar evolutionary ways, which was reflected in the genomes of modern tailless. “I think the most interesting thing about our study is that we demonstrate the excellent resistance of this group of animals,” Blackburn concluded, “They survived the mass extinction that wiped out dinosaurs from the face of the earth, and then quickly recovered and developed powerfully” . Scientists note that at present the habitat of frogs is again shrinking and collapsing. At this time, the fault is human activity. Again and again, environmentalists draw the attention of the public that a wave of mass extinction has already engulfed the animal world, and reports of attribution to endangered species become regular. It is difficult to say whether the frogs will be able to resist the new circumstances, but people should definitely think about this as often as possible.

The World Health Organization estimates that between 600 and 700 million people suffer from iron deficiencies. It is probably the most common nutritional deficiency in the world, particularly in developing countries. The lack of iron in Western Europe is usually due to an insufficient proportion of this mineral in our daily diet. It is estimated that approximately 8% of Western women suffer from iron deficiency. However, Dr. Mike Nelson, a nutritionist at King’s College at the University of London, finds that between 10% and 20% of young women are affected. Although these girls appear to be in good health, iron deficiency affects their daily lives, decreasing their ability to concentrate and, therefore, their school performance. The best sources of iron Feeling constantly tired or have a pale complexion are symptoms that may indicate that your diet is lacking iron and has reached a level of lack. To know what is behind these symptoms, the doctor will have to perform a blood test in order to measure in what situation is your hemoglobin rate. You can then diagnose if you have a risk of iron deficiency or if you have already developed anemia. The body absorbs about 25% of the iron present in meat, fish and poultry. However, when iron comes from cereals, vegetables or fruit, we absorb much less. The amount of iron would increase if you also take vitamin C in citrus fruits, berries, kiwis, peppers and potatoes, fructose in fruits and fruit juices, and proteins in meat and fish. Instead, iron absorption would be reduced if food, eggs, bran and tea were taken at the same time. The nutrients may interact with each other or with other components of the feed at the site of absorption, resulting in a change in bioavailability or, if the enhancers and inhibitors cancel each other out, a null effect. Enhancers may act in different ways, keeping the nutrient soluble or protecting it from interaction with the inhibitors. For example, as carotenoids are fat-soluble, adding small amounts of fat or oil to food (3-5 g per meal) improves their bioavailability. Similarly, although meat, fish and poultry contain highly bioavailable iron, it is also known to enhance the iron absorption of all foods. Although this “meat factor” has not yet been identified, is believed to be due to the influence of muscle protein. Vitamin C can also be of great help and can increase the absorption of iron two or three times. That is, taking a glass of orange juice with breakfast cereals contributes to the body using a higher proportion of iron present in cereals. An example of competition for the same system of use is the interaction between calcium and non-heme iron. Both minerals bind to a conveying agent on the surface of the intestinal cells but, while non-heme iron enters cells like this, calcium stays at the gates and prevents more iron from entering. This effect is especially relevant when taking calcium or iron supplements outside of meals. Therefore, it is advisable to use such supplements at different times of the day in order to avoid this interference. In the case of several nutrients, mainly calcium, magnesium, iron, floated and vitamin A, it is necessary to know its bioavailability to translate physiological needs into food needs. The magnitude of the adjustments varies depending on the nutrient, the usual diet and various factors related to the host, and it is difficult to evaluate most of these aspects. Taking all these influences into account, it is not surprising that nutrient-based dietary recommendations differ between countries and institutions, although the EURRECA Network of Excellence works to standardize evaluation methodologies across Europe. We must be very careful when choosing how we combine food if we are in a physiological situation in the availability of a certain nutrient establish the separation between health and illness.

The last great résistant standing in France, Raymond Aubrac, died on April 10. He was 97. With his passing, France has lost a political and moral figure who helped redeem the nation’s past and stood witness to its present. At the same time, France’s Jews have lost one of their own who courageously, though not always successfully, reminded them of their own moral duties toward the powerless and impoverished in France and abroad. The child of assimilated Jewish parents, Aubrac — the nom de guerre he took when his family name, Samuel, proved too dangerous in Vichy France — considered himself, quite simply, French. In this regard, he closely resembled other celebrated members of the Resistance who happened to be Jewish: historian Marc Bloch, politician Pierre Mendès-France and political theorist Raymond Aron. In his book “Strange Defeat,” completed just before he was captured and killed by the Gestapo, Bloch offered a credo that spoke for Aubrac, as well: “I was born in France. I have drunk of the waters of her culture. I have made her past my own. I breathe freely only in her climate, and I have done my best, with others, to defend her interests.” A novelist could not invent a more propitious event to launch Aubrac’s life than the one life itself provided. He was born on July 31, 1914 — the same day that Jean Jaurès, the great Socialist pacifist and tribune, was assassinated. Along with Emile Zola and Bernard Lazare, Jaurès had championed Captain Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish officer wrongly convicted of treason in 1894. For Jaurès, the “affair” had nothing to do with Dreyfus’s religion and everything to do with France’s revolutionary legacy and republican principles. As Aubrac wrote in his memoir, “Where Memory Lingers” (“Où la Mémoire S’attarde”), family debates over Dreyfus not only “nourished” his childhood, but also rooted his political convictions in the republican values of the French Revolution. When the time came to choose between resistance and resignation in the summer of 1940, Raymond and Lucie Aubrac — they had married at the end of 1939 — had in fact made their choice many years before. In the weeks following France’s catastrophic military defeat, they were already planning for the country’s liberation. From our distant historical and moral perspective, their decision might seem predictable, even normal. Nothing, however, could be less true: The vast majority of French men and women placed their faith for many long months, even years, in Marshal Philippe Pétain, the elderly head of the Vichy regime. Crawling from under the ruins of their suddenly collapsed political and social institutions, suffering from sharp material want, worrying over the fate of more than 1 1/2 million men— husbands, sons, fathers — who were taken as prisoners of war, most French no more thought to resist than to sprout wings. This was true for Jews as well as for non-Jews. Indeed, in 1940 there wasn’t a Resistance to join. The Aubracs, along with philosopher Jean Cavaillès and journalist Emmanuel d’Astier de la Vigerie, created one of the first resistance movements, Libération-Sud, on the Mediterranean coast, where the Aubracs had fled to live with an aunt. Two years later, Jean Moulin, serving as Charles de Gaulle’s emissary, was trying to bring the various movements under the same organizational umbrella. On June 21, 1943, the Gestapo invaded a house where Moulin was meeting with representatives from several groups, including Aubrac. With the others, Aubrac was arrested and imprisoned at the notorious Fort Montluc. Shortly after, while he was being transferred to a military hospital, Aubrac was rescued by a commando operation led by Lucie Aubrac, who was then several months pregnant with the couple’s second child. A few months later, the family reached London, the child was born and the couple continued their work on behalf of the Resistance. Aubrac’s parents and a brother were taken to Auschwitz, where they died. Aubrac’s work continued until his death. A fellow traveler of the French Communist Party, Aubrac explained his belated recognition of communism’s horrors as the result of his wartime experience: Communists played a central role in the Resistance. Moreover, Aubrac, like many others who believed that resistance must lead to revolution, was enamored of the utopian future offered by communism, or what were then known (with a straight face) as “the tomorrows that sing.” Though the scales concerning the Soviet Union and communism eventually fell from his eyes, Aubrac never swung, unlike so many others from his generation, into the ranks of reaction. Instead, he and his wife remained committed to the revolutionary promise of liberty, equality and fraternity. To this end, they were ardent defenders of the sans papiers, or illegal immigrants in France. Lucie Aubrac once noted dryly that they, too, had once been sans papiers. In 2003, Raymond Aubrac signed the manifesto “Une Autre Voix Juive” (“Another Jewish Voice”), which denounced Israel’s settlement policy and invasion of Lebanon. Not surprisingly, the French Jewish group CRIF overlooked this engagement in its obituary of Aubrac. Finally, in 2004, Raymond and Lucie Aubrac joined several other grand résistants to mark the 60th anniversary of France’s liberation. These remarkable men and women called on France’s youth to keep alive the spirit of the Resistance, codified in the charter of the National Council of the Resistance. The “three humanistic gestures” they asked the young to embrace were to safeguard hard-won social and economic rights, to fight against social injustices and racism, and to reject the frantic consumerism of our age. Make this battle yours, Aubrac declared, so that the “torch of the Resistance never dies.” Raymond Aubrac had earned the right to exhort the rest of us; time will tell if we will earn the right to his dogged optimism. Robert Zaretsky is a professor of history at the Honors College at the University of Houston and a contributor to “The Occupy Handbook” (Little, Brown).

Canadian environmental activist David Suzuki wrote a commentary last week in which he called for "renewable energy, not carbon capture and storage." Suzuki bases his opposition to CCS on familiar grounds including high cost, induced seismicity, and problematic liability. He concludes that "We need to consider many solutions to deal with waste, pollution, and global warming, but not risky and expensive schemes that serve only to enable our continued addiction to fossil fuels. Our best bet is to reduce waste and emissions. And rather than dumping money into schemes like carbon capture and storage, we should invest in renewable energy." However, in regard to the objections raised by Suzuki, on closer examination there is less than meets the eye. Theoretical and empirical evidence of a link between CCS and induced seismicity is weak to nonexistent (see Geologic Storage and Earthquakes?, 6/23). Costs are high indeed, but innovative measures such as power plant CO2 performance standards offer ways around this obstacle (see Calls Intensify for More Global Action on CCS, 5/16). And recent research suggests that the liability issue is much less troublesome than previously thought (see New Study Quantifies Risks from CCS, 6/27). The world economy is based on investments in fossil fuel consumption. Past investments represent sunk costs that will not simply be abandoned as stranded assets. Future investments are being planned now, and must take into account a near-zero cost of carbon given a moribund EU ETS, the uninspiring outcomes of Durban and Rio+20, etc. Furthermore, CCS transport and storage technologies will likely prove critical to several promising CDR approaches such as DAC and BECCS. Given the economic and ecological realities we face, a wholesale switch to renewables now is neither wise nor possible. CCS must be part of the mix, and to dismiss it out of hand qualifies as both risky and short-sighted.

Great Western Railway Star Class 4-6-0 express passenger locomotive 4057 “Princess Elizabeth” – pictured left at the head of an express train -was delivered new to Old Oak Common Depot in July 1914 and withdrawn by British Railways from Swindon in February 1952 The 4-6-0 wheel arrangement originated in the United States of America and was introduced to Britain by David Jones, Locomotive Superintendent of the Highland Railway in 1894. The fifteen strong “Big Goods” class were built by Sharp Stewart and Company and when first outshopped from their Glasgow works were the most powerful mainline locomotives in Britain. Although designed as freight engines, the “Big Goods” often hauled Highland Railway passenger trains during the busy summer season. In fact the first Great Western Railway 4-6-0 had also been introduced as freight locomotive: this time by William Dean in 1896. Number 36 – popularly known as “The Crocodile” due to its long boiler and round topped firebox – combined the double frames typical of Great Western practice of the time with 20″ x 24″ (bore and stroke) inside cylinders. Designed to haul heavy freight trains through the Severn Tunnel, it proved to be exceptionally capable although a weak point was the crank axle that transferred torque to the 4′ 7 1/2″ diameter driving wheels. However, 36 remained a prototype and was withdrawn in 1905 with the relatively low mileage of 171 428. The year 1899 also saw the advent of Great Western Railway 4-6-0 locomotive 2601, nicknamed Kruger after the then leader of Britain’s enemies the Boers in South Africa, and to say the least lacking the finesse usually associated with Swindon’s Drawing Office! The double frames of this massive locomotive were similar to those of number 36 while 2601 possessed a domeless boiler with a 3′ 6″ combustion chamber between it and the raised Belpaire firebox. This boiler was supported at the front end by the smokebox and at the rear by a cradle which stretched across the frames. A rectangular sandbox was located on top of the boiler as an experiment to see if the heat from the boiler would keep the sand dry and free-running and for access to this feature steps were attached to both sides of the rear smokebox. The springing on this experimental engine was of the volute type in nests and the bogie had spoked wheels with an inside frame. The 7′ long Belpaire firebox was also notable in being straight sided rather than waisted with a uniform width of 5′ 9″. 2601 had a very short life, being withdrawn in December 1904. Great Western Railway 4-6-0 express passenger locomotives however were developed by George Jackson Churchward. As Chief Mechanical Engineer from 1902, Churchward planned to rationalise GWR motive power into six basic types. One of these was to be a 4-6-0 to to replace the 4-4-0 “Cities” which could run very fast but lacked the strength to haul heavy corridor expresses. A 4-6-0 locomotive – numbered 100 and later named “William Dean” after Churchward’s predecessor – had already been built at Swindon with inside frames and two outside cylinders. This inversion of contemporary GWR practice led to the building of the 4-6-0 “Saints”, but Churchward saw beyond such minor changes. Churchward realised that the smooth passage of steam from collection pipe to chimney was just as important as steam production from a high pressure boiler. As a result his new 4-6-0 design was to have wide long-travel piston valves linked to long stroke pistons by Walschaerts valve gear. The latter not only gave precise, economical running but was compactly fitted between the frames and could run with only half its parts in working order. Churchward also considered constructing his express 4-6-0 as a compound locomotive. Between 1903 and 1905 three de Glehn 4-4-2s from the French Nord railway were imported for trials against a GWR Atlantic built in 1906. Although the home-grown simple expansion machine out-performed its European counterparts with more economy, their four cylindered layout gave a smoother ride. Consequently Great Western 4-4-2 number 40 – which was named “North Star” in October 1906 – was rebuilt as a 4-6-0 in 1909 and renumbered 4000 in December 1912. 4000 “North Star” was fitted with 14¼” bore x 26″ stroke (compared to the later Star standard 15″ x 26″ initially applied to 4041 and later retrofitted to all class members) and an unusual scissors valve gear as well as the curved framing that was built on the second batch of production engines. “North Star” also had a footplate that was 2½ inches higher than the other Walschaerts valve gear fitted taper-boilered Stars and kept this feature even rebuilt as a Castle class locomotive in November 1929. As a Castle, 4000 “North Star” was first allocated to Newton Abbot, was at Wolverhampton Stafford Road in 1947 and was withdrawn from Landore in May 1957. The “Stars” excelled on the gradients of South Wales and the West Country where load-pulling ability counted more than speed. Fitted with superheat from 1908 they also laid the foundation for Charles Collett’s ” Castle ” class of 1923. Indeed, between 1925 and 1929, numbers 4000/ 9/ 16/ 32 and 37 were taken out of stock and rebuilt as ‘Castle’ class locomotives. Similarly, numbers 4063 to 4072, known as the ‘Abbeys’, were rebuilt as ‘Castle’ class engines between 1937 and 1940. 4000/ 1/ 8/ 10/ 13/ 17/ 18/ 21/ 22/ 24/ 28/ 35/ 38/ 44/ 47/ 51/ 54/ 55/ 57 /6 and 61-72 were fitted with cast iron chimneys for the period 1919 to 1924 as an austerity measure. The latter 12 engines had them fitted as standard. Outside steam pipes were fitted to most of the class from 1929 although of two types, ‘Elbow’ and ‘Castle’. The ‘Elbow’ type doubled back between the frames and was used when new inside cylinders or saddles were fitted with the old pattern outside cylinders. The ‘Castle’ type of steam pipe was used when new pattern outside cylinders were fitted. From 1932, the upper lamp irons were transferred from the front of the chimney to the smokebox door while from 1939, some members of the class received the Grange type of shorter chimney, 1′ 9″ high compared to the previous 1′ 11¾”. Although the record breaking run of Great Western 4-4-0 City Class locomotive 3440 in 1904 – and its probable though still debatable breaking of the 100 mph barrier – is well documented, Star 4-6-0 4013 “Knight of St Patrick” achieved what legendary train performance recorder O.S. Nock considered “a classic run” on 28 April 1908 between Exeter and Paddington with a train of 390 tons including the GWR Dynamometer car. This journey elapsed in 189 minutes 58 seconds but allowing for a permanent way slack at Pewsey and a signal check as frustratingly near Paddington as Royal Oak, the net time was 183 minutes, two minutes under schedule with maximum tractive effort being applied on quite severe adverse gradients. On leaving BR service in 1951, 4003 “Lode Star” became the only member of the class to be preserved. Built in February 1907 it was fitted with Automatic Warning System ( AWS ) and a speedometer but lost its bogie brake gear from November 1923 in line with other GWR locomotives. 1962 saw 4003 enter Swindon Railway Museum where it lay dormant but highly polished until Sunday 1 March 1992 when it was removed by low loader for its journey to the National Railway Museum in York. Its place in Swindon was taken by 6000 “King George V” which subsequently moved to the “Steam” museum on the former Swindon Works site in the 21st Century. Some of the “Star” names were also taken up by Britannia Pacifics introduced to British Railways Western Region in the 1950s and the name applied to 4002 “Evening Star” was used for the last time on British Railway’s final steam locomotive – 9F 2-10-0 92220 – outshopped from Swindon in March 1960. GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY 4-6-0s ON ” THE ROYAL ROAD” The British Royal Family always had a close relationship with the Great Western Railway which began when Queen Victoria made her first ever rail journey from Windsor. As such it was not surprising that 4048 Princess Victoria was temporarily named Princess Mary in honour of the future Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, born on 25 April 1897 in Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee year. Queen Victoria called her “My dear little Jubilee baby” and her grandfather, the Prince of Wales suggested calling her Diamond. Instead she was christened Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary, however, she was always known as Mary, after her maternal grandmother Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck. Princess Mary was born at York Cottage, on the Sandringham estate, the third child and only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York, the future King George V and Queen Mary. Her siblings were Prince Edward (later Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor), Albert (later King George VI), Henry, Duke of Gloucester, Prince George, Duke of Kent and Prince John. During the First World War Princess Mary was active in welfare organizations that provided comfort to troops and introduced the Princess Mary gift box which was sent out to troops in Christmas 1914. These boxes contained one ounce of pipe tobacco, twenty cigarettes, a pipe, a tinder lighter, a Christmas card from the King and Queen and a photograph of Princess Mary. Non-smokers received a box containing a packet of antacid tablets, a khaki writing case containing pencil, paper and envelopes together with the Christmas card and photograph. Princess Mary also took a nursing course and in 1918 went to work at the Great Ormond Street Hospital. In 1922 she married Henry, Viscount Lascelles, a man 15 years her senior at Westminster Abbey. At first they lived at Goldsborough Hall, near Knaresborough but seven years after their wedding, Lord Lascelles succeeded his father as the sixth Earl of Harewood and they moved into Harewood House. Princess Mary loved Yorkshire and she was known as the ‘Yorkshire Princess’. They had two sons, George, the present Earl of Harewood, born in 1922 and Gerald born in 1923. Princess Mary was appointed Commandant in Chief of the British Red Cross Detachments in 1926 and she also became Colonel-in-chief’ of a number of regiments. Following the death of her aunt, Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife, she was created Princess Royal by her father on 1 January 1932. At the outbreak of World War II, the Princess Royal became chief controller and later controller commandant of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS, renamed the Women’s Royal Army Corp in 1949). In that capacity she travelled Britain visiting its units, as well as wartime canteens and other welfare organizations. After her husband’s death in 1947, she continued to live at Harewood house with her son and his family. She became Chancellor of Leeds University in 1951, and continued to carry out many duties at home and abroad, representing the Queen at the independence celebrations of Trinidad in 1962 and Zambia in 1964. During a trip to Canada in 1962 she became the first woman to be installed as an honorary bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada. Upon receiving this honour she said ‘I have not been a great lawyer, but I’m fast becoming one’. One of her last official engagements was to represent the Queen at the funeral of Queen Louise of Sweden in early March 1965. The Princess Royal died suddenly of a heart attack on 28 March 1965 while walking in the garden with her eldest son and his family and she is buried on the Harewood estate. Back in 1952 however, what was by then the Western Region of British Railways was called upon to make another locomotive name switch for the benefit of the Royal Family – although this time in the more sombre circumstances of the death of His Majesty King George VI. 4082 “Windsor Castle” had been viewed as the Great Western’s Royal locomotive from 28 April 1924 when King George V accompanied by Queen Mary drove it from Swindon works to Swindon station – a feat emulated by his grand daughter Princess Elizabeth in November 1950. Plaques were mounted on the side of 4082 to commemorate King George V’s turn at the regulator. Unfortunately when King George VI died suddenly in February 1952 locomotive 4082 was in Swindon works for repairs, so the cabside number plate, curved nameplate and commemorative plaques were transferred to Post-War Castle 7013 “Bristol Castle”. The identity of 7013 was similarly moved to the 1924 vintage 4082 and the two 4-6-0s impersonated each other until both were scrapped in the mid 1960s. To complicate matters further, the real 4082 ( now masquerading as 7013 ) received a double chimney in May 1958 and had its original fluted inside valve casing ( the real giveaway to its 1924 vintage ) replaced with a new design of straight casing with a square edge to the tread plate and centre portion raised to clear the exhaust passages. GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY CASTLE CLASS Castle class 4-6-0 7037 “Swindon”, built in 1950 and named by the then Princess Elizabeth – now Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – as the last of 167 such locomotives, pauses with a train at its namesake station. Technically known as the 4073 Class by the Great Western Railway, the Castles led a service life of glamour and excitement which has carried over into preservation. “Engine No 4073 “Caerphilly Castle” 4-6-0. The first of the latest series of 4-6-0 or ten-wheel four-cylinder simple expansion locomotives, having two outside cylinders driving the middle pair of coupled wheels, whilst the inside drive the leading pair. Is fitted with a large boiler, superheater, Belpaire firebox, and the usual GWR standard appliances. A new type of cab with side windows is provided. Built at Swindon, the total weight of the engine and tender in working order is 120 tons.” The original 4073 – named “Caerphilly Castle” – was outshopped from Swindon Works in August 1923, just eight months after the Grouping of British railways. It had been designed by Charles Baker Collett, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway, as a replacement for the Star 4-6-0s which began series production in 1907. The seven years before the outbreak of war in 1914 saw increases in the weights of main-line passenger trains made possible mostly by the introduction of the ‘Stars’. However, by the time Collett took over from Churchward at Swindon in 1921, holiday traffic from London to Devon and Cornwall was demanding even heavier trains and the GWR management devoted proportionally more money and resources to West of England services from Paddington than to any other routes. Like the Stars, the new Castles had 4 cylinders and inside Walschaerts valve gear (with two outside cylinders driving the middle pair of coupled wheels whilst the inside drove the leading pair) and the distinctive curved steam pipes which were later to appear on the GWR Kings of 1927 and – retrospectively on some of the Stars. The Castle’s cylinder diameter was increased from the Star’s 15 to 16 inches although the boiler pressure remained at 225 pounds per square inch. Initially the large number 7 boiler was planned for the Castle design, but after concerns by the Chief Civil Engineer regarding the maximum of 20 ton axle limit, a new slightly smaller number 8 was introduced. The Castle’s tractive effort was 31 625 pounds at 85 per cent boiler pressure compared to the Star’s 27 800 pounds and the 29 835 pounds, also at 85 per cent boiler pressure, of the first Gresley Pacifics of the LNER. The grate area was increased to 29.4 square feet in the Castle from the 27.07 square feet in the Star. The Castle’s average coal consumption was one of the lowest in the country : 2.83 pounds per drawbar horsepower per hour compared to 4 pounds common for the other railways in the 1920s. The bar-frame bogie was of standard Swindon design and the superheater was the number 3 type as used in the Star design. The top-feed device for introducing water into the boiler through the steam so as not to lose heat was of GWR pattern, with a series of trays to cause descent into the boiler in a fine spray. The Castles proved highly efficient in working heavy expresses on the red-disc classified main lines that would take their weight. Much was made in GWR publicity of the Castle’s roomy cab, with side windows and comfortable seats for the driver and fireman, and a canopy extending rearwards for shelter. The Great Western panache was provided by restoration for the first time after World War I of the copper-capped chimney and polished brass safety-valve cover. The tender attached to the class as originally built was the standard low-sided six wheeler taking six tons of coal and 3 500 gallons of water but this was changed for a 4000 gallon design that emerged in 1926. Both had scoops to pick up water on the move from troughs between the running rails. 4073 “Caerphilly Castle was displayed at the British Empire Exhibition of 1924 and after spending many decades in the Science Museum, London, is now on display at Steam in Swindon – only a few yards from its birthplace. Meanwhile, out on Britain’s working standard gauge network, other Castles – including 15 Stars rebuilt as Castles – were beginning to shake the railway world. 1925 saw 4079 “Pendennis Castle” at work on the LNER alongside A1 Pacifics of a similar vintage. This locomotive exchange proved the worth of the high pressure boiler, long travel valves and unobstructed steam circuit of the Collett ‘7P’ 4-6-0 as did similar work done by 5000 “Launceston Castle” on the LMS in 1926. As a result of the latter trial, Collett’s deputy William Stanier was headhunted by the LMS to become their own Chief Mechanical Engineer and brought more than a touch of Swindon to his Princess Royal pacifics. Interestingly enough, 4079 “Pendennis Castle” went on to work on foreign metals again sfter preservation: this time in Australia! She journeyed Down Under in June 1977 to run on the Hamersley Iron Railway in Dampier, WA, and in 1989 the 1925 trials were vividly recalled when 4079 went east across the Outback to meet 4472 “Flying Scotsman” – the LNER pacific touring the nation to celebrate Australia’s Bicentenary. The meeting was even more ironic as one of the 4073s – named Viscount Churchill – was built from parts of “The Great Bear” – the first British Pacific and the only 4-6-2 the Great Western ever owned. In July 2000 however 4079 “Pendennis Castle” was returned to the Great Western Society at Didcot for further preservation. Back in the late 1920s however, the GWR Castles were taking charge of the Cheltenham Spa Express – the fastest train in the World. Indeed, on 6 June 1932 locomotive 5006 “Tregenna Castle” took a special test train from Swindon to Paddington in 56 minutes 47 seconds. An InterCity 125 today needs nearer 59 minutes to cover the 77.3 mile journey! World War II put the brakes on high speed running after 1939 although 7032 “Denbeigh Castle” and 7018 “Drysllwyn Castle” both topped the 100 mph mark on “Bristolian” services in the 1950s. Despite 66 members of the class receiving double chimneys after 1956 however, the Castles were to succumb to Western Region dieselisation by the end of 1965. Of the Castle Class 4-6-0s built between 1948 and 1950, O.S. Nock was to write in the second edition of his book “Kings and Castles of the GWR” (Ian Allan 1969): These engines formed part of a programme authorised by British Railways to to provide additional motive power pending the introduction of the new standard types, and so far as ex Great Western designs were concerned included batches of 4-6-0s of the Hall and Manor Classes. So far as the Castles were concerned, the new engines were of the Hawksworth variety, with medium degree superheat, mechanical lubrication, and straight-sided all-welded tenders. The running numbers eventually extended to 7037, and this last engine of the class was named “Swindon” by Her Majesty The Queen, when as Princess Elizabeth she visited Swindon Works on 15 November 1950, and drove the Star Class engine bearing her name. The new engines, together with the earlier members of the class, fulfilled their appointed functions admirably in the difficult conditions of the post-war years, setting up an excellent record of punctual running despite steadily worsening qualities of coal available, even for the highest class of express duty. Generally, it was the occasional very bad supply that made conditions so difficult. With the very bad coal, timekeeping was often out of the question, but it was the variation from day to day that most enginemen found so trying: reasonably good “Welsh” one day, and a mixture of kitchen nuts and ovoids the next. With the scheduled start-to-stop speeds of the principal express passenger trains in the 55 to 60 mph range, the train loads around 350 to 400 tons the overall results were satisfactory, and individual performance often as brilliant as at any time in the history of the Great Western Railway four cylinder 4-6-0 locomotives. It was another matter when the management of the Western Region of British Railways decided to restore some of the fastest and most exacting pre-war schedules, including “The Bristolian” running each way between Paddington and Bristol in one and three quarter hours at average speeds of 67.7 mph Down (via Bath and Chippenham) and of 67.2 mph Up over the slightly shorter route via Badminton. The programme included the restoration of pre-war speed with the Cornish Riviera Express, The Torbay Express, and the introduction of faster schedules than anything previously operated between Paddington, Newport and Cardiff.Means had to be found of maintaining pre-war standards of reliability in steaming with fuel available in the 1950s. On the Great Western Railway, Churchward’s locomotive practice had been based on the availability of ample supplies of first-class Welsh coal. Generations of enginemen had been trained to use it to the best advantage, maintaining boiler pressure at a few pounds per square inch below the rated blow-off pressure throughout the run. This was no remote ideal. It was achieved day-in day-out in every express link on the line, and thus assured of constantly maintained boiler pressure Churchward could use a low degree of superheat, with advantageous results in the upkeep of boilers, tubes, valves and so on, and could use a device like the jumper ring on the blast pipe, which would automatically lift and reduce the back pressure if a driver should tend to be heavy handed and thrash his engine to the detriment of economic working. Every feature on the Star Class engines was designed to promote low coal, water and oil consumption, and to keep maintenance charges to a minimum. In the 1950s such almost Utopian conditions on the footplate could hardly be expected. The over-riding need was to have reliable steaming. A fractionally higher coal consumption was a secondary consideration. In these circumstances, the Western Region locomotive department was in the fortunate position not only of inheriting the former GWR stationary testing plant, and a dynamometer car, but also through the farsightedness of F.W. Hawksworth, the last CME of the GWR, being well embarked on the development of entirely new testing techniques. After Nationalisation these were adopted by the Railway executive as the British standard method of testing, and accordingly the work at Swindon continued without intermission under the leadership of S.O. Ell. On the stationary test plant the technique of draughting was exhaustively studied, and as a result alterations were made to the smokebox layouts of both Kings and Castles. The jumper rings were removed, thus eliminating the upward limitations of draught previously imposed on all locomotives of Churchward parentage, and by very careful design and experimental work a new combination of blastpipe and chimney was arrived at which substantially increased the maximum steaming capacity of the engines. With first class coal the maximum steam rate was increased, in round terms, by about 20 per cent over the former maximum. What was more important however was that with inferior coal something approaching pre-war steaming rates could be maintained. The basic coal consumption was increased, but by no more than a modest amount in relation to the increased reliability of the engines in the heaviest express traffic. The “improved draughting”, as it was termed,formed the second stage of the development from the original Churchward precepts. The first, initiated under Hawksworth, had been the use on both Castle and King class engines of a higher degree of superheat, combined with the use of mechanical lubricators. The results from improved draughting were so successful that the Locomotive Department could undertake, in every confidence, the working of the “Bristolian” at pre-war speed, as from the summer service of 1954. As when the service was first introduced, in 1935, King Class engines were employed at first; but after a few months of running experience it was found possible to use Castles, without any deterioration in the standards of punctuality. Before the acceleration of the Cornish Riviera Express to a four hour non-stop run between Paddington and Plymouth, programmed for the summer service of 1955, some further test runs were carried out to convince the Operating Department of its practicability with King Class engines in the prevailing conditions. By way of further demonstrations, test runs were also made with a Stanier Pacific engine from the London Midland Region. The summer service of 1955 saw a more general acceleration of the express train services, including those from London to Torbay, and the promised improvements on the Paddington – South Wales runs via the Severn Tunnel. In the early spring of 1955 the Swindon stationary testing plant was running the British Railways Class 8 three cylinder 4-6-2 locomotive 71000 “Duke of Gloucester” which had a double blastpipe and chimney. At the time, R.A. Smeddle was Chief Mechanical and Electrical Engineer, Western Region, and with a view to improving still further the performance of both the Kings and Castles he instructed Ell to prepare a double-exhaust layout for both classes. The improved draughting arrangement fitted to all Kings and to many Castles had been a very simple and cheap conversion; but consideration had next to be given to a more thorough modernisation. The hard work entailed was showing up weaknesses in the frames of the Kings in particular – not surprising as the majority of the class was by then nearly 30 years old. Although plans for the replacement of steam by diesel traction were by then well under way it was evident that steam would have to carry on for a further term. No new engines of Class 8 capacity could be built, and so an extensive rebuilding programme was authorised. Concurrently with the fitting of all the King Class engines with double blastpipes and chimneys, new cylinders were fitted, though cast to the original patterns. Using a technique first introduced at Crewe, new sections of frame were fitted at the front end, cutting the old plates away, welding the new sections on to the rearward portions which were still serviceable. There is no doubt that the performance of the double chimneyed engines would have been still further enhanced had the cylinders been redesigned to provide for full internal streamlining; but the cost of making the necessary new patterns precluded any further refinement. A number of Castle Class engines were also equipped with double blastpipes and chimneys, and although these showed an improved performance the difference was not considered to be such as to warrant altering the whole class. In any case many of the Castles were relatively new engines. Following the Hawksworth developments in superheating, a series of dynamometer test runs was made, betwen Paddington and Cardiff, with the three variety of Castle originally provided, namely the Collett standard engine with low superheat and hydrostatic lubricator; the Hawksworth medium superheat engine and the experimental rebuilt engine 5049 “Earl of Plymouth” with high degree superheating. Although mechanical lubrication was standardised on the medium superheat engines numbered from 7000 to 7037 the two original engines of this series, 5098 “Clifford Castle” and 5099 “Compton Castle” had hydrostatic lubricators, and it was 5098 “Clifford Castle” that figured in the comparative trials. In the second edition of his book “Kings and Castles of the GWR” (Ian Allan 1969) O.S. Nock continued to write about some of the more memorable Castle performances in the final days before Western Region dieselisation. The first of these involved 5059 “Earl of St Aldwyn” at the head of the Up Torbay Express on its summer mid-week working. With a load of 11 carriages weighing 387 tons tare and 425 tons loaded, the train was scheduled to cover the 173.5 miles from Exter to Paddington via Castle Cary and Newbury in 175 minutes. Nock’s narrative began: “On this occasion I was on the footplate with Driver Trendall and Fireman Bascomb of Newton Abbot. The initial allowance of 34 minutes to pass Creech Junction [east of Taunton] is extremely sharp, including a point-to-point time of 9 minutes 30 seconds for the 13.4 miles downhill from Whiteball summit. The driver did not press his engine unduly up the long bank from Exeter, and a fast descent of Wellington bank with a sustained maximum speed of 86 mph was not enough to keep point-to-point time on that stage. But there was method in this working because time could be gained over the Langport cut-off line, and the climbing of the long 1 in 264 rise to Somerton tunnel at a minimum of 60 miles per hour was an excellent piece of work. Then unfortunately a minor mishap to a preceding train caused a signal stop of 5 minutes 30 seconds before Castle Cary [58.4 miles east of Exeter] and a further delay afterwards so that after climbing the Bruton bank at much lower speed than normal we were 13 minutes 25 seconds late on passing Blatchbridge Junction [71.2 miles east of Exeter]. By that time we were going well again, and five minutes were recovered on the fast schedule onwards to Paddington, despite a signal check outside Reading. This schedule was planned for the working of a 350 ton load and included an 8 minute recovery time. Our running showed a net gain of exactly eight minutes, but this had been achieved with one extra coach, making a tare load of 387 tons. Although this shows a standard of performance above what was planned for the service, this would not be regarded as anything more than a typically good Castle run. [ The net Exeter-Paddington time recorded by O.S. Nock was 167 minutes] The work of the Castles at its very finest is shown by the 0830 up from Plymouth. The engine was the last but one built, 7036 “Taunton Castle”, worked by Driver A. Cook and Fireman Hughes of Old Oak Common. The load to Taunton was 14 carriages – 460 tons tare, 500 tons full – and to Westbury was 15 carriages – 490 tons tare, 535 full. Despite a load of 73 tons heavier, which occasioned a slower start, the hill climbing from Stoke Canon [3.5 miles east of Exeter] to Whiteball was faster than that of 5059 “Earl of St Aldwyn” on the Torbay Express, and a fast descent from Whiteball ensured timekeeping on the first stage, despite a permanent way check to 15 mph. At Taunton yet another coach was added to this already very heavy train, and the locomotive authorities had an assistant engine standing ready to couple on. But 7036 “Taunton Castle” was in such magnificent form that any suggestion of assistance was disdained, and with a load of 535 tons a magnificent run was made to Westbury. Outstanding features were the sustained minimum speed of 53 miles per hour up the 1 in 264 gradient to Somerton tunnel, and the remarkable minimum speed of 34.5 mph at the summit of the severe Bruton bank. With some fast downhill running in conclusion we not only kept time but registered a gain of 3 minutes 15 seconds over the schedule. Unfortunately I was travelling to Chippenham on this occasion and so, leaving the train at Westbury, I was not able to record how this outstanding engine conveyed the train onwards to Paddington. In contrast to these heavy-load runs on the West of England main line the working of Castles on the high speed Bristolian express always provided some excitement.” In his book, O.S. Nock tabulated two Up Bristolian runs with the very free running double chimneyed 7018 “Drysyllwyn Castle”. “On the first of the two runs, with Driver W.H. Brown, I was on the footplate. The start, up the 1 in 75 gradient of Filton incline, always needed careful handling, because if an engine was pounded hard to keep strict point-to-point time at Filton Junction [4.8 miles towards Paddington from Bristol Temple Meads] the fire could be torn about, and the resulting holes would cause poor steaming for many miles afterwards. Thus, the engine was not pressed, falling to a minimum speed of 30 mph, and she was allowed to find her own pace up the long 1 in 300 gradient to Badminton. By that time, generally, the engine of the Up Bristolian was thoroughly warmed up and producing a fine output of power. On the corresponding 1 in 300 descent to Little Somerford [27.9 miles from Bristol on the 117.6 mile journey to Paddington] a speed of 94 mph was attained, and then after easing through Wotton Basset, and taking the slight rise to Swindon there came a long sustained fast spell of running. Speed averaged 88.8 mph over the 26.8 miles from Shrivenham to Goring with a maximum of 91 mph, and with fine subsequent running and a complete absence of checks Paddington was reached 8 minutes early. The companion run, logged by a friend who is a very experienced recorder, was made at a time when certain very hard runs were made to determine whether some further acceleration of schedule might be possible. I believe it is the fastest end to end time made by a steam engine in the Up direction. The engine was pressed rather harder than usual in the early stages , with speeds of 33 mph up the Filton bank and an acceleration to 73 mph at Badminton [17.6 miles from Bristol]. A maximum speed of exactly 100 mph at Little Somerford put the finishing touch on a remarkable initial effort, by which Driver Russe gained two minutes on Driver Brown by the time Shrivenham [46.1 miles from Bristol] was passed. From there onwards to Ealing [111.9 miles from Bristol] the two runs were virtually deadheated, with times of 46 minutes 50 seconds and 46 minutes 31 seconds over this stretch of 65.8 miles. After that Driver Russe made the faster finish, and ended with the record time of 93 minutes 50 seconds from Bristol to Paddington.” O.S. Nock also commented: “The Castles surely held a record immunity for mishap. The only one to be involved in a serious accident was 4091 “Dudley Castle” which, in the early hours of 2 July 1941, crashed head on into the engine of a Down freight train on the diamond crossing of Dolphin Junction near Slough. The Up Plymouth express worked by 4091 “Dudley Castle” was to be diverted to the relief line. The signalman thought the Down freight had come to a stand, and lowered the signals for the express to cross over. Far from being safely at a stand, the freight was over-running its signals and a severe collision resulted in five passengers being killed. On two other occasions Castles had narrow escapes, as when the midnight express from Paddington to Birkenhead, drawn by 4088 “Dartmouth Castle” was fouled and partially wrecked by a goods train derailment at Appleford Crossing near Didcot on 13 November 1942. 4088 “Dartmouth Castle” and the two leading vans were, however, clear before the overturning wagons struck the train. 5061 “Earl of Birkenhead” was concerned in a most alarming night collision at a level crossing on the Chester line. The train was travelling at between 70 and 75 mph when a car was struck, and Driver Jack Edwards, of Shrewsbury, told me afterwards how the engine rocked wildly from side to side, but with the greatest of good fortune kept the rails. THE KING CLASS 4-6-0s OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY Preserved Great Western Railway King 4-6-0 6024 “King Edward I” rests at Hereford during Pathfinder’s Citizen newspaper sponsored Severn Wye railtour during Easter 1993. When the Kings were first built in 1927, the Great Western Railway’s publicity department made the most of the new 6000 Class having the highest tractive effort in Britain – 40 300 lb against the 33 500 lb of the Southern Railway’s 1926 vintage Lord Nelson class – and the longest non-stop run from London to Plymouth. The “King” names themselves – chosen ahead of Cathedrals – too were an inspired choice for such powerful, regal and dignified engines – exceedingly photogenic with their clean, uncluttered, angular lines, and rivets which caught the light. Their taper boilers, copper-capped chimneys and brass bonnet safety valve covers also made the new machines the logical zenith of Great Western styling – just as Charles Collett had with them reached the final incarnation of big four-cylinder 4-6-0 design, although 1950s modifications gave them a completely new lease of life and they staged a brilliant Indian summer with the end of steam on Western Region. The original design of 1927 featured a boiler pressure of 250 pounds per square inch – an advance of 25 psi over conventional Swindon’s practice at the time – and had a driving wheel diameter of 6′ 6″ : a reduction of 2½” from the 6′ 8½” of the Stars and Castles. The King valve gear was the standard Churchward adaptation of the Stephenson link motion set between the frames, with the outside cylinders worked by rocker arms. Despite this however, the Kings incorporated a host of new non-standard components including the first windscreen wipers fitted to a GWR locomotive – albeit a manual one on the driver’s side only. Careful attention was paid to free steam flow to and from the large 16¼ ” by 28″ cylinders and, like the Castles, they had very long-lap valve travel. The Kings however, despite the good balancing inherent in a four cylinder layout – were heavy engines with a 22½ ton axle loading and as a result their route availability, Double Red in GWR terms, was restricted. They were not allowed west of Plymouth, or north of Shrewsbury (in theory), or on the Oxford to Worcester or Swindon to Gloucester route. On the other hand, their great attribute was their sure-footedness, vividly illustrated by the way 6018 “King Henry VI” stalked through the tunnels out of Kings Cross in the 1948 Locomotive Exchanges. The Kings were also readily identifiable from the Stars and Castles by their new plate frame bogie design with outside bearings for the leading axle and inside bearings for trailing to give adequate clearance on curves. Each wheel was independently sprung, although coil springs to give longer vertical travel yet more positive control were added after a derailment of 6003 “King George IV” on 10 August 1927: some four decades ahead of the tare/load suspension issues later experienced by Gloucester RCW built Cemflo wagons. The doyen of the class, 6000 “King George”, was completed in June 1927, fitted with a Westinghouse air brake and quickly shipped across the Atlantic to participate in the Fair of the Iron Horse: the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad centenary celebrations from 24 September to 15 October 1927. The bell and plaques commemorating its appearance on behalf of all British railways are still carried by the locomotive today and in Great Western service locomotive 6000 was popularly known as “The Bell’. As well as the Great Western London-Wolverhampton service, the Kings were mainly deployed on the West of England main line between Paddington and Plymouth where their great weight-pulling ability and good adhesion were put to good use on the ferocious South Devon banks west of Newton Abbot. Even here, a King often had to be piloted by an elderly 4-4-0 which, when coupled in front of a massive 60xx, gave the impression of a rabbit about to be caught by a very large dog! The Kings proved very reliable in service and remarkably easy on coal despite Swindon’s reluctance to explore the limits of superheating and an abundance of highly calorific Welsh solid fuel. When William Stanier moved to the LMS it did not take him long to find that inferior coal made advanced superheating essential no matter how good the boiler and front-end design might be. 6022 King Edward III eventually received an experimental four-row high-degree superheater in 1947. The Kings had an excellent record of safe running, marred only by the involvement of 6007 “King William III” in the January 1936 Shrivenham accident – where the damage was so severe that a completely new replacement locomotive had to be built – and the unhappy driver-error incident at Norton Fitzwarren in 1940 in which number 6028 “King George VI” was badly damaged. In the aforementioned post Nationalisation Locomotive Exchanges the only ‘foreign’ line that could take the ‘Kings’ was the Great Northern route from Kings Cross to Leeds due to the King’s limited route availability and loading gauge restrictions. Placed in the same class as theLMS Duchess, the LNER ‘A4’ and the SR ‘Merchant Navy’, “King Henry VI” did not show up particularly well and at the time it was stressed that it was burning South Yorkshire coal. Despite this, 6018 repeatedly demonstrated that it could make clean fast starts from awkward places compared with the difficulties experienced by the Pacifics. The lesson of the 1948 Exchanges was not lost on Swindon, and the work on four-row superheaters was accelerated. In addition, modifications were also made to the draughting arrangement, initially using number 6001 “King Edward VII” as a test-bed. In July 1953 6001 worked a 796 ton train between Stoke Gifford and Reading at express speeds to evaluate the effectiveness of the new draughting arrangement and covered the 73½ miles between these points in just under 77 minutes, maintaining 67 – 70 miles per hour on easier than level track. Yet more improvement came in September 1955 with the fitting of double blast-pipes and chimneys inspired by a visit of 71000 “Duke of Gloucester” to Swindon’s stationary testing plant. First 6015 “King Richard III” and then the whole class was modified with all the improvements thus developed. Had 6018 “King Henry VI” been improved in this way in 1948 the Locomotive Exchange results might well have been vastly different and in their last 10 years of use the ‘Kings’ went out in a blaze of glory. In 1954, too, many members of the class were fitted with “Alfloc” water treatment equipment to mitigate the effects of boiler water sediment. One problem that affected the Kings at this time were fatigue cracks on the front bogie frames. Normally repairs were made simply by welding over the cracks but by January 1956 the cracks became sufficiently numerous that the whole class had to be temporarily withdrawn until stiffening strips were fitted to the bogie frames. The Kings bowed out during 1962 but unlike the Castles never suffered the indignity of relegation to menial jobs: and as soon as 1971 locomotive 6000 “King George V” returned to steam on British Rail metals. Working out of Paddington on the final leg of a round tour with the Bulmer’s Pullman train that 7 October, “King George V” – seen above passing North Pole Junction, West London and the lens of Michael A. Morant – rather grandly passed the ranks of condemned diesel-hydraulics on the Works ‘dump’ and it was strange to reflect that the Kings replacements had lasted less than a third of locomotive 6000’s working life of 35 years. Two other ‘Kings’ were saved from the cutters torch, numbers 6023 King Edward II and 6024 King Edward I, and after spells in both the old Swindon Railway Museum ( from 1989) and Steam ( 2000- 2008), 6000 “King George V” can today be seen at the National Railway Museum in York.

UHM login required. Search the complete Encyclopedia Britannica with the addition of audio and video components and links to WWW sites with related information. Includes Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. This database is continuously revised and updated weekly. (Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.) Access to more than 57,000 articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, plus an almanac with statistics and up-to-date facts and figures, an atlas of 193 countries and the 50 U.S. states, and an unabridged dictionary. (Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease) UHM login required. Designed specifically for high school libraries, provides full text from over 515 popular general interest and current events publications covering general reference, health, science, and other areas. This database also includes more than 3,000 charts, tables and graphs; book reviews; coverage of more than 250 reference books, and an image collection of 91,000 photos, maps & flags. (EBSCO Industries, Inc.) In addition to the full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for all publications in the collection. Every full text article is assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles). This database also includes more than 3,000 charts, tables and graphs; 5,000 full text Magill Book Reviews; nearly 550 health and science-related full text pamphlets; coverage of more than 250 reference books (including the Columbia Encyclopedia, the CIA World Fact Book and World Almanac & Book of Facts) and an image collection of 91,000 photos, maps & flags. Full text backfiles date as far back as January of 1985, while indexing and abstract backfiles date as far back as January of 1984. Licensed for UH Manoa use only. This Oxford Reference Online encyclopedia features concise entries providing essential information on a range of subjects, including world affairs, science and technology, the arts, modern and ancient history, religion, sports, and popular culture. (Oxford University Press)

Use the General/Multidisciplinary Resources guide for information on your topic from general encyclopedias and databases, dissertations, and more. have a citation to an article and need to determine if the library has to that journal, search for the journal name. Start with: Read this first. Use the suggested article databases to search for journal articles by subject. Often the full text of the article will be immediately accessible in the database you search. Sometimes, however, the database only provides a citation (article title, journal name, year, etc.) for the article. If you have only a citation, determine if the library has the journal that contains the article you want by following the steps to find journals (in the box to the right). See Additional resources for LIS to search for articles in cognate disciplines.

Although it is widely known that our biggest garbage dumps are in fact in the oceans, only recently has serious consideration been given to solve this problem. We take a quick look at the why and how? For a long time we have been aware that marine litter is harmful to biodiversity and us, primarily due to plastic not biodegrading, and finding its way into the food chain. Further, the tiny particles of plastic which do enter the food chain can soak up toxic chemicals, compounding the risk1. It seems policy makers have woken up to these very real problems, and at Rio in 2012, a commitment to a “significant reduction” in marine litter by the year 2025 was made2. In Europe, marine litter has been recognised as a main threat to achieving ‘good environmental status’ by 20202. So it seems the stage has been set for real momentum to tackle this big issue, but how might we do that? Well, a young Dutch student thinks he may have the solution. Boyan Slat, a 19 year old aerospace engineer, has come up with the Ocean Cleanup Array3. The idea involves anchoring ocean sifters to seabed, and letting ocean currents do the rest. The aim would be the filter 7.25 million tons of plastic over a five year period4. However, some potential issues have already been raised, including the hazard to marine biodiversity. At the end of May we blogged about the Protei project5, another potential solution to the ocean garbage problem. The potential idea here is to combine the developed shape shifting sailing robot with the power of open source technology. Essentially meaning that anyone can pick-up the knowledge from this project and apply it to any suitable problem, including ocean garbage. What do you think of the Ocean Cleanup Array? Do you think sailing robots might provide the answer? Are there any other potential solutions out there? 1 – http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/great-pacific-garbage-patch1.htm NOAA's National Ocean Service Flickr Account - CC by 2.0

Critical essay on the notebook Literary Analysis of The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. Click the button above to view the complete essay, speech, term paper, or research paper. Joan Didion explains to the reader about how the Santa Ana affects human behavior in her essay “Los Angeles Notebook. to reveal and reinforce critical aspects of. Critical Essay Writing Service. Critical analysis and evaluation of a written piece as well as. It is a good idea to have a notebook for putting your. ... adjusting the degree of personal belief in relation to the quality of the essay's arguments. They require. or in a notebook.. Critical reading is. How Write Easy Essay Writing Notebook Rubric College Critical Reflection Essay ExampleHow Write Easy Essay Writing Notebook. essay example. Critical. Critical essay on the notebook Jan 12, 2010 · On Keeping a Notebook is an essay written by Joan Didion. She is the voice behind this essay which is told in first. On Keeping a Notebook – Critical. How Write Easy Essay Writing Notebook Rubric College Critical Reflection Essay ExampleHow Write Easy Essay Writing Notebook. essay example. Critical. Jun 25, 2004 · FILM REVIEW; When Love Is Madness And Life a Straitjacket. By STEPHEN HOLDEN.. chapters of ''The Notebook'' seem scrunched together. The … Joan Didion on Keeping a Notebook. in which Didion considers precisely that. Though the essay was originally written nearly half a century ago,. The English Major's Notebook, Portfolio, and Reading List.. This notebook will be part of their work in ENGL 291 and will. ENGL 203 Researched Critical Essay. Joan Didion on Keeping a Notebook. in which Didion considers precisely that. Though the essay was originally written nearly half a century ago,. The notebook essays The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks, is a touching story about the never ending passion of true love. This book tells the story of Noah and Allie,. How Write Easy Essay Writing Notebook Rubric College Critical Reading Essay Examples. Critical reading essay response paper example analysis. administrative. SAMPLE OUTLINE FOR CRITICAL ESSAY.. Remember that the purpose of a critical analysis is not merely to inform, but also to evaluate the worth, utility,. Throwback Thursday: An In-Depth Analysis of The Notebook. By The Betches. March 13, 2014. For the past 10 years there has been one movie synonymous with … Mar 22, 2009 ·. (Critical Essay) by Irish University Review:. suggesting that McGuckian always has a notebook at hand. All of them are completely filled,. Full Glossary for The Notebook; Essay Questions;. Critical Essays Fate versus Free. the events that do not transpire outside the pages of The Notebook,. Writing a Critical Essay;. AcademicHelp.net > Writing Samples > Academic Writing Samples > Essay Samples > Analysis Essay Samples > Textbooks vs. Laptops. Throwback Thursday: An In-Depth Analysis of The Notebook. By The Betches. March 13, 2014. For the past 10 years there has been one movie synonymous with … Analytical Essay on "The Notebook" Film.. Notebook Essay. Daniel Pareja Mary Samuelson Critical Film Studies 3 March 2015 Weekly Film Essay:. - The Notebook movie reviews & Metacritic score: A sweeping love story told by a man (Garner) reading from his faded notebook to a woman in a nursing home. - The Golden Notebook Essay - Critical Context Doris. The rich texture of the intellectual and moral climate created in The Golden Notebook makes it one of the … - "The Notebook A Film" Essays and Research Papers. Notebook Essay. Running head: THE NOTEBOOK The Notebook. I learned a lot about teenagers’ critical. Until he begins to read to her. The Notebook is an achingly tender story about the enduring power of love, a story of miracles that will stay with you forever. Print textbooks are heavy and cause injuries,. until the core elements of literacy and critical thinking are learned by every student,. Critical Analysis- THE NOTEBOOK.. (Gena Rowlands) who has lost her memory.This notebook is actually a diary of the patient. And its written on day by day basis..

Read this tip to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Organic Lawns and other Lawn topics. The shorter you mow, the less the roots will grow. Only about 5% of turf grass nutrition is derived from the soil; the other 95% is taken in through the blades as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen. Grass blades exist to convert energy from sunlight into sugars, starches and plant fibers that the grass plant then uses for growth. The food manufactured in the blades of the grass is used for both the top growth and the root growth. When you mow you reduce the ability of the grass plant to manufacture food, and thereby to form strong roots.

As the demand for increased production of homegrown, renewable forms of fuels has grown, so has the need to develop and produce them. USDA Rural Development provides opportunities to producers to develop these fuels through the Biorefinery Assistance Program. The program provides loan guarantees to encourage the development, construction, and retrofitting of commercial-scale biorefineries. The Biorefinery Assistance Program, which assists in the development of new and emerging technologies for the development of advanced biofuels, aims to accomplish the following: - Increase U.S. energy independence. - Promote resource conservation, public health, and the environment. - Diversify markets for agricultural and forestry products and agricultural waste. - Create jobs and boost economic development in rural America. What Can You Do? There are many ways that you can make a positive impact on the environment. One way is to encourage your student-aged child to educate themselves about the issues of climate change, participate in the Student Climate & Conservation Congress, or take the Infographic Challenge. Another is to take part in either The Great Energy Challenge or Climate Science Day and know the reality, risks and response to climate change. Yet another, and of the biggest, is forming environmentally-minded driving habits: - No matter which fuel you use in your vehicle, the most important thing you can do is to reduce your consumption. If possible, consider walking or riding your bike to your destination. Can you carpool? Can you take public transportation? Are there any shorter routes you can be taking? Can you work from home? - Keep your vehicles properly maintained. Properly inflated tires, clean air filters, recommended motor oils, and regular tuneups all contribute to better gas mileage. - Turn your engine off instead of idling—especially when pumping gas. While driving, avoid speeding and aggressive driving. Avoid peak traffic hours. Accelerate slowly and use cruise control on long trips. - When it comes time to buy a new vehicle, pay special attention to gas mileage. Consider buying a hybrid. If you own multiple vehicles and are not planning to buy a new vehicle, consider driving the vehicle with the better gas mileage for the bulk of your trips. - Did you know that there are currently 2,646 Ethanol Stations (Offering E85) in the United States? Want to use an easy way to find them and to plan your alternative fuels trip? Travel safely and have a great time! USDA.gov - Biorefinery Assistance Program

The Order of Raina is a monarchical order of loyal warriors that protect their queen. Knights from the Order of Raina displayed a tattoo of its coat of arms on the upper arm. The queen bee crest on the emblem means loyalty to The Queen, the one true leader. - Persephone: Only you have the Helskór. Only you are the one. – to Bo (Like Hell Pt.2) - Bo: That's what being The One is, right? The Queen marching forward, never looking back. – (Big in Japan) - The word Raina derives from the Latin word "Regina" and means "Queen". - Chivalric orders are societies and fellowships of knights founded in imitation of the Christian military orders of the Crusades. After the crusades, the memory of these crusading military orders became idealised and romanticised. - The emergence of heraldry as we know it today was linked to the need to distinguish participants quickly and easily in combat. Distinguishing devices were used on surcoats ("coats of arms"), shields, and caparisoned horses, and it would have been natural for knights to use the same devices as those already used on their banners and seals. A formal system of rules developed into ever more complex forms of heraldry to ensure that each knight's arms were unique (at least within the same jurisdiction). - There are various conjectures as to the origins of heraldic arms. As early as predynastic Egypt c. 3100 BC, an emblem known as a serekh was used to indicate the extent of influence of a particular regime, sometimes carved on ivory labels attached to trade goods, but also used to identify military allegiances and in a variety of other ways. It led to the development of the earliest hieroglyphs. - 4.12 Origin

About the scene and clip: This is the story of Theophilus, who sold his soul to the Devil and who was rescued by the Virgin Mary (this medieval legend is the primary source of the Faust story). The performers have amplified the brief account given in The Golden Legend with details from Rutebeuf’s Miracle of Theophilus. They have also added an interlude, in the modern spirit, of Mary’s fight with the Devil. The scene is performed by two actors who take turns reading and reciting, with recourse to cartoon-like illustrations projected as a slide show, and recorded music. About the work: The work known as the Legenda Aurea (The Golden Legend) is a massive compilation of stories about the saints by an Italian Dominican, Jacobus of Voragine (or Varazze), Archbishop of Genoa, writing around 1260. Organized around the Catholic liturgical year, The Golden Legend tells the lives and stories of many important saints, as well as of Christ and the Virgin Mary. It was very widely known; preachers and storytellers often told stories from The Golden Legend, and it inspired much medieval art. The work as a whole and stories drawn from it were translated into many vernacular languages. About 900 manuscripts of the The Golden Legend survive, and at the end of the Middle Ages it was even more frequently printed than the Bible. Le Miracle de Theophile is a play by Rutebeuf, a major 13th-century French poet, who wrote works in a variety of genres, including saints’ lives and miracle plays. About the genre: Stories about the saintly wisdom, heroism, or miracles of remarkable men and women exist in many religious traditions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Such stories are termed “hagiography.” In medieval Europe, the saint’s life or legend was an extremely popular type of work. A great many stories (and plays) about male and female Christian saints exist in Latin and in all the vernacular languages. These works may focus on the saint’s dramatic death by martyrdom, or recount the remarkable miracles performed by the saint, or may relate the entire life of the holy man or woman. Among the most important collections of saints’ lives and legends is The Golden Legend by Jacobus of Voragine. Chaucer’s “Prioress’s Tale” in The Canterbury Tales is a tale of martyrdom. Miracle and pious tales about the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, constitute a special, and highly important, category of saintly legends. This story also belongs to the tale tradition. The tale, like the epic, is an ancient genre and one found everywhere in the world. Many tales are firmly rooted in oral tradition and are recited or told by amateur and professional storytellers and performers. Other tales are the work of literarily sophisticated authors and are often intended to be read aloud or silently from written texts. Some tales circulate separately, while others are part of collections, which may be set in complex frames (as in the case of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Boccaccio’s Decameron and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales). There are many sub-groups of tales with specific characteristics; see for example the “lai” and the “fabliau.” About the edition/translation: From The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine, translated by William G. Ryan and Helmut Ripperger, New York Press, 1969, pp. 528-9. Latin: Iacopo da Varazze, Legenda Aurea, ed. Giovanni Paolo Maggioni, 2nd ed., Firenze, SISMEL, Edizioni del Galluzzo, 1998, 2 vols. Rutebeuf, Le Miracle de Theophile, trans. Richard Axton and John E. Stevens, in Medieval French Drama, Oxford, Blackwell, 1971, pp. 167-92. About the performer/ensemble: Jenn Jordan completed her BA in Medieval and Renaissance Studies at New York University in 2005, and plans to attend graduate school; she is a member of the Advisory Board of this website. Adam Jones completed his BFA at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in 2004. About the production: This performance took place at the Tank–an “off-off-Broadway” venue in New York City–in July 2005. It was part of an evening of performances of medieval narrative organized by Jenn Jordan, a member of the Advisory Board of the website, and Timmie Vitz. Videography by Kennon Hewlitt (a Film student at New York University).

Comparing and Contrasting In my writing across the curriculum class last spring, we read through Dean's Classroom Instruction That Works, 2nd Edition. Chapter 8 talks about the importance of identifying similarities and differences through comparing/contrasting, classifying, analogies, and metaphors. I do classifying through my sorting activities throughout the year so I skipped that one for today. I started class by asking students to get in groups of 3 and then choose 3 objects. I meant to take a picture of my objects but I forgot. I used all my 3d solids, a sock, a penny, dice, eraser, screw, chalk, ruler, bean bag, etc. Just random things I found around the classroom. Then I projected a 3-way Venn diagram and asked students to name 3 random celebrities. We went through the process of comparing each pair and then all three. I used that as a model before then asking them to do the same things with their random objects and no switching! Next I asked each group to trade with another group and check their responses for accuracy. Anyone could disagree but each group had to defend their answers. From there, students went on to complete the analogies and metaphors section of the worksheet. First they had to fill in the analogies based on the relationship and we discussed the relationships as well. Then they had to finish the analogy on their own that had the same relationship. Most missed was prince is to princess as hero is to heroine. After that, students answered common metaphors and wrote the meaning behind them. This was interesting to hear everyone's different versions. Most missed was a rose between two thorns. Not the meaning, just literally students hadn't heard that metaphor although I tried to pick the most common ones I could find. Finally, the worksheets end by asking students to develop a relationship between two seemingly unrelated objects. Definitely take the time to hear a variety of responses- it's so interesting to see how different people think. I read the first one, comparing a garden to a rainbow in the book, but the rest I made up on my own. It wasn't as easy as I thought! I brought them back again to the question, what does this have to do with math? A few people remember my spiel from yesterday on dendrites but for the most part they seemed clueless again. I emphasized that we are always looking for way to build connections and find relationships in order to think more deeply about mathematical concepts. Again, this is a precursory introduction to a skill that will be used throughout the year. (I even made a washed out watermark of a dendrite on the worksheet!) The activity ended with a few minutes left over so I challenged students to think of two objects that they thought had absolutely nothing in common. They tried but someone always had a quick response. Finally someone said that you could find a relationship between any two things- I definitely pounced on that remark! I said they now have no excuses during the year when we are trying to compare mathematical concepts. Classwide groan ensues. By the end of the day, the winning two objects were whip cream and a school bus. It remains to be seen if anyone can figure out a relationship...

Free the Animation VR / AR Play to reveal 3D images and 3D models! vlrPhone / vlrFilter Project of very low consumption, radiation and bitrate softphones, with the support of the spatial audio, of the frequency shifts and of the ultrasonic communications / Multifunction Audio Filter with Remote Control! Manchester, Virginia is a former independent city in Virginia in the United States. Prior to receiving independent status, it served as the county seat of Chesterfield County, between 1870 and 1876. Today, it is a part of the city of Richmond, Virginia. Originally known as Manastoh and later Rocky Ridge, it was located on the south bank of the James River at the fall line opposite the state capital city of Richmond, on the north side of the river. Manchester was an active port city, and was a port of entry for slave ships principally in the 18th century. The port shipped out tobacco and coal which was transported 13 miles overland from the Midlothian-area mines on the Midlothian Turnpike, first paved toll road in Virginia in 1807, and the Chesterfield Railroad, the state's first in 1831. Manchester became an incorporated town in 1769 and an independent city in 1874. In 1910, it merged by mutual agreement with the larger state capital City of Richmond, achieving another "first" as the earliest of Virginia's independent cities to lose its identity. Today, "Old Manchester" is considered a neighborhood of Richmond. Many vestiges of its past are clearly visible, notably the courthouse, the Hull Street business district, a number of historic houses, and several former railroad and street railway buildings. As part of the community's African American heritage, a "slave trail" traces the route into the downtown area from where the slave ships are believed to have docked along the river. Interstate 95, and four other major highways, U.S. Routes 1, 60, 301 and 360 all cross the James River and enter downtown Richmond from Manchester.Contents As a result of the Second Anglo-Powhatan War, in 1645 the Virginia Colony's House of Burgesses provided for Fort Charles to be built and garrisoned at the Falls of the James, to protect the frontier. After two years, Fort Charles was relocated to the south side, to the high ground above the later Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Bridge, on a tract owned by Capt. Thomas Harris. This land was then still known by its native name, Manastoh, but was thereafter renamed Rocky Ridge by the English. Rocky Ridge in 1769 became an incorporated town on Chesterfield County, with the name of Manchester. Manchester grew to become a major seaport in the 17th through 19th centuries, as did its neighbor Richmond on the north bank of the river. Both were located at the head of navigation of the tidal James River at the geological fall line. Above that point, the river consists of seven miles of rapids before becoming more navigable again west of Richmond, although much shallower. Before the American Revolutionary War, tobacco industries made the town their home. It was also known as a major slave market. Manchester was commercially successful primarily due to its agricultural mills and docks. From northwestern Chesterfield County, coal from the Midlothian area 13 miles west was transported to the docks at Manchester, first on the Manchester Turnpike, a toll road and Virginia's first graveled road of any length completed in 1807. Later, beginning in 1831, the congested turnpike was supplemented by the gravity and mule-powered Chesterfield Railroad, the first railroad in Virginia, partially engineered and funded by the Virginia Board of Public Works. For its final several miles, the line followed present-day Maury Street, which was the southern border of Manchester for many years. It crossed over the steam-powered Richmond and Petersburg Railroad (later Atlantic Coast Line Railroad) tracks (now abandoned) on a high trestle between what is now Clopton Street and Jefferson Davis Highway. When the new Richmond and Danville Railroad (R&D) was completed between Manchester and Coalfield Station (now Midlothian) in 1851, the older Chesterfield Railroad was unable to compete and portions were acquired by the R&D, with the remainder dismantled before the Civil War took place.County seat of Chesterfield County Manchester Courthouse U.S. National Register of Historic Places Virginia Landmarks Register Location 920 Hull St., Richmond, Virginia Coordinates 37°31′16″N 77°26′28″W / 37.52111°N 77.44111°W / 37.52111; -77.44111 Area less than one acre Built 1871 Architect Albert L. West Architectural style Colonial Revival NRHP Reference # 98000450 VLR # 127-5010 Significant dates Added to NRHP May 8, 1998 Designated VLR December 3, 1997 During Reconstruction, Manchester was briefly the county seat of Chesterfield County, from 1870 until 1876. County voters approved the move from Chesterfield Court House, Virginia, and the cornerstone of the new courthouse was laid on March 31, 1871. It was designed by Richmond-based architect A.L. West. The former courthouse complex on Hull Street is now the Manchester Division of the Richmond City courts. Manchester became an independent city in 1874, and was therefore no longer technically located in Chesterfield County. In the election that year, county voters were again asked if they wished to relocate the county seat elsewhere, but rejected a move following a heated campaign, by a vote of 1,442 to 388. However, when the question of a move came up once again on the 1876 ballot, voters approved, 1290 to 772, a return to Chesterfield Courthouse, which became effective on July 1 that year. Manchester agrees to consolidate with Richmond For over 250 years, the James River divided Richmond on the north bank from its sister, Manchester, located on the south bank. A major issue for Manchester and Richmond residents in the 19th and early 20th century were the toll ferries and toll bridges over the James River. The latter were subject to frequent destruction by ice floes and flooding on the river. There were periodic talks and negotiations for over 35 years between the cities before, in 1910, Manchester agreed to a political consolidation with the much larger independent City of Richmond. Richmond's better-known name was used for both areas as it contained the location of Virginia's state capital. Two of the key features of the consolidation agreement were requirements that a "free bridge" across the James River be built and that the separate courthouse in Manchester be maintained indefinitely. Instead of barrier between neighboring cities, under the consolidation, the James River became the centerpiece of the expanded Richmond. Today, Manchester is recognized as a historic district in state and national registers. Although Manchester is extinct as an independent city, vestiges can be found in the Manchester Bridge, Manchester Slave Trail, and the Manchester Courthouse. Manchester and other areas of the City of Richmond south of the James River are locally referred to as "South Richmond", "South Side Richmond" or simply "South Side."Manchester as neighborhood: industry Manchester Industrial Historic District U.S. National Register of Historic Places U.S. Historic district Virginia Landmarks Register Location Roughly bounded by Perry St., James R., Mayo's Bridge, Maury St., and 10th St., Richmond, Virginia Coordinates 37°31′35″N 77°26′13″W / 37.52639°N 77.43694°W / 37.52639; -77.43694 Area 110 acres (45 ha) Architect Smith, I.J., and Co.; Concrete Steel Engineering Co. Architectural style Art Deco, Beaux Arts, et al. NRHP Reference # 00000886 VLR # 127-0457 Significant dates Added to NRHP August 2, 2000 Designated VLR March 15, 2000, March 17, 2004, September 22, 2011 Though part of the city of Richmond, Manchester's industrial presence continued to flourish in the 20th century. Manchester was serviced by Hull Street Station on the Southern Railway, built in 1901, the only major urban depot on the southern side of the James River. The skyline is dominated by the Southern States silos, the tallest structures south of the River. CooperativeManchester as neighborhood: Residential and Commercial Manchester Residential and Commercial Historic District U.S. National Register of Historic Places U.S. Historic district Virginia Landmarks Register Location Roughly bounded by 9th St., McDonough St., Cowardin Ave., and Stockton St., Richmond, Virginia Coordinates 37°31′18″N 77°26′49″W / 37.52167°N 77.44694°W / 37.52167; -77.44694 Architectural style Colonial Georgian, Art Deco, Greek Revival NRHP Reference # 06000976 VLR # 127-0859 Significant dates Added to NRHP November 1, 2006 Designated VLR March 14, 2001, June 17, 2005, October 11, 2005, September 6, 2006 The Manchester Residential and Commercial Historic District is located in the city of Richmond, Virginia, on the south side of the James River. It is connected to the financial district in Richmond by the Lee, Mayo and Manchester bridges. In the 1800s, Manchester along with Richmond, had become a major port and commercial center serving the eastern seaboard and beyond. Manchester was granted city status in 1874 and became the seat of Chesterfield County. In 1910, the city of Richmond annexed Manchester.See also Coordinates: 37°31′16″N 77°26′39″W / 37.52111°N 77.44417°W / 37.52111; -77.44417

Fitting an after market intercooler Because FMIC systems require open bumper design for optimal performance, the entire system is vulnerable to debris. Some engineers choose other mount locations due to this reliability concern. FMICs can be located in front of or behind the radiator, depending on the heat dissipation needs of the engine. As well as allowing a greater mass of air to be admitted to an engine, intercoolers have a key role in controlling the internal temperatures in a turbocharged engine. When fitted with a turbo (as with any form of supercharging), the engine's specific power is increased, leading to higher combustion and exhaust temperatures. The exhaust gases passing through the turbine section of the turbocharger are usually around 450 °C (840 °F), but can be as high as 1000 °C (1830 °F) under extreme conditions. This heat passes through the turbocharger unit and contributes to the heating of the air being compressed in the compressor section of the turbo. If left uncooled, this hot air enters the engine, further increasing internal temperatures. This leads to a build-up of heat that will eventually stabilise, but this may be at temperatures in excess of the engine's design limits- 'hot spots' at the piston crown or exhaust valve can cause warping or cracking of these components. High air charge temperatures will also increase the possibility of pre-ignition or detonation. Detonation causes damaging pressure spikes in the engine's cylinders, which can quickly damage an engine. These effects are especially found in modified or tuned engines running at very high specific power outputs. An efficient intercooler removes heat from the air in the induction system, preventing the cyclic heat build-up via the turbocharger, allowing higher power outputs to be achieved without damage. Compression by the turbocharger causes the intake air to heat up and heat is added due to compressor inefficiencies (adiabatic efficiency). This is actually the greater cause of the increase in air temperature in an air charge. The extra power obtained from forced induction is due to the extra air available to burn more fuel in each cylinder. This sometimes requires a lower compression ratio be used, to allow a wider mapping of ignition timing advance before detonation occurs (for a given fuel's octane rating). On the other hand, a lower compression ratio generally lowers combustion efficiency and costs power

Bearing of nun, seat of nun, seat of mother-in-law, seat of shepherd, very startling names for a plant, truth?. Then thus we call to a set of shrubs, generally of high mountain and coastal zones, that in spite of belonging to different botanical families have evolved of a convergent way and all of them display a cleared and flattened form with small overlapped branches and frightful thorns that protect them of snout of the herbivores: goats, ewes, rabbits, etc. Similar plants are in many places of the world, but in the Balearic Islands they are especially abundant perhaps by the extreme dryness of the Mediterranean climate, the constant wind whip strong and the existence during million years of a unique herbivore, Myotragus balearicus, that with its browse gave form to these peculiar plants that adapted to the aggression to be able to survive. In Balearic islands we called "Coixinets de monja". Gorgeous image of high Majorcan mountain to about 1,100 msnm. The nun bearings dominate the set out open spaces more to the solar radiations. They take advantage of the poorest and stony grounds. In the image they are numerous Astragalus balearicus with some unit of Teucrium balearicum of more grayish color. Sometimes they grow so together that they are superposed. I recommend to you to extend this one and the following photographies to appreciate better its strange beauty. Another image of the same zone of the Serra de Tramuntana of Majorca. Some Asphodelus aestivus are seen growing between the bearings. To the bottom it dominates to a forest of high Mediterranean mountain with Pinus halepensis, Pistacia lentiscus, Juniperus oxycedrus ssp. oxycedrus, Olea europaea var. sylvestris, Quercus ilex ssp. ilex, Ephedra fragilis, Ampelodesmos mauritanica, Asparagus albus, etc... Balearic Museum of Natural Sciences. Balearic Museum of Natural Sciences. You will ask yourselves: what is coixinet?. In Majorca we called coixinet to the small cushion of the basket of the seamstresses used to nail the needles to sew and to embroider. For that reason we give this name to these gorgeous plants because its thorny surface remembers these bearings of seamstress. In this image we see several Astragalus balearicus of different sizes. The ground is very poor with few centimeters of thickness and is based on a calcareous rocky base. Thorny surface of a Astragalus balearicus with the typical leaves of a legume. Detail of the frightful thorns that they protect to this endemismo of Majorca, Menorca and Cabrera. The flowers are white with a slight pink dye. The thorns are not any obstacle for the polinizadoras bees that go golosas to libar the tiny drop of nectar of the bottom of each flower. Another abundant bearing of nun is the Teucrium balearicum, a tirrénico endemismo that lives in Majorca, Menorca, Cabrera and Sardinia. Its scientific name has undergone several changes in the last decades because the botanists did not manage to put themselves in agreement. At first it was called Teucrium marum ssp. occidentale and also Teucrium subspinosum bar. balearium. It belongs to the family of the Labiatae. Teucrium balearicum with its typical grayish color in the high Majorcan mountain. In its right side balearicus is a small Astragalus that has been integrated perfectly in the cleared structure of the Teucrium, as if a symbiosis it was. Both endemismos share the same habitat. Graft thorns of Teucrium balearicum that excel over the small leaves to which they protect. Teucrium balearicum is frequent victim of a parasitic plant, Cuscuta epihymum, that does not have own roots and lives directly absorbing the water and the nutrients on the roots of the Teucrium. Smallest pink flowers of the Teucrium balearicum with the typical form of the Labiatae. Another bearing of nun of the family of the labiadas ones is the Teucrium subspinosum, a tyrrhenian endemism that lives in Menorca, Cabrera and Sardinia. Like the Teucrium balearicum, its scientific name also has been reason for discord between the botanists. During years it has been called Teucrium marum ssp. subspinosum, Teucrium marum ssp. spinescens, Teucrium subspinosum ssp. spinescens, etc… At the moment finally they have been agreed and they consider a separate species with own name. Teucrium subspinosum cultivated in the Soller Botanical Garden to preserve it of the extinction. Its number in wild state is very little and its habitat continuously is threatened by the human greed. The Teucrium subspinosum well-known defers from the Teucrium balearicum by its small, fine and much more little sharp thorns, of there its name of subspinosum. The leaves and flowers of both endemismos are identical. Their small branches are less overlapping and has a less compact aspect. In the photo the mature fruits are seen after the dispersion of the seeds at the beginning of September. A spectacular bearing of nun who in the heat of flowering seems a gold ball is the Anthyllis hystrix, endemic of Menorca, the family of the Leguminosae. Unlike the previous bearings that have preference by mountains this one lives in the coastal zones of Menorca, whipped permanently by winds of the north. Anthyllis histrix in the middle of September in the heat of estivación, cultivated successfully in the Soller Botanical Garden to preserve it of the extinction. In spring its aspect is completely different, a beautiful combination of the intense yellow of the flowers and the green brilliant of the leaves. Leaves and thorns of the previous Anthyllis histrix. As it happens in the majority of bearings, the thorns excel over the leaves. In this image we see the frightful graft thorns in the form of red deer horn excelling over the leaves that are perfectly prote'ge'es of the depredation of the goats and ewes. The change in spring is spectacular. Numerous small yellow flowers confers to Anthyllis histrix a beautiful aspect of gold ball. Considering that all the bearings of the Balearic Islands have evolved throughout million years to protect themselves of their two main enemies: the wind and the depredation of the herbivores, all make suppose that they were fauces of the mythical already extinct antelope dwarfed, the Myotragus balearicus, endemic of Majorca, Menorca, Cabrera and Dragonera, those that modeled their cleared form, eating all the leaves and buds that excelled over the thorns. This tiny antelope of not more than 50 centimeters of height in the cross, very short legs and to ramble slow was extinguished about 4,000 years ago, agreeing with the arrival of the first humans who ended all the Myotragus in a few decades. Its ecological niche was empty by few years, because the goats concerned by the first settlers from the distant Eastern Mediterranean replaced to it in the depredation of the bearings. Centuries later arrived the ewes that especially in the Serra de Tramuntana of Majorca are operated in conditional release regime and must look for the sustenance by their account. Another spectacular bearing of nun is Femeniasia balearica, an endemism that like the Anthyllis histrix also is exclusive of the Island of Menorca. It belongs to the great family of the Compositae. Their favorite habitat a little moved away the sea are the coastal zones where the splashes do not arrive from the waves. This one is perhaps the one of the most important endemisms of Menorca, since as much Femeniasia sort as the balearic species is exclusive of this beautiful Mediterranean island that makes 6 million years, during Miocene, was the top of a mountain surrounded by dry valleys and very salty lakes. Old Femeniasia balearica of about 25 years of age cultivated with great success in the Soller Botanical Garden to preserve it and to maintain a viable population outside its natural habitat. As all the bearings are protected by the catalogued law and in serious danger of extinction. The photo was taken at the beginning of September with the plant in the heat of estivation. Its parched aspect is deceptive, because she is full of life. With the first rains of the autumn it will turn green again spectacularly. Lateral vision of previous Femeniasia balearica with its stems finished in frightful thorns. Near vision of the previous stems with a deceptive parched aspect, since in the end of some of them green thorns in growth are seen. Tender stem of Femeniasia balearica at the beginning of June. Each one of the small buds finish in three divergent thorns. It is very peculiar that in Ibiza and Formentera, where the Myotragus balearicus did not live, does not exist any plant with aspect of nun bearing, with the exception of endemic sarsaparilla that grows in all the archipelago and could have arrived at the Pitiusas Islands after the extinction of the Myotragus through seeds transported by the birds. Femeniasia balearica blooms in May and June. Their flowers open in the end of the stems and have a beautiful yellow-lemon color. Detail of a flower of Femeniasia balearica seen of side. On the contrary that the leaves, the flowers excel over the thorns to facilitate the pollination by the bees and bumblebees. Melífera bee sucking the nectar of a flower of Femeniasia balearica at the beginning of June. After the fertilization the seeds mature and at the beginning of the autumn they are dispersed by the wind. Leaves and seeds of Femeniasia balearica. The leaves are linear-lanceoladas and have a white line in their face superior. The seeds are equipped with radial hairs in the form of helicopter vanes that facilitate the flight and its dispersion to them by the wind to the conquest of new territories. Another bearing of nun of the family of the composed ones is the Launaea cervicornis, endemic of Majorca, Menorca and Dragonera. Its specific name makes reference to its frightful thorns in the form of horn of red deer (cervicornis). Their favourite habitat is the cliffs and coastal rocks. Gorgeous Launaea cervicornis covered with yellow flowers as a full star firmament in the middle of June. This unit belongs to the collection of endemic bearings of nun of the Balearic Islands cultivated in the terraces of the Soller Botanical Garden to preserve them of the extinction. Flower and thorns in the form of red deer horn. As it happens with the Femeniasia, this bearing also has the flowers over the thorns. Flowers of Launaea cervicornis in the heat of month of June. Leaves and thorns of Launaea cervicornis. On protected coastal rocks of the splashes of the waves another bearing lives on nun, the Dorycnium fulgurans, endemic of Majorca, Menorca and Cabrera. It belongs to the family of the Leguminosae. In all the Balearic Islands sarsaparilla lives one endemic very thorny that when it grows in the ground takes the form of a nun bearing, Smilax aspera ssp. balearica. Usually it has few leaves or to even lack completely them, realising the photosynthesis directly in the greenish stems. It can live from the level of the sea to the top of mountains. And to finish another plant that has adapted to the depredation of the herbivores, the endrino or arañón, Prunus spinosa, that when it lives in the high mountain and it undergoes the constant ramoneo of the goats and ewes, grows like a nun bearing. It belongs to the family of the Rosaceae. Prunus spinosa in the form of nun bearing growing in the high Majorcan mountain to 1,000 msnm. Their small branches thousand times grazed by the goats and ewes are very graft and overlapping.

TODAY’S STUDY: How Ocean Wind Will Get Better Innovation Outlook – Offshore Wind October 2016 (International Renewable Energy Agency) Summary for Policymakers The case for offshore wind Off shore wind technology opens up sites with high wind resources. Off shore wind farms can be built quickly, at gigawatt-scale, close to densely populated coastal areas. This makes off shore wind an important addition to the portfolio of technologies to decarbonise the energy sector in a cost-eff ective manner. Advances in wind power technologies continue to drive cost reduction and expansion into new markets. While onshore wind power is increasingly cost competitive against conventional power generation technologies, growing attention is being paid to technology development for off shore applications that open the door to sites with better wind resources. This combination of higher capacity factors and the availability of large-scale sites makes off shore wind an attractive alternative for utility-scale low-carbon electricity Wind development is essential to decarbonise the global economy. According to IRENA’s analysis, wind power will have to become the leading power generation technology by 2030 to ensure a decarbonisation of the global economy. Off shore wind capacity can reach 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 as innovation continues as the industry takes shape. It could increase faster if policies were adopted to double renewables in the global energy mix. This ambitious decarbonisation pathway requires 1990 GW of total installed wind capacity by 2030, of which off shore wind would provide about 280 GW Offshore Wind Technology aims to inform policy makers and other stakeholders about anticipated developments in the next three decades that will make off shore wind competitive on a large scale. The information in the report aims to help guide incentive programmes and policy actions supporting innovation sustainable energy innovation. A sector driven by technological innovation Offshore wind has grown from a few megawatts of installed capacity to more than 12 gigawatts in barely 15 years. The technology's evolution started in 1991, when the first megawatt-scale offshore wind farm was commissioned in Denmark in shallow waters, close to shore, using turbines rated at only one-eighth of today's largest turbines. The first commercial-scale offshore wind plant was commissioned in 2002, also in Denmark, with an installed capacity of 160 megawatts (MW). By the end of 2015, the world's installed offshore wind capacity exceeded 12 GW, mainly off the coasts of Europe. Offshore wind turbines are now the largest rotating machines on Earth. Developments in wind turbine technologies as well as in foundations, installation, access, operation and system integration have permitted moves into deeper waters, further from shore, to reach larger sites with better wind resources. Until 2007, offshore wind turbines were installed in water depths below 20 metres (m) and closer than 30 kilometres (km) from shore. Today, in contrast, turbines are being installed routinely in water depths up to 40 m and as far as 80 km from shore. Most of the capacity installed or operating for off shore wind to date is located off northern Europe. Half of the capacity is in UK waters, one-third in German waters, and the rest almost entirely in other parts of the North Sea or in the Baltic Sea. Competitiveness of offshore wind As innovation keeps driving down costs, offshore wind power could be highly competitive within a few years. The main driver for growth in the offshore wind industry has been significant decreases in power-generation costs with the technology. Cost reductions have been aided by government financial support to address the security of electricity supply and decarbonisation of electricity production. Such efforts have, in turn, driven innovation in the sector, which has brought costs down as well as boosting performance. Costs have fallen more than 30% in the 15 years since the first wind farm opened. The levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) from offshore wind, which averaged about USD 240 per megawatt-hour (MWh) in 2001, had fallen to approximately USD 170/MWh by the end of 2015. Innovations that enabled this cost reduction include offshore-specific turbine designs, bespoke offshore wind installation vessels and advanced offshore electrical interconnection equipment. Between 2001 and the end of 2015, the rated capacity of commercially deployed offshore wind turbines grew from 2 MW to more than 6 MW. This progress not only improved the efficiency of the turbines but also resulted in cost economies across the rest of the wind farm, which is why, in Figure S6, innovation in turbines is shown as the largest contributor to reductions in the electricity cost. “Other” change shown came from changes in typical financing costs, site characteristics and other non-technological issues, including project life, competition and other supply chain levers, exchange rates and commodity prices. Despite the progress made, the offshore wind sector must continue to reduce costs, ease its integration into onshore grid systems and expand the markets that it is able to address, while preserving its focus on the environment, health and safety. Technology innovation will remain a key ingredient, as well as reducing the cost of finance and savings through competition and other supply chain levers. As an example, in 2015 and 2016, winning bids for auctions for pre-developed offshore wind farms in Europe, such as Horns Rev 3 and Borssele I, have indicated important further cost reductions for projects commissioned for 2020, due mainly to increased competition at the developer level for the same site and driving additional savings in a variety of areas Rapid strides with technology and other innovations will drive further reductions, helping expand the off shore wind market around the world. The most signifi cant innovations related to off shore wind technology are expected to include the introduction of next-generation turbines with larger rotors, as well as advances in electrical transmission. Other types of innovation — such as in policy-making, fi nance and business models — will also boost the sector over the next 30 years. Ongoing developments in blade and drivetrain technology will allow even larger turbines with higher power ratings. Off shore wind turbines deployed at present typically have a rated capacity of about 6 MW, with rotor diameters around 150 m. Larger turbines might not have a much lower capital cost per MW of rated power than existing designs, but they deliver a lower LCOE due mainly to higher reliability and lower foundation and installation costs per MW. It is expected that the commercialisation of 10 MW turbines will take place in the 2020s, while 15 MW turbines could be commercialised in the 2030s. Off shore installation will continue to be simplifi ed. Several steps can be eliminated by assembling and precommissioning wind turbines in a harbour and installing the complete, integrated turbine (including rotor and tower) in a single operation off shore. A further innovation is to install the turbine and the foundation together, towing the turbine-foundation structure to the site via a bespoke vessel or tugboats. This innovation can be applied to bottom-fi xed or fl oating systems. These innovations have potential to reduce installation cost and reduce exposure to health and safety risks. Floating foundations are another area of innovation with high potential impact. They are expected to start to be commercially available by 2020. This type of foundation off ers the off shore wind industry access to large areas with a strong wind resource and proximity to population centres in waters that are deeper than 50 m. In mid-depth conditions (30-50 m), fl oating foundations may off er a lower-cost alternative to fi xed-bottom foundations due to the potential for standardisation of foundation designs, maximisation of onshore activity and the use of low-cost, readily available installation vessels. Electrical interconnection of off shore wind farms presents multiple innovation opportunities. These include reducing the necessary amount of off shore high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) infrastructure. High-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission is used in preference to HVAC transmission from far-from-shore projects to reduce losses and cable costs. Reducing the cost of HVDC infrastructure could open up new markets and enable the connection of off shore HVDC substations to the fi rst elements of international or interstate HVDC supergrids. Many innovations in other areas are already reaching a commercial stage. For example, innovations in the development of the wind farm — such as optimisation of the site layout for better use of the wind resource, minimisation of aerodynamic wake eff ects and optimum use of varying seabed conditions — will enable much more informed and holistic layouts of off shore wind farms. Innovation opportunities also exist and are being harnessed rapidly in operation, maintenance and service (OMS), and this report discusses them all in detail Potential game changers Specialised technologies such as floating foundations will reduce costs further and open up vast areas of currently inaccessible sites for turbines. Currently, offshore wind farms have been installed in water depths below 50 m using turbine foundations that are fixed directly to the seabed. This limits access to sites with higher winds and potentially large markets. Japan and the United States, for instance, have few shallow-water sites, and existing foundation concepts would not be costeffective. Floating foundations could be game changers in opening up significant new markets with deeper waters. Floating foundations make installation easier and cheaper by reducing the amount of offshore activity and avoiding the use of heavy-lift vessels. Floating foundations are buoyant structures maintained in position by mooring systems. Three technologies (Figure S7) are in development at present: ● Spar buoys, such as the Hywind concept developed by Statoil, ● Tension-leg platforms, such as Glosten’s PelaStar, and ● Semi-submersibles, such as that developed by Principle Power. Several full-scale prototypes have been deployed, while demonstrations for new fl oating turbine concepts continue. The fi rst full-scale prototype was a spar buoy in Norway in 2009, followed by a semi-submersible installation in Portugal in 2011 and three installations in Japan (spar and semi-submersible) between 2011 and 2015. No tension-leg platform has yet been deployed for a wind turbine, but variants of all concepts have been used in the oil and gas sector. Other turbine concepts, including multi-rotor and vertical-axis wind turbines, could also prove to be game changers. Airborne wind energy, using kites or fi xed wings to reach winds higher up, has also started to receive more attention. Benefi ts include the increased scale and consistency of wind resources at higher altitude and lower mass and costs for materials. Market-changing cost reductions could also be possible through extending the life of existing projects, including repowering them with the latest turbine technology Technological advances and other types of innovation can take off shore wind power to waters deeper than 50 m, expand its geographic range and reduce costs by more than half over the next three decades. Technological innovations, combined with various non-technology innovations, like diff erent site choices, new market strategies and refi ned tools to reduce fi nance risks, should decrease the LCOE for off shore wind farms to USD 95/MWh by 2030 and USD 74/MWh by 2045. This excludes the potential impact of game-changing technologies. Such reductions should put off shore wind fi rmly in the portfolio of technologies needed to decarbonise the energy sector in a cost-eff ective manner Other significant effects relate to changes in risk and hence the cost of finance and levels of competition and industrialisation (Figure S9). This is already seen with the shift to project-specific competitive auctions in Europe. Global trends in commodity prices, especially for steel and, to some extent, copper and fuel, affect the analysis up to 2015, but the effects of commodity prices and macroeconomic conditions are assumed to remain constant over the period from 2015 to 2045. In the next three decades, off shore wind is anticipated to grow from a new commercial technology To an industrialised and important component of the global energy mix, driven by technology innovation as well as by non-technology enabling factors discussed in this report. The operating capacity is expected to grow from around 13 GW to roughly 400 GW Concerted eff orts from the public and private sectors will drive further cost reduction, making off shore wind a competitive and reliable option for clean power supply for decades to come. Policy makers have an important role in creating a climate for investment in technology across the off shore wind industry. This involves: ● Providing as much clarity about the future market size and long-term policy direction as possible. ● Facilitating competitive environments in which reduction in the cost of energy is both rewarded through the right to deliver new projects and supported through the provision of targeted public research and development (R&D) funding. ● Establishing frameworks for the development of international and interstate transmission supergrids. ● Ensuring that public R&D funding is targeted at areas of greatest anticipated cost-of-energy impact and supplemented by incubation support. ● Supporting information sharing within the industry, including the establishment of common language and nomenclature with which to defi ne cost elements. ● Putting in place frameworks and regulations for markets to be able to receive new technologies. ● Supporting skills and supply chain development in order to enable commercialisation of technology Experience so far shows the best modes of research, development and demonstration (RD&D) to advance high-impact innovations through engagement with a range of stakeholders. Key approaches include steering R&D, maximising the impact of grant funding, and enabling demonstration of larger turbines and new concepts. Useful synergies can also be found beyond off shore wind or renewables and outside the energy sector as a whole Steering R&D…Maximising grant impact…Enabling demonstration…Collaboration in other sectors… No QUICK NEWS today – NewEnergyNews is on the road.

Elizabeth Borglum (1848-1922) American Born in Racine, Wisconsin, Elizabeth Janes Borglum became a painter early in her career of still life, especially grapes, and of portraits and animals. However, in the early 1900s, she turned increasingly to landscape painting, especially views of Southern California including San Juan Capistrano, which has one of her paintings in the collection. She also painted in Monterey and Santa Barbara. Elizabeth Borglum first took her art training in Boston and then studied music in New York City at Miss Graham’s School. She began her art studies at the school in 1875 with teacher Charles W. Knudsen. She then returned to Wisconsin where she taught music near Milwaukee. In 1884, she moved to Los Angeles, California, and the next year began art study with William Keith. There she met Gutzon Borglum, who was also a student of Keith’s and who ultimately become famous for his portrait stone carvings on Mount Rushmore. The couple married in Los Angeles in 1889, and for the next ten years she and her husband traveled widely in Europe. In London, she studied with California painter Emil Carlsen, and in Paris, she studied with Felix Hildago. The couple purchased a home, “El Rosario”, in Sierra Madre, California in 1893, and she occupied this residence during and after she and Borglum separated in 1903 and divorced in 1908. She continued her art career in the Los Angeles area, painting and teaching and taking classes from J. Foxcroft Cole. In 1915, she moved to Venice, California. Among her paintings are Rain Storm on Sierra Madre Mountains; Sycamore Mountains, and Poplar Drive in Baldwin Ranch. Exhibition venues included the Western Art Association, Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle, San Francisco Art Association and the Southern California-Panama Exposition in San Diego. Sources include: Phil Kovinick, Marian Yoshiki Kovinick, An Encyclopedia of Women Artists of the American West Artist Profile Page: Borglum, Elizabeth / Categories: Still Life Other Available Works by this Artist:

Population density map of India. With an estimated population of 1.2 billion, India is the world's second most populous country. The last 50 years have seen a rapid increase in population due to medical advances and massive increase in agricultural productivity due to the "green revolution". The percentage of Indian population living in urban areas has consistently grown; from 1991 to 2001, India's urban population increased by 31.2%. In 2001, about 285 million Indians lived in urban areas while more than 70% of India's population resided in rural areas. As per the 2001 census, there are twenty seven million-plus cities, with the largest cities being Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. India is home to two major linguistic families: Indo-Aryan (spoken by about 74% of the population) and Dravidian (spoken by about 24%). Other languages spoken in India come from the Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman linguistic families. Neither the Constitution of India, nor any Indian law defines any national language. Hindi, with the largest number of speakers, is the official language of the union. English is used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a 'subsidiary official language;' it is also important in education, especially as a medium of higher education. In addition, every state and union territory has its own official languages, and the constitution also recognises in particular 21 "scheduled languages". As per the 2001 census, over 800 million Indians (80.5%) were Hindu. Other religious groups include Muslims (13.4%), Christians (2.3%),Sikhs (1.9%), Buddhists (0.8%), Jains (0.4%), Jews, Zoroastrians and Bahá'ís. Tribals constitute 8.1% of the population. India has the third-highest Muslim population in the world and has the highest population of Muslims for a non-Muslim majority country. India's literacy rate is 64.8% (53.7% for females and 75.3% for males). The state of Kerala has the highest literacy rate at 91% while Bihar has the lowest at 47%. The national human sex ratio is 944 females per 1,000 males. India's median age is 24.9, and the population growth rate of 1.38% per annum; there are 22.01 births per 1,000 people per year. Though India has one of the world's most diverse and modern healthcare systems, the country continues to face several public health-related challenges. According to the World Health Organization, 900,000 Indians die each year from drinking contaminated water and breathing in polluted air. There are about 60 physicians per 100,000 people in India.

This file is also available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format FEAR OF NOT FLYING IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND there was a curious gap between the study and practice of law. From the thirteenth century to the seventeenth, the main language used for pleading in common law courts was Law French. It seems to have developed because Latin, the language of formal records, carried too much historical freight from Roman law for the peculiarities of English circumstances, whereas medieval English was insufficiently standardized for official use. Law French was a hybrid dialect, owing more to Picard and Angevin influences than to Norman French, in which French vocabulary was combined with the rules of English grammar. The common lawyers developed it for their pleadings in the courts, passing it down from generation to generation.1 This evolving vernacular of the common law courts had little, if any, impact on the academic study of law. Latin was the language of jurisprudence in Oxford and Cambridge, and, although Law French could reportedly be learned in ten days or fewer, the professors of jurisprudence appear not to have thought it worth their while. This might have been, as Fortescue said, because Latin was the language of all scientific instruction.2 It might have been, as Blackstone claimed, because the civil law--taught and studied in Latin--was embraced in the universities and monasteries after the Norman Conquest but resisted in the courts.3 It might have been, as contemporary historians such as J. H. Baker maintain, because English Law was thought insufficiently cosmopolitan to merit serious study.4 Whatever the reason, English jurisprudence developed in literal ignorance of the practice of English law. A comparable disjunction afflicts the human sciences today. In discipline after discipline, the flight from reality has been so complete that the academics have all but lost sight of what they claim is their object of study. This goes for the quantitative and formally oriented social sciences that are principally geared toward causal explanation. Following economics, they have modeled themselves on physics--or at any rate on a stylized version of what is often said to go on in physics. But it also goes for many of the more interpretive endeavors that have been influenced by fashions in the humanities--particularly the linguistic turn in philosophy and developments in literary hermeneutics. Practitioners in these fields often see themselves as engaged in interpretation rather than explanation, thereby perpetuating a false dichotomy. Hence my use of the term human sciences here to encapsulate both endeavors. This book is my attempt to chronicle the extent of their flight from reality, and to combat it. I should say at the outset that I do not believe the flight from reality has a single source or cause. It results, rather, from various developments that share elective affinities--developments that all too often are mutually reinforcing. Some of their sources are intellectual, having to do with the ebb and flow of academic fashion. Some of them are institutional, reflecting the structure of academic professions and the incentives for advancement in an era of exhausted paradigms and extensive specialization. This can be bolstered by a perverse sense of rigor, where the dread of being thought insufficiently scientific spawns a fear of not flying among young scholars. Some are political in the broadest sense, having to do with the relations between disengaged human sciences and the reproduction of the social and political order. The flight from reality is not without consequences for reality as we will see. At best it marginalizes the potential effects of political and social criticism, and sometimes it contributes to the maintenance of oppressive social relations--however unwittingly. I begin making this case, with the help of Alexander Wendt, in the opening chapter. We expose the limitations of empiricist and interpretive methods of social research, showing how they bias the enterprise in method-driven ways, and we argue for a realist view in their stead. Rather than do this in the abstract, we pursue it by reference to a concrete phenomenon that has attracted a good deal of attention in the human sciences: the study of consent. Empiricism as we describe it here encompasses two different approaches to social inquiry--both bastard stepchildren of David Hume. The first we dub logicism to call attention to the fact that its proponents embrace the view, made famous by Carl Hempel, that good explanations are sound deductive arguments. For logicists, an hypothesis is scientific only if it is derived from a general theory. Such theories often rest on simplifying assumptions about reality, or even "as if" assumptions that are not valid empirically at all. It is conventional to defend this practice on the grounds that these theories do a good predictive job in accounting for empirical reality. This might sound reasonable in principle, but in practice logicists often formulate their claims so generally that they turn out to be compatible with all possible empirical results--in effect rendering the empirical world epiphenomenal to the theory. We show how this vitiates the study of consent in practice, when theorists of rational consent have sought to explain away apparent anomalies by concocting redescriptions that render them compatible with their preferred theories. This was understandable with theorists of the early Enlightenment because, as I have argued elsewhere, they embraced the view that certainty is the hallmark of science--making the toleration of counterexamples unacceptable.5 However, mature Enlightenment views of science assume knowledge generally to be corrigible, with the implication that scientists will not take hypotheses seriously if they cannot be falsified--and, indeed, if the conditions under which they will be rejected cannot be specified in advance. The irony, then, is that although contemporary logicists often like to think of themselves as the only genuinely rigorous practitioners of social science--"if you ain't got a theorem you ain't got shit!" as a partisan of this view once put it to me--in reality they are wedded a view of science that most practicing scientists have not taken seriously for centuries. Hume's other bastard stepchildren discussed in chapter 1 are empiricists of a particular stamp--those who became known in the 1950s and 1960s as behavioralists. Often skeptical of the breathtaking theoretical ambition characteristic of logicists, these empiricists were partisans of Hume's insistence that knowledge is grounded in observation of events and that causal knowledge inheres in observing their constant conjunction. Whereas the logicist derives comfort from the certainty that seems to inhere in the deductive relations between premises and conclusions, the Humean empiricist looks to observation for reassurance. We show how, in the political science power literature, this biased research away from attending to factors that coerce people into apparently consensual behavior--whether by surreptitious manipulation of agendas, structuring people's perceptions of alternatives, or even shaping their preferences. The focus on observed behavior was conceived as a corrective to elite theories of politics put forward by Gaetano Mosca, Robert Michels, Vilfredo Pareto, and C. Wright Mills. They had been cavalier in their treatment of observable behavior, ignoring it or explaining away any tensions between it and what Michels described as the "iron law" of oligarchy. Ironically, the behavioralists ended up with a different kind of method-drivenness, one in which the realm of observed behavior was assumed to be the only pertinent realm in accounting for consent. If behavioralists bias research in favor of the phenomenal realm in one way, partisans of interpretation do it in another. By interpretivism I mean the research agenda that came into vogue in the human sciences during the 1970s, largely because of dissatisfaction with various failed reductionist enterprises. Prominent among these was Marxism, by then famous for its inability to account for the major political developments of the twentieth century. Instead of spawning revolutionary socialist proletariats, the advanced capitalist countries had experienced tenacious nationalism and working-class conservatism--not to mention the rise of Nazism in Germany and Fascism in Italy. Communists who did come to power either did so in peasant societies such as Russia and China contra Marx's prognostications, or they were forcibly imposed by the Soviets after World War II. In any case, by the 1950s it was obvious that, at best, communism as practiced rested on grotesque distortions of Marx's principles. Attempts to rescue Marxism from an unhelpfully recalcitrant reality produced more noise than light over the succeeding decades. One motivation for those who found the interpretive turn attractive was to get away from the sectarian bickering over how to save Marx's materialism--even when it was conceded that this could operate only "in the last instance."6 The interpretive turn involves treating articulated beliefs and ideas as elemental to human interaction. They are seen not as part of an epiphenomenal superstructure, to be understood, however circuitously, by reference to its links with the "underlying" material base. Rather, to use one of the buzz words of the day, they constitute reality--or at least human social reality--through language. Social reality is linguistic reality on this view. When human beings do things like create obligations or social contracts they do this through language, not by some other means that is then described by language. Understanding social reality means understanding the linguistic processes that give rise to it. The interpretive turn thus went hand in glove with the ascent of ordinary language philosophy associated with the later Wittgenstein and J. L. Austin in the 1950s and with developments in literary hermeneutics in which understanding social processes was modeled on the interpretation of texts.7 It was but a small step from this to the view that society should be conceived of as a text, whose meaning is best recovered by exploring the web of linguistic conventions within which social agents operate as collective authors. We are locked within a prison-house of language, as Frederick Jameson colorfully put it, the implication being that it is better to try to understand linguistic reality from the inside than to indulge vain fantasies of escape.8 Different theorists had different views of how such understanding is best achieved, but they all agreed that the point of the exercise is to elucidate social meanings by exploring the linguistic conventions--the language games, as Wittgenstein had it--within which people inevitably operate. Social reality arises out of conventional linguistic usage, and the key to understanding it lies in recovering the conventions so as to see how people use them to act in the social world. Elsewhere I have discussed the interpretative turn's impact on the historical study of political theory by examining the contextual theories of the Cambridge school--John Dunn, J.G.A. Pocock, and Quentin Skinner.9 There is much to commend their approach to the study of the texts in the history of ideas. In particular, their insistence that contextual knowledge is essential to recover what an author meant to do in writing a text was an important corrective to prevalent methodologies that had assumed reading the text "over and over again" to be sufficient. Some of their contextual rereadings of particular authors are debatable and have been debated, but one would be hard pressed to dispute that important correctives to received interpretations have resulted from this scholarship. Skinner's rereadings of Hobbes have stood the test of time especially well--displacing a tired stereotype of him as "the monster of Malmesbury."10 Dunn's relocation of Locke's political writings in the theological disputes that were his lifelong preoccupation have revolutionized Locke scholarship for a generation, and the careful contextual researches of Peter Laslett and Richard Ashcraft have established that the Two Treatises of Government were written the better part of a decade before the Glorious Revolution of 1688--rubbishing an older conventional wisdom that they were written to justify it.11 Locke's contradictory views on slavery have received definitive illumination through the contextual analysis of James Farr.12 Pocock's magisterial recovery of the civic humanist tradition has spawned a revival of interest in republican ideas, complicating, at least, our picture of liberalism's emergence and evolution.13 This is to say nothing of the revisions of received interpretations of medieval and early modern natural law theory at the hands of Richard Tuck and James Tully, or the accounts of Adam Smith and David Ricardo's politics from Donald Winch, Shannon Stimson, and Murray Milgate.14 It is one thing to say that understanding what an author was trying to do depends critically on recovering the context in which he was writing; quite another to turn this into an a theory of politics and political change. It is this vastly more ambitious agenda, most self-consciously articulated by Quentin Skinner, with which I take issue. I agree with Skinner that any plausible account of political reality must take account of the role political ideas play in shaping it. But making this move inevitably puts large causal questions on the table about what ideologies are, how they shape and are shaped by political conflict and change, and how--if at all--they might be related to the ideas of political theorists. Skinner ducks these questions by eschewing all causal analysis in favor of the "interpretation," but I argue that in effect this means he does his causal analysis behind his back, which he insists that we should not. He equates the meaning of a text with what an author intended to convey, and he gets at this by seeing how the author's ideas were received by his intended audience. But this overlooks gamuts of relevant possibilities once we are studying their ideas as ideologies. What people overlook might be more important, ideologically, than what they discern. People might be misled, whether for malevolent or accidental reasons. They might supply inadvertent legitimation for practices that they perceive dimly, if at all. How people's ideas are appropriated or misappropriated by subsequent generations might be more important than their intentions as communicated to contemporaries. By assuming that an "internal" reading, geared to recovering authorial intention, is synonymous with studying the history of ideas as the history of ideologies, Skinner affirms a new--rather whiggish--reductionism without ever acknowledging it. In contrast, I argue for openness to "external" readings. These are geared to locating subjective accounts in larger causal processes without prejudging what those processes might consist in, without deciding in advance whether and how much they might shape or be shaped by political interests, agendas, and events, and without assuming anything a priori about how--if at all--they might be subsumable into a general theory of politics. These are all subjects for research that cannot be settled before it begins. The scientific outlook requires a commitment to discovering what is actually going on in a given situation without prejudging what that is. Opting for the recovery of what a particular political theorist meant to say involves one of many possible cuts at accounting for ideology's role in politics. It has to be justified by comparison with the going plausible alternatives, not smuggled in by the backdoor under the guise of eschewing the world of causation for that of interpretation. Partisans of interpretation often see themselves as fundamentally at odds with behavioral social scientists. So it is ironic that they end up embracing a reductive view that makes them cousins of the behavioralists. Both rule out looking behind the world of appearances. This biases the study of consent by taking some of the most significant possibilities off the table before research begins. My call for attention to the "external" dimensions of political action as well as the "internal" ones is embedded a realist view of science. It owes much to the work of Rom Harré, Roy Bhaskar, Richard Miller, and others, and I harbor no ambition to offer a full-blown defense of it here. Rather, my goal is to underscore the commitments that are embodied in the realist outlook, explain their significance for the conduct of social inquiry, and show why they should be expected to lead to better results than the going alternatives. To be sure, I mean to portray the realist outlook in an attractive light in these pages, but I try to do this more by illustrating its felicitous consequences for social and political inquiry than by arguing for it from the ground up. Some prefatory remarks are nonetheless in order here to indicate what I take to be involved in the commitment to scientific realism, and to differentiate it from doctrines with which it is sometimes confused.15 I take the core commitment of scientific realism to consist in the twofold conviction that the world consists of causal mechanisms that exist independently of our study--or even awareness--of them, and that the methods of science hold out the best possibility of our grasping their true character. Adherents to this view are sometimes characterized as "transcendental" realists.16 This cumbersome and loaded term perhaps obscures more than it illuminates. I take it to underscore the fact that the realist commitment is implicit in the conduct of science, not a product of it. Unless scientists assumed it to be valid, as they generally do, they would have no good reason to see their enterprise as superior to religion, superstition, tradition, and other pretenders to authority in accounting for reality. This is not to say that the realist commitment implies fidelity to any particular theories or hypotheses about reality's causal structure. Rather, embracing the commitment is necessary for thinking it worthwhile to develop theories and hypotheses, and to evaluate them by reference to the methods of science. Wendt and I show how, in the study of consent, a realist commitment opens up research agendas to the study of causal questions that are ruled out of court by the behavioral and interpretivist schools. Yet it does this without dismissing behavior and subjective understanding as epiphenomenal, or affirming a reductionist view that is impervious to the demands of evidence so characteristic of logicist ventures. We discuss John Gaventa's Power and Powerlessness as exemplifying social science conducted in a realist spirit, both in its attempt to illuminate opaque causal mechanisms that produce consent--"quiescence" is Gaventa's term--in circumstances of domination, and in explaining the relations between those mechanisms and the realms of subjective perception and behavior. From a realist perspective it thus becomes plain that behavioral and interpretive methods exemplify the flight from reality, even though their proponents often resist the ambition to develop general theory. Perhaps as a reaction against the behavioral and interpretive hostility to general theory, logicist enterprises have won a new lease on life in recent decades. The main vehicle has been the import of microeconomic models into the noneconomic human sciences--notably to political science, sociology, and law--under the banner of rational choice theory. Donald Green and I explore this development as it relates to political science in chapter 2, by responding to critics of our book Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory.17 Although logicist ventures are wanting from a realist perspective, we show here that they also collapse under their own weight--largely because of their quixotic theoretical ambition. Taken on their own terms, rational choice theories have, for the most part, degenerated into elaborate exercises geared toward saving universalist theory from discordant encounters with reality. Belying the fanfare about theoretical rigor that often accompanies their claims, we show how rational choice theorists play fast and loose with the definition of rationality in developing hypotheses, in specifying their empirical implications, and in testing them against the evidence. The litany of failures that we identify includes elaborating sufficient accounts for political phenomena without showing how or why they should be preferred to the going alternatives; "explaining" stylized facts that turn out on close inspection not to bear much relationship to any political reality; post-hoc fiddling with theories in ways that amount to little more than thinly disguised curve-fitting; specifying theories so vaguely that they turn out to be compatible with all empirical outcomes; scouring the political landscape for confirming illustrations of the preferred theory while ignoring the rest of the data; and projecting evidence from the theory by coming up with tendentious descriptions of the political world. Even when rational choice theorists back away from pure universalist claims, they do so in ad-hoc and in unconvincing ways that reinforce their reluctance to entertain the possibility that their theory is incorrect. It is as if someone, on observing one day that red apples no longer fell toward the ground when dropped, asserted that the theory of gravity is fine; we must just accept that it does not apply to red apples. As this example might suggest, when all else fails the universalist impulse leads rational choice theorists to take refuge in the philosophy of science. Accusing their critics of being "naïve falsificationists," they appeal to the arguments of Thomas Kuhn and Imre Lakatos in vindication of their procedures. Those who appeal to Kuhn seem innocent of his notorious inability to distinguish developing research paradigms, when knowledge is advancing, from decaying ones, when it is not. Given the failure of rational choice theorists to identify unambiguous advances in empirical knowledge, this is a serious worry. Indeed, as Kuhn was careful to insist, the human sciences have yet to reach the stage where there is a dominant paradigm within which normal science can proceed by puzzle-solving. Hence his description of them as "pre-paradigmatic." Those rational choice theorists who acknowledge that this is the true state of affairs sometimes see it as their mission to provide a remedy--as my discussion of David Laitin's agenda for political science in chapter 6 reveals. They would be well advised to take note of Kuhn's insistence that "I claim no therapy to assist the transformation of a proto-science to a science, nor do I suppose that anything of the sort is to be had."18 Rational choice theorists who appeal instead to Lakatos make heavy weather of the claim that you can't beat something with nothing; that theories are not falsified by being tested against "the facts," but rather when a better theory comes along--one that explains what was known before and then some. This is concededly a good account of what often happens in science, yet the difficulty we identify is that in political science rational choice theorists operate is if it applies to their critics but not to themselves. Their characteristic proclivity is to ignore previous scholarship on the topics they study, to create trivial null hypotheses when any are considered at all, and to translate existing knowledge into their preferred terminology rather than add to it. Rational choice theorists operate more like brief-writers for their universal theories, not Lakatosian scientists who try to add to the inherited stock of knowledge by developing theories that perform better empirically than those that have been tried before. If rational choice theorists took their Lakatosian protestations seriously, they would abandon the logicist impulses that flow from Hempel's theory of science and engage seriously in comparative empirical evaluation of their arguments against the most plausible going alternatives. We note that the few of them who have done this have, indeed, contributed to the study of politics. For most, however, the impulse to flee from problem-driven theory to method-driven theorem proves irresistible. In chapters 3 and 4, I turn from the explanatory to the normative dimensions of the flight from reality. One way in which commentators have sought to link positive and normative theory is to try to derive principles for action and policy from their accounts of how the world works. Another is to try to intervene in the world to get it to conform to one's normative ideal better than presently it does. Richard Posner, a United States appellate court judge since his appointment to the Seventh Circuit by Ronald Reagan in 1981, engages in both. I provide an assessment of his efforts in chapter 3. Getting from explanation to prescription means getting from is to ought. Posner's attempt to do this is elusive and ultimately unsuccessful, but it reveals one of the ways in which the flight from reality can have an impact on reality. Posner posits a functionalist account of the common law's evolution, according to which it operates over time to maximize economic efficiency. His is an invisible-hand account in that this process is alleged to occur beyond the ken of common-law judges, who typically do not perceive--let alone understand--the ways in which their decisions contribute to this result. Indeed, as if to underscore this point, Posner upbraids some judges who have sought to apply his theory of wealth-maximization in the course of adjudication. Yet Posner nonetheless delivers a series of nostrums about how judges should behave and proposes various reforms to the administration of courts in the United States based on appeals to his efficiency arguments. Attention to Posner's invisible-hand account reveals good reasons for skepticism, but even if we bracket them it is far from clear that we should regard it as benign. Consider Posner's efficiency-based account of why the criminal law disproportionately punishes harmful acts committed by poor people.19 Criminal sanctions become necessary, on his account, when the threat of compensation through the torts system fails to deter potential wrongdoers. Because poor people typically lack the resources to compensate victims that would be sufficient to deter potential perpetrators, the threat of incarceration is needed instead. This "efficiency" based account of a system that discriminates against the poor entails nothing about its moral attractiveness, unless supplemented by an argument showing efficiency to be more desirable than equitable treatment. This becomes obvious when we recall thatscholars in the critical legal studies movement have argued for the same evolutionary thesis as Posner's, but to make a rather different normative point.20 Claims about neutrality to the contrary notwithstanding, they argue, the law operates to sustain capitalist market relations. Oliver Wendell Holmes might have been right that the Fourteenth Amendment "does not enact Mr. Herbert Spencer's Social Statics," but they think that it creeps into the common law nonetheless. The functionalist case does not get Posner from is to ought any more than it gets Unger and his colleagues from is to ought not. Nor does it exhaust the possibilities for pressing explanatory theory into the service of normative argument. Another strategy Posner deploys is to point to gaps between purposes he alleges to be immanent in the law and the reality on the ground, thereby supplying impetus to the suggestion that reality stands in need of reform. This is strategy is at least as old as Jeremy Bentham's market-failure theory of the need for government because of the possibility of free riding, tragedy-of-the-commons problems, and other by-products of selfish individual behavior.21 A different variant was pursued by the legal realists, who pointed to yawning gaps between the professed ideals of American law and the brutal realities of criminal prosecution during the 1930s and after. This eventually spawned a wide range of reforms to criminal procedure and defendants' rights by the Warren Court, designed to bring reality into better conformity with professed constitutional ideals. Posner's modus operandi is to identify inefficiencies in the law and the administration of the courts, thereby generating impetus for reforms oriented to bringing them into better conformity with his efficiency ideal. Passing over the difficulty, already noted, that it is far from clear that his efficiency ideal is in fact immanent in American law, I show how his appeals to efficiency all involve reifying contestable economic theories as "the" economic theory or the law. This enables Posner to mask a particular ideological agenda in the garb of abstract theory. For instance, close inspection reveals that Posner's unhappiness with the increase in litigation in federal courts in recent decades does not depend on his--or any--general theory of the optimal level of litigation or judicial services. Rather, it reflects a conservative antipathy for government. These proclivities extend to Posner's activities on the bench. Through an analysis of his labor law and antitrust opinions in his first five years as a federal appellate court judge, I show that he imports his version of the Social Statics into judicial opinions in predictable ways, all the while portraying them as uncontroversial economic theory--if not unassailable common sense. The truth, as I show, is that different economic theories than the ones Posner invokes would produce different results in these cases; yet he never supplies us with principled reasons for preferring the ones he advocates. The logicist's variant of the flight from reality involves misrepresenting the world by confusing it with dubious models that flow from a pet general theory. Posner's academic writing exemplifies this pathology at every turn. More troubling is that his position on the bench gives him the power to try to reshape reality in accordance with his models--to the arbitrary detriment or benefit of litigants who happen to have their cases appealed to his court. Dramatically arresting as Posner's reification of efficiency might be, I argue in chapter 4 that he is scarcely alone in his general approach. Political theorists often fail to appreciate that any claim about how politics is to be organized is bound to be a relational claim involving agents, actions, legitimacy, and ends. If they did, they would resist many of the standard contending views in the controversies that preoccupy them. I demonstrate this by reference to contemporary debates concerning the nature of right, law, autonomy, utility, freedom, virtue, and justice. Rather than confront the complexities implicit in the relational logics of these and other political ideals, all too often political theorists appeal to gross concepts--my term for ideas that feed into and promote misleading dichotomies. By appealing to gross concepts, political theorists reduce what are actually relational claims to claims about one or another of the terms in a relational argument. I explain how this systematically obscures the phenomena they purport to analyze, diverting attention from first-order questions about the world to second-order conceptual debates that can never be settled because they rest on category mistakes. Gerald MacCallum Jr. pointed this out a long time ago in connection with the arguments about liberty. He showed that debates between "negative" and "positive" libertarians are not really about kinds of freedom, as protagonists since Isaiah Berlin have supposed, but rather about who is free, from what constraints or because of what enabling conditions, to perform which actions. Despite a good deal of ritualistic genuflecting to MacCallum in the literature, my analysis reveals that his reasoning has penetrated little. This is partly because taking it seriously would entail coming to grips with contentious empirical debates about human psychology and the causal structure of the social world--which theorists are loath to do. In arguments about freedom, as in numerous other controversies that exhibit a similar structure, gross concepts are instead presented as dichotomous alternatives. Protagonists on both sides defend their views mainly by pointing to the demerits of the supposed alternative--about which they are invariably right. The result is to perpetuate debates that lurch among gross concepts without getting anywhere. The activity thrives nonetheless, partly because it is rewarded by professional incentives in the academy but partly, I argue, because many people find gross concepts appealing. They are comforting and simplifying devices that function, as ideologies, to legitimate things that people want to believe. Recognizing the alluring power of gross concepts, I defend an account of the political theorist's vocation that revolves around resisting it. Our job is to reel in gross concepts, not to traffic in them. Rather than try to find the right gross concept to champion, we do better to operate as principled social critics whose goal is embellish political argument with political reality. We should be roving ombudsmen for the truth rather than partisans of any particular message. What this means for the conduct of political theorists within the political science discipline is explored in the final two chapters. This question is taken up in chapter 5 in the context of a critique of the impulse toward, and rewards for, reductionist explanations in political science. My point of departure is the observation--often leveled at my argument with Green in Pathologies--that all observation is theory-laden. Because there is no theoretically unsullied account of "the facts," so the argument goes, we were naïve in supposing that any particular explanation can be evaluated simply by how well it does empirically. Agreeing that Green and I attended insufficiently to this question, I make the case here that it does not stand in the way of a view of the social-scientific enterprise geared to getting at the truth, that this is unlikely to be achieved by any of the going reductionist ventures in political science, and that the endemic availability of alternative descriptions of political reality creates an important ongoing responsibility for political theorists in the division of labor within political science. The assertion that all observation is theory-laden turns out on close inspection to merit the retort that some types of theory-ladenness are nonetheless more plausible than others. Once the headlights are turned up on particular cases, it becomes plain that there is a world of difference between theory-driven description, in which tendentious accounts are projected onto the problems in order to vindicate pet theories, and situations where there are persuasive reasons, while taking account of previous attempts to study a problem and their limitations, for preferring an alternative construction of it. This is to say nothing of method-driven work, where the construction of the problem is contaminated by the methods available to the researcher. A study in which John Huber and Charles Shipan try to measure Congress's desire to confer discretion on administrative agencies by the number of words in the relevant statutes is easier to comprehend once one is reminded of the "word count" feature of modern word-processing programs.22 No matter that it would seem to suggest that the countless reams of the Internal Revenue Code are there to limit the discretion of IRS agents. Try telling that to your accountant. Moreover, whereas some disagreements about explanation are really disagreements about competing descriptions in drag, many are not. When a particular description is recognized as apt, there is then a truth of the matter as far as explanation is concerned--even if no one yet knows what it is. That is the realist presumption on which the conduct of all science, on my account, rests. The mistake is to suppose that explanations are scientific only when they flow from a single general theory, which then leads scholars to shoehorn the construction of every problem into terms that are compatible with it. Antireductionist priors, that build toward feasible generality rather than take it for granted prior to empirical research, may well involve descriptions that are theory-influenced. But they will not be theory-driven. This is not to deny that significant challenges are posed for political science by the theory-ladenness literature. Different ways of characterizing social phenomena predispose researchers to reach for different explanatory arguments, raising questions about how appropriately to choose among them. The conventional answer is prediction. If we can better predict the ways in which judges will decide cases by looking at which outcome maximizes wealth rather than at their jurisprudential commitments, then we should opt for the efficiency-based characterization. But prediction is not all that it is cracked up to be. It can lead us to the misconception that playing basketball makes people taller. More consequentially, I show that because prediction is so difficult in the human sciences, excessive preoccupation with it can drive researchers to focus on trivial but tractable questions--three points to the right of the decimal. Alternatively, it can lead them endlessly to refine predictive instruments that are never going to work. The result? Immensely complicated clocks that neither tick nor tell the time. Political theorists have important roles to play in political science just because there is no algorithm that dictates the correct descriptive cut at the social world. Among our central tasks is to identify, criticize, and suggest plausible alternatives to the theoretical assumptions, interpretations of political conditions, and above all specification of problems that underlie prevailing empirical accounts and research programs, and to do it in ways that can spark novel and promising problem-driven research agendas. And, especially when esoteric forms of redescription are involved, they must elucidate the links to more familiar understandings of politics. If the study of politics is inherently contentious, how should it be taught to the next generation of students? This is the subject of my final chapter, a critique of David Laitin's recent proposal to standardize political science teaching to undergraduates. His goal is to do for political science what Samuelson did for economics by creating an orthodox curriculum, and he proposes a model syllabus for its introductory course. I make the case that Laitin's proposal is wrongheaded in ways that both reflect and encourage the flight from reality. Laitin's proposal reflects the flight from reality by conflating the discipline with its object of study, calling to mind the economist's reputed answer to a student query that economics is "what economists do." Undergraduates typically become political science majors because they are interested in politics, not the political science discipline. It should be troubling if these students are presented, as Laitin believes that they should be, with an account of political science that is sanitized to obscure its controversial character. The impulse to do this has more to do with professional incentives to get grants and public recognition for the discipline, as Laitin comes close to conceding, than with any plausible account of how to teach students to think systematically about the fundamentals of politics. Even when scholars believe they have the One True Theory or the One Best Method--indeed, particularly in that case--they do students a disservice not to tell them about the others. Laitin's proposal is liable to encourage the impulse to flee reality by detaching scholars from a particular kind of discipline that undergraduate teaching offers. His reasoning depends on the illusion that an initial political science course can get students up to speed in the same way that essentials are covered in introductions to physics, chemistry, and math. These disciplines differ from the social sciences in that there is little, if any, disagreement among their practitioners on what the appropriate descriptive cut on the world actually is. Against Laitin, I argue that the economists' decision to standardize their discipline as he recommends and would emulate has had the disastrous consequence of divorcing introductory teaching from controversies at research frontiers of their discipline. This famously alienates undergraduates from what they are required to study in introductory economics courses. It also reinforces the powerful disincentives for active research scholars to teach the introductory courses, turning them over instead to adjunct faculty and flunkies. This is a loss for the students, but also for the researchers. Bright undergraduates often have noses for important problems and a refreshing desire to cut to the chase about what difference the theories they are being asked to understand make in the actual world. They are not hostage to academic literatures that may be little more than rotten boroughs in the ways that graduate students so often are. If scholars in political science were to free themselves from the discipline that comes with having to teach undergraduates as completely as economists have done in recent decades, they would have yet one more reason to succumb to their--already overdeveloped--fear of not flying. Return to Book Description File created: 8/7/2007 Questions and comments to: [email protected] Princeton University Press

With billions of computers in existence, cyberspace, 'the virtual world created when they are connected,' is said to be the new medium of power. Computer hackers operating from anywhere can enter cyberspace and take control of other people's computers, stealing their information, corrupting their workings, and shutting them down. Modern societies and militaries, both pervaded by computers, are supposedly at risk. As Conquest in Cyberspace explains, however, information systems and information itself are too easily conflated, and persistent mastery over the former is difficult to achieve. The author also investigates how far 'friendly conquest' in cyberspace extends, such as the power to persuade users to adopt new points of view. He discusses the role of public policy in managing cyberspace conquests and shows how the Internet is becoming more ubiquitous and complex, such as in the use of artificial intelligence.

Determining orbits for natural and artificial celestial bodies is an essential step in the exploration and understanding of the Solar System. However, recent progress in the quality and quantity of data from astronomical observations and spacecraft tracking has generated orbit determination problems which cannot be handled by classical algorithms. This book presents new algorithms capable of handling the millions of bodies which could be observed by next generation surveys, and which can fully exploit tracking data with state-of-the-art levels of accuracy. After a general mathematical background and summary of classical algorithms, the new algorithms are introduced using the latest mathematical tools and results, to which the authors have personally contributed. Case studies based on actual astronomical surveys and space missions are provided, with applications of these new methods. Intended for graduate students and researchers in applied mathematics, physics, astronomy and aerospace engineering, this book is also of interest to non-professional astronomers.

Renewable energy will soon be cheapest electricity Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are already as cheap or cheaper than traditional fuels in about half of G20 countries, and are soon to be the cheapest form of electricity in every G20 country, according to a new report from Greenpeace in advance of the G20 Summit in Hamburg. Published this week, before the G20 leaders meet in Hamburg, Germany, the new report by Greenpeace Germany highlighted the decreasing costs of renewable energy sources, and their cost-competitiveness with traditional energy sources like coal and nuclear. Specifically, Greenpeace Germany highlighted a report published earlier this year by the United Nations Environment Programme and Bloomberg New Energy Finance that showed the average levelized cost of generating power from solar worldwide dropped by 17%, onshore wind dropped by 18%, and offshore wind costs fell by 28%. The report also highlighted the unsubsidized prices of renewable energy projects which are undercutting all other sources of new electricity generating capacity, such as “prices falling to nearly 26 €/MWh for a wind power project in Morocco and a bid of 24 €/MWh was made for a solar power plant in Abu Dhabi last year.” The report, therefore, is an effort to substantiate these examples, and highlight the fact that “many G20 [countries] continue to favour fossil fuel and nuclear based power generation, which is economically unfounded.” “There can be no excuses anymore,” said Greenpeace Germany energy expert Tobias Austrup. “Climate protection increasingly makes economic sense across the G20 as renewable energy becomes cheaper than dirty coal and nuclear. “Any G20 country that is still investing in coal and nuclear power plants is wasting their money on technology that will not be competitive in coming years. The G20 now has a responsibility to send a clear signal that accelerating the clean energy transition is not only the right thing to do for the climate, but also for the economy.” The report, Comparing electricity production costs of renewables to fossil and nuclear power plants in G20 countries, was conducted by the Finnish Lappeenranta University of Technology, and commissioned by Greenpeace Germany. The report calculated the electricity generation costs of all G20 countries between 2015 and out to 2030 and found that wind farms already generated the cheapest form of electricity in 2015 across large parts of Europe, South America, the United States, China, and Australia. Further, the report concluded that due to significant technological innovation and progress leading and falling prices, solar energy in 2030 will be even cheaper than wind power in many G20 countries. But even now, renewable energy across many G20 countries is already cost competitive with local grid prices, so it is unsurprising that by 2030 renewable energy will be far and away the cheaper option. Unsurprisingly, however — for anyone who has paid even the slightest attention to these issues — there are still challenges to seeing this future come to pass without hindrance. Specifically, the report highlights the negative impact of subsidizing fossil fuels — highlighted in another report published this week in advance of the G20 Summit meeting in Hamburg. Specifically, this week’s report showed that G20 countries averaged $70 billion in public finance for fossil fuels, totaling $215.3 billion in deals for oil, gas, and coal, between 2013 and 2015. The Greenpeace report further highlighted a study from the International Energy Agency which showed that countries spent close to $500 billion on consumption subsidies for fossil fuels in 2014 — 90% of which came from G20 governments. In the end, the report’s conclusions should be the definitive end for coal and other fossil fuel technologies, but entrenched interests across the world will continue to see coal and nuclear and other sources continue fighting for every scrap of financing and subsidies and years left to operate, further jeopardizing the planet’s chances of keeping global warming within the limits set out in the Paris Climate Agreement.

In Northern Peruvian Andes halfway between Lima and the Ecuadorian border, a farming community called Granja Porcón has been quietly building its success for 41 years. Situated just miles from the largely controversial Yanacocha mine in the Cajamarca region of Perú, Granja Porcón operates as an autonomous, faith-based agricultural cooperative mainly composed of residents from its two neighboring villages, Porcón Alto and Porcón Bajo (upper and lower Porcón). Vicuña in front of the pine forests of Porcón It’s easy to discount Granja Porcón as being just one of many in the farm-laden Cajamarca region, but Porcón’s workers have become quite wealthy even while being located in the poorest region of Perú – a region whose main economic activity is also agriculture. Granja Porcón has an odd but brilliant success story. Perú’s agrarian reform took place in the 1960s and 70s under the government of Juan Velasco Alvarado. During this time, land was taken from wealthy hacienda owners and distributed among agricultural workers, who were instructed to produce and sell agriculture as cooperatives. The great majority of cooperatives failed – they were shifted so much land and control at once with little to no training and support that they buckled, unable to move their products as the old hacienda owners had done. Another vicuña in Porcón, because there´re lots of vicuñas Waterfall near to the Porcón farm But Granja Porcón was one of the few projects that stood. The farm was formed by a rural cooperative that named itself Cooperativa Agraria Atahualpa Jerusalén (Agricultural Cooperative Atahualpa Jerusalem). It had just barely entered into its journey as an independent cooperative when they connected with the Cooperación Belga, a Belgian development project. The Cooperación Belga had been looking for areas in Perú in which they could carry out a reforestation project without much interest from Peruvians. Until they came across the Cooperativa Agraria Atahualpa Jerusaén, who accepted their proposal. Just above the zoo in Porcón Alto The Belgians planted several varieties of New Zealander pine trees throughout Porcón Alto and Porcón Bajo over the course of the years, while providing support and training to the Cooperativa regarding maintenance of the trees. With the pine trees came an economic niche – no one in Perú had pine trees but Porcón, and the trees came with benefits: pine wood, pine-reliant mushrooms, and a restored forest ecosystem. Today’s Porcón has over 10,000 hectares of pine forest filled with deer, vicuñas (an adorable relative of the llama and alpaca), and mushrooms. They produce gorgeous pine products, among them the only Peruvian-produced pinewood furniture and lovely pinewood cabins and restaurants in which guests can stay for S/110.00 (US$ 31) a night to enjoy the farm experience, unique pine-forest views and activities, and farm-to-plate dairy and mushroom based cuisine. The pine forest in Porcón Famous Porcón mushroom, sold in humble menú cuisine in Porcón, to the Yanacocha mine, and on fancy burgers in Lima Fresh cheese with molasses mushroom stir-fry and bistec a lo pobre, world-class versions of classic Peruvian dishes Pine berries, also used to make pine ice cream And they are successful. There is no published record of how much they make, but our tour group was told by the guide that it was in the millions. While he did not specify whether those millions were in soles or dollars, either way in a region overrun with extreme poverty both figures would be considerable. Wealth not associated with mining means a lot in rural Perú. Perú is a country where most college-bound kids want to be engineers because engineering means you can work with mining, and mining equals money – especially in rural Perú. Perú is among the world’s top-ten gold producing countries, much of that gold coming from Cajamarca. One of the largest mines in the region, Yanacocha, is a huge source of wealth for some and grief for the rest – Colorado-based Newmont mining set up shop extracting the ore from the ground, allowing them the wealth that comes with exportation of such materials but also bringing substantial environmental contamination. Yanacocha is only one of many mines throughout Perú doing the exact same thing, while the rest of rural Perú survives on pitiable wages mainly from agricultural work. And as Perú is very centralized, poor rural Peruvians often turn to migration to Lima to work as taxi drivers and construction workers for a better wage. Hummingbird taking nectar from a ¨Baston del Inca¨ flower Bird in Porcón Bird in Porcón Baston del Inca flowers But not Granja Porcón. Granja Porcón rakes in money doing the agricultural work that the rest of Perú struggles to survive on, while selling its products to mines like Yanacocha to boot. Its mushrooms are being sold on expensive foodie hamburgers in Lima food trucks. All while its workers live in an idyllic Andean mountainside picking mushrooms and tending cattle, far from the pollution and bustle of Lima. Besides Perú’s only pine forest, the cooperative offers classes on how to grow pine trees and sells pinecones for this purpose, has its own trout farm, produces Perú’s only sheep cheese, offers mushroom ceviche and (strangely delicious) pine and mushroom flavored ice creams, and has a small zoo equipped with ostriches, leopards, and lions - just to please the domestic tourists. They even bottle and sell their own water. So far it has managed to maintain a low international profile, but should be noted as a radiant example of how cooperatives and agriculture can be successful even amongst extreme poverty. Mushroom ice cream anyone?

Below are some basic techniques that experienced observers use all the time to enhance their viewing. Many beginners are disappointed that they cannot see some of the details described in books or by other advanced observers. All that is needed is to use the right methods of observing to see much more. Employ these little tricks to get the most out of your stargazing. Use Averted Vision This technique alone will allow you to see easily twice as much detail when stargazing. The human eye contains two sets of light-sensitive cells: the cones which see color and the rods which see black and white. While sensitive to color, the cones are very insensitive at low light levels. (This is why you don't see color in faint objects through a telescope, but bright objects like planets still show color.) The rods take over at night because they have greater dim-light sensitivity. But the cones are located in the center of the eye, and the rods are mostly located around the periphery. This means looking directly at a celestial object uses the insensitive cones, but looking off to the side of the object puts the light from the object right onto the rods. New observers are surprised how much detail pops out when using averted vision. Objects otherwise invisible suddenly are seen, and faint details like spiral arms in a galaxy or faint stars around the edge of a globular cluster become visible. Once you start using averted vision it will become perfectly natural and you will begin doing it without even thinking about it. Get Dark Adapted Not only is it important to have dark skies for observing, it is critical to be dark adapted. If you've ever gone for a hike under the full moon you know how much it is possible to see with faint light. The moon gives off a half million times less light than the sun, showing that the human eye has a huge dynamic range, allowing you to see in all conditions. But the change from seeing in bright light to dim light does not happen instantly. In addition to rapid changes like the pupils opening up, chemical changes begin to occur allowing you to see at lower light levels. These chemical changes take from fifteen to thirty minutes to take full effect. After walking outside to observe or after using a flashlight for setting up the telescope, give yourself some time to adjust to the dark before expecting the best views. Also, take care to preserve your night vision once you are adapted so you don't have to start over again. Use a red flashlight for reading star charts. The human eye is least sensitive to red light so this type of flashlight will not be as likely to ruin your dark adaptation. Eliminate Stray Light This might seem obvious, but local light sources like your neighbor's motion sensor lights going off every time his dog goes out can ruin your night vision. As well, bright nearby lights can shine into the telescope and reflect off optical surfaces to reduce contrast. When setting up the telescope, consider where light sources will be and try to block them as best as possible by setting up where a wall or fence will be between your scope and the light source. A dew shield works well to keep light out of the telescope tube. Inviting neighbors over to view through the scope usually works well for getting them to turn off lights at night. Diplomacy always works better than firing a slingshot at their light bulbs. Some observers go as far as setting up panels to block stray light sources. Of course, the best solution is to drive out away from the city entirely, but on nights when you have to stay home to observe, do what you can to keep stray light under A shaky telescope can ruin an otherwise good observing session. The obvious place to start stabilizing a telescope is its tripod. A good telescope should already have a pretty stout tripod, but occasionally scopes are under-mounted. If this is the case, a great Vibration Suppression Pads, such as those made by Celestron. These pads are about the size of hockey pucks and contain a material known as Sorbothane. Originally used to dampen vibration in turntables, Sorbothane has an almost magical ability to reduce vibration in telescopes. The pads are placed under the tripod legs and shaking is reduced significantly. Vibration reduction pads have to be seen to be believed. If vibration is an issue, this is a great solution. In addition to minimizing existing vibration, try to avoid setting up the telescope in a place that might induce vibration. A popular place to set up a telescope is on a flat rooftop, but this is a notoriously unstable position. Since rooftop areas are often not supported in the center, they have a tendency to flex as someone walks around. If you are observing alone, this might not be a problem, but when sharing the view, expect some shakiness as people move about. While a rooftop location may get you away from trees and other houses, unless there is no other option try to avoid setting up there. See the next section for another reason rooftops are less than ideal observing locations. Similar to a rooftop, wooden decks are often unstable. Your best bet is to set up on stable, solid ground whenever you can. The steadiness of the atmosphere--known as conditions--is critically important to observation, especially of the planets. While there is little you can do to control inherent atmospheric turbulence caused by wind or cold fronts or the jet stream, you can try to avoid local conditions that give rise to choppy air. In the wintertime, houses and other building often vent warm air which causes turbulence. Try to avoid looking low over buildings, especially around chimneys or vents. Likewise, dark rooftops hold in heat during the day and release it again after dark. This is another reason not to setup on a flat rooftop, as the heat radiating off it can distort the views through the telescope. Cold air pools into low-lying areas, often causing turbulence. Streams and desert washes tend to produce poor seeing conditions in cold months for this reason. One of the worst places to be in cold weather is at the bottom of a mountain range. Cold air will sink down the faces of the peaks and roll across the valley or pool into basins, producing awful seeing. This is one of many reasons observatories are built at the tops of mountains. But even mountains themselves generate bad seeing sometimes, as they chop up airflow. Isolated peaks tend to have better seeing than peaks in the middle of larger ranges. These are all things to consider when selecting an observing sight, especially for high-resolution viewing or imaging. Use the Correct Magnification There are two common magnification myths in astronomy. The first is that more magnification is better. The assumption of many beginners is that to see things farther away you need more power. But the trick isn't seeing farther, it's seeing fainter. And for this, aperture is the key more than magnification. In fact, lower power produces a brighter image and almost always produces a better view than high power. However, this leads to the second myth, an assumption made by more experienced stargazers: that lower power is always better. The truth is, there is an ideal magnification depending on the telescope used, the object being viewed, and the observer's visual acuity. In general, a medium magnification produces the best view. Low power is great for finding objects and for viewing very large objects such as the Pleiades or Andromeda Galaxy. High magnification can be good for small targets like planets or double stars, but most observers quickly learn that there is definitely such a thing as too much magnification. For most deep-sky objects, though, medium power is ideal for bringing out the most detail. We'll spare you the details here, but suffice to say that it has to do primarily with the resolving power of the human eye. (See the Observing Theory page for all the gory details.) In general, use the following guidelines 4x per inch of aperture 12x per inch of aperture 30x per inch of aperture For example, using an 8" telescope, the minimum magnification would be around 32x, the best resolution for deep sky objects would occur at around 96x, and the highest useable magnification would be around Use the Right Filters Filters can be used to bring out a great amount of detail when used properly. By far the best filter to have is a polarizing filter. A polarizing filter works by cutting down the amount of light coming through the telescope and is adjustable to vary the amount of light transmission. Nothing works better on the moon and planets to enhance detail. The moon in particular can be so bright that it is difficult to look at, especially with a larger telescope. Planetary detail is subtle and can easily be lost in the glare of a bright planet like Jupiter or Mars. Using a filter to cut down on the brightness of the planet will allow much more detail to show through. The next best filter to use is a narrowband nebula filter. Nebula filters work by blocking out light pollution but transmitting the light given off by They only work on nebulas and not galaxies or clusters, but they are worth their weight in gold for improving detail. These filters work best when the observer is dark adapted, so be sure to give yourself ample time to adjust to the darkness before using one. Take Your Time This technique probably cannot be overstated. Remember, what we're doing with telescopes is called observation for a reason. Take your time and really observe an object. Spending even 2-3 minutes studying a field of view will reveal vastly more detail than simply glancing at an object then hurrying on to the next. Stephen James O'Meara has written great observing guides to the Messier objects and Caldwell objects, and his drawings of these celestial subjects show a wealth of detail. People often are amazed at how much detail O'Meara can see with a small telescope. While he might be gifted with unusual visual acuity, what really makes him a world class observer is the fact that he really takes time to study the objects. Says O'Meara is his first guide: "For most of the Messier objects, I observed each for an average of six or more hours over three nights. Some of the more complex objects were observed for three hours per night for several nights. Don't expect to see all the detail in my drawings with just a glance. Challenge yourself to spend the time to really study these objects... ." A quick glance at Saturn shows it rings; a long look reveals divisions in the rings, cloud bands, subtle colorations, and moons. No technique on this list will show you more than spending time examining an object in detail. Have a Seat This trick goes hand in hand with taking your time observing. You will see more if you sit while viewing. For one, this allows you more time to relax and examine the field of view. Your body is not concentrating on balancing in the dark and the muscle strain of standing up and bending over. Relaxing while viewing lets you mind concentrate more on the view. There is also a tendency to move around a bit while standing and observing, so sitting helps to stabilize the view. There's no sense in setting up a rock-solid tripod on stable ground just to have your body wobble about in the dark and blur the image in the eyepiece. Take the strain off your body so your brain can fully enjoy the wonders of the heavens. Observing with a Telescope

Needlepoint was a form of counted thread embroidery in which yarn was stitched through a stiff open weave canvas. Most needlepoint designs completely covered the canvas. Although needlepoint was worked in a variety of stitches, many needlepoint designs used only a simple tent stitch which rely upon color changes to construct a pattern. - Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu (First mentioned) - Needlepoint on Wikipedia

|Sumgait.info||Ethnic Cleansing in Progress: War in Nagorno Karabakh - Basic Facts| Caroline Cox and John Eibner Ethnic Cleansing in Progress: War in Nagorno Karabakh [Contents] [Preface] [Introduction] [Basic Facts] [A Conflict of Civilizations] [The Genocide] [The Pincers of Pan-Turkism] [Soviet Rule] [The Karabakh Question Revived] [Operation Ring] [The Post-Soviet Conflict] [The Characteristics of the People of Nagorno Karabakh] [The Prognosis: Continuing Bloodshed] [Conclusions] [Recommendations] The contested territory of Nagorno Karabakh is a patch of fertile, mountainous land on the eastern rim of the Armenian plateau overlooking the broad Azerbaijani plain to the east. To the west lies the Republic of Armenia, less than 5 miles away at the nearest point. The Islamic Republic of Iran is less than 15 miles to the south. The two major towns of the enclave, Stepanakert and Shusha, are but a few miles from each other, with the mountain fortress of Shusha towering over the more modern Stepanakert below. Before the current war the towns were centres of light industry. In the countryside the economy was based on subsistence farming. In times of peace the land provided the people of Nagorno Karabakh with a good supply of the basic necessities of life. The name Nagorno Karabakh, meaning mountainous black garden, came into currency in this form in the 19th century and reflects linguistically the political powers that ruled the region during the past 1,000 years. Nagorno means mountainous in Russian, while Karabakh is a compound of the Turkish word for black (kara) and a Persian word for garden (bakh). The use of the adjective 'Nagorno' distinguishes the mountainous part of the former and Persian ruled province of Karabakh, largely populated by Armenians, from the lowland part, inhabited mainly by Azeri-Turks. Artsakh, an ancient name for the region, which predates the name Karabakh, is the official name of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh and is used within the Armenian and in some western publications. The modern Armenians are a mixture of the indigenous inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu straddling northeastern Anatolia and southwestern Transcaucasia and Indo-Europeans who entered the region at the end of the 8th century B.C. These Indo-European newcomers provided the basis of the distinctive Armenian language. The Armenians are a peculiarly sedentary people. Mass emigration from the ancient Armenian homeland has been the result of flight from, or deportation by, foreign powers. It was not until the 1st century B.C. that an Armenian kingdom was able to become a major regional power. This proved to be shortlived. Before the end of the century the might of the Kingdom of Greater Armenia had been whittled away in the crossfire between the more powerful Roman and Persian empires, and in 387 A.D. the Armenian Kingdom was divided between them. For centuries thereafter fragmented Armenian political entities struggled with varying success to preserve whatever automony they could in relation to the region's imperial powers. At the beginning of the 4th century the Armenians embraced Christianity, thus making them the oldest Christian nation. Among the less flattering features noted by Prof. Lang is the tendency to argue and quarrel. This characteristic may figure in the Armenians' historic inability to sustain united and independent statehood. The prehistoric homeland of the Turks lies east of the Altai Mountains in present-day Mongolia and southern Siberia. Turkic tribes began to penetrate eastern Transcauscasia as early as the 5th century A.D. But it was not until the Seljuk Turks conquered the region in the 11th century that the Turkic element of the population of eastern Transcaucasia became preponderant. Most Turkic tribes converted to Islam as a result of the Arab conquest of Transcaucasia and Central Asia in the 7th century A.D. The present-day Azeri-Turks have evolved from the assimilated indigenous population of eastern Transcaucasia and the many Turkic tribes that invaded and settled there over the centuries. Until the 20th century the identity of the Turks of Azerbaijan was linked primarily to Islam rather than the Turks as an ethnic group. Under Russian rule they understood themselves to be Tatars - the term used to classify all the Muslim peoples of the Russian empire, most of whom were Turks. An Azeri-Turk national consciousness began to coalesce at the end of the 19th century, gradually undermining their identity as Tatars. The language of the Azeri-Turks belongs to the southwestern, or Oghuz, group of Turkic languages. It is intelligible to their Turkish cousins in Anatolia. The traditional nomadic and semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Azeri-Turks was severely eroded in the 19th century under Russian rule. But their nomadic tradition continues to have a powerful influence on their political culture. The prominent Azeri-Turk ethnologist Aidin Mamedov states: Since abandoning the nomadic lifestyle most Azeri-Turks have been drawn into the sedentary peasantry and the urban proletariat. Today more than 5 million Azeri-Turks live in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the total population of which is 7 million. Three times as many Azeri-Turks - approximately 15 million - live in the Azerbaijani provinces of northeastern Iran. In 1988, when the current conflict in Nagorno Karabakh was in its early stages, about 40,000 Azeri-Turks resided in the enclave. No institution has had a greater impact on shaping the national culture of Armenians than the Armenian Apostolic Church. In c. 301 AD the Armenian King Tiridates III responded positively to the mission of St. Gregory the Illuminator and embraced Christianity, as did his nation. Thus the Armenians have the distinction of having become the first nation to turn to Christianity. Despite enormous and sustained pressure to convert to Zoroas-trianism, Islam, and more recently to Marxism, the Armenian people have retained their Christian faith. Since the loss of political independence the Armenian Apostolic Church served for centuries as the institutional focal point for Armenian nationhood. The Armenian Church has been independent of the Greco-Roman Church since the 6th century A.D. when, following the example of the Coptic and Syrian Orthodox Churches, it refused to accept the definition by the Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.) of the relationship between the divine and human natures of Christ. Rejecting what it regarded as an unacceptable doctrinal innovation, the Armenian Church adhered to the pre-Chalcedo-nian doctrine of the Greco-Roman Church. Christian faith. Since the loss of political independence the Armenian Apostolic Church served for centuries as the institutional focal point for Armenian nationhood. The Armenian Church has been independent of the Greco-Roman Church since the 6th century A.D. when, following the example of the Coptic and Syrian Orthodox Churches, it refused to accept the definition by the Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.) of the relationship between the divine and human natures of Christ. Rejecting what it regarded as an unacceptable doctrinal innovation, the Armenian Church adhered to the pre-Chalcedo-nian doctrine of the Greco-Roman Church. The present supreme spiritual head of the Armenian Apostolic Church is Catholicos Vaz-gen I of the Ararat Diocese. The Catholicos' see is at Echmiadzin in the Republic of Armenia. In the 18th century an Armenian Catholic Church loyal to Rome was established and in the 19th century Protestant missions began to win converts amongst Armenians. While the Catholic and Protestant churches have exercised a powerful western influence on Armenian culture, the ancient Armenian Apostolic Church continues to enjoy the allegiance of an overwhelming majority of Armenians. Nagorno Karabakh became a part of Christendom in the early 4th century as a result of the missionary activity of St. Gregory the Illuminator. The enclave's oldest church was built at the monastery at Amaras in c. 330. The scores of monasteries built in Nagorno Karabakh over the centuries attest to the historic vibrancy of Armenian church life there. Bishop Parkev Martirosian is the current head of the diocese of Nagorno Karabakh. Islam is central to the national identity of the Azeri-Turks. To be an Azeri-Turk is to be a Muslim. The concept of a Christian Turk is regarded as contradictory by the Azeri-Turkic community. However, the first Turks to penetrate Transcaucasia were not Muslims. Islam was imposed on much of eastern Transcaucasia by Arab invaders in the 7th century, when most of the non-Armenian population of the region became Muslim. Islam and the Turkic population were bolstered by the invasion in the 11th century of the Islamized Seljuk Turks and subsequent waves of Turks from Central Asia. The Islam of the invading Turks was that of the frontier rather than that of strict orthodoxy or of lax urban life. "Theirs was a militant faith, still full of the pristine fire and directness of the first Muslims, a religion of warriors, whose creed was a battle-cry, whose dogma was a call to arms," according to Prof. Bernard Lewis, the doyen western historian of the Turks. (Lewis, p. 12) The Azeri-Turks became predominantly Shiite Muslims under the influence of Persia in the 15th and 16th centuries, though today roughly 25% of the Azeri-Turks remain Sunni Muslims. The Russian conquest of Transcaucasia in the early 19th century placed the Azeri-Turks in the position of a disadvantaged religious minority. In the 20th century severe persecution of Islam followed the Sovietization of Azerbaijan. By the mid-1980's there were only sixteen open mosques in the Azerbaijani SSR and none at all in Nagorno Karabakh. The number of functioning mosques has increased as a result of Gorbachev's glasnost and Azerbaijani independence. The spiritual head of the Azeri-Turkic Muslims is Sheikh-ul-Islam Pasha-Zadeh, who is the chairman of the Baku-based Muslim Spiritual Board of Transcaucasia. Nagorno Karabakh fell under Islamic rule with the Arab conquest of the 7th and 8th centuries. However, the population remained Christian and the Church retained considerable autonomy. Islam has remained confined to the enclave's Azeri-Turk community. As with Christianity, official Islam ceased to exist in Nagorno Karabakh during the Stalinist persecution of religion, but it continued to exist underground. A mosque in Shusha was reopened during the dying days of communist rule. |When republishing by any means information from Sumgait.info in part or in whole, the hyperlink to Sumgait.info is mandatory. © 2005 res(a)sumgait.info|

Should Developers Adopt Apple’s New iOS Programming Language Swift? As you guys know on, July 2nd 2014 marked yet another milestone for the digital giant Apple. Apple announced during the Worldwide Developer Conference its newest programming language called ‘Swift’ for both iOs and OS X. For the company, Swift is the safer, faster and more modern than the current programming languages. Developers present at the conference as well as around the world have mixed reactions about the announcement, figuring what Swift would mean to their current mobile app development strategies. While the reaction is mostly positive, some experts are skeptical about adding yet another tool to the already complex pool of programming languages. - Swift makes mobile apps run more smoothly and faster. - Swift creates new levels of interactivity for iOs platform-built apps. - Swift supports code reuse. - Swift allows real-time code sampling. - Swift eliminates various common programming errors. - Swift co-exists with the Objective-C codes. - Swift can be easily integrated to existing apps. - Swift comes with complete Xcode support. Swift should be easily to learn, or no developer will risk their precious time to learn it. Apple offers two free e-books on iBooks store, but are these enough? Should developers learn then adopt or adopt then learn the language? Swift should make iOs and Mac programming much easier as well as more efficient than programming using Objective-C. The type of runtime affects speed, but Swift is actually using the same runtime type that Objective-C is using, so how it can be made faster? Swift should produce the same quality (or much better) programs and applications than what Objective-C can produce or else no developer will stick with it. For one, the mercy of Swift is the possibility of developing an app using both Objective-C and Swift. So, if you are a developer who is familiar with Objective-C and is going to use a feature not present in Object-C, then you can easily switch with using Swift. That’s how they co-exist. However, a developer can choose to end coding statements with a semi-colon which is a basic of Objective-C and C. This can only create confusions. This is yet another argument against Swift. What does this mean for Objective-C loyal developers? Simple, really. Both the skeptics and non-skeptics will continue to use Objective-C. There are major mobile app development issues that only Objective-C can solve such as the manipulation of raw data (that of the binary format). Also, in the US alone, there are over 270,000 licensed iOS developers, the majority of which are familiar with Objective-C. Be reminded that Objective-C was introduced about 20 years ago. Some seasoned developers, who know every nook and cranny of Objective-C, may try Swift, but this doesn’t mean that they will abandon Objective-C. Some may switch to Swift although most of these developers will definitely continue to use Objective-C because of knowledge and trust factors. Nonetheless, the up-and-coming and some already-certified developers must continue to learn Objective-C in writing and coding apps. This is especially true since most APIs as well as libraries are written using the Objective-C platform. In sum, yes, there are several challenges to switching from Objective-C to Swift. In the meantime, Swift is beta tested by Apple’s developer program members. We may only know the greater impact once developers worldwide get their hands on Swift. When that time finally comes, it would be better to give Swift a try. Swift has many features that aren’t present on Objective-C such as default parameters, generics, templates and closures – the features that Objective-C developers have longed for for a long time now. Don’t expect too much though because programming languages like this requires real-world examples to determine whether to adopt or not. We live in an ever-changing mobile landscape. Enter Swift. It can be the only way to keep up with the changes. So, in a time where changes swiftly come, the only way is to try to adopt and decide later to stick with it or not. Jeric is a blogger and a social media enthusiast. Love to read books and watch movie. He’s currently working in Optimind Technology Solutions, a digital marketing agency that provides SEO, web design, Facebook app and mobile app development.

Antibiotics are medicines used to treat bacterial infections. When used in the appropriate scenario, they can make your child recover quickly and completely. Many parents request for a course of antibiotics from the doctor when their child falls ill, but are often denied it. Why are most doctors hesitant to prescribe a course of antibiotics for your child since it can do wonders for their recovery? Common illnesses in children Antibiotics are used to kill bacteria, but are ineffective against viruses. As the majority of illnesses in childhood are viral in origin, antibiotics are not useful at all. Consider the common illnesses in children: common cold, flu, gastroenteritis and hand foot mouth disease. These conditions are all viral in origin. Hence during most consults, no antibiotics are prescribed. In the majority of cases, the fever will last for 3 to 5 days and by day 5 the child would be much better even though no antibiotics are given. All your child requires are rest and some symptomatic management. However there may be a few exceptions to the rule: - Prolonged fever with worsening cough If your child’s fever persists beyond 5 days or if the cough is worsening with breathlessness, this may indicate the presence of an evolving lung infection (pneumonia). Antibiotics may be required after a consult with your doctor. Blood tests or chest X-ray may be performed. - Sore throat Streptococcus is a bacteria that can cause high fever with sore throat. Antibiotics are required. However, remember the majority of sore throats are caused by viruses. Your child’s doctor will advise you on the appropriate management. In some children, the presence of high fever with purulent and persistent nasal discharge with headache may be an indication of a sinus infection. Nasal washouts with antibiotics are needed for complete recovery. - Ear Infection Not all ear infections are bacterial in origin. Your doctor will advise you if a course of antibiotics is needed. - Urinary tract infections Children with isolated fever are often screened for the presence of urinary tract infection. If diagnosed, oral or intravenous antibiotics are prescribed. Urinary tract infections are always caused by bacteria. What is the safe age to start antibiotics? Safety of antibiotics is not dependant on age of the child. Anyone from the age of day one can take antibiotics, as long as it is indicated. For example, some newborns require a course of antibiotics soon after birth if they are septic (severe infection). As the immune system of the newborn is immature, antibiotics are critical to ensure their best chance of recovery. The dosage of the antibiotics will be calculated based on the weight of the child so there would not be any overdose or use of antibiotics that are ‘too strong’ for the child. What is the problem with antibiotics? Every time your child is prescribed a new medication or a course of antibiotics, he/she is exposed to the potential side effects of the new medication. Hence only use medication when it is really needed. Frequent use of antibiotics may also build up your child’s resistance to antibiotics such that over time, he/she may require stronger antibiotics with each illness. From a public health perspective, frequent irresponsible use of antibiotics will result in new resistant strains of bacteria emerging that may eventually not respond to any of our available antibiotics. What to do if your child is prescribed a course of antibiotics? If the doctor has prescribed a course of antibiotics for your child, do not be overly fearful too. Take the antibiotics as instructed, and complete the course. This will ensure your child recovers quickly and completely. If you stop the course of antibiotics halfway, the bacteria will not be completely eradicated and may resurface again to cause recurrence of the fever. Your child may require a stronger and longer course of antibiotics should that happen. If there are any leftover antibiotics, discard it completely. Do not share antibiotics amongst your children, even if their symptoms appear similar. Always consult a doctor before administering any antibiotics to your child if they were meant for your other child. Antibiotics are very useful medications to combat bacterial infections, provided they are used in the appropriate setting. Always consult a doctor when your child falls ill. He will asses and determine if the illness is viral or bacterial in origin. And trust the doctor when he says there is no need for antibiotics! Dr Goh Siok Ying This article was first published in The New Age Parents e-magazine

The fin cartilage in decapodiforms is a small, flat cartilage at the base of the fin that the fin muscles attach to. The cartilage in turn attaches to the shell sac which tightly envelops the shell. In octopodiforms, however, the fin cartilage is much more extensive, extending well down the fin axis laterally but maintains attachment to the shell sac and shell proximally. Although the cartilage is flexible, it presumably aids in maintaining the somewhat rigid form of the fin. The fins of octopodiforms are very differently shaped from those of decapodiforms and have a different swimming action. Figure. Dorsal view of a fin, the shell and the shell cartilage of the cirrate octopod, Cirroctopus glacialis. An isolated fin (left) and an isolated fin cartilage (right) attach to the shell via the shell sac (the shell sac is a thin, tough membrane tightly covering the shell and is not apparent in the drawing). Drawing modified from Young and Vecchione and Young (1996).

“A journey is called such, because you do not know what you will find on the journey, or what you will do with what you find, or what you find will do to you.” This is not a direct quote, but rather a paraphrase of comments made by James Baldwin, renowned African American author, activist and social critic in the recent documentary film, I Am Not Your Negro. The struggle for equality, justice and freedom has been the struggle of African people from the beginning of our encounter with this “American” soil. It has been a struggle for our very humanity at its inception, in the face of one of the most inculcated demonstrations of barbarity and evil that has systemically and institutionally been perpetuated on other human beings in our history. European countries participated in chattel slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade for well over 300 years. They forced Africans onto slave ships and transported them across the Atlantic Ocean. The first European nation to engage in the Transatlantic Slave Trade was Portugal in the mid-to-late 1400s. Portugal continued in the “business” of trading in human flesh for nearly fifty years after the Transatlantic Slave Trade was “officially” ended in the United States of America in 1808. It should be noted, however, that the institution of slavery itself, was not abolished in the U.S. until after the Civil War in 1863. So then, the struggle for freedom for African peoples in America has been a long struggle that continues to this day. Our struggle has grown to include the struggles of Indigenous Peoples, immigrant populations, the struggle for gender equality and against gender violence, LGBTQI rights, religious freedom and the struggle of all oppressed people. It has indeed been a journey. RVA had the opportunity to have an audience with one of our iconic She-roes of the struggle for justice, freedom and equality, last week. Dr. Angela Y. Davis was in town at the invitation of the 2nd Annual Afrikana Independent Film Festival. Ms. Davis spoke to a capacity crowd gathered at the VMFA on Friday evening, after the screening of “FREE ANGELA DAVIS AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS”, an award winning documentary film by Shola Lynch. The documentary chronicles the life of the young college professor Angela Davis, and how her social activism implicated her in a botched kidnapping attempt that ended with an infamous shootout at the Marin County Courthouse, four people dead (including the Judge), and turned her into a notorious fugitive with her name on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list. The evening was billed as an “Evening With An Icon: ANGELA DAVIS”. The evening was electric. It was a gathering of the community and it was a call to activism. Through the moderator, Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom, a sociology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, we had the opportunity to talk about the social justice movement, Black Lives Matter and the Critical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to dismantling of the prison industrial complex. Dr. Davis spoke to her concerns that more resources and attention have been devoted to the prison system than to educational institutions. Speaking to the disillusionment and the overwhelming sense of loss felt by many, given the current political climate and outcome of our most recent presidential election, Angela Davis reminded us of the “journey” we MUST agree to engage in, and The Struggle as a way of life. “We MUST see ourselves in the future,” she admonished us. Just as we call upon the icons of the past, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, Nat Turner… we must ALSO endeavor to engage in the #Resistance, as we too, will be called upon for the inspiration of the future.

The most common advice you’ve received from your childhood onward is probably to “be yourself”. This enduring instruction portrays authenticity as the key to successful social interactions, meaningful relationships, and a generally happy life. It may sound like the most natural thing in the world to do; however, it can actually be fairly difficult to become attuned to who we really are as unique individuals. Our personal and professional commitments, plus, the countless voices, images, and opinions that we see and hear every day through by mass media can prevent us from taking a moment to discover our authentic selves. However, authenticity is especially important in the workplace. Acting as our authentic selves enables our team members to perceive us as trustworthy and will ultimately lead to an increase in a team’s productivity as a whole. Authenticity is defined is being aware of one’s core values and acting in alignment to those values. Now that we understand the meaning and importance of authenticity, especially in the workplace, the question remains: how do we discover our authentic selves? First off, the foundation of authenticity is self awareness. We become self aware when we accept every part of ourselves; our strengths, skills, and positive attributes, along with the areas of our lives we feel could use improvement. Self-awareness can be most effectively achieved when we take a moment, or a few, for ourselves. It can be difficult to find the appropriate time to self reflect when we are the midst of contributing to business on a daily basis. It can be easy to become caught in the motions at work; you might be unconsciously performing a particular task in the same way, possibly due to the force of habit or because the pace of your business compels you to be efficient. However, it is worthwhile to create an opportunity for yourself to pause and objectively observe your work in pursuit of self awareness or the knowledge of how you can do more than just “be” in our business but strategize to take it to the next level. How does one create this opportunity? Firstly, unplug yourself, literally, from your surroundings. Turn off your phone and set your Communicator to “Busy” or “Do Not Disturb”. Remove yourself from distractions so that you are fully able to concentrate on yourself. If you are having difficulty disengaging from the outside world: try this: close your eyes and listen to the sound of your breathing. Pay close attention to each breath. This should help you become fully present in the moment so that you are able to begin the process of self reflection. We have a series of questions that will guide you through your self reflection, which can also be considered a self evaluation. Once you are removed from all distractions and your mind is clear, take a mental inventory of your strengths, skills, and attributes, or write them down, if this is more your style. For example, you may say “I am an attentive listener “I am well organized and always meet my deadlines; or “I am trustworthy”. If you have trouble listing your positive traits, imagine yourself as your best friend or a respected colleague, and compose the list from their point of view. Next, reflect on the areas of your life that could stand to be improved. For example, in a virtual environment, it is very important to be a good listener, due to the fact the visual cues are often unavailable in the virtual workplace. If, as a virtual worker, you feel your listening skills could be improved, create an action plan for how you will improve them. Your action plan might go something like this: “The next time I am in a virtual meeting, I will not judge the words of my colleagues. I will pay close attention to their tone, choice of words, rhythm of speech, and the pauses in their speech. If I am unclear about what is being said, I will ask questions. Listening goes beyond hearing what someone is saying; I must discover what is underneath what they are saying in order to become an empathetic listener. I must ask myself: what is the core of their message? Lastly, if I have an issue with something someone has said or have sensed something in their speech, I will take it up with them privately after the meeting”. In addition to being empathetic listeners, effective virtual workers need to have a certain comfort level with technology. If you feel you could stand to be more technologically savvy, create an action plan for this area of your life as well. Say to yourself “I have a coworker who knows a lot about technology; I will ask them to coach me” or “I will take courses about computers at my community college”. Remember to be honest when evaluating yourself. Lastly, self evaluations should also include a consideration of your values, principles, and beliefs, to give yourself a better idea of who you are at your core. Ask yourself: What do I value and why? (Examples include: honesty, integrity, reliability, compassion, and empathy, etc.) Then, ask yourself: how do I manifest my values, principles, and beliefs in my everyday life? Is there a way my behaviour can be more closely aligned with what I value? If my core values are honesty and reliability, how to I demonstrate to others that I am honest and reliable on a regular basis? As mentioned above, authenticity is especially important in the workplace. If a virtual team member is not being their genuine or authentic self, other team members will pick up on this. As a result, the inauthentic team member will not be perceived as trustworthy. Team members may become reluctant to share pertinent information with an individual they don’t believe they can trust, will be less likely to be open about what’s going on and will probably communicate more frequently with a trustworthy team member instead. An inauthentic team member will potentially be kept out of the loop, and this situation will negatively affect the productivity of the entire team. For these reasons, it is important for each and every member of a virtual team to show up as their most authentic self. Next week’s blog post will focus on the portion of self evaluation that can be difficult to come to terms with: the list of areas in our lives that we feel could stand to be improved. We will explain how to accept our so called “shadow selves” with the aim of becoming completely self aware.

Last year Lauren and I came back from Closing the Gap pretty fired up and ready to make some big changes at our school! When I first started there in April 2014, I immediately gave some trainings about core language and its important role in AAC. Our biggest challenge was trying to get people to stop re-recording BIGmacks and 8 Cell devices! But… it’s hard to make changes! And getting people on board with core (and AAC in general) was happening at a pretty slow rate! Shortly after we came back, Lauren found Kate Ahern’s picture version of the Communication Bill of Rights. We immediately posted it and started referring to it in trainings! We’re still making changes, slowly, but they’re happening! You can check out the original document from ASHA here! It’s hard to pick a favorite since they are all important! But here are the few that I love to remind people about! EVERYONE has the right to be heard! You would be pretty mad if you were talking and nobody acknowledged you! How do you think our AAC users feel? Let them know you heard them and respond, even if the answer is no! I’m sure you say “NO” all the time! Why can’t your student?! AAC systems are the way our students communicate. It is their VOICE! You have your voice with you everywhere you go, why shouldn’t they? *Check out #seemeseemyAAC to see AAC users everywhere using their AAC systems!* We ALL want to be treated with dignity and respect. Just because someone may not appear to be listening doesn’t mean they aren’t listening. Just because someone does not appear to understand, doesn’t mean they don’t understand. Ahern, K. (2014). Communication Bill of Rights. Retrieved [Nov 2015] from http://kateahernesma.wikispaces.com/

This web site is designed to enhance the 4th grade Social Studies curriculum, which focuses on the rich history and life in New York State. To make this more manageable considering the wealth of information available, I narrowed the focus to one question... the Hudson River show the changes in New York State history? Click on this image to see a real view of the Hudson. The Big Map of The Hudson River: Map your course along the Hudson! The Hudson River: General site explaining the environment of the river. Sites along the River: Easy and beautiful way to view major landmarks. Child friendly!! New York State Info: Any State Statistics you could ever want! Hudson River Species: Don't you want to know what's in the Hudson?? Child friendly!! Hudsonwatch: Look what they've done to clean up the water. Environmental Defense: Composting: Join children in Harlem help the environment. Hermus Fine Arts: Learn about the Hudson River School of Art. Index of Hudson River Artists: The landscapes will WOW you!! The New York State Archives Home Page: Pick a source, any source! Sites along the Hudson : Looking for a field trip?? Here's the site!! Kid City New York: NYC 100 years ago... who could resist?? Highly Recommended Clearwater Sloop: Environmental trip down the Hudson. Highly Recommended The Hudson River Museum: Information about the museum and programs. NCSS Awards and Grants : Social studies grants Black line Masters and Lesson Plans: Four Lesson Ideas: All Hudson River oriented. All of these titles link you to Amazon.com -- purchase or read reviews! Children to Publish... ZuZu: Publish art, stories, and contribute to a New York neighborhood watch! Child friendly!! Environmental Art and Poetry Gallery : Beautiful site for publishing and viewing. Child friendly!! 4th Grade Teacher CES 218x -- Rafael Hernandez Dual Language Magnet School

Relatively little is known about the behaviour of Dian’s tarsier, which was first described as recently as 1991. Tarsiers on Sulawesi live in small groups of up to eight individuals, consisting of one adult male, one to three adult females and their offspring (4). In the morning, a conspicuous duet song is often performed by the male and females at or close to the sleeping site (5), serving both as a territorial advertisement and to strengthen group bonds (4). Dian’s tarsier’s reproductive biology is poorly understood, but tarsiers are known to give birth to single young, and pregnant females of this species have been observed year-round (4). Other tarsier species experience gestation periods of around 180 days, after which mothers have been seen carrying the infant either under their belly or in their mouth (2) (5). This arboreal species sleeps in a group in tree cavities (as in strangling figs) and dense foliage during the day (4) (6), and forages in the undergrowth during the night (4). Like other tarsiers, Dian’s tarsier is exclusively insectivorous and carnivorous (5), feeding mainly on insects such as crickets, grasshoppers and moths (4).

Humans and Bears Index - Bear Research Bears are certainly fascinating creatures and there is a great deal to be learned about them. Bear research has continually provided us with a great deal of information. - Bears and Humans The story of humans and bears definitely isn’t always a friendly one. While there are some very timid and shy types of bears some of them are highly aggressive. - Bears in Culture In early times the bear was often honored by the cultures. It was viewed as a symbol of love, power, and strength. In many cultures masks of bears were worn in ceremonies.

50th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X: Malcolm X and Black Radical Women "Malcolm X was assassinated 50 years ago in February 1965. Women such as Betty Shabazz, Queen Mother Moore, Vicki Garvin, Yuri Kochiyama, Mae Mallory, Abbey Lincoln, Maya Angelou and Gloria Richardson were among the first and foremost to establish February as a month to remember Malcolm X's sacrifices for Black Liberation and had been key to Malcolm X's developing political vision before he was killed. However, in those fifty years, scholars have habitually neglected the role that such women played in drafting blueprints for the Black Power Generation. Please join Gloria Richardson, Rosemary Mealy and Komozi Woodard in an important discussion of that central yet neglected dimension that women played in the radicalization of Malcolm X. At the helm of the Cambridge Movement, Gloria Richardson was the model for Grassroots leadership that Malcolm X outlined in Message to the Grassroots. Professor Rosemari Mealy is the author of several books, including Fidel and Malcolm X. And, Professor Komozi Woodard is the author of an article Rethinking Malcolm X: Women in the Making of Malcolm X and A Nation within a Nation: Amiri Baraka and Black Power Politics." - Jeanne Theoharris and Komozi Woodard Gloria RichardsonSNCC and former leader of the Cambridge movement Rosemari MealyCity College of New York Center for Worker Education Rosemari Mealy JD, PhD is Adjunct Assistant Professor at City College of New York (CUNY) Center for Worker Education. Dr. Mealy has been honored for her community involvement on numerous occasions and was the recipient of the prestigious Claudia Jones Fellow in the African New World Studies Program at Florida International University (Miami). Mealy has lived and worked in Cuba where she collaborated on several projects in support of US political prisoners with Assata Shakur. She is also an activist in the International Human rights and political prisoner movement. She is the author of Fidel & Malcolm X: Memories of a Meeting, now out in a second edition from Black Classic Press. Her most recent publication is title : Activism and Disciplinary Suspensions/Expulsions at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs): A Phenomenological Study of the Black Student Sit-in Movement, 1960-1962 (Edwin Mellen Press, 2014) Komozi WoodardSarah Lawrence College Komozi Woodard is Professor of History, Public Policy and Africana Studies at Sarah Lawrence College. Earning a Ph.D. in History at the University of Pennsylvania and B.A. in Sociology-Anthropology, Dr. Woodard held the Esther Raushenbush Professorship in History at Sarah Lawrence College; served on the Board of Directors of the Urban History Association; edited a few African American newspapers and cultural journals as well as Black Power & Black Arts Movement archives; directed an international news service and a radio news program; curated library, museum and college programs; and published hundreds of news and scholarly articles as well as six books, including these: A Nation within a Nation: Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) and Black Power Politics; The Making of the New Ark; The Black Power Movement: Amiri Baraka from Black Arts to Black Radicalism, Freedom North, Groundwork and Want to Start a Revolution: Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle? Komozi Woodard began as a civil rights & black power activist, then journalist as well as an economic adviser, urban planner and community developer. Woodard began teaching in 1968 when he established a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or SNCC liberation school and when he initiated Africana Studies at Dickinson College. Woodard was a founding member of the Congress of African Students at Dickinson College, the international Congress of African People, the national Black Women’s United Front, the international African Liberation Support Committee, the National Black Political Assembly, the National Black United Front, the Anti-Imperialist Cultural Union and the Stop Killer Cop Campaign and so forth.

Discover the impact the dinosaurs made on the Isle of Wight with a visit to Dinosaur Isle, one of Britain’s most specialised dinosaur museums and attractions. Thanks to the thousands of fossils that litter the Wight’s striking geology, experts know a huge amount about the dinosaurs that once called the area home and how they lived, and this family attraction makes just the place to bring the facts to life for children and find out more. The fossils on display don’t only tell us lots about the past, but they also give some strong hints to the future of the environment, so this is an educational attraction as well as a fascinating one. The rocks date back as far as 126 million years (hard to imagine isn’t it?!) and they’ve offered some of the best information about the lives of dinosaurs that Europe’s seen. The story of the island and its dinosaurs is told through a series of galleries, making this a fun place to visit no matter what your age. Better yet, the attraction’s located beside one of the island’s oldest rocks, and there are regular guided walks for those of you who fancy a spot of fossil hunting.

The Ox after St. Thomas Aquinas’ nickname, “the dumb ox”. Our Patron Saint St. Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church, patron of all universities and of students. His feast day is January 28th. He was born toward the end of the year 1226. At age 17, St. Thomas renounced the things of this world and became a Dominican friar. Aquinas studied at Cologne under the St. Albert the Great. Here he was nicknamed the "dumb ox" because of his silent ways and huge size, but he was a brilliant student. Aquinas was a brilliant writer and teacher; Best known for writing Summa Theologica, which was essentially a summary of all the tenets of the Catholic faith. It is most well known for its “Five Ways”, which are logical arguments for the existence of God. St. Thomas was one of the greatest and most influential theologians of all time. He was canonized in 1323 and declared Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius V. St. Thomas Aquinas is the patron of Catholic universities and schools. He is also the patron saint of all Catholic students. His feast day is celebrated on January 28.

The International Space Station's orbit around Earth will cross over the Baltimore area several times in the coming days, visible overhead in the early evenings. It will fly over during the 7 p.m. hour six times between Wednesday and Monday. On a clear night, it is easy to spot because it shines brighter than a star but appears much more distant than an airplane. On Friday, the space station will be around its brightest, though it will only move about halfway across the sky before disappearing behind the Earth's shadow. Look to the northwest about 7:49 p.m. and the spacecraft will be moving toward the southeast, disappearing about 4 minutes later. Saturday and Sunday, it will be slightly less bright, but in the sky for longer. Saturday, it will appear on the northwest horizon about 7:01 p.m., moving low across the northeast sky before disappearing about 7:07 p.m. On Sunday, it will be dimmer still, appearing in the northwest sky about 7:49 p.m. and moving low across the southwest sky until 7:54 p.m. Monday, however, it will be back at its brightest, and moving across the center of the sky for its best show of the week. It will appear at 7:01 p.m. in the northwest, moving directly overhead and to the southeast horizon, disappearing at 7:08 p.m. A crew of Russian cosmonauts, an Italian astronaut and two Americans, Mike Hopkins and Karen Nyberg, are currently on board. Nyberg shares her observations from orbit via Twitter at @AstroKarenN.

The Right Environment for Sleep Truly restful night’s sleep rejuvenates your entire body. The more your sleep is disturbed, the more your heart is unnecessarily taxed. A conventional bed’s harder surface causes you to toss and turn more keeping your heart beating harder than it should. Too much mattress pressure on shoulders and hips also affects circulation causing your heart to beat harder to keep blood flowing. Synthetic foams found in most U.S. mattress reflect body heat and humidity making the heart work harder to compensate. The right sleep system creates the kind of environment that promotes the deep sleep that gives your heart a rest by providing better support, even weight and pressure distribution, which allows better circulation and minimizes tossing and turning. These sleep systems absorb excess body heat and humidity better than conventional synthetic mattresses. Your sleep comes in 2 phases: REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and non-REM. During non-REM sleep, the quiet sleep does the most good, your cells replenish, your spine reabsorbs water to stay flexible, muscles fully relax, skin re-hydrates and heals and circulation is steady. Conventional synthetic beds with a hard surface providing improper support AND REFLECTING HEAT AND MOISTURE DISTURBS non-REM AND FORCES YOU INTO REM. During REM sleep, your heart rate and blood pressure increase, breathing is shallow and your brain waves increase resulting in very little rest. Studies have shown that proper posture and support promote non-REM sleep. The right sleep system fosters all the principles that lead to this deep, healthy sleep. The hot topic in sleep research is the effect of temperature and humidity on the body and the quality of sleep. Thermal imbalance is probably the single greatest detriment to sleep. Synthetic bedding and mattresses trap and hold moisture causing higher humidity. The heart rate increases by as many as ten more beats a minute. Blood pressure climbs, sleep becomes shallow, so there is less non-REM. These synthetics provide a perfect climate for molds, mildew and dust mites to thrive. The right sleep system will absorb body heat and conducts moisture away from the body. The more we read about U.S. mattresses, the clearer it becomes they’re just not healthy for us. A standard flat mattress puts higher pressure on shoulders, hips and thighs, which constricts the veins and disrupts cell structure. Heart rate increases; the heart pumps harder to keep blood flowing, causing blood pressure to climb stressing your body. Major studies show that pressure becomes unhealthy at levels over 40 mmHg (millimeters of mercury). Standard U.S. mattresses put an average of 56 mmHg on weight bearing surface of the body. When lying on your side, you can be receiving 61 mmHg of pressure on the hip alone. This causes people to toss and turn up to 200 times a night as opposed to 12 to 40. The more restless you are, the less rest your body gets. The sleep systems we recommend are designed to provide the right support to minimize pressure to acceptable levels for different body types and sleeping postures. This website is provided for general information only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor or any other health care professional. Classic Brands is not responsible or liable for any diagnosis made by a user based on the content of this website. Always consult your own GP if you’re in any way concerned about your health.