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Children with mobility issues, like cerebral palsy and spina bifida, can't explore the world like other babies, because they can't crawl or walk. Infant development emerges from the thousands of daily discoveries experienced by babies as they move and explore their worlds. Mobility-deprived kids start exploring when they can operate a traditional power wheelchair, typically at age 3 or often older. Research done by University of Delaware researchers is turning that on its head and could potentially change the way these children's brains develop. Physical therapy professor Cole Galloway and mechanical engineering professor Sunil Agrawal have developed tiny power chairs babies as young as 6 months can operate using a joystick. Now, they've paired with Permobil, a national producer of power chairs, and outfitted a chair for toddlers. Galloway will be showcasing this research next week in Las Vegas at the American Physical Therapy Association's Combined Sections Meeting. (Tuesday, February 10, 10am-3pm) A 17-month-old boy, Andrew, who's been driving the robots for more than a year, will be on hand to demonstrate the technology. On an average day, Andrew uses his chair to navigate his home and the outside world. He is ready to attend pre-K next year, impressive progress for a child with spina bifida. Galloway believes providing mobility to children who wouldn't have it otherwise could impact their lives in countless ways, especially when you consider the rapid brain development during infancy. "Babies literally build their own brains through their exploration and learning in the complex world," he says. "Their actions, feelings and thinking all shape their own brain's development. "Mobility is linked to widespread advances in cognitive development and learning abilities in typically developing infants." The University of Delaware has filed patents and is working to bring to market a robot-enhanced mini wheelchair for children aged 6 months-2 years. For more information, check out: Source: University of Delaware Explore further: Survey points out deficiencies in addictions training for medical residents

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Working people ultimately will side with the union Even if initially unsuccesful, all labor efforts were forward progressive when taken as a whole. Labor unions aren't perfect, McGill says, but they are necessary and do more for working people than any other organizations. Citing this Excerpt Oral History Interview with Eula McGill, December 12, 1974. Interview G-0039. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Full Text of the Excerpt Of course, there were a lot of early labor struggles, not only in North Carolina, but like the Homestead Steel Strike and the Pullman Strike and all these kinds of things. Did that have much effect on you or on the labor movement, the way that those early struggles were waged? Did it influence your ideas about things? - EULA MCGILL: It influenced me because I always felt that even though we would talk about it, even in the home we would talk about it and my mother and father and myself, as well as the people who worked with me. We always considered back then that if you tried and failed this time, you didn't actually fail, it was a step forward even though you didn't at that time obtain your objective. And that's how we felt about those early struggles. Had it not been for them, we would be back there today, we wouldn't be where we are today. So, that's the attitude that we took, who were firm trade unionists. Nothing could turn us around because we believed that was the only answer for working people. Did you ever feel like an outsider as a firm trade unionist, that you were the minority? Or, you didn't feel that way, I take it. - EULA MCGILL: Oh, I think that I felt that the people that believed in unions . . . not "believed in," I don't want to say that, but the actual trade unionists, I would say that 99% of the working people believe in the union. They give this illusion sometimes about the way that things happen, but actually believe in it. Some of them don't have the courage to stand and put up the fight, to be ostracized or lose their friends and things like that, but actually believing in the union and believing that that is the thing the workers should do. I have often said this and it has been proven in later years after we got a little stronger and were able to break down some of the opposition of the manufacturors of the company, you remove that resistance and these people are actually free to make a choice, then they will choose the union. Even with its faults, I've said this, nothing is perfect and anything run by people is going to have mistakes, but I don't know any organization that is doing as much, or anything, to uplift the working people and the general public, but a union. It's the only one I know of. We pick up other organizations sometimes that lend us support, but that is the driving force that makes things happen on the scene.

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|UNESCO-UNEVOC|||||e-Forum|||||Network||TVETipedia||Register | Login| Competency-Based Training (CBT) -> quoted from the website of TAFE Queensland, http://www.tafe.qld.gov.au/courses/flexible_study/competency.html Competency-based training (CBT) is an approach to vocational education and training that places emphasis on what a person can do in the workplace as a result of completing a program of training. Competency-based training programs are often comprised of modules broken into segments called learning outcomes, which are based on standards set by industry, and assessment is designed to ensure each student has achieved all the outcomes (skills and knowledge) required by each module. Ideally, progress within a competency-based training program is not based on time. As soon as students have achieved or demonstrated the outcomes required in a module, they can move to the next module. In this way, students may be able to complete a program of study much faster. However, at least initially, some competency-based training programs will only be available within fixed timeframes. Some competency-based training modules have two assessment components: 1. On-the-job 2. Off-the-job Extensive information can be found online:

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For many people in America, Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer fun, the end of the school year, a time for barbeques and vacations. Yet it bears reminding that Memorial Day is a day for us to all stop and remember those brave Americans who have served in the military. By far the most famous of art commemorating our armed forces is “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima” by Joe Rosenthal. Taken February 23, 1945, this photograph shows five Marines and a Navy corpsman raising of the American flag from the highest point of the Japanese island of Iwo Jima after the desirable position was captured by American troops during World War II. Of the six men depicted in the picture, three (Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, and Michael Strank) were killed during the battle; the three survivors (John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, and Ira Hayes) became celebrities upon their identification in the photo. Rosenthal, with two other photographers, reached the summit as the Marines were attaching the flag to an old Japanese water pipe. Rosenthal put down his Speed Graphic camera (which was set to 1/400th of a second shutter speed, with the f-stop between 8 and 16) on the ground so he could pile rocks to stand on for a better vantage point. In doing so, he nearly missed the shot. The soldiers began raising the U. S. flag. Realizing he was about to miss it, Rosenthal quickly swung his camera up and snapped the photograph without using the viewfinder.Ten years after the flag-raising, Rosenthal wrote: Out of the corner of my eye, I had seen the men start the flag up. I swung my camera and shot the scene. That is how the picture was taken, and when you take a picture like that, you don't come away saying you got a great shot. You don't know. It became the only photograph to win a Pulitzer Prize in the same year as its publication.

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Its source is Yehonatan, a Hebrew name meaning "Gift of God." The name Johnathon ranked 413th in popularity for males of all ages in a sample of 2000-2003 Social Security Administration statistics and 718th in popularity for males of all ages in a sample of the 1990 US Census. Though this name appears on the 1990 U.S. Census lists, it is used by only a small percentage of the general population. In the Jewish scriptures, Jonathan was a young man caught between loyalty to his friend and the duty he owed his father. His friend was David, slayer of Goliath. His father, King Saul, was increasingly jealous of David's popularity with the Jewish people. Jonathan chose friendship. When he learned that Saul planned to have David killed, he risked his own safety to warn him. Yet he did not forsake his father. In fact, he died fighting beside Saul in a terrible battle. Jonathan and David's friendship (like that of the Greek-Syracusan friends Damon and Pythias) has come down through the ages as a symbol of brotherly devotion.

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Flexible Solar Cells for Ski and Bike Helmets By the end of the year, these highly efficient flexible solar cells (more than 20 percent) will be available on the market. A unit will cost around 100 Euros. These solar panels are made of mono crystalline silicon and so the risk of rupture is not at all. Even if the panel falls down, it may survive breakage and can continue to generate solar power. Hopefully, helmet makers can utilize these stuffs to fix on the top surfaces of their products for a bit of extra energy. The Frauenhofer Institute is currently designing a Bluetooth-enabled solar ski helmet. After field testing, the solar-powered helmets for skiers will be shipped by the end of the year for a price around $400 (300 Euros). The power reaped through the solar cells can be used to charge MP3 players, phones or other devices. Similar helmets may be up for bike riders and rescue workers as well in near future. According to analysts, helmet-integrated communication systems will get a boost with the solar-mounted helmets. The energy can be harnessed finely to power these communication systems. Plus, the helmet users can store extra energy to recharge their phones or other handhelds on the go. 'EcoFriend' is an environmental blog. The idea behind EcoFriend is simple: to inform and educate consumers who love to possess the latest gadgets and products available in the market and who are also concerned about the environment around them. Search 26k+ Solar Articles - Glass and Green Building - How China Will Transform The Energy Industry - New Project Will Forecast Solar Generation - In Focus: The Potential of Los Angeles Solar - Tesla Reports Profit, Stock SKYROCKETS - SolarCity Raises $500M - Graphene That Redefines Electric Current - NextEra Gobbles Up Smart Energy Capital - Oil Prices and Renewable Energy - 5 Promising Eco Careers - In Focus: People Power! - The EV Cordless Power Vehicle Charging System

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Valencia (Spanish: Valencia /ba'lenθja/; Catalan: València /və'łεnsjə/) is a medium-sized port city (the third largest city in Spain) and industrial area on the east coast of Spain. It is the capital of the Valencian Country and of province of Valencia. As of the 2003 census, the population of the city of Valencia proper was 780,653, and the population of the entire urban area was estimated to be 1,465,423, ranking as the third-largest urban area in Spain. As of 2004, the mayor of Valencia is Rita Barberá Nolla. Valencia has enjoyed strong economic growth over the last decade, much of it spurred by tourism and construction. However, this model of development has led to a great deal of building on rural land. Furthermore, the Valencia government's implementation of the LRAU [law regulating urban activity] has been extremely controversial since it involves the expropriation of foreign residents' homes, often without compensation. Critics argue that this legislation (which was theoretically designed to protect rural land) is being misused for large urban and industrial developments. The European Union's Committee of Petitions reported on the issue in 2004, finding that the Valencian government was breaching basic European rights. The ambassadors of EU Member States have protested to the Spanish authorities on behalf of their citizens and the issue may be referred to the European Court of Human Rights. Wide media coverage of the case abroad threatens the local "residential tourism" industry. It is a predominantly Spanish-speaking city, but a significant minority speak Catalan (virtually always known locally as "Valencian"), particularly with family. For many this is an important issue, and the local government makes sure it emphasises the use of the local language. For instance, all signs in the Metro are in Valencian, with Spanish translations underneath in smaller type. Both languages are official. The city was founded by the Romans in 137 BC on the site of a former Iberian town, by the river Turia. The river flooded in the 1950s killing many Valencians. The river was re-routed and the dry river bed was converted to a park that runs through the city. The city has been occupied by the Visigoths, Moors and the Aragonese. In 1094, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid) conquered Valencia (this victory was immortalised in the Lay of the Cid), but the city returned to the Almoravids in 1102. The king James I of Aragon reconquered the city in 1238 and incorporated it to the new formed Kingdom of Valencia, one of the kingdoms forming the Crown of Aragon. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Valencia was one of the major cities in the Mediterranean. The writer Joanot Martorell, author of Tirant lo Blanch, and the poet Ausias March are famous Valencians of that era. Expulsion of Moriscos in 1609. After the fall of Madrid in the Spanish Civil War, the capital of the Republic was moved to Valencia. The city suffered from the blockade and siege by Franco's forces. The postwar period was hard for Valencians. During the Franco years, speaking or teaching Valencian was prohibited; using the language at all was subject to criminal penalties. Valencia was granted Autonomous Statutes in 1982. The original Latin name of the city was Valentia /wa'lentia/, meaning "Strength", "Vigour". By regular sound changes this has become Valencia /ba'lenθja/ in Castilian Spanish and València in Catalan. The latter name is pronounced /bə'łεnsjə/ in the Standard Central Catalan that one might hear in Barcelona; however, in Valencian (a West Catalan dialect), it is more like /va'lensja/. Certain Valencian regionalists prefer to ignore the Normes de Castelló (the rules that govern the spelling of the Catalan language) in order to assert their belief that Valencian is a separate language. This has the effect of removing the grave accent from the name, and making it look the same as in Spanish. See International Phonetic Alphabet for the symbols used to represent pronunciation.

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|Feb19-09, 12:21 PM||#1| 1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data Suppose that f has an inverse and f (6) = 18, f'(6) = 4/5. If g = 1/(f-1), what is g'(18)? have no idea how to set up problem |Feb19-09, 01:22 PM||#2| Do you read your textbook at all? If not then you should! In it you'll find a theorem that specifically deals with derivatives of inverse functions. Please flip through the section in which this exercise occurs and see if you can't find it. Then we can get started. |Similar Threads for: find inverse| |Matrix pseudo-inverse to do inverse discrete fourier transform||Linear & Abstract Algebra||3| |How to find the Inverse of f(x) = 3+x+(e^x)||Precalculus Mathematics Homework||7| |Find The Range And Inverse! (please Help I Have Test Monday)||Precalculus Mathematics Homework||2| |trying to find an inverse equation - maybe cosh/sinh||Calculus & Beyond Homework||2| |Find the inverse of following function||Calculus||1|

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Below is a reproduction of chapter 80 from the book Singen ist das Fundament zur Music in allen Dingen which is a collection of documents about Telemann. It is a revised version of the paper "Neuen Musikalischen Systems" that Telemann had sent in 1742 or 1743 to the Societät der musikalischen Wissenschaften founded by Lorenz Christoph Mizler. At the age of 86 Telemann was still engaged to pave new roads for music, and increase the knowledge about the theory of intervals. So after all it wasn't the Kapellmeister's last occupation and he had done some other labour after writing this article. Telemann divides the chromatic semitone into four commas, and the whole tone in nine commas. He explains that sharps and flats are not the same and that sharps are lower: C (ces) is lower than D (déb). He doesn't say which comma he means, the syntonic or Pythagorean comma. This doesn't matter much since they are almost the same, and at that time the distinction was often not made. So ces is four commas higher than C and cex four commas higher than ces, etc. On page 272 he states that the whole tones stride in equal pace, so they are all 9 commas wide. What he doesn't specify unfortunately is the size of the diatonic semitone (distance of E to F and B to C). Is it equal in size to the chromatic semitone, 4 commas or a comma larger, 5 commas? The former possibility leads to a system comparable to 53-tone equal temperament in that the tones of his system form a subset of 53-tET or something close to it. In 53-tET, there are 9 steps in the whole tone and 4 in the diatonic semitone: 5×9+2×4=53 and the fifth is virtually Georg Andreas Sorge interpreted Telemann's description as a tone set in 55-tone equal temperament. The fifth in 55-tET, 698.182 cents, is very close to the 1/6-comma tempered (meantone) fifth: 698.371 cents. Having 9 steps for the whole tone and 5 for the diatonic semitone, one gets a total of 5×9+2×5=55. There are several reasons why the latter possibility, 55-tET, is the most probable. The fact that C is lower than D implies that the fifth is tempered (made flat by a small amount). A counterargument might be that Telemann says nowhere in the article that the fifth should be tempered, he even makes an allusion to the temperament wars for the keyboard which don't apply to unfretted instruments like the violin! At the bottom of page 268 he says that E-F and B-C are a "small tone" (kleinen Ton), which probably means nothing more than to say it's a semitone. The same term however is used for the distance C-Db (bottom of page 269), which is 5 commas and not 4. He might have used the words "small semitone" or "large semitone" which words he uses at the bottom of page 271, if he wanted to say which of those the diatonic semitone was meant to be. Curiously however, he has an objection against the succession of small and large semitones, says they limp with a short and a long foot from C until the major third. He seems to contradict himself because unequal semitones are a direct result of the odd number of commas, 9, in the whole tone. There is a problem with 53-tET when it's used for Telemann's music and music of his time, which is the comma problem. The syntonic comma is an audible distance in 53-tET; going upwards by four fifths and down by two octaves gives a major third that sounds out of tune. Therefore some chords can't be made to sound in tune, like this one: The only way is to temper the fifth by a small amount. In 55-tET, the major second E-F is the same distance as C-D, but in 53-tET it is not: one comma smaller. On page 270 the major third is shown as D-F and the minor third as D-F. If E-F had been 4 commas instead of 5, it would be a very flat minor third. In a letter to Carl Heinrich Graun from 15 December 1751, page 248 in the book, he writes that D-F is a major third and D-G a diminished fourth (or "smallest fourth" in his terminology) and implies that these intervals have a different size; this is also consistent with 55-tET. The habit with keyboard instruments was to tune the major third larger than pure. In 53-tET there are two major thirds, one is smaller than pure and the other is very large, close to the untempered Pythagorean third. The major third in 55-tET is in between those. So we can conclude that Telemann means the 4-comma chromatic semitone to be the traditional semitone which is the difference between 7 tempered fifths and 4 octaves. This is inconsistent with 53-tET where the size is 5 commas. The movement in the fourth paragraph on page 271 can be heard by a MP3-file in 55-tET, made by Joe Monzo. Other composers in his time advocated the use of a tempered fifth around 1/6- or 1/5-comma smaller than just, like Leopold Mozart in his violin method of 1756. In this method the student has to practice in distinguishing the large diatonic and the small chromatic semitones and playing flats a comma higher than enharmonically equivalent sharps, which Telemann demands here too. The reason why Telemann designed his system is given in Sorge's title of 1748: Zu Beförderung reiner Harmonie entworffen (Designed to promote pure harmony). The basic intervals like the perfect fifth, major and minor third are approximated well in 55-tET, but they are not exactly just. So we should be cautious to consider Telemann's system as a rigid prescription of a 55-tone equal tempered basic scale. It was not designed to be a keyboard temperament but of course when a violin is accompanied by a tempered keyboard instrument it should temper accordingly for the sake of harmony. And in practice the variations in intonation by a violin will be larger than the comma fractions we are talking about here. Anyway the minor and major thirds are still better in 1/6-comma meantone than in 12-tone equal temperament. But note that no exact value for the tempered fifth is given by Telemann and our assumption that it's close to the 55-tET fifth is an indirect inference. Looking at the table on page 267 we see 7×6+2=44 different names. Telemann says nothing about any equivalences between the tones of his system. Putting them in ascending order using the 55-tET step as the comma indeed gives no enharmonic equivalences. All the tones belong to one long cycle of 43 tempered fifths, 22 from C in the downward direction and 21 in the upward direction. Why not more tones? The reason he gives looks like a tautology: the cause for not using double signs is, because then and ßß would originate. The first column is the total number of commas from c: These names are a bit confusing for us being used to ces = C and not C. Telemann says the names sound rather awkward but that might have been true also when one heard the names cis, dis, fis, etc. for the first time. Needless to say perhaps, this interval system wasn't designed to be a microtonal system. Some intervals he says are awful, but they are necessary to be known by those who deal with transposition. Manuel Op de Coul, 2001.

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I've taken the liberty of copying the following from The Secular Web In 1603, James I became King of England. He inherited the benefits of the Elizabethan age: the developing attitude of tolerance, the strong spirit of intellectual excitement (prompted by such men as Shakespeare, Bacon, Jonson) and broad interest in religious matters. James was something of a Bible scholar, and is said to have tried his hand at translation. In an attempt to ease some of the tensions among Christians, he responded to a suggestion of Dr. John Reynolds of Oxford, a Puritan, that a new translation of the Bible be undertaken. Forty-seven scholars and learned clergymen were appointed to the translation committee (James' letter of authorization mentions fifty-four). Among the guide rules developed for translation were the following: - The Bishops' Bible was to be followed and only altered where necessary. Old ecclesiastical terms were to be retained. No marginal notes were to be included except to give suitable alternate readings or to cite parallel passages. Wherever Tyndale, Matthew, Coverdale, the Great Bible, or the Geneva Bible, were closer to the original text, these translations were to be followed. The finished product, the famous King James Version , was not a perfect work, and in 1613 a revised edition appeared. As a result of sharp criticism , a third revision was made in 1629 . Unfortunately, the Codex Alexandrinus had not arrived in England in time to be consulted, and eminent scholars were pressing for a new translation. The King James Version went through further revisions, one in 1638 , another more extensive one in 1762 and in 1769 still another, in which spelling and punctuation were brought up to date. The Rheims-Douai version was revised in 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner. Excerpted from Old Testament Life and Literature by Gerald A. Larue

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Along the Hudson and Mohawk The 1790 Journey of Count Paolo Andreani Edited and translated by Cesare Marino and Karim M. Tiro 2006 | 128 pages | Cloth $39.95 View main book page Table of Contents Introduction: A Bridge to America: Count Paolo Andreani and His Journal Journal 1790, by Paolo Andreani —From New York to King's bridge —[King's Bridge to Albany] —Of the City of Albany —From Albany to the Six Nations —Of the Tuscaroras —Of the Onondagas —From Albany to the Mineral Springs near Saratoga —Of the Valley of New Lebanon, Of the Mineral springs, and of the Quakers called Shakers —Of the Town of Udson —Of West Point Epilogue: "An Incredible Number of Enemies": The Betrayal of Paolo Andreani Appendix: Letters, 1790-1791 Excerpt [uncorrected, not for citation] From mid-August to mid-September 1790, count Paolo Andreani of Milan undertook a month-long journey through New York State and eastern Iroquoia. Andreani kept a journal of his observations of the human and physical landscape, as well as the daily details of his progress up the Hudson and Mohawk rivers. He likely intended to publish it in some form, for afterwards he produced a partially edited, annotated, and illustrated version, copied out carefully in his own best hand. Although the journal never appeared in print, the manuscript may well have circulated among members of his family and his network of personal acquaintances in Italy. Because there is no evidence of its translation into French or English, however, it is unlikely that it circulated among his wider circle of correspondents, which included Francisco de Miranda and the Duke de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt. No copies of Andreani's original field notes seem to have survived. Nor, with a single exception, have the illustrations alluded to in the text. They may have been seized by the count's many unhappy creditors. Alternatively, they may have sunk in the Atlantic along with some minerals and "other natural curiosities" Andreani sent his brother on an ill-fated vessel; or in a New York river when Andreani's sled fell through the ice, taking with it papers, scientific instruments, and three horses. However, Andreani's fair copy of his travel journal, which runs to 119 numbered pages, survived, and some time in the twentieth century it became the possession (along with several other Andreani journals and papers) of one of Andreani's descendants, Count Antonio Sormani Verri of Milan. In the early 1950s, Count Sormani authorized Professor Antonio Pace, who was then conducting research in Italy, to have the Giornale 1790 microfilmed. Subsequently, as a symbolic return of Count Andreani to America, Pace deposited a microfilm copy of the document in the collections of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, of which Andreani had been elected a member more than a century and a half earlier. Until today, the Giornale has remained virtually unknown and unused and it has never before been translated, edited, and annotated in its entirety. We have also reproduced a number of Andreani's American letters to his friend, Miranda, and his brother, Gian Mario Andreani. They provide valuable information about those parts of Andreani's visit to America outside the period covered by his diary. These letters also include observations and opinions that Andreani felt inappropriate for his journal. This volume ends with Andreani's departure for Canada in 1791. We are presently collecting the fragments of his extant writings from the remainder of his travels, which took him as far as present-day Minnesota, for future publication. A Bridge to America: Count Paolo Andreani and His Journal Count Paolo Andreani began the journal of his 1790 trip at the northern tip of Manhattan Island. He proceeded to traverse a wooden bridge to reach the present-day Bronx, or, as he put it, "to enter the continent." Travelers of Andreani's day were acutely aware of the fact that the City of New York (then confined to the southern end of Manhattan) lay off the coast of North America, separate from the mainland. Andreani's understanding of geography suggests important differences between his universe—both physical and mental—and our own. He presents us with a long-lost rural world, and he shows it to us from seemingly strange angles. Although he was surrounded by grand vistas, his gaze was often oriented toward rocks and minerals on the ground. His propensity to measure temperature, atmospheric electricity, and even people, seems to border on the obsessive. A dog died, he tells us, precisely forty-two minutes after being bitten by a rattlesnake with twenty-nine "knots" in its tail. Even the absence of numbers disturbed him: he railed against the therapeutic use of the springs at Saratoga "while there is not a thorough analysis of them of any sort." Andreani was not alone in his enthusiasm for numbers. His observations reflect the esprit géometrique that suffused educated Europe, and the Italian states in particular, in the eighteenth century. Since numbers held out great promise to illuminate the workings of the natural and social orders, enlightened men and women took to measuring everything from air pressure to population. The United States would catch this fever later in the decade, in part due to the influence of persons like Andreani. Jefferson, who shared rock samples with the count, wrote a colleague that "There is a Count Andriani of Milan here who sais there is a work on the subject of weights and measures published by Frisi of Milan." Scientific inquiry became the basis of Andreani's relationships with the Founding Fathers, who, like many learned Americans, considered themselves students of the laws of nature. The range of possible topics of discussion may be gleaned from the titles of a series of unpublished scientific studies produced by Andreani in the form of letters. These included "The impact of the sun on various substances," "Brief instructions for capture of butterflies," and "Method for the manufacture of sealing-wax." The suitability of the travel journal for the purposes of scientific observation enhanced its appeal to Andreani and his fellow citizens of the Republic of Letters. In his 1790 journal, Andreani surveyed minerals and rocks he encountered, much as fellow Milanese Luigi Castiglioni had done with American flora. In so doing, Andreani was participating in a controversy over the origin of rocks. Did they owe their composition to volcanic heat, as Nicolas Desmarest and other "Vulcanists" asserted? To a process of slow cooling and consolidation under the crust, as "Plutonists" like James Hutton claimed? Or were they created from water, as "Neptunist" Abraham Werner charged, citing the Great Flood? Andreani fell into the last camp, as suggested by his Wernerian identification of gneiss as a "primitive" rock. His Neptunist sensibilities also were visible in his description of "big boulders…most of which were probably transported from far away by the waters of the river, or by some great upheaval" at Manhattan, as well as his reference to "banks" when describing the glacial landscape of the Albany Pine Bush. Although scholars have paid considerably more attention to botany than the nascent discipline of geology during this period, both were engaged in a global classification project whose goal was to survey natural phenomena in order to expose nature's system. Indeed, the father of binomial taxonomy, the Swede Linnaeus, had proposed an organizational scheme for the mineral kingdom to complement his celebrated botanical one. But rocks and minerals were heavy, and the formations in which they were found were often of greater significance than the samples themselves. Thus, as historian Martin Rudwick has pointed out, the relative difficulty of extracting meaningful mineral samples challenged science's "indoor culture" and promoted fieldwork more than zoology or botany. Ethnology also took Europeans out of doors. Because Europeans thought Native Americans were closer to nature, they placed them under natural history's jurisdiction, along with plants, animals, minerals, and the weather. As objects of scientific inquiry, Indian bodies and societies became important to the larger debate over the continent's prospects and limitations, aptly termed the "dispute of the New World." Roughly speaking, one camp was defined by the works of the Count de Buffon, who argued that the American climate limited its natural productions and, by extension, the potency of its inhabitants. The opposing camp was composed of Rousseau and his followers. By the time of Andreani's visit, they had been joined by the early American republic's nationalist elite, who were keen to refute the aspersions cast on the continent. Andreani did not fit neatly into either camp, but his observations were conditioned by the agendas and arguments of both. In addition to its scientific purpose, the journal format retained its function as a guide to advise readers which roads, inns or taverns to seek out-and which to avoid. The inclusion of prosaic details and personal anecdotes imparted the journal with a potent sense of time and place which served to underscore the fact that the writer really had been there. After all, it was far from unheard-of for someone to produce a narrative of a place he or she had never visited, a product partly of fantasy, partly of plagiarism. As we shall see, there was a bit of both here as well. "The Dædalus of Italy" Paolo Andreani was born on May 27, 1763, in the family palace near the famous Duomo, in the city of Milan. Today it is the Palazzo Sormani and the seat of the Biblioteca Comunale Centrale. He was the third male child of Count Giovanni Pietro Paolo Andreani, a prominent nobleman and a senator of that city, and Countess Cecilia Sormani, also of old aristocratic Milanese stock. Paolo Andreani grew up in a Milan where the winds of the Enlightenment and social liberalism and reformism were blowing against the still-entrenched old order. New advances in the fields of science and philosophy fascinated the rising generation of European aristocrats who often struggled to fully understand and embrace the changes that were taking place. Andreani's life and writings reflected the ambiguities and contradictions of his loyalty to his old aristocratic heritage and his sincere interest in the advancement of science and in progressive philosophical theories. While privileged in social and economic terms, Paolo's infancy and youth were marked by a series of personal tragedies that undoubtedly affected his emotional development and the course of his adult life. Paolo's mother died when he was only an infant. In 1772, at nine years of age, he lost his father and the following year his eldest brother, Antonio, who died at age twenty. Thereafter, Paolo's two sisters, Maria Josepha and Daria left the family palace and entered a monastery. Paolo became the charge of his only remaining brother, the Count Gian Mario, three years his elder, who from that day on acted as his surrogate father. The family's tragedies did not affect its finances, and the surviving Andreanis, under the able leadership of Gian Mario, retained considerable family wealth. Following the custom of the times, Paolo's first formal education was by a private tutor, and he soon manifested a bright and inquisitive mind. According to Andreani's most recent biographer, at sixteen years of age, "cavalier Paolo…already enjoyed wide fame for his studies in philosophy, ecclesiastical and secular history, poetry, letters and mathematics." In 1779, he was admitted under the pastoral pseudonym of Caridemo Peliaco to the Saggio Collegio d'Arcadia ("the Wise College of Arcadia"), a highly reputed Italian society of literati who delved into bucolic poetry. The previous year Paolo had entered the College of Modena, a prestigious boarding school for aristocratic Milanese youth. However, it was not long afterwards that Andreani began to enjoy his own scientific experiments more than the literary rambles and theoretical dissertations of his professors. Paolo's fascination with the natural world and the hard sciences led him in 1780 and 1781 to ask brother Gian Mario to transfer him from Modena to the famous Royal Academy of Turin, where he wished to pursue his studies of physics, mathematics, astronomy, mineralogy, and science generally, under a more progressive faculty. For some reason the transfer did not take place. By 1782, Paolo had grown restless in Modena. Approaching his twentieth birthday, he was eager to see the world and continue his experiments independently. Andreani submitted a formal request to pope Pius VI begging the Holy Father to authorize him to acquire and read historical, literary, philosophical, and scientific treatises and books that had been censored by the Church. He justified his demand on the basis of his eagerness to enrich his knowledge in the various fields of the natural sciences, history, and letters. The request was granted with a few exceptions, including astrology and the works of Machiavelli. Andreani's first major investment in scientific experimentation bore spectacular results. On the 13th of March, 1784, he astonished a large assembly of family, friends, Milanese authorities, prominent men, and local peasants at his brother's villa in Moncucco, on the city's outskirts, with a successful flight in a hot air balloon. Following a private trial lift-off on February 25 [fig. 1], Andreani's "magic flight" was the first public one of its kind outside France. Inspired by the recent successful flights of the Montgolfiers in France, Andreani had hired a trio of craftsmen-the brothers Agostino, Giuseppe, and Carlo Gerli—to build what the Gazzetta Enciclopedica di Milano would describe as a "Gran Macchina aerostatica"—a great flying machine. This macchina volante carried Andreani and two carpenters who worked for the Gerli brothers to an altitude of about 800 meters. Owing to the clouds that filled the wintry Milanese sky, the three aeronauts disappeared for some time from the sight of the assembly. The balloon traveled east before landing safely in the countryside about five kilometers away. While the carpenters attended to the balloon, Andreani jumped on a horse and headed back; halfway home, he was picked up by a carriage and returned to a triumphant welcome at Gian Mario's villa and, later that day, at Milan's opera house La Scala, where he was hailed as the "Dædalus of Italy." The flight was mentioned as far away as Philadelphia. Andreani's flight was more than a flamboyant aristocratic indulgence. It was validated by the scientific ethos of his day. Balloons were regarded as integral to advances in meteorology, which was widely touted as the key to public health and economics. By quite literally broadening the aeronaut's horizons, balloons supplied the new and potentially revolutionary perspectives on the world that had given force to the travel impulse since the Renaissance. If the conspicuousness and daredevilism of the feat attracted wide public attention and acclaim, well, the aeronaut would just have to bear it. If fame was Andreani's lot, it was nevertheless tinctured by notoriety. In the absence of parental control and domestic obligations and responsibilities, Andreani frequented venues involving gambling and women. His relationship with a certain signora Chiavacci bordered on the scandalous, and he lost great sums of money at the card tables of Venice. Andreani's gambling was a constant source of vexation for his brother, who more than once had to supplement Paolo's already-adequate annuity, and even rescue him from near-bankruptcy. Thus, when Andreani asked Gian Mario for money to purchase scientific instruments, his elder brother was probably relieved. The staid, sober quality of Andreani's travel journal may have served to reassure at least one of its readers of the author's seriousness and reliability. It was with this expanded platform of knowledge that Andreani pursued his scientific research, particularly in the fields of mineralogy, geography, and meteorology. Before undertaking his American voyage, Andreani had already journeyed extensively throughout Italy and visited France, England, Scotland, the Netherlands, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. From 1784 to 1787 he traveled back and forth between Paris, London, Rome, and Naples. In 1784 he visited Scotland with naturalist James Smithson (after whom the Smithsonian Institution is named) and the noted French geologist Faujas de St. Fond. In 1786, Andreani toured the Mediterranean, visited the islands of Malta and Sicily, and climbed Mount Etna to conduct mineralogical and atmospheric research. In 1788 he performed a daring ascent of the famed Mont Blanc to conduct similar scientific experiments in the footsteps of Swiss scientists Jean-André Deluc and Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, both of whom he admired, and had preceded him in that alpine endeavor. That same year he returned to England and this time visited Ireland as well. To the aggravation of his brother and creditors, Andreani's curiosity frequently outpaced his finances. Nevertheless, his gaze was already directed towards America. He arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in May 1790, and he soon traveled to New York, where he began the journey described in the present diary. "The bearer of the present letter" As was customary, before departing from Europe, Andreani obtained numerous letters of introduction to prominent men of letters, science and politics in North America. One of the first such notes was drafted in Paris in March 1790 by fellow Italian Filippo Mazzei, a long-time personal friend of both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Mazzei reminded Madison that he was "rather scrupulous" about such letters, and predicted Madison would be able to discern the young count's merit on his own. He commended Andreani to Madison's guidance as to "which persons may be more congenial for him to meet, and who may receive reciprocal satisfaction," particularly persons sharing his interest in physics and natural history. Early in the spring of 1790, Andreani traveled from France to England to make the final arrangements for his departure and here, too, he acquired additional letters. That April in London, historian and philosopher Richard Price drafted a note to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale College, in which he described Andreani as "a Nobleman of character and consequence from Milan and a friend to liberty whose zeal and curiosity have determined him to visit the United States." Price used the opportunity of the count's travel to ask him to make a personal delivery on his behalf. He conveyed to Jefferson a political pamphlet by the noted French revolutionary and mathematician, the Marquis de Condorcet. Andreani also received a letter addressed to George Washington from John Paradise of Oxford University, with whom the Italian shared an interest in linguistics. Paradise, who had studied at the University of Padua, likewise saw fit to use Andreani as a courier. He asked Andreani to personally deliver to Washington "an ode" by Count Vittorio Alfieri. This fulfilled a request from the author himself. Paradise wrote Washington that Andreani was "a nobleman from Milan, highly distinguished by every valuable endowment, and deserving of the honour of being presented to you." Paradise and his American wife, Lucy Ludwell Paradise, lauded Andreani in similar terms in letters to Jefferson. She portrayed Andreani as "a learned amiable Nobleman…worthy of every attention," and invited her distinguished countryman to "take the trouble to introduce Count Andriani by letter to our Friends in Virginia &c. &c. &c." Since Andreani also planned to travel extensively through Canada, he obtained letters from its former governor, the Swiss-born Sir Frederick Haldimand. Haldimand had played a crucial role in the establishment of the Six Nations reserve where the Iroquois Loyalists had settled after the Revolutionary War, and one of his letters was addressed to the Mohawk leader Joseph Brant. Falmouth to Halifax Andreani sailed from Falmouth, England, on April 13, 1790, aboard the packet Duke of Cumberland. "Wind from the North-Northeast. Dark sky and light winds," he wrote in his separate Giornale di bordo, a small log-book of his first transatlantic crossing, in which he recorded mostly latitudes, atmospheric conditions, and occasional encounters with other vessels. The long voyage was uneventful, except on May 16, when the ship encountered a dangerously powerful storm: "at 4pm lightning, thunder, and seas so rough that the waves reached twice the height of the Main mast. After we lowered all the sails we were ready to cut down the masts, but shortly thereafter the storm ended!" The ship reached the coastal waters of Canada on May 25 and entered the port of Halifax the following morning. That evening, Andreani wrote Gian Mario to inform him of his safe landfall in North America. "We arrived here this morning," he wrote, "always followed by the brisk winds that accompanied us for the forty-four days that our entire voyage lasted." He expressed disappointment that he could not accept the unexpected invitation of British Admiral Richard Hughes to sail with him on the flagship Adamant from Halifax north to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and thence upriver to Quebec City. Lacking letters of credit in that region of Canada, Andreani felt he had to decline. Halifax held one more surprise in store for Andreani. He informed Gian Mario that five Native chiefs from the southeastern U.S. had just arrived on their way to London to petition the crown for protection against the Spanish. Andreani wrote, I had lunch with them today at the Governor's, and as they speak a little Spanish thus I could converse with them. The portrait they paint of the oppression they suffer is truly frightening. One thousandth of the truth in their story would today reflect on Spain with horror. We learn from a long letter that Andreani sent to Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda that three of the five were Cherokees. The others were Creeks. They were the delegation led by American Tory William Augustus Bowles to petition George III for aid against Spanish Florida. Andreani remarked that the threat of a war between England and Spain-a distinct possibility at that moment-might favor the Natives' stated aspirations to free themselves from Spanish control. Paolo Andreani remained in Halifax a few more days, just long enough to recover from the voyage and record a few observations of the Canadian seaport in his journal. "Halifax has about seven or six thousand souls," he wrote, adding that "the houses, without exception, are built with wood: some not just properly, but with elegance." He noted that "the main streets are wide and well laid out but poorly paved." He reported that fishing was the principal economic activity, and a few hundred vessels, mostly British but some American, were engaged in harvesting the rich stocks of baccalà, or cod. In sharp contrast to the bountiful sea was the surrounding land, which was stony and infertile. Andreani noted that Nova Scotians had to import flour, meat, and tea from Boston, which drove up prices. Halifax was otherwise a well-stocked arsenal serving the British fleet in North America, and Andreani closed his brief commentary on the place by praising George III for the generosity he demonstrated towards the American loyalists who sought refuge in Canada: "many of them," he concluded, "have positively gained in abundance." Interestingly, he reversed this assessment when writing Miranda from New York: "When I compare the coast of Nova Scotia with the beautiful surroundings of this city," Andreani wrote in July, "I can only lament the fate of the royalists, who were obliged to expatriate. A wonderful lesson for all who support the ambitious and despotic views of Kings!" Perhaps relief from the sea voyage had given Halifax a particular luster that was corrected by subsequent experience. Perhaps Andreani had written what he did at the time out of concern his writings would be seen by a British official. However, Andreani may also have simply been currying favor with the Venezuelan revolutionary. New York, Capital of the New Nation Eager to commence his tour of the United States, Andreani boarded the Duke of Cumberland again for New York, where he arrived on June 6. His first month went well enough that he could write Gian Mario, "Here I am among good people who love foreigners, and receive them with hospitality." With Congress in session, the federal government was in full swing. This permitted Andreani to circulate among the nation's political elite, although avoiding doing so in the city of 30,000 might have been a greater feat. Indeed, as a guest at Vandine Ellsworth's Boarding House on Maiden Lane, he lodged under the same roof as Jefferson and Madison. However, Andreani had grown weary of life in the capital even as he penned the brief compliment to New York to his brother and praised its setting. Miranda had led him to expect an atmosphere of refreshing republican simplicity. Now Andreani informed Miranda that "things have changed since your visit, and have changed rapidly, and…not for the better." He was highly critical of the partisan atmosphere and the court that had sprung up around Washington which "although miserable, I dare say ridiculous, is nonetheless a Court." It was not that Washington had wished it so, Andreani noted, and spoke of "that veneration for him that I will have forever." He likewise praised Alexander Hamilton, Henry Knox, and William Duer as "the best men in the world" for their hospitality. Andreani was particularly impressed by Hamilton, whose plans reflected both "enlightenment" and "justice" in his estimation. But Hamilton was "oppressed by the whole world"-and particularly by Andreani's fellow lodgers, Jefferson and Madison. While Andreani respected Madison as "the most educated man that I have met here," he thought Jefferson exceedingly proud, and claimed the Virginian "brought from Europe everything bad that he saw there." No one, however, was worse than Adams, whom Andreani described as "the most pompous man that I know and the most selfish." "God prevent that he become president!," Andreani even exclaimed. The disregard was mutual: Adams later wrote that the count had failed to make a good impression, so he "had paid him but little Attention." Since these observations were personal and referred to powerful individuals, Andreani urged Miranda to keep them in confidence. After all, having been in the United States only a short time, he admitted "I could very well have been mistaken in a hasty judgement." Andreani had good reason to request discretion with regard to the contents of that letter, as he would learn after his trip through New York and Iroquoia. Andreani expressed a longing to return to his scientific research. He did not resume it for more than a month, until after Congress adjourned, although he did make a trip to New Haven to visit Ezra Stiles, the president of Yale College, and a fellow number-lover. One reason for his delay was probably the good fortune he had to encounter a diplomatic delegation sent out from the Creek Nation. This one was considerably larger than the group he enountered in Halifax-numbering about thirty-and was led by mixed blood chief Alexander McGillivray, who was Bowles' rival. A treaty between the Creeks and the United States was concluded on August 7 and received the consent of the Senate shortly thereafter. At precisely noon on the thirteenth, the Pennsylvania Packet reported, it was "solemnly ratified by the contracting parties, in Federal Hall, in the presence of a large assembly of citizens.—The vice-president of the United States—the great officers of State—his excellency the governor—and of several members of both houses of Congress." Washington signed the treaty, gave a speech, and presented the Creeks with beads and tobacco. After McGillivray gave a speech on behalf of the Creeks, the "shake of peace" took place, with "every one of the Creeks passing this frindly salute with the president" and performing a "song of peace." Andreani struck out for Iroquoia the next day. Up the Udson As Andreani bumped his way up the Hudson by stage, he described a region on the eve of a radical transformation. The inhabitants of New York State and Iroquoia stood on the threshold of a vast economic and demographic change, but they had not yet crossed it. The world Andreani described hardly existed two decades later. Within that time, Albany's population would triple, and New York City would surpass Philadelphia as the nation's preeminent port. Andreani's observations acknowledged the state's potential, but also the distance to be traveled before it was realized. In the wake of the Revolution, New York State remained a backwater. The 1790 census put New York's population at 340,120-placing it behind Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. On a practical level, Andreani's description of his journey suggests some of the challenges farmers and merchants faced moving their goods to market. Although Andreani described the roads as "by their nature good," maintenance was uneven, and his progress was slowed by rocks, mountains, and mud. In order to find a passable road along the Mohawk River, Andreani had to make multiple crossings which were not always without risk. We see quite clearly why it cost as much to ship goods a few miles inland as it did to ship them across the Atlantic. Andreani's trip from Kingsbridge to Albany took nearly a week-although of course he stopped to chip, fire, and otherwise examine the rocks and minerals along the route. Three to four days was a more usual length, but a day of travel often began around three A.M. and concluded around ten P.M. Travel by sloop was more comfortable, more expensive, but not necessarily much faster. The weary stage traveler may not have spent much time at the inns along the way, but the enervating quality of carriage travel doubtless magnified their importance. Andreani's principal complaints here were that food was generally lacking and the lodging was substandard: "Unfortunately we found nothing but some milk, and some moldy bread; and a miserable bed." His observation reminds us of the tenuous nature of rural prosperity. Seasonal food shortages and uncertain harvests were common and tempered farmers' commitment to market-oriented production until infrastructure improved, New York City blossomed, and the United States became more tightly wound into international markets. Such anxieties, and a lingering perception that one family's fortune meant another's famine, informed periodic rioting directed against the large landowners of the Hudson Valley. They also dovetailed with the egalitarian strains of revolutionary ideology. All these elements were present in Andreani's humorous encounter with a German farmer. It is one of the few places in Andreani's diary where he makes room for another's voice. The farmer, upon learning that Andreani's purpose in visiting America was primarily self-fulfillment, muttered, "Damn rascals of people [noblemen]...who let others work while they have fun." Yet we quickly perceive that Andreani gave the man voice only in order to allow himself the last word. He proceeded to place his finger squarely on the central paradox of the new nation. Andreani observed that backcountry folk felt "necessity of maintaining an equality of fortune; while they on the other hand purchase slaves that they force to hard labor...." The institution of chattel slavery was much in evidence along Andreani's tour, particularly in Dutch-dominated areas. New York's slave population in 1790 stood at 21,324, far higher than any of its neighbors. In Ulster County, slaves accounted for fully ten percent of the population. When Andreani cited the high price of free labor (no less than a pezzo duro—or Spanish dollar—a day), he identified the importance of slavery to New York's economy. Because slaves represented such significant assets to New York's small farmers, the Revolution was not sufficient to overturn their status. Indeed, the state legislature did not pass an emancipation statute until 1799, and even then, the process it specified was agonizingly gradual. Andreani stated that the labor and punishment of northern slaves were harsh. This assessment put him at odds with other European observers of his day, including LaRochefoucauld-Liancourt, Mazzei, and Brissot de Warville. The discrepancy may be partially attributed to the fact that it was Andreani's first personal encounter with a slave society. To the extent that Northern slaveholding appeared benign, it was so only by contrast to the southern or West Indian varieties. Historian Shane White has documented the violence of the practice of slavery in early national New York, and his findings suggest Andreani's emphasis was not misplaced. The aggressive egalitarianism of Andreani's host was not exceptional, either. When Englishman William Strickland asked an Irish innkeeper in Albany to hold his horse in 1794, he said the man began "pouring out a volley of oaths; I was damned for an English Aristocrat, and assured that he would not have held a horse for the King of England; that he was a much better man than myself, being a freeman and a republican, while I was but an English Slave." For his part, Hector St. Jean de Crèvecoeur, who lived in the Hudson Valley, noted somewhat ruefully that Americans were apt to forget "that mechanism of subordination... and sometimes apt to forget too much." According to historian Richard Bushman, these years saw the introduction of the use of the word aristocrat as an insult. Such attitudes went hand-in-hand with the rise of "people's men" to political power. While colonial elites like the Schuyler and Van Rensselaer families still possessed considerable political might, they had to make room for their social lessers, such as the governor at the time of Andreani's visit, George Clinton. Andreani's political views remain muted in his journal, although there was interest in such matters in Italy. On the same day in 1784 that Andreani made his celebrated flight, the Tuscan Gazzetta Universale enthused that in the United States "the form of the republican government is wonderfully perfecting itself, in politics as in commerce." Although he commented on economic matters in passing, Andreani limited his political expostulations to his private correspondence-and even here he was selective in what he said to whom-because he assumed the circulation of his letters would be more limited than his journal. In any case, in contrast to Brissot, Andreani had not come to study American society and politics, but to study nature. And unlike Crèvecoeur or the refugees from the French Revolution, Andreani never considered making America his home, so he never felt implicated in its affairs. His attitude towards popular politics can probably be gauged best by his reaction to news of revolutionary events in France. Writing his brother the year before he departed for America, he had expressed both his dislike for the French mob and his hope that his fellow Milanesi would remain happy and tranquil, entertained by performances at La Scala. Albany had received a bad rap from many colonial visitors, it was not yet the state capital, and Andreani felt little urge to revise its image. Since Andreani did not consider descriptions of urban life the proper province of a naturalist, he more or less parroted the account published by New England minister-geographer Jedidiah Morse (who had in turn obtained much of his information by correspondence). Andreani repeated Morse's claim that Albanians had a reputation for inhospitality, as well as his complaint about the filthiness of the streets. With a few enhancements, Andreani repeated Morse's condemnation of Dutch tavern culture and marital and funerary rites, all of which involved much drinking. Andreani was careful to include a disclaimer that in these cases he was relating things he had not seen, but the description "was solemnly confirmed by General Schuyler an inhabitant and a man of culture." Andreani did move beyond Morse to make some observations on matters closer to his heart-and he took care to specify that these observations were his own. Of the public buildings in the city, he made special note of the prison: When we visited it there were about twenty inmates, the majority for debts. They are badly kept, without any humanity whatsoever. The building structure contributes to aggravate their punishments....Andreani's awareness of the prisons (as opposed to, say, churches) throughout his travels doubtless owed much to the general Enlightenment interest in penal reform, whose principal exponent, Cesare Beccaria, hailed from Milan and moved in the same circles as his younger compatriot. Andreani also contributed an extensive discussion of Albany's climate, complete with a table of twenty-two monthly highs and lows of both temperature and humidity. European expansion had renewed learned speculation regarding the relationship between climate and everything from health to culture to government. Reliable and comparable meteorological instruments were of relatively recent invention, and hopes were high that systematic observation would reveal patterns of high predictive validity. The implications for agriculture were obvious, and climate was a public health concern of the first order. Hippocratic assumptions that air played a central role in health were widely held, as in Andreani's conclusion at Albany that "the great daily variation in the temperature of the climate could influence the physical constitution of individuals if they did not preserve themselves by always wearing stroud." Axes along the Mohawk Weather and health were also directly linked to land use: it had been a common assumption that America was more humid because it was a "new" continent, its forests still standing and its land not yet under extensive cultivation. Documenting the trials of settlers clearing land in the Mohawk valley, Andreani spoke of "the illnesses that are usually caused by the first exhalations of the odors of a virgin soil." Clearing fields was the primary activity in which the thousands of migrants who swarmed to central New York from New England were engaged. Andreani's description shows why, as historian Alan Taylor has put it, "the Yankees had earned a collective reputation as the most skilled handlers of the axe in America." Trees were felled for houses, for barns, to let sunlight fall on crops, and, ultimately, to clear fields. This was a family project, Andreani explained, "and nothing is more arduous than the workload they have to endure for the first two years...." He described trees in excess of 120 feet long being consigned to the flames. Such was the scale of the burning that Quaker Jacob Lindley, traveling up the Mohawk three years later, commented that he "was much perplexed for miles, with the continued smoke from the fires on shore." There was, however, one kind of tree the settlers valued standing more than felled. At Fall Hill, Andreani noted that "In these neighborhoods every farmer cultivates a number of Erables' called in English Maple tree...." Andreani proceeded to devote particular attention to an unusual industry whose expectations could not have been higher, and which would never be fulfilled: maple sugaring. Although Andreani stated that the sugar was collected to satisfy household needs, many hoped it would supplant its cane counterpart and even bring an end to West Indian slavery. While Brissot proclaimed that Quaker efforts to perfect this product had been successful, Andreani concluded that the new commodity was not competitive in terms of either price or quality. That the practice of maple-sugaring was nevertheless so widespread at the time of Andreani's visit speaks volumes about land speculators' enthusiasm for anything that would raise land values, as well as settlers' desperation for anything that would bring quick cash. Indeed, such was the irrational exuberance of maple sugar's boosters that Philadelphia physician Benjamin Rush stated that "It has been said, that sugar injures the teeth, but this opinion now has so few advocates, that it does not deserve a serious refutation." Yet the predictions of maple sugar's profitability were discredited as surely as Rush's position on tooth decay. Although maple sugaring did not die out, its highest hopes proved short-lived. Thus, during his brief visit to the Mohawk Valley, Andreani witnessed and recorded a fleeting moment in its economic history. Whatever maple sugar's shortcomings, the valley was nevertheless transformed by human activity. When Andreani visited Fort Plain, it was only with difficulty that he could make out the plan of the fortifications that had been in use only three or four years earlier. They had since been taken apart to rebuild the town, which had been largely destroyed during the war. Andreani captured the postwar scene with his comment that "The roads were covered with men, women, livestock and farm tools of the new colonists." While he had acknowledged the progress of cultivation in the Hudson Valley, the dynamism and human presence in his description of the Mohawk Valley presents a contrast that reflected the separate demographic and economic trajectories the two regions would follow right through the Canal era. Andreani and the Iroquois The trajectory of the Iroquois during these years was considerably different; it was a steep descent. Although Andreani described some of the social disorder that attended the dispossession of the Natives, such as alcohol abuse, he seemed generally oblivious to their recent history. In fact, the Oneidas and Onondagas had lost the vast majority of their territories-literally millions of acres-to the state of New York within only the previous five years. The Oneidas' missionary, Samuel Kirkland, who was one of Andreani's principal informants about Iroquois life, may have downplayed these treaties because of the active and controversial role he had played in some of them. However, there were enough negative representations of Native cultures in circulation to explain their condition to the count's satisfaction without having to delve too deeply into more direct causes. In his description of the Oneidas, Tuscaroras, and Onondagas, Andreani generally adhered to the atemporal, impersonal "manners and customs" format that had governed European representations of cultural others since the sixteenth century. Although there were significant continuities between Andreani's description of the Albany Dutch, the Shakers, and the Iroquois, that of the latter was particularly detailed. In fact, Andreani's Iroquois ethnography followed an implicit script. It was no coincidence that he addressed many of the questions Scotsman William Robertson posed when he researched his influential History of America (1777). Collecting information by correspondence, Robertson had asked informants in America if the Natives' physical constitutions were as vigorous and robust as those of the inhabitants of similar climates in the ancient continent? Was the absence of a beard natural to the Indian? Was he defective in animal passions, the passion of love for example? What was his attitude in regard to parental affection or filial duty? What ideas did he have of property? And what conception did he entertain of a future life?Benjamin Rush, who had met Andreani only days earlier, posed a similar list of questions to McGillivray in New York City. Rush's and Robertson's questions derived from longstanding ethnographic precedent, but the "dispute of the New World" infused particular categories, especially physiological ones, with greater importance. Thus, Andreani's ethnography reflected not just what he happened to see, but what he came to see-like lactating women and their children, for example. Dutch naturalist Cornelius De Pauw had asserted that the relatively long period that Native American children were breast-fed contributed to degeneracy and lack of vigor. Andreani accordingly claimed he "observed a child of twenty-seven months, who was nourished entirely of the mother's milk, and under the appearances of robustness, and of good health, he absolutely could not stand on two feet." Andreani likewise reported that the Oneidas had little body hair, a fact which had been cited as evidence of Native effeminacy. It should not, however, be inferred that Andreani was in the degenerationists' camp. For example, his observation that "Among themselves in the family they love each other greatly, and their filial love is no less than that which exists among ourselves," refuted the assertion that Natives' lack of vigor even extended to emotion and expression. Andreani never committed himself to one or the other side of the debate, and therefore felt less pressure to suppress contrary observations. That is not to say that he was shy about passing a negative judgment against the Natives. He did precisely that when he observed that Sometimes a simple action that would be everywhere deemed as madness, may among the Oneida Indians lead one to be esteemed a chief, f.[or] e.[xample], one who crossing an immense territory arrives in a faraway nation, [and returns] carrying some sign of his arrival there….Andreani looked in the mirror but apparently failed to recognize his reflection. His own travel asserted his status as a nobleman in European society, where the voyager (and especially the voyager-collector) had become a heroic figure. Where there was consensus among Europeans that Native culture was deficient, Andreani didn't depart from it, as in his comment that "The Oneidas are like all Indians, lovers of laziness." Andreani agreed that Native land use practices were inferior and uncritically repeated the customary condemnation of the "hardest labor in the field" which Native women performed and contrasted it with the idleness of the men. Nevertheless, Andreani also acknowledged the political and social privileges women enjoyed, so he at least provided the reader with evidence at odds with his conclusions. Despite the formulaic manner in which Andreani recorded his stay at Oneida, there is an undercurrent of good cheer in his description. Andreani did not hesitate to record the faults and foibles of New York inns and innkeepers, but said of the Indians generally (and of Skenandoah, his host at Oneida, in particular) that "it is truly to be admired the earnest attention they express on the occasion of the visit of a stranger." Andreani seemed to reciprocate this hospitality with an enthusiasm that went beyond the norm for Europeans. After hearing the Oneidas sing, he wrote rather casually in his journal that "we were in general surprised by…the agreeable melody of the singing of the psalms, rendered in their language." Yet the journal kept by missionary Kirkland suggests the praise Andreani gave out in person was much amplified. According to Kirkland, Andreani said he considered "the melody of their musick & fine soft voices" to be "equal to any he ever heard in Italy." When Kirkland related "this high compliment" to participants of an evening singing-meeting, "one of them replied that he thought "it was too much for Indians." The discrepancy between Andreani's and Kirkland's accounts of the Italian's reaction to Oneida singing may simply be a function of Andreani's laconic writing style. It may also reflect the peculiar combination of humility and boastfulness a missionary required to retain both his holy credibility and his employment. But if the word- and phrase-list that Andreani compiled is any guide to his comportment, we may conclude that he was indeed an ingratiating guest. Literary critic Laura Murray has argued recently that word lists such as these "convey the tenor and lineaments of the dealings, disputes, and chit-chat that characterized relations between Aboriginal and white people far away from life in the metropolis or farming settlement." Compared with other such compilations, Andreani's exhibits a disproportionate concern with pleasantries. It stands in sharp contrast not just with the take-me-to-your-leader and which-way-to-the-food terminology famously translated for Captain John Smith, but also the standard comparative-linguistic fare served up by the travelers, traders, and missionaries of Andreani's own day. While some of the phrases he supplied were narrowly utilitarian, he apparently wanted to tell the Oneidas, "This dish is very good," "I hope you would not want to trouble yourself," and "I love this country very much." In dealing with people whom he referred to as "semicivilized savages," Andreani needed to say, "I thank you for your civility." He also translated that rare gem in European vocabularies of Indian languages: "Please." Indeed, Andreani carried his pleasantries to the point of absurdity. Among the phrases useful to this traveler were "I love your daughter," "She is truly beautiful," and "If I were an Indian I would marry her." Andreani's description of a lacrosse match suggests the historical utility of his reportage, as well as its limits. His comprehension of the nuances of the game raises questions: describing its object, he made no mention of goals. As he understood it, the players sought "to make a certain number of rounds of a large field" in possession of the ball. Nevertheless, the sketch of a lacrosse stick in the middle of a line of text provides a striking example of the value of his observations. Anthropologist and lacrosse historian Tom Vennum has noted that this drawing is the earliest extant visual image of a lacrosse stick, and one that "should offer no surprises to anyone familiar with early forms of the northeastern hickory stick…." Andreani's description of the crowd is likewise consistent with other reports. He noted that "a great sum" was often staked on the outcome and that when the wagers were high, "then the women are present, and they proceed with horrible yells to incite the party in which they have interest." After his twenty-two page description of the Oneidas, Andreani dispatched the Tuscaroras with a terse paragraph. He wrote, "If we shall say but a few words about this nation, it is because in reality she differs very little from that of which we have spoken, as well for the brief residence we have made among them." And, indeed, he did write "but a few words," mostly about their migration from the Southeast in the early eighteenth century. With regard to the Onondagas, he asserted that that nation "differs little in customs from these other ones, except in the religion." His description ran six pages. What appears to be Andreani's impatience was actually an effect of his taxonomic method. Like some eighteenth-century botanists, he began with a single specimen, described it thoroughly, and described subsequent ones purely in terms of their differences relative to the first. However, the categories of contrast were not pistils and stamens, but architecture and communal religious rituals. Although Andreani did not make the point explicitly, the conservatism of the Onondaga nation vis-à-vis the Oneidas was thrown into high relief. Andreani's approach tended to overstate differences along national lines; there were conservatives among the Oneidas and a European-oriented element among the Onondagas. However, the fact that architectural and ritual efforts are inherently communal suggests the difference was more likely to be real, even if overstated. Andreani's description of the white dog sacrifice reinforces this image of Onondaga conservatism in 1790. According to Andreani, he did not witness the sacrifice personally because the Onondagas were practicing it exclusively as part the Midwinter ceremonial. Extant descriptions of this ceremony corroborate Andreani's, which stands as the sole documentation of its practice outside the Seneca nation for most of the second half of the eighteenth century. It is doubtful that Andreani received this information from another published source, because his description more closely resembles later ones than those available to him at the time. When a Mohawk prophet at Grand River, Upper Canada, revived the rite in 1798, he was said to have claimed that "the Upholder of the Skies" had "made grievous complaints, of the base and ungrateful neglect of the Five Nations (the Senecas excepted) in withholding the homage due to him and the offerings he was wont to receive from their fathers as an acknowledgment for his guardianship." When the revival was exported to Oneida, it ended a thirty-plus year hiatus for the white dog sacrifice there. Generals, Doctors, and Shaker Elders Although visiting Native communities was one of the principal reasons Andreani traveled to America, he did not consider his visit to New York complete until he examined two other sites of scientific interest, the springs at Saratoga and New Lebanon. Andreani observed that "As a reward for the philosophical [i.e., scientific] objects that are lacking on this side [of the river], the traveler walks continuously on historic terrain because this was the field on which the American Troops distinguished themselves for the first time during the last bloody war." Although the search for natural phenomena dictated Andreani's itinerary, he dutifully attended to landscapes of military significance around Saratoga, on Manhattan Island and at West Point. While Andreani did not consider his observations on military matters to be "philosophical" in nature, warfare was also understood to be subject to universal laws discoverable through systematic observation. It was the role of the officer to comprehend and apply these laws. Whereas in previous centuries the aristocracy legitimated its dominance of military institutions on the basis of heroism, virtue, and honor bred by high social station, now education and technical competence played an expanded role. The relationship between science, militarism, and aristocracy was therefore mutually reinforcing. Indeed, while Andreani's balloon flight was an aristocratic conceit with a scientific rationale, the strategic potential of balloons for intelligence-gathering and for battle was an early and obvious impetus to their development. And if development of one's military knowledge was not sufficient reason to visit the battlefield, La Rochefoucauld noted that "If you love the English, are fond of conversing with them, and live with them on terms of familiarity and friendship, it is no bad thing if occasionally you can say to them, 'I have seen Saratoga.'" Andreani examined the landscape around Saratoga carefully. Although he did not go into the same level of detail as had the Marquis de Chastellux, Andreani's account is comparable to that of Miranda, who probably encouraged him to visit because, as the Venezuelan put it, "it is so well preserved that any intelligent person can form from it a full picture of the event." As elsewhere, Andreani took particular interest in fortifications and the position of encampments. He partially absolved Burgoyne of incompetence, and was critical only of the general's failure to seize an opportunity by not pursuing Schuyler after taking Fort Ticonderoga. Nevertheless, Andreani's assessment was that even if Sir Henry Clinton had shown up to relieve his compatriot the outcome might not have been different. Andreani conserved some of his bile for the medical practitioners and self-medicating laypersons at the springs. Andreani observed sternly that many come here to drink them or to take them as bath without knowing what medicine they are applying to themselves, and we ourselves have found various sick people for whom different remedies were necessary. What the result of such carelesness could be is easily understood without any further detail.His complaints were nothing new. For centuries, physicians and scientists had complained about their lack of control over popular water therapies, and their warnings had been ignored for just as long. In 1783, a Massachusetts doctor who entertained a high opinion of the efficacy of Saratoga water suggested that "It may afford an agreeable amusement to any gentleman of ability and leisure, to prosecute…inquiries" into the properties of the waters. Andreani took samples, commented upon the geologic context of the springs, and performed a number of simple experiments to ascertain the water's temperature and composition. However, we have no evidence to suggest that he went on to perform the more detailed analysis considered so important. From Saratoga, Andreani traveled to New Lebanon Springs, near the Massachusetts border. Andreani performed the same tests upon the waters there, which he said tasted less pungent than Saratoga's. Andreani again took the opportunity to criticize people's willingness to subject themselves to waters of unknown content. However, he kept these comments brief, and proceeded to something he found more intriguing still: the nearby settlement of Shakers. While the Shakers were accused of diabolism by some of their critics, Andreani's disdain for them did not spring from his own religious scruples. Consistent with the prevailing deism of the Republic of Letters, Andreani had remained silent upon matters of religion (with the exception of the beliefs of the Iroquois) until he reached New Lebanon. Andreani acknowledged the superiority of Shaker manufactures but regarded their doctrines as incoherent and their form of worship as positively nonsensical. The "extravagance" of Shakerism provoked the journal's most animated chapter. Andreani quoted the inchoate speech of the leader of the religious service he attended and described his strange gesticulations. Andreani's protests that the Shakers were indeed as he described them imply his expectation that his diary would be read by others. To bolster his credibility, Andreani reviewed the sources of his information (manuscripts, interviews with their leaders) and explicitly raised his evidentiary standards. He declined to speculate what went on behind the closed doors of an "advanced" Shaker service "because having to rely on the testimony of one who perhaps never entered it, we would be subject to error." He limited his comments to the general service he was allowed to attend. Such a prohibition would have precluded his description of the Iroquois white dog ceremonial, as well as the weddings and funerals of the Albany Dutch. The coupling of practical sophistication and efficiency with "fanaticism" disquieted Andreani. The Shakers' material lives suggested the triumph of rationality; but unreason, rather than being vanquished, turned out to be its motive force. "How," Andreani asked, "can one ever unite…customs so excellent to craziness so strange…?" In the absence of an answer, he consoled himself that the question would disappear with time: if they adhered to their vow of chastity, he noted, "this absurd and strange sect will be of but brief duration." Perhaps a tranquil sloop ride back down to New York City helped Andreani digest what he had just seen. That he recorded relatively little of this part of his trip indicates his return was via water. The journal ends abruptly, with Andreani's terse description of West Point. He noted its strategic importance, which had compelled Congress to authorize its purchase from its owner while Andreani had been in New York City. Whereas Miranda found much to inspect and many officers there in 1784, Andreani found the garrison reduced to "twenty men." He commented upon some rocks, but finding himself unable to go further inland and make more scientific observations, he terminated his journal. A Different Window It would be overreaching to claim that Andreani's diary embodied some kind of essential Italian or Milanese sensibility, even if his flattering and flirtatious phrase-list may invite speculation. Andreani's aristocratic social milieu transcended national boundaries, and the scientific subculture of which he was a part positively flouted them. Nevertheless, like other Italian writers in the eighteenth century, Andreani was less prone to gravitate to either pole of the "dispute of the New World" than his French or English counterparts. Generally speaking, Italian representations of America were less polemical and ideologically driven. The impulse to nostalgically idealize Native Americans or Euro-American subsistence farmers was muted by the fact that even cosmopolitan Milan was underdeveloped by the standards of France or England. Nor was Italy deeply implicated in North American colonialism, either directly or indirectly through emigration or investment. Thus, in Italy the ranks of both America's promoters and opponents remained relatively thin. That is not to say Italian writers like Andreani were more accurate, but the conditions were more auspicious. Andreani's visit came at a crucial time. Andreani's journal of his tour provides snapshots of the expansion and transformation of New York State during a transitional period. He captures aspects of regional development that were nascent, such as the integration of most of Iroquoia into the United States. Other elements, such as the predominance of the Dutch in Albany, were fading but still highly visible markers of the colonial era. Finally, Andreani documented some transformations were anticipated but unrealized, such as the maple sugar industry. From Andreani's perspective, the transformation of New York into the Empire State appears anything but foreordained. Of course, Andreani's observations apply beyond New York's borders: much of what he described reflected conditions that existed nationally. His description of the anti-elitism of New York's backcountry population corresponds closely with that of other regions. Castiglioni, traveling in North Carolina a few years earlier, took note of that phenomenon in terms strikingly similar to Andreani's. The plight of Iroquois communities consigned to small reservations was likewise replicated everywhere as the pace of aboriginal dispossession accelerated. Indeed, at the beginning of the twenty-first century we may ponder why some of Andreani's descriptions ultimately resonate not only across the continent, but across two centuries of American history as well. Notes on the Translation and the Text "Traduttori, traditori," or "translators, traitors," goes an old Italian literary proverb, emphasizing that even the best translations ultimately violate the true meaning and spirit of the original. Every lingua, both spoken and written, has its idiosyncrasies, its inner meanings that cannot be transferred into another idiom without altering or even losing something of the original in the process. Translations can be even harder when they attempt to reconcile and transfer meanings from an old foreign vernacular, as is the case in the present edition of Andreani's Giornale. It has already been pointed out by Italian students of Paolo Andreani that the Milanese count had a quite peculiar writing style. Adding to this was the fact that, as in other cities and towns throughout Italy, don Paolo's Milan made wide use of a local dialect (known as meneghino), to which was added some basic Latin. Knowledge of "proper" Italian was quite approximate, and even that was uncertain, since the language was not yet standardized. Andreani's Giornale reflects such a linguistic approximation and, as a result, the combination of dependent clauses (so typically Italian), uneven punctuation, and the pervasive use of double negatives occasionally blur the meaning of sentences. Andreani's idiosyncrasies also include his frequent doubling of consonants in many words that needed them neither then nor today (e.g., gellato [frozen], dannaro [money], nubbi [clouds], ferrite [wounds]). Equally perpelexing, he reduced them to one where he should have retained two (e.g., spectacolo [show], malatie [illness], slite [sleds]). Other orthographic nuances include Andreani's use of the consonant j (called i lunga ["long i"] in Italian) instead of the normal vowel i, once popular in the presence of diphthongs (e.g., caldaja [furnace], ajuto [help]), or in the plural form of words ending in the unaccented "io" (e.g., figlj [sons], consiglj [councils]) where Italian normally employs the i. Additionally, the count often replaces the correct consonant s with the improper z (e.g., diverze [different], sparza [sparse], prezentare [to present or introduce]). While such anomalies are apparent to the Italian reader, they are obviously not reflected in the present translation. Furthermore, throughout the Giornale, Andreani, who is otherwise meticulous in his mineralogical and meteorological observations, shows a general inconsistency with the correct orthography of proper nouns, surnames, toponyms, tribal names, and cardinal directions. In such instances, Andreani's original spellings have been retained. The reader will quickly appreciate that we have attempted to retain the original style of the text, idiosyncratic as it was. The translation from Italian to English was prepared by Cesare Marino, but incorporates various recommendations regarding contemporary vocabulary by Karim Tiro. Translations of Andreani's French letters to Miranda were undertaken collaboratively. We have included translations and retranslations of Iroquoian words when they appear significant. These were prepared by Roy Wright, whose initials appear in parentheses in those footnotes. Roy's contribution demonstrates quite dramatically the potential of Native-language words as historical sources. We do not know exactly when Andreani wrote his Giornale. He most likely drafted it in its present form upon his return to New York in the late summer of 1790, and even possibly later in the fall, after he resettled in Philadelphia. Since Andreani mentions eating bear meat during his travels to the Great Lakes in 1791, we know that he edited and amended the Giornale sometime after that second long trip. However, because the reference to the bear meat was inserted as an interlineated note, rather than interpolated into the original text, we conclude that the temporal integrity of the 1790 diary was retained. It is important to note that this translation has been based in its entirety been upon the manuscript. Around 1940, count Antonio Sormani Verri produced a typescript of the section describing Native peoples that does not always adhere to the manuscript. Some of the inconsistencies present in this typescript were later transferred to the translation by Elisabeth Ruthman under the title "Travels of a Gentleman from Milan, 1790." In order to avoid encumbering the text with a profusion of footnotes, we have generally limited our intervention to translating foreign and technical terms and identifying individuals and places where they are unclear or little known. Although there are details and interpretations that bear correction or expansion, we have usually refrained from doing so except where clarity requires. The reader will observe that we have departed from this rule where, in our judgment, the information significantly enhances understanding of or interest in the text.

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ChristianAnswers.Net WebBible Encyclopedia The Mosiac law prohibited any compensation for murder or the reprieve of the murderer (Ex. 21:12,14; Deut. 19:11,13; 2 Sam. 17:25; 20:10). Two witnesses were required in any capital case (Num. 35:19-30; Deut. 17:6-12). If the murderer could not be discovered, the city nearest the scene of the murder was required to make expiation for the crime committed (Deut. 21:1-9).

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The port was initially built in 1890, to provide a location where tobacco could be transferred directly between rail lines from the interior and deep-draft ships. The harbor expanded in 1907 with the construction of a new section intended for Chinese and indigenous traders, reserving the existing port for European shipping. In the early twentieth century the port's business expanded, with the growth of major rubber and palm oil plantations in northern Sumatra. In the 1920s several major berthing facilities were built. In 1938, the port was the largest port in the Dutch East Indies, in terms of cargo value. Cargo volumes dropped substantially after Indonesian independence, and did not reach pre-independence levels again until the mid-1960s. A major restructuring in 1985 saw the construction of a container terminal; it almost immediately captured about one-fifth of Indonesia's containerized exports. Major products exported include rubber, palm oil, tea, and coffee. In early 2013, Belawan Port can serves 1.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year and now is still gradually expands to 2 million TEUs with Rp.975 billion ($89.7 million) fund. - "Pelindo I menggarap proyek Belawan dan Batu Ampar". Retrieved April 23, 2013. - Airriess, Christopher A (1991). Global economy and port morphology in Belawan, Indonesia. Geographical Review 81(2):183-196. |This article related to water transport is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|

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Tracing Shackleton's treacherous steps An Aussie adventurer is about to recreate Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated 1914 Antarctic expedition. The expedition crew onboard the Alexandra Shackleton. (Photo: Tim Jarvis) “MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” The recruitment ad for Ernest Shackleton’s expedition aimed at making the first ever crossing of Antarctica made the risks clear. While Shackleton didn't succeed in his mission, the team's adventure lived up to those promises and more, playing out as one of the greatest stories ever recorded of human grit, endeavour and survival. In January 2013, a team hopes to replicate two key parts of that 1914 journey, using only the craft, equipment and clothing available to Shackleton and his men. Expedition leader Tim Jarvis, AM, is a leading explorer and environmental scientist who has previously re-enacted Sir Douglas Mawson's 1912 trek across Antarctica, using original equipment. During that journey, he spent long days and nights starving, freezing and alone. “But this will be the most challenging trip for me,” Tim says. Paul Larsen, a sailor best known for breaking world speed records, is also well aware of the dangers of following in Shackleton's footsteps. “This is a daunting undertaking, not to be taken on too lightly,” he says. Ernest Shackleton heads for Antarctica, 1914 In December 1914, Shackleton set sail with a crew of 27 men. Unusually harsh conditions left his wooden ship, the Endurance, trapped in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea, where it drifted for 10 months, before eventually being crushed. Shackleton and his men camped for five months on ice floes, then, as the melting ice finally released them into the Southern Ocean, they sailed three small lifeboats that they had saved from the wreck to the bleak and uninhabited Elephant Island. Ernest Shackleton waves goodbye as he embarks on a second expedition to Antarctic, in September 1921. (Photo: Getty Images) In a desperate bid to find help, Shackleton and five of his men set out in one of these 6.9m lifeboats, called the James Caird. They managed to sail 800 miles through gales and treacherous seas to the island of South Georgia, which they knew was home to a whaling station. The only problem was, it was located on the other side of the island – across 26 miles of mountains and glaciers. Frostbitten and starving, Shackleton and two men achieved the impossible, completing the journey. In August 1916, Shackleton finally got back to Elephant Island to rescue the others. Incredibly, every single member of his crew survived. Re-enactment of historic journey Tim plans to lead a re-enactment of the voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia in a near-exact replica of the James Caird – named the Alexandra Shackleton after the adventurer’s granddaughter – and then to cross the rugged peaks of South Georgia. A support ship, the TS Pelican, similar in size to Shackleton's Endurance, will provide assistance if the team gets into serious trouble. The team's credentials are impressive. Alongside Tim and Paul will be skipper Nick Bub, a round-the-world yacht racer; Barry Gray, the Royal Marine's mountain leader chief instructor and Bosun Petty Officer Seb Coulthard of the Royal Navy, who has worked in some of the most inhospitable regions of the world. However, the team will use only the equipment and methods that were available to Shackleton, including celestial navigation and a sextant. They will also sport 1914-era clothing. As Paul points out, Shackleton's journey didn't pan out as he'd expected, and he found himself in situations he would never actually have chosen to put himself. “The boat isn't very well suited for the sea journey,” adds Tim. “It could easily capsize. Landing at South Georgia will also be extremely rough.” In fact, it's one of the most daunting shores in the world, says Paul. And they could face even tougher challenges than those encountered by Shackleton. “The crevassing on South Georgia will be worse for us,” says Tim. “With climate change, a lot of the crevasses that would have been filled with snow back in Shackleton's day are no longer.” Tim Jarvis (left) and Barry Gray load up the replica boat with supplies ahead of their historic adventure. (Photo: Tim Jarvis) Spotlight on environmental issues in Antarctica Tim and his team hope that the expedition will highlight some of the environmental problems facing Antarctica. Conservation charity Flora and Flora International will receive funds raised from the expedition. Dr Esther Bertram, senior programme manager for conservation science at Flora and Fauna International, and an expert on Antarctica, is looking forward the team's work. “They will be able to record changes in the glacial cover of South Georgia Island, see empty valleys that would previously have been covered in ice in Shackleton's time – all potentially indicating the impacts of a changing climate,” she says. Tim hopes the expedition will also be useful in other ways. “Shackleton's principal message was about getting a very disparate group of men to pull together to achieve their goal against very, very significant odds – and I think that message is a very relevant one for the world today. “Whether it's climate change or the global financial crisis, I think we need collective rather than individual action,” Tim says. Tim farewelled Australia on Sunday. The expedition is scheduled to start in early January, 2013. On this day: Mawson sets sail for Antarctica Antarctica: mapping the last continent GALLERY: Antarctica - the final frontier Shackleton's 100-year-old Antarctic biscuit for sale Antarctica expedition: Mawson's Hut Remembering Scott's Antarctic tragedy More Antarctica stories...

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Pub. date: 2010 | Online Pub. Date: December 16, 2009 | DOI: 10.4135/9781412972000 | Print ISBN: 9781412940818 | Online ISBN: 9781412972000| Publisher:SAGE Publications, Inc.About this encyclopedia Visual System: Evolution of Visual systems include light-detecting cells (photoreceptors), typically eyes as organs with image forming capacity, and neuron networks that extract useful information from the patterns of light that activate the photoreceptors. This information is used in numerous ways, guiding daily and annual cycles of activity, mating, migration, and other behaviors, as well as motor actions that preserve life and lead to successful reproduction. Eyes have proven to be so useful that they have evolved at least twice and probably many times. They vary in many ways, while consistently providing information about wavelength and intensity of light and sharing molecular mechanisms of photo detection. Thus, some of the same genes are used in the development of independently evolved photoreceptors and eyes. Even though light detection does not depend on having eyes, eyes are structures that protect receptors from damage when focusing or channeling light so that at least a crude image of ...

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People of Northwest Public Radio WSU Develop New Battery Tech. Wed May 23, 2012 WSU Researchers Patent Longer Battery Life Technology Researchers at Washington State University say they've found a way to keep lithium batteries charged three times longer. These are the batteries used in laptops, cell phones and electric vehicles. The key ingredient in the new battery design is tin, as a replacement for carbon, which is more common. The research is lead by engineering professor Grant Norton. He says the improvements could keep many electronic devices running much longer. Grant Norton: "Or if you thought about this in terms of automotive applications, in principle, then you could drive your car almost three times further as an existing battery. So the performance is encouraging." Norton is still gathering data for his research and as yet to publish a peer review paper. Even so, WSU has patented the tin and lithium battery design. It could come to market as soon as a year from now. Copyright 2012 Northwest News Network

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Dale Gary, professor of physics, is leading a is leading a project to design and build the Frequency Agile Solar Radiotelescope (FASR), a new technology capable of making high-resolution images of the solar corona. The project, supported by the National Science Foundation, will construct a new radio telescope consisting of 100 receiving dishes that will allow scientists to make direct measurements of the coronal magnetic fields.The image above is a design rendering of the array. Read an article about FASR in NJIT Alumni Magazine. FASR will allow researchers to study the birth of coronal mass ejections, violent phenomena associated with the Sun's magnetic fields that can cause sudden, intense fluctuations in the solar wind and serious consequences on Earth. The high-energy particles that characterize these ejections have the potential to destroy satellites. The satellites in turn may impact television viewing, pagers, cellular phones and other wireless devices. With the ability to observe these phenomena, especially those on the near face of the sun that most affect Earth, researchers will be able to provide better information on the space environment to airlines, power companies and satellite operators. Dr. Gary, a specialist in radio solar physics, directs NJIT's Owens Valley Solar Array (OVSA), the only solar dedicated radio observatory in the United States. With funding from the NSF, OVSA studies radio waves emitted by the sun and plays an important role in supplying the community with high spatial, temporal and spectral resolution microwave observations of the solar atmosphere. Read a review of Dr. Gary's book, Solar and Space Weather Radiophysics.

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In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the term building refers to one of the following: In this article, the first usage is generally intended unless otherwise specified. Buildings come in a wide amount of shapes and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for a wide number of factors, from building materials available, to weather conditions, to land prices, ground conditions, specific uses and aesthetic reasons. Buildings serve several needs of society – primarily as shelter from weather and as general living space, to provide privacy, to store belongings and to comfortably live and work. A building as a shelter represents a physical division of the human habitat (a place of comfort and safety) and the outside (a place that at times may be harsh and harmful). Ever since the first cave paintings, buildings have also become objects or canvasess of artistic expression. In recent years, interest in sustainable planning and building practices has also become part of the design process of many new buildings.

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How can you call something a functional movement screen when most of the movements are in positions that are at low levels of function for any athletic body? We need to always keep in mind that we have three movement constants the body, the ground, and gravity. In movement assessment we want to see the effect of gravity on the body and how the body effectively uses the ground to be able to stabilize, produce, and reduce force. Screening using artificial movements in a sterile environment is of little or no value. As a coach I want to know what an athlete can do, where I can start them on a progression on a continuum of function in their training. Every athlete at every level has “deficiencies,” are those really deficiencies or are they in the eye of the beholder. The perceived deficiencies must be evaluated in the context of the athletes training background, development age and the actual sport. Each athlete has a movement signature, a fingerprint that defines him or her as an individual in regard to their movement patterns, to change that is very difficult and of questionable necessity. We also need to remember when we are screening movement that the body is asymmetrical, to seek symmetry is unrealistic. Proportionality right to left and front to back is a more realistic and practical goal. I have different movements that I use to evaluate my athletes depending on the sport and their developmental age. No seven tests will fit all athletes; one size does not fit all. Also remember that Testing = Training and Training = Testing. Every training session includes fundamental movements that I use for ongoing evaluation against a baseline. The bottom line is to develop a screen that works for you in your situation that gives you actionable information that you can translate into an improved training program.

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by Staff Writers Boulder, Colo. (UPI) May 9, 2012 Giant sunspots have sent clouds of particles toward Earth that could bring northern auroras but aren't expected to disrupt communications, U.S. scientists said. A large group of sunspots headed toward Earth during the weekend and two coronal mass ejections erupted from the Sun's surface Tuesday, they said. The ejection could arrive on Earth late Wednesday and cause moderate geomagnetic storms and auroras in the higher altitudes, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center reported. Because the coronal mass ejections were not aimed directly at Earth they are not likely to affect communications satellites or other equipment, researchers said. The Sunspot Region 1476 is a "monster sunspot" because of its size, 11 times wider than the Earth, NASA's Space Dynamics Observatory said. The spots are so large they have been visible without the aid of telescopes, although special filters are required for viewing the sun directly to protect the eye from damage, astronomers warn. Solar Science News at SpaceDaily Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login. Climatic effects of a solar minimum Munich, Germany (SPX) May 08, 2012 An abrupt cooling in Europe together with an increase in humidity and particularly in windiness coincided with a sustained reduction in solar activity 2800 years ago. Scientists from the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ in collaboration with Swedish and Dutch colleagues provide evidence for a direct solar-climate linkage on centennial timescales. Using the most modern methodologi ... read more |The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement|

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CausesBy Mayo Clinic staff CLICK TO ENLARGE |Tear glands and tear ducts| Dry eyes are caused by a lack of adequate tears. Your tears are a complex mixture of water, fatty oils, and mucus. This mixture helps make the surface of your eyes smooth and clear, and it helps protect your eyes from infection. For some people, the cause of dry eyes is an imbalance in the composition of their tears. Other people don't produce enough tears to keep their eyes comfortably lubricated. Eyelid problems, medications and other causes, such as environmental factors, also can lead to dry eyes. Poor tear quality The tear film has three basic layers: oil, water and mucus. Problems with any of these layers can cause dry eyes symptoms. - Oil. The outer layer of the tear film, produced by small glands on the edge of your eyelids (meibomian glands), contains fatty oils called lipids. These smooth the tear surface and slow evaporation of the middle watery layer. If your oil glands don't produce enough oil, the watery layer evaporates too quickly, causing dry eyes. Dry eyes are common in people whose meibomian glands are clogged. Meibomian dysfunction is more common in people with inflammation along the edge of their eyelids (blepharitis), rosacea and other skin disorders. - Water. The middle layer is mostly water with a little bit of salt. This layer, produced by the tear glands (lacrimal glands), cleanses your eyes and washes away foreign particles or irritants. If your eye produces inadequate amounts of water, the oil and mucous layers can touch and cause a stringy discharge. - Mucus. The inner layer of mucus helps spread tears evenly over the surface of your eyes. If you don't have enough mucus to cover your eyes, dry spots can form on the front surface of the eye (cornea). Decreased tear production Dry eyes can occur when you're unable to produce enough tears. The medical term for this condition is keratoconjunctivitis sicca (ker-uh-toe-kun-junk-tih-VIE-tis SIK-uh). You may not produce enough tears if you: - Are older than 50. Tear production tends to diminish as you get older. Dry eyes are common in people older than 50. - Are a postmenopausal woman. A lack of tears is more common among women, especially after menopause. This may be due in part to hormonal changes. - Have a medical condition that reduces your tear production. Dry eyes are also associated with some medical conditions such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma, Sjogren's syndrome, thyroid disorders and vitamin A deficiency. - Have had laser eye surgery. Refractive eye surgeries such as laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK) may cause decreased tear production and dry eyes. Symptoms of dry eyes related to these procedures are usually temporary. - Have tear gland damage. Damage to the tear glands from inflammation or radiation can hamper tear production. Blinking spreads a continuous thin film of tears across the surface of your eyes. If you have an eyelid problem that makes it difficult to blink, tears may not be spread across your eye adequately or your tears may evaporate too quickly, causing dry eyes. Eyelid problems can include an out-turning of the lids (ectropion) or an in-turning of the lids (entropion). Medications that cause dry eyes Medications that can cause dry eyes include: - Some drugs used to treat high blood pressure - Antihistamines and decongestants - Hormone replacement therapy - Certain antidepressants - Isotretinoin-type drugs for treatment of acne Other causes of dry eyes include: - Dry air - Tasks that require enough concentration that you blink less often, such as working at a computer, driving or reading - Facts about dry eye. National Eye Institute. http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/dryeye/dryeye.asp. Accessed June 14, 2012 - Preferred Practice Pattern: Dry eye syndrome. San Francisco, Calif.: American Academy of Ophthalmology. http://one.aao.org/CE/PracticeGuidelines/PPP_Content.aspx?cid=127dbdce-4271-471a-b6d9-464b9d15b748. Accessed June 14, 2012. - Shtein RM. Dry eyes. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed June 14, 2012. - Yao W, et al. Dry eye syndrome: An update in office management. The American Journal of Medicine. 2011;124:1016. - Stevenson W, et al. Dry eye disease. Archives of Ophthalmology. 2012;130:90. - Treatment. TearScience.com. http://www.tearscience.com/physician/in-officeprocedure/treatment/. Accessed June 21, 2012. - Care of the patient with ocular surface disorders. St. Louis, Mo.: American Optometric Association. http://www.aoa.org/x4813.xml. Accessed June 14, 2012. - Rand AL, et al. Nutritional supplements for dry eye syndrome. Current Opinion in Ophthalmology. 2011;22:279. - Arita R, et al. Caffeine increases tear volume depending on polymorphisms within the adenosine a2a receptor gene and cytochrome p450 1a2. Ophthalmology 2012;119:972. - Robertson DM (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. June 27, 2012.

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Compressed Air Energy StoragePosted by WhatWow on 6 Dec, 2010. Categories Energy, Principle, Technology Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is a way of storing energy for future usage, primarily energy generated at off-peak (lower cost) times for use at on-peak (higher cost) times. Methods of storage include use of electrical or wind power to compress air into underground ‘mines’ made of solids such as concrete or stone, or fluids such as hot oil or molten salt. Once removed from storage, the air must be expanded via air engine or turbine before being used to power a generator or even a car such as the Tata ONE Car. CAES is still a subject of ongoing study to determine the most efficient practices.

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You will easily master the quarter stitch after doing a few. Still, if you have never done stitching, you may want to avoid a pattern that contains many partial stitches since they can be hard to count. See my how-to page on making a cross stitch row. Designers use partial stitches to smooth edges and round corners. They may be stitched alone along the outer edge of a design or combined within a body of full cross stitches. How they are represented varies from one designer to another, and some details of how they are constructed may be left up to you. Always review the entire pattern and instructions before beginning. As long as you make them consistent throughout the entire project, you have a little leeway. They can be found listed like other categories of embroidery stitches, similar to backstitches and straight stitches, on the color key or legend for your project. The legend will specify the number of strands to work with and the direction of each stitch, and each floss color will be represented by a different symbol. Remember that partial stitches can slant in any direction, so adapt the following instructions to fit your needs. On your pattern, the symbol for a full cross stitch may look like this. A Quarter stitch for that same color will look like one of these. The square is divided by a slanted line. A smaller version of the symbol occupies the quadrant to be stitched. The one I have embroidered below would be represented this way. |1. In this example, locate the lower left corner and bring the needle up through the fabric. ||2. Crossing diagonally, insert the needle half a stitch from the origin point, pulling the floss completely through to the back. |3. Your stitch is finished. If you have a comment or question about this lesson, or if you would like to suggest a new one, please go to our Contact Us page. (We promise not to use your email address for any other purpose.) Return to the top of this page. Return to How to ... Return from How to Make a Quarter Stitch to Better Cross Stitch Patterns Home Page

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This project assembled statewide data layers representing 10 uncorrelated individual threats to Florida's freshwater habitats and created a composite index of the threat data layers to determine relative condition of freshwater habitats within The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (CWCS) is an action plan for conserving the state's wildlife and natural areas. In 2005 the CWCS identified 27 threats to Florida's freshwater habitats. Creating a comprehensive database of threats is an essential step toward achieving the overall goals of improving strategic habitat conservation planning and addressing causes of low abundance and decline of species in aquatic habitats. This project used a Geographic Information System (GIS) to assemble a statewide geographic collection of map-based data representing 15 of the 27 threats. GIS applications are map-based tools that allow users to create searches, analyze geographic information, and create and edit digital maps. The information collected regarding the 15 threats was used to determine the relative level of individual threats to each subwatershed (Hydrologic Unit Code [HUC] 12 unit) within Florida. A subwatershed is a smaller basin within a larger drainage area where all of the surface water drains to a common point of the larger watershed. The map data layers and resulting composite indices show information across the entire state but are summarized at a subwatershed level. A map data layer consists of a single theme such as elevation or locations of waste treatment plants. Viewed together these data layers paint a picture and can be analyzed to examine relationships to help answer questions. Therefore, it is possible to both discover regional patterns and also identify conditions at a more local level. Managers and researchers can use this threat information along with consideration of both the permanence of the threat and its impact on the five indicators of ecological integrity to begin further study into the issues affecting a particular freshwater Based on the composite index map, a distinct trend of increasing threat level is evident progressing from northwest Florida to the east and south. At a regional scale, road density dominates as the most common reason for high threat values in northern Florida. Agriculture dominates in the west-central region and waterway modification dominates in east-central and southern Florida. This multi-scale assessment is effective at both highlighting local conditions which may warrant further investigations and illustrating regional trends. These data may be obtained by downloading either a 240 MB archive or the final report in pdf format, by emailing [email protected], or by calling (850) 488-0588.

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- Development & Aid - Economy & Trade - Human Rights - Global Governance - Civil Society Saturday, May 25, 2013 Nirmal Bharat Great WASH Yatra, focusing on the emerging issue of “menstrual hygiene management”.- World Toilet Day, which is commemorated on November 19, will culminate with a 50-day long advocacy march across India for the This is a little-discussed, often a taboo topic in India and other parts of the developing world, says the Geneva-based Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), which is arranging and supporting both the World Toilet Day and the Yatra. The Yatra is taking place in India but sanitation and hygiene is a global problem. It causes diarrhoea, which is estimated to cause 1.5 million child deaths per year, constituting about 15% of total child deaths under five in developing countries. On the other hand, the Disease Control Priorities in Development Countries (DCPP) project noted that hygiene promotion to prevent diarrhoea is the most cost-effective health intervention in the world. According to WSSCC, young girls and women menstruate on average close to 3,000 days over a lifetime, or nearly 10 years of their lives. However, shockingly few are able to manage this natural monthly biological occurrence without shame and pain. At the same time, more than 300 million women and girls in India use unsanitary material such as old rags, husks, dried leaves and grass, ash, sand or newspapers every month to try and contain the flow of menstrual blood, because they don’t have access to essential sanitary products and facilities during this time. According to a press release, about 23 % of girls in India leave school when they start menstruating and the remaining female students on average miss 5 days a month of school between ages of 12 and 18. By the time the Yatra ends, evidence from over 2,000 menstrual hygiene focus groups across the country will feed into findings to present to decision-makers by WSSCC to help bring this issue out of the dark. Lack of adequate sanitation is a huge problem in India and the world. India loses approximately $53.8 billion (>6.4% of India’s GDP) due to increased health costs, productivity losses, and reduced tourism revenue due to inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene, the press release said. The Yatra is using sports (major cricket stars) and Bollywood-style dance contests to spread messages. It builds upon India’s strong tradition of civic activism and is a major opportunity to make it possible to talk about dignity, hygiene and health, rights, gender, safe and private facilities, affordable and safe sanitary pad use and disposal, and more. Thorsten Kiefer, Executive Director of WASH United, says: “We have looked at the things Indians really are passionate and excited about and transposed them into a sanitation and hygiene context. What we are trying to do with the Yatra is to make toilets and hygiene cool and sexy.” Nirat Bhatnagar, principal at Quicksand, adds that “the Yatra represents a totally new approach to sanitation and hygiene campaigning in India in that it fully focuses on fun, positive messaging and super star role models. Basically, the Yatra is re-inventing toilet talk!” Reflecting the great need to address India’s massive sanitation and hygiene crisis, the Yatra will see a high degree of involvement from the Minister of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Jairam Ramesh, and the Chief Ministers of several states. The Yatra works in close collaboration with the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA), a government subsidization and awareness program that makes toilets affordable for poor and marginalized Indians. The Yatra’s key messages pertaining to toilet use, handwashing with soap and MHM will supplement the NBA’s emphasis on prioritizing household spending on sanitation. In addition, the Yatra will enjoy the support of some of India’s biggest cricket heroes, as well as major Bollywood stars. Nirat Bhatnagar says: “Cricket stars and Bollywood actors are among the most powerful role models in India. The Yatra is a unique opportunity for celebrities to use their fame to help tackle one of the most pertinent social issues of our country in a fun and positive fashion. We invite everybody to come on board and help us build a popular movement for sanitation and hygiene in India.”

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An elaborate system of leads spreads across our hearts. These leads – the heart's electrical system – control our pulse and coordinate contraction of the heart chambers. While the structure of the human heart has been known for a long time, the evolutionary origin of our conduction system has nevertheless remained a mystery. Researchers have finally succeeded in showing that the spongy tissue in reptile hearts is the forerunner of the complex hearts of both birds and mammals. The new knowledge provides a deeper understanding of the complex conductive tissue of the human heart, which is of key importance in many heart conditions. "The heart of a bird or a mammal – for example a human – pumps frequently and rapidly. This is only possible because it has electrically conductive tissue that controls the heart. Until now, however, we haven't been able to find conductive tissue in our common reptilian ancestors, which means we haven't been able to understand how this enormously important system emerged," says Bjarke Jensen, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University. Along with Danish colleagues and colleagues from the University of Amsterdam, he can now reveal that the genetic building blocks for highly developed conductive tissue are actually hidden behind the thin wall in the spongy hearts of reptiles. The new results have just been published in the journal PLoS ONE. "We studied the hearts of cold-blooded animals like lizards, frogs and zebrafish, and we investigated the gene that determines which parts of the heart are responsible for conducting the activating current. By comparing adult hearts from reptiles with embryonic hearts from birds and mammals, we discovered a common molecular structure that's hidden by the anatomical differences," explains Dr Jensen. Since the early 1900s, scientists have been wondering how birds and mammals could have developed almost identical conduction systems independently of each other when their common ancestor was a cold-blooded reptile with a sponge-like inner heart that has virtually no conduction bundles. The studies show that it is simply the spongy inner tissue in the foetal heart that gets stretched out to become a fine network of conductive tissue in adult birds and mammals. And this knowledge can be put to use in the future. "Our knowledge about the reptilian heart and the evolutionary background to our conductive tissue can provide us with a better understanding of how the heart works in the early months of foetal life in humans, when many women miscarry, and where heart disorders are thought to be the leading cause of spontaneous abortion," says Professor Tobias Wang. Explore further: Potato may help feed Ethiopia in era of climate change More information: www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0044231

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Taking oral contraceptive (OC) pills may reduce bone mass and increase the risk of osteoporosis later in life, but this can be prevented by adopting a diet containing dairy products rich in calcium, researchers have shown. The findings are based on a study of 133 young women who started out with a dietary calcium intake of less than 800 milligrams (mg) per day. The participants were then randomly assigned to a “medium” dairy diet (1000 to 1100 mg calcium daily), a “high” dairy diet (1200 to 1300 mg calcium), or their usual diet. The dairy diets placed particular emphasis on intake of non-fat and low-fat milk. Altogether, 57 OC users and 76 nonusers were involved. Among OC users, intake of either dairy diet prevented a drop in bone mineral density at the hip and the spine, Dr. Dorothy Teegarden, from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and colleagues note in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. “Physicians and public health professionals,” the researchers conclude, “need to encourage young women, particularly those using oral contraceptives, to consume recommended levels of calcium (1000 mg/day) in their diets to prevent compromising bone mass.”

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The products of engineering design are everywhere, but who or what determines their form and function? Their surfaces are usually cold, seemingly objective, as if they existed outside of history of the technologies that are so much a part of our lives. Written by a practicing engineer, Designing Engineers yields clues to this mystery by probing deeply into the everyday world of engineering. In doing so, it reveals significant discrepancies between our ideal image of design as an instrumental process and the reality of design as a historically situated social process that is full of uncertainty and ambiguity. Designing Engineers describes the evolution of three disparate projects: an x-ray inspection system for airports, a photoprint machine, and a residential photovoltaic energy system. In each case, we are taken through the hallways and into the meeting rooms of the company to watch over the shoulders of engineers as they engage in the manifold individual and collective work that goes into designing a new product. Louis Bucciarelli was a consultant to one project and participated in the design process for the other two. In all three projects he examines both object - the way participants understood how things work - and process - the way they go about designing. What he learns is that engineering design is a social process that involves constant negotiation among many parties, not just engineers but marketing people, research scientists, accountants, and customers as well. One of the strengths of the book is the way Bucciarelli uses the very language of engineering discourse to uncover the many levels at which negotiation takes place. Designing, it turns out, is as much about agreeing on definitions as it is about producing "hard" artifacts. "Bucciarelli's vigorous, humane intelligence sheds new light on theinner dynamics of technological choice. This book is truly oneof a kind." —Langdon Winner, author of The Whale and the Reactor

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AIDS Researcher David Ho reports on “hidden HIV” and potential new avenues of attack. In 1996, when Time magazine named David Ho, M.D., as its man of the year, people with AIDS were enjoying the first glimmers of hope for long-term survival, thanks to the combination therapies he and others helped develop. They were living longer, and the new treatments kept many with HIV from developing full-blown AIDS. Three years later, however, that optimism has waned as the limitations of those therapies have become apparent. Although mortality due to AIDS has decreased five-fold over the last several years, the new treatments don’t work for everyone. Strains of HIV are now resistant to the medications. And survival means a life ruled by rigorous adherence to an unforgiving schedule of foul-tasting pills. Ho, director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York City, described the next steps in the battle against AIDS at the first T.S. Lin Memorial Lecture, sponsored by the Department of Pharmacology. In his talk, Advances and Obstacles in HIV Therapy, Ho said that studies have found that although some patients have apparently undetectable levels of HIV, pools of the virus remain, lodged in immune cells called memory Cd4 lymphocytes. “The level of replication of the virus, we think, is exceedingly low,” Ho said. “One has to come up with a strategy that would facilitate the decay of the reservoir.” His approach, still under study, is to activate the immune system’s resting Cd4 cells to keep the pool of virus in check. “We think it would be very difficult to drive this pool to zero,” he said. “We could drive it sufficiently low that we could ask the immune system to clean it up and keep it under control.” The lecture series honors Lin, a pharmacology research scientist who died in 1992 and collaborated with William H. Prusoff, Ph.D., professor emeritus of pharmacology, to develop the anti-retroviral compound d4T as a treatment for AIDS. Marketed as Zerit, d4T has helped to prolong many thousands of AIDS patients’ lives. Ho was introduced by Yung-Chi Cheng, Ph.D., the Henry Bronson Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine, who helped develop 3TC, another AIDS treatment.

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Aug. 4, 2008 A WiMAX-based connection to the internet enables fire-monitoring efforts in remote and mountainous regions. A forest fire remote monitoring system has been successfully tested in Portugal that could prevent the destruction of millions of hectares, as well as save lives. Vigilant monitoring of mountainous forest is very difficult and expensive – but a fire that takes hold can be even more expensive. The fires in Greece in summer 2007 destroyed more than 2700 kilometres of forest and farmland, as well as more than 1000 homes, and they caused the deaths of over 80 people. The system tested in remote forest areas of Coimbra in Portugal uses WiMAX, a microwave access technology that can deliver data at up to 75 megabits per second over a range of 70km between fixed points (802.16.d), or its mobile version can provide 15mb/s over a four-kilometre radius (802.16.e). With WiMAX, remote spots can have a broadband connection without the need to lay expensive cable. “We selected this environment to test our WiMAX solution because in a normal city or town you have plenty of communications channels, such as UMTS telephony or ADSL,” says Enrico Angori, a leading researcher on the project. “It is in extremely remote areas that it makes sense to use this wireless technology.” WiMAX is not new. But the EU-funded WEIRD research team behind the Portuguese project extended the resilience and flexibility of the WiMAX technology. Bi-directionality was also tested, meaning that the fire monitors can pan or zoom onto a potential trouble spot with the remote cameras as well as receive signals from them. Fighting fire with images The fire monitoring system can reserve bandwidth for critical transmissions. Using an ‘authentication authorisation and accounting’ protocol, called DIAMETER, data traffic is identified and prioritised to ensure that vital video images, infrared heat images, verbal warnings or wind direction data are not interfered with or blocked by low-priority data traffic, such as emails. The WEIRD team seamlessly integrated WiMAX with a range of other network technologies to enable high-quality, end-to-end communication, whatever the route. The fire-monitoring system is designed to use ‘next-generation networks’ (NGN), decoupling the applications from the underlying transport stratum. Whatever the underlying network, the fire monitors’ signals will be passed end to end. Not all applications are designed to run on NGNs. For these, the research team built a series of adaptors – known as WEIRD agents or WEIRD application programming interfaces – that allowed non-NGN applications to take advantage of the enhanced quality of service and seamless mobility features of the wireless fire-monitoring system. Increasingly, WiMAX is being viewed as a complementary technology to existing wireless communication access channels, such as wifi and mobile telephony services. Therefore, the successful and seamless integration of WiMAX via ‘media-independent handover’ is an important step forward. WEIRD researchers also developed software that hides the complexity of the configuration of the end-to-end communication channel. Whatever equipment or versions of WiMAX are used, an ordinary user can quickly and easily establish an end-to-end communication path, allowing them to concentrate on what is important – their job. Further improvements in seamless handover of a communication flow from one system to another will be a future area of focus for the team, according to Giuseppe Martufi, another researcher with WEIRD. “There are some coverage problems with the mobile version of WiMAX, says Martufi. “When you go indoors, for example, the coverage of mobile WiMAX decreases. It would be interesting to develop a seamless connection allowing you to move from mobile WiMAX to your home network that uses WiFi,” he muses. WEIRD received funding from the EU's Sixth Framework Programme for research. Other social bookmarking and sharing tools: Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above. Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Miyuki Fukai is a Ph.D. student of Language Education, School of Education at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB). Between 1995 and 1997, she participated in the Japanese Exchange (JALEX) program sponsored by the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership and taught Japanese in a high school and middle school in Columbus, Indiana. In March 1998, she received a B.A. in Japanese pedagogy through Osaka University of Foreign Studies. She has been at IUB since September 1998. While studying for her Ph.D. degree , she also teaches beginning-level Japanese courses at IUB. Her research interests include the use of computer-mediated communication in foreign language learning, particularly issues related to interaction and learners1 affective factors such as anxiety and motivation. . I'm going to present how the World Wide Web and/or e-mail can help teachers and learners meet the National Standards. I draw upon evidence from my pilot study and share some ideas of internet-based activities to address the Japanese Standards. Fukai sensei's paper is at So read the paper above and go to TAPPED IN. There will be Fukai sensei and other participants. TAPPED IN is open to everybody and the presentation will be done in English. This event is open to anybody who is interested in the topic. It will be at After School Online Room at http://www.tappedin.org Instructions to log in as a guest and get to the After School Online Room: 1. Go to http://www.tappedin.org 2. Click the "Guest Login" Button on the TAPPED IN home page 3. Be patient while loading 4. When prompted in the bottom window, erase the text next to the word SAY, and type your name and hit return. 5. When loading is done, you will be in the Reception area. 6. To talk, type in the message in the window next to the word SAY. Then press the SEND button or the ENTER key 7. In order to get to After School Online room, you can click on After School Online in the map. Download and print this document. It will explain the interface really well. http://www.tappedin.sri.com/info/docs/TAPestry3.pdf If you have problems connecting from a school computer, you may be behind firewall. Please read Firewall explanation in FAQ.. If you still need help, please mail TAPPED IN staff at [email protected] If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Manager of SenseiOnline, Keiko Schneider at [email protected] Back to senseiOnline page Back to Keiko Schneider's Bookmarks

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International Society for Endangered Cats Wild Cat News Vol 27 Nov 2009 This month's featured feline is the least studied wild cat species in South America.The Pampas Cat Oncifelis colocolo is a resident of many South American countries, as well as the Pampas Grasslands of Argentina, from which they take their name.Learn more about these small cats here Our Wild Cat Conservation Website Membership In ISEC CanadaYou Can Help The Small Wild Cats Wild Cat Gifts Wild Cat Books Follow Us On Twitter Photo Gallery~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And this would be....What species do you think this relaxed little wild cat is? We'll give you the answer in next month's newsletter.If you can't wait for a month, just drop us a note! From the Email Inbox~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I run a small NGO in Nicaragua and one of our current projects is with communities located within a protected area on the slopes of Volcán Telica, an active volcano in the west of Nicaragua. Our work is mainly focused on assisting poor communities in developing sustainable livelihoods. The area where they live is suffering from severe environmental degradation through deforestation, forest fires, hunting and unsustainable farming practices. We have become aware that the area hosts at least one endangered small cat species. One report says that Oncilla Leopardus tigrinus and/or Ocelot Leopardus pardalis is present, whilst another report states that Margay Leopardus wiedi is present. I do not have much confidence that these sources are correct, so it is possible that any one, or even all three, of these species are present. What I do have for sure is a photo I took of a fur from an animal hunted in the area. I wonder if you can help me with the identification, or put me in touch with someone who can? Once we have a definitive identification, I can then look for relevant conservation guidelines and advice.Dr A Longley, Nuevas Esperanzas UK [Editor's Note: I forwarded this email and photo (above) to the researchers of the Wild Cats of Brazil Project. They identified the pelt as an ocelot, based on the spot pattern and background color. It was mostly the spots, as those on the ocelot tend to merge with each other. We also informed Dr. Longley that only the margay and ocelot are found in Nicaragua, as the oncilla does not live that far north.] Observations of a Wild Marbled Cat~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Marbled cats are among the least known felids. Apart from a few published observations and limited ranging data, there is no available information on their natural behaviour.This encounter occurred near the Way Canguk Research Station in Sumatra, collaboratively run by Wildlife Conservation Society WCS and the Indonesian Department of Forestry and Nature Conservation PHKA. It is a protected forest with relatively low levels of encroachment and poaching. The particular spot where the marbled cat was observed was in an isolated area far from the more regularly walked trails, about 1.2 km from the research station and 5 km from the nearest village.On Sept 30, 2008, I observed an adult marbled cat for about one hour. I was looking for a group of siamangs, the focus of my research. At 10:35 I visited a fruiting tree that the apes had fed in on previous days. I decided to wait for the siamangs there, and after about a minute I noticed the marbled cat, lying on the ground 12 m from me with its head half lifted up, looking at me and whipping its tail. As I made no attempt approach it, it stayed in the same position, at times dozing off (for less than a minute at a time), then looking back in my direction, and at times scanning the surroundings.At 11:18 it stood up and remained sitting on its hind legs until 11:27, while looking alternately at me and the surroundings. It then quietly and slowly moved away, without looking in my direction, keeping a constant 10 m distance as it turned a quarter of a circle around me. An interesting consideration is that at 9:16 of the same day, I had spotted a large, adult clouded leopard resting on a low horizontal branch above a trail, about 180 m from the marbled cat. The leopard silently and quickly fled as soon as it spotted me.Another intriguing aspect of this encounter is that the marbled cat might have been under that tree for the same reason I was, namely to wait for the animals attracted to the ripe fruits. The few data on the diet of the wild marbled cats suggest that they feed mainly on birds and rodents. Although there are no published accounts of wild marbled cats stalking or killing primates, this species has the arboreal characteristics required to successfully hunt primates in the forest canopy.Source: Luca Morino, IUCN/SSC Wild Cat News, Spring 2009 Social Media Genius Found!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A huge thank you to Jennifer Osborn, Jared Fuller and Ivy Schnepp who have volunteered to be the face of the small wild cats on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, respectively.On behalf of the small wild cats, we thank you from the bottom of our paws for coming forward to help! Thank you for caring about the small wild cats! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The International Society for Endangered Cats (ISEC) Canada is a non-profit conservation group working for the small wild cats. All proceeds raised go directly to wild cat conservation programs around the world.Wild cats don't have nine lives, and they need all the help they can get. Become an ISEC member, contribute to field research, purchase products or make a donation. Learn how you can participate in wild cat conservation by visiting our website today. Help spread the word - forward this email to a friend with the link below!Website www.wildcatconservation.org Email [email protected] Phone: 1-800-465-6384 Learn more about big cats and Big Cat Rescue at http://wwww.bigcatrescue.org

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Dr. Pei-Gwen South He is revered within musical academia — a familiar name amongst musical scholars, students and dedicated enthusiasts. Yet, mention the name of Haydn within the wider public domain, and one is likely to be met with blank expressions and the response, "Haydn? Who's that?" Indeed, even in terms of concert performances and radio broadcasts, his music is conspicuously absent from the popular, mainstream repertoire that is heard by audiences time and again. Perhaps this explains, if only in part, why his name has not crossed successfully into the public consciousness. Yet, the question that needs to be asked is, "Why?" For this was a man who was greatly admired and respected, and whose musical influence and importance was both recognized and unparalleled in his own lifetime. Born in Rohrau, Austria, in 1732, the son of a wheelwright and a cook, Franz Josef Haydn went on to become one of the greatest composers of what is commonly referred to as the "Classical" period in Western music history (or, the "Viennese" period or "Enlightenment"). Blessed with a beautiful voice, he took his first steps into the musical world as a choirboy in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, where he received some technical grounding and exposure to choral music. By and large, however, his compositional skills were self-taught and developed, through the study of various textbooks, and the Clavier sonatas of C.P.E. Bach. Leaving the choir at the age of 13, Haydn earned his living by teaching the piano and violin, accompanying, and composing and performing whenever the opportunity arose. By 1756 he was becoming known in Vienna. Nonetheless, despite his endeavour, these were difficult years, and it was not until he was appointed Vice-Kapellmeister (and later Kapellmeister) to Prince Paul Anton Esterházy in 1761 that Haydn was finally able to compose full time. A simple and kind-hearted man, known affectionately amongst his peers as "Papa Haydn", he was an extremely prolific composer who contributed to every genre of music in his day. His substantial oeuvre includes 104 symphonies, more than 50 piano sonatas, 83 string quartets and various other forms of chamber music, concertos, smaller orchestral and keyboard works, operas, oratorios (including the best known sacred work of the period, The Creation), masses, much other sacred music, and numerous songs. It is an impressive achievement, not merely due to its proportions, but because of the variety, originality and quality that defines it. Haydn was an intellectual and skilled craftsman; he did not write on the surface, filling his music with superficial and hollow gestures as other of his contemporaries did. Rather, he sought to achieve meaningful, even at times sublime, manifestation of his creative thought, imbuing his works with a depth of expression, invention and technical competence befitting a true artist. The remoteness of the Esterházy palace, Esterháza, set in an isolated country area, meant that Haydn was insulated from the musical life and currents of the Austrian capital, and, as such, the seclusion forced him to be original and gave him the freedom to experiment. In the symphonies alone, which completely overshadowed those of his contemporaries, there is a prodigious range of expressions and styles such that he never repeats himself, giving validation to the idea that there is no typical Haydn symphony. From the early programmatic Symphonies Nos. 6-8 ("Le Matin", "Le Midi", "Le Soir"), to the dramatic vitality and expressiveness of his Sturm und Drang ('Storm and Stress') symphonies, to the simpler musical language and bolder orchestration of the 1790s, the symphonies are all quite different. And, where the works of others often exuded the pattern-making formality that characterized the period, Haydn developed his ideas more fully, so that the music evolves and changes in interesting and unexpected ways. One can find ample evidence of this in the symphonies, string quartets, and piano sonatas, particularly the later ones. This talent was neither lost on his employer nor the musical community. In an age of patronage where musicians (including composers) were treated as servants, Haydn came to enjoy an elevated social status that brought him invitations from royalty and independent requests to write music. He was, for instance, invited to stay at Windsor Castle by the King of England, but Haydn declined the offer. His initial contract with Esterházy had forbidden him from fulfilling commissions or publishing his works, but, as his fame spread, this condition was relaxed. By the 1770s Haydn had a permanent publisher — the Viennese firm, Artaria — and, in addition to providing music for the Esterházy estate, he was kept busy filling commissions from both publishers and individuals. He became renowned not only in Austria, but across the whole of Europe, particularly in Paris, where his reputation enabled him to make important contacts. In 1784, he was commissioned by Compte d'Ogny to write a group of 6 symphonies, which became known as the "Paris" Symphonies. Performed at the Concert de La Loge Olympique and the prestigious Concert spirituel by the country's most elite orchestras, these works garnered widespread acclaim and thrust Haydn further into the spotlight. The death of Nikolaus Esterházy (Paul Anton's successor) in 1790, and the disbanding of the palace orchestra, freed Haydn from much of his musical duties, though he was still retained in his post as a symbolic gesture. Indeed, such was the esteem in which he was held that he was provided for in Nikolaus' will, where he was given a substantial retirement pension. Haydn was now at liberty to compose as he wished. He received offers from all over Europe, but decided to accept the invitation of the impresario, Peter Salomon, to go to London in 1791, where he stayed for 2 years. His second London visit, again arranged by Salomon, was made in 1794. These were amongst the most successful composer tours ever made. From these years came the 12 "London" Symphonies — the last symphonic works that Haydn composed, and for which great resources were placed at his command. He was extremely well received and was the toast of the musical establishment. Indeed, it has often been said that this was a rare moment in music history, where the most popular and talked about composer of the day was, in fact, the best. He moved in circles with the elite of the musical world, including impresarios, virtuosos and composers, and was awarded a Doctorate from Oxford University. Viewed retrospectively, Haydn was a significant historical figure who achieved much that is of musical importance. Certainly, the calibre of his works and their contribution to the Western musical literature is, in itself, substantial. Also noteworthy is the fact that he composed the Austrian national anthem, "The Emperor's Hymn" (which he integrated into the "Emperor" String Quartet). However, his achievement is more than quantitative. Haydn established the essential features of modern orchestral writing, was responsible for establishing the string quartet genre and setting the standards that were subsequently followed, and, as the father of the symphony, was an important influence on the development of the modern symphony and sonata form, owing to his experiments with musical form, including structural modification, and thematic manipulation, fragmentation and development. The only other composer to significantly contribute in this last respect was Beethoven. Having said this, what becomes abundantly clear is the disparity between the highly successful and prominent profile Haydn sustained during his lifetime, and the position he occupies in the popular consciousness today. It is a discrepancy whose measure is further underlined by the fact that, within the commonly recognized canon of great composers, number some whose influence was comparatively limited, and whose works and reputation garnered little favour in their day. Yet, in Haydn's case, whilst his posthumous treatment is unjust, it is also not wholly unexpected given who he was. Haydn was a Being of Light. More significantly, however, he was The Divine Amoeba. As such, his music is a supreme expression of that Pure, Divine Energy from the Higher Realms brought down to help nurture and sustain the Beings of Light trapped in this physical dimension. It is no wonder, then, that evil has tried so hard to marginalize his music and to limit its influence and impact. Of course, those who try to rationalize the situation with their outer, physical minds will claim that there is no accounting for public taste. But those who are awakened to the Truth know that "taste" has little to do with aesthetic value or preference, but is rather a mechanism of evil programming that is used to sabotage and manipulate. Evil has always tried to usurp and block that which is of the Light — to adopt or try to emulate the Divine expression in a bid to pass it off as its own, and music is no exception. Music history is riddled with the evil ones and frauds, who tried to thwart, compete with, and imitate the musical efforts of the Light Beings. That is why not all "great" music has its source in the Divine, and why not all the recognized "masters" were necessarily of the Light. In the music of Haydn, though, the Divine essence emanates and touches all those receptive to its energy. No other composer so completely embraces the Classical style or achieves so much within its aesthetic. He was, and is, the true master. Copyright © 2003 by AHSAF

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Tic Disorders are brief, rapid, usually repetitive movements and sounds. Tics can affect any part of the body. Depending on distribution, they are defined as simple (affecting one group of muscles) or complex (affecting multiple muscle groups). Generally tics are irresistible, but can be suppressed for variable length of time. Vocal tics can be noises, throat clearing, or utterances of whole words or even sentences. The combination of complex motor tics and vocalizations is Tourette's syndrome (TS). Tics usually start in childhood and either plateau or subside by young adulthood. However, some patients continue to have symptoms for the rest of life. Tics can exacerbate after a relatively quiescent period. Tics are a common disorder, with up to 4-5% of school age children affected. The cause of tics is unknown. However, there is a familial predisposition. Tics can be associated with behavioral disorders (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive traits. Treatment of tics depends on the degree of movement-related disability. Not all patients require therapy. Effective medications include antipsychotics (haloperidol, primozide) and clonidine. Botulinum toxin injections can also be effective for simple motor tics. Botulinum toxin is derived from a bacterium which produces a protien that blocks the nerve from releasing acetylcholine. As a result, muscles relax and spasms diminish.

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The Federal Government has pledged $47.3m towards the development of solar and geothermal energy for radio-astronomy and supercomputing facilities in Western Australia. Funding will be split between two renewable energy infrastructure projects to power the Pawsey High-Performance Computing Centre and Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. A full-scale, hybrid solar and diesel plant will be built at Murchison, with sophisticated energy management systems to support its storage and generation capabilities. For the Pawsey Centre in Kensington, hot sedimentary aquifers will be installed to provide water cooling and ventilation for the 10 megawatt thermal facility, which will become one of Australia's largest direct geothermal research and demonstration sites. Construction on the projects is scheduled to commence in November 2010, be completed in August 2013, and support 62 construction jobs. The Government expects the projects to cut annual energy costs by up to $5 million, and reduce carbon emissions 12,000 tonnes per year -- the equivalent of taking 6,000 cars off the road. "This is one of dozens of renewable energy projects the Government is supporting across the nation, all part of the Government's continued response to climate change," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said to the Perth Media Club yesterday. "Each one of these investments matters because each plays a part in building a stronger economy that delivers a fairer share to working families." Strengthening Australia's SKA bid The $47.3m investment will support CSIRO's Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), a network of radio telescopes at the Murchison Observatory that produces terabytes of data to be processed at Pawsey each day. ASKAP is part of the Australasian bid to host the $2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which involves 20 countries and will investigate galaxy evolution, dark matter, and the existence of life. Australia and New Zealand are in competition with a Southern African SKA bid, involving South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Madagascar Mauritius, Kenya and Ghana. A decision is expected to be made in 2012. Innovation Minister Kim Carr is understood to have been in Europe this week to promote the Australasian bid, which is expected to generate both economic and scientific benefits for the host region. According to CSIRO chief executive Megan Clark, the newly announced projects will also accelerate the Australian development of renewable energy technology for uses beyond the SKA. "This project will also allow the practical application of research by scientists and students from all over Australia in renewable energy, as well as in astronomy, computer science, engineering, geology and environmental management," she said in a statement. "It is a unique opportunity for many different areas of science to come together and work on something that will benefit all Australians, the development and application of renewable energy technologies." Other Government contributions to the Australasian SKA bid include: $100 million for ASKAP, $80 million for the Pawsey supercomputing centre; and $25 million for a fibre broadband link from Perth to Geraldton.

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Plot points can sometimes be difficult to pick out, especially when there is confusion as to the purpose of such a device in a story. If one accepts the idea that stories are about solving problems, the reason for Inciting Incidents and Act Turns becomes all too clear. Every problem has its own genesis, a moment at which the balance is tipped and the previous sense of oneness is lost. With separation comes the awareness of an inequity, and a desire to return back to a state of parity. Every problem has a solution, and a story explores that process of trying to attain resolution. In a story, this Opening Event—or beginning of a story—is commonly referred to as the Inciting Incident. The Exciting Incident The Inciting Incident (or “exciting incident” as someone once referred to it) is the event or decision that begins a story’s problem. Everything up and until that moment is Backstory; everything after is “the story.” Before this moment there is an equilibrium, a relative peace that the characters in a story have grown accustomed to. This incisive moment, or plot point occurs and upsets the balance of things. Suddenly there is a problem to be solved. Stories are about solving problems. Sometimes they are solved, as is the case with Star Wars, Casablanca or Inception. Other times, as with stories like Hamlet, Amadeus or Se7en, they aren’t. Regardless of outcome, this Inciting Incident gets the ball rolling by introducing an inequity into the lives of the characters that inhabit the story. The Protagonist seeks the solution, the Antagonist seeks to prevent it. Every story works this way. The Reason for Plot Points The two central objective characters, Protagonist and Antagonist, battle it out until approximately one-quarter of a way into a story, some other event or decision occurs that spins the story into a brand new direction. This second plot point is referred to as the First Act Turn as it turns the story from the First Act into the Second. This is a further development of the problem, not the beginning of a problem. Other plot points—the Mid-Point and Second Act Turn—continue to escalate the issues surrounding the efforts to resolve the problem until finally, the Concluding Event, or Final Plot Point, ends the story. As mentioned above, this does not necessarily mean the problem has been solved. It simply means that the efforts that were undertaken by the Protagonist have come to their natural end as every resource has been exhausted. These plot points naturally split a story into four parts. For fans of Aristotle, the first part is the Beginning, the second two are the Middle and the third is the Ending. There is a meaningful reason why there are four parts. In short, for every problem there are four basic contexts from which you can explore the way to solve a problem. Once you have explored all four contexts, the story is over. Any continuation would simply be a rehash of something that has already been investigated. The most important thing to take away from all of this is that the First Act Turn is NOT the Inciting Incident. This is a common mistake by many first time writers, and is generally caused by a lack of understanding exactly why these plot points exist in the first place. One plot point starts the problems, the other furthers the complications of said problem. Inciting Incidents and First Act Turns The following is a list of great stories with their corresponding Inciting Incidents and First Act Turning Points. The numbers provided are either based on page numbers, Kindle percentages or minutes depending on what source material was easily accessible. For those who don’t know, the general idea is that one page of a screenplay generally lines up with one minute of screen time. A 120 page screenplay often lasts two hours on screen. or 120 minutes. Thus, the Inciting Incident would occur on or near page 0, while the First Act Turn would happen somewhere near page 30 (out of 120). If we’re talking percentages, that would be about one-quarter of the way into a story. The Inciting Incident of Star Wars is Darth Vader’s attack on Princess Leia’s ship (1/120). While there was a civil war going on prior to this event, it isn’t until the Empire shows its true colors by illegally boarding a ship purported to be on a “diplomatic mission” that the real problems of the story begin. The Empire has grown ruthless in its efforts to contain any rebellion, this inciting event is only the beginning of many more to come. The First Act Turn begins with the Empire’s sinister agents attack on peaceful Jawas and ends with their barbeque of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru (30-31/120). Suddenly, what began as a simple conflict over jurisdiction has now turned into an all-out rampage that affects even the most remote and more importantly, innocent, members of the galaxy. The problem has grown in its potential for even greater conflict. The Inciting Incident of The Matrix is Morpheus’ decision that Mr. Andersen is the One they have been looking for (2/130). This one decision drives the entire rest of the story, for if he hadn’t picked Tom the rest of the world would have stayed comfortably numb in their battery pods. Without the Inciting Incident, there would be no story. The First Act Turn begins with Neo’s decision to come in off the ledge (21/130). It isn’t until this true sign of character that Morpheus is forced into taking even greater strides to break poor Mr. Andersen out of the Matrix. These deliberations by Neo—continuing with his “giving the finger” scene, choosing whether or not to stay in the car, and culminating with his decision to take the red pill—all create resistance to Morpheus’ initial selection. It isn’t until Neo finally decides that he is the One (121/130) that the problems in the story come to a successful resolution. The Inciting Incident of Unforgiven is Little Bill’s leniency towards Quick Mike (5/120). Little Bill is known for dealing with criminals in his own special way, why the sudden change of heart? His refusal to respond in kind creates a rift within the story at large, and forces the whores to seek out their own justice. The first Act Turning Point only makes matters worse with the arrival of English Bob and his refusal to surrender his sidearms to “proper authority”(33/120). The Sixth Sense The Inciting Incident of The Sixth Sense is Vincent’s attack on Malcom (8/109). Without this gunshot, there would be no story and no compulsion for Malcom to meet with Cole. The First Act Turning Point comes with Cole’s revelation that he might suffer from the same violent tendencies that Vincent did. His steps back and his conclusion that Malcom can’t help him only furthers the problems caused by the perception that Cole is merely a “disturbed” child (22/109). The Inciting Incident of Casablanca is Ugarte’s decision to give Rick the letters of transit (15/127). While the murder of the two couriers seems to get things rolling, problems don’t really start until Ugarte decides to give them to Rick. After all, people get murdered in Casablanca all the time. But give them to someone whose allegiances are in question? Now we’ve got a problem. More than just a “Macguffin”, these papers and the efforts to retrieve become the major source of conflict for everyone involved in the story. This is why Rick’s deliberations over what to do with them, including his refusal to help out Ugarte (“I stick my neck out for nobody”), propel the First Act into the Second (30-45/127). With Rick in charge of who gets them and when, Laszlo’s mission becomes that much more difficult. The Lives of Others The Inciting Incident of The Lives of Others is Minister’s Hempf’s decision to have Georg Dreyman “watched.” (10/135). Without this bigwig’s desire for Dreyman’s girlfriend, Wiesler would have continued his life as he always had, and quite possibly would never have crossed paths with this writer and his friends. Like Casablanca, the First Act Turn comes more as a wave than an actual singular event. This time it is Dreyman’s best friend, the director Albert Jerska, and his constant ruminations over the purpose of his life that progressively complicate a simple spy operation into something far more reaching and grander in scope. Jerska’s dark contemplations of suicide inspire Dreyman to write and give reason for Wiesler to better understand the kind of struggles and torment these artists go through as a result of the state’s actions. And finally, the Inciting Incident of The Incredibles occurs with the overwhelming flood of lawsuits stemming from Mr. Incredible’s loss in court against Oliver Sansweet, the man he rescued from suicide (14/127). This rush to sue forces the Supers into hiding, promising “to never again resume hero work.” These previously costumed guys (and girls) now can’t be who they want to be, and thus yet another story inequity has been created. If it had just been Sansweet, then perhaps things would have simmered down. The flood of lawsuits tipped the scales. Problems escalate when Bob and Frozone almost get caught during the fire in the apartment building sequence (32/127). Before, Bob had found a way to deal with the initial problem by moonlighting with his best friend. This event, and their near apprehension by local authorities, forces Frozone to decide that this night was the last one. What was once a manageable problem has now become an even bigger one, and eventually provides the motivation for Bob to accept the mysterious invitation from Mirage. Plot points drive a story towards the resolution of its problem. Not Just About Movies But what about other forms of narrative fiction? Surely this is just a “formula” for Hollywood-wannabes to follow… Story is story regardless of the delivery device. The Inciting Incident of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is the death of Hamlet’s father. As with The Matrix, where the actual inciting event happens “off-screen”, the story immediately opens up with the characters plagued by the problem’s effects: Let me not think on’t! Frailty, thy name is woman— A little month, or ere those shoes were old With which she follow’d my poor father’s body Like Niobe, all tears—why she, even she — O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason Would have mourn’d longer— Quick tranlsation: Hamlet has been thrown into great despair because of his mother’s impulsive move to quickly marry his father’s brother, Claudius (10%). The fact that she couldn’t even wait a month drives Hamlet mad, thus creating a problem in Elsinore that calls for some sort of resolution. This problem grows in importance when the Ghost of Hamlet’s father informs his son of what really happened: GHOST: A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of my death Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown. HAMLET: O my prophetic soul! My uncle! No longer an inequity that must be suffered, the death of Hamlet’s father now becomes something that must be avenged (20%). The dramatic energy produced by the news of his father’s passing has waned to the point where something new must come along and drive the story further towards its inevitable conclusion. This revelation of a “murder most foul” is that event, and can be considered the First Act Turning Point of the play. Problems, Energy, and Plot Points Determining the events or decisions that escalate a story’s problem should be Job One for the working dramatist. It is one thing to create an opening scene that wrecks havoc on the characters in the film and forces them to deal with this new problem, quite another to ensure that the inequity persists until the closing curtain. Eventually, as with Hamlet, the potential for dramatic conflict will decline throughout the course of an Act. It is the same drop in potential that one feels as the pain from a pinch or slap in the face subsides over time. In order for the problem of a story to continue to drive the characters towards an eventual solution, a new potential must be introduced. These new dramatic forces, escalating the problem beyond that initial blast, drive the story forward in such a way that the characters themselves could never return to who they were or what they did during that first initial response. There can be no turning back. Act turns exist to re-energize the potential of a story’s problem, not to satisfy page-counting readers or paradigm-happy script gurus. Connecting the two first plot points to this problem, and making sure that they aren’t simply the same event, will give an audience something to engage in and something to become invested in. The fact of the matter is that no audience member can resist the draw of the problem solving process as it unfolds on the big screen; it’s human nature to see what greater meaning can be gained from how the resolution plays out. Advanced Story Theory for this Article Structurally, Dramatica calls for four Acts, or Signposts, in every complete story. Experientally (from the audience’s viewpoint), the Journeys between these Signposts are the Three Acts that most people (Aristotle included) feel when they watch or read a story. The Inciting Incident and First Act Turn surround that First Signpost on either side. Dramatica smartly calls these plot points Story Drivers. The problem with forcing the Inciting Incident closer to the 20 or 25 percent mark is that, from a dramatic perspective, there is little energy being spent during that first act. Typically, stories without a strong Inciting Incident also, by matter of definition, have no definable problem in place for the characters to deal with. Thus, no conflict and little for the audience to be concerned with. Waiting until the quarter mark to get things going is a surefire way towards creating a storytelling disaster. The Inciting Incident exists, not because McKee calls for it, but because it creates that inequity in the lives of the characters within a story. There has to be some impetus for all that follows, some problem that needs to be solved. The Story Driver manufactures this problem.

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Ask a senior citizen how it feels to permanently surrender one’s car keys, and you’ll likely get a look of resentment, if not despair. The dreaded no-driving milestone, often accompanied by isolation and a sense of lost independence, is a common point of conflict. The issue pits individuals’ need for mobility against their and the public’s concern for safety. Ideally, drivers would recognize when their skills are slipping and give up the keys voluntarily. But the step is often involuntary, brought on by traffic citations, failed driving tests or diagnosed health issues, such as dementia. The latter cause can be problematic in early stages, because these same seniors may have accident-free driving records. Revoking their license based on the fear of what might happen to them is not to be taken lightly, especially if alternative transportation is scarce or hard to access. Advanced age tends to impair vision and reflexes — critical to safe driving — but the effects vary by person. Many elderly manage with strategies such as avoiding nighttime driving and major highways. Per miles traveled, however, motorists 75 and older who are involved in a crash are more likely to die from their injuries — a reflection of seniors’ greater physical frailty. Statistics also show that the elderly are more likely to be involved in accidents at intersections, particularly during left turns. Some of these factors can and should be addressed by better traffic design, clearer signage and stronger lighting. Federal highway officials consider such improvements to be a high priority, although states have lagged on implementation. That is unfortunate, because the changes would enhance road safety for all drivers, regardless of age. Another important pursuit on the elder-driving front is research to provide more reliable evaluative tools. Many states, including Florida, utilize various safety assessments for older drivers, but there is surprisingly little agreement that these screenings have brought the desired results. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded that “there is insufficient evidence on the validity and reliability of any driving assessment or screening tool,” the Government Accountability Office noted in a 2007 report. Encouragingly, several threads of research are under way to find more reliable screening measures. Establishing a set of scientifically valid standards would give authorities a valuable tool to complement what are now primarily subjective evaluations. No discussion of senior driving issues should ignore transit and urban planning. For people who can no longer drive, convenient, accessible public transportation can provide essential mobility and help them maintain quality of life. Good urban planning, meanwhile, can discourage sprawl, which imposes hardships on people who cannot drive, and create a safer pedestrian experience. What must be emphasized in all this is that the challenges of elder driving aren’t just for individuals or families; they are communitywide, and will grow as the large baby boomer cohort ages.

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Diet can strongly influence how long you live and your reproductive success, but now scientists have discovered that what works for males can be very different for females. In the first study of its kind, the researchers have shown that gender plays a major role in determining which diet is better suited to promoting longer life or better reproductive success. In the evolutionary "battle of the sexes", traits that benefit males are costly when expressed in females and vice versa. This conflict may have implications for human diet, aging and reproduction, says a team of scientists from UNSW, the University of Sydney and Massey University. "When it comes to choosing the right diet, we need to look more closely to the individual, their sex and their reproductive stage in life," says Associate Professor Rob Brooks, Director of the Evolution and Ecology Research Centre at the University of New South Wales. "It may be, for example, that women in their child-bearing years need a different diet to those who are post-menopausal. "It also underlines the important lesson that what we want to eat or, if you like, what we're programmed to eat, is not necessarily best for us." The researchers are conducting long-term studies on Australian black field crickets and have discovered that the lifespan of both males and females is maximised on high-carbohydrate, low-protein diets, they say in the latest issue of Current Biology. But reproductive success differs dramatically between the sexes when the carbohydrate-protein balance is changed: males live longest and have the greatest reproductive success with a diet that favours carbohydrates to protein by eight-to-one, whereas females have greatest success when the ratio is just one-to-one. Given a choice, however, females eat only a small amount more protein than males. The shared ability to sense and choose food dooms both males and females to eat a diet that is a compromise between what is best for each sex. "Male and female crickets maximise their fitness on different diets," says UNSW's Dr Alexei Maklakov, the study's lead author. "Despite that, the dietary preferences of the sexes are very similar. Instead of selecting foods in a sex-specific manner, males and females select 'intermediate' diets that are less than optimal for both sexes. The researchers believe the sexes share most of their genes and this fact can constrain the evolution of sex differences in traits such as diet choice, because many of the same genes are likely to be responsible for trait expression in both sexes. Significance for humans – "Men and women invest differently in reproduction, a difference that is even more marked than that between male and female crickets," says Rob Brooks. "Think of the tremendous amounts of energy and protein required of a mother in carrying a baby to term and breastfeeding. We also know that men and women need to eat different diets - think of the careful attention we pay to what expectant mothers eat. "What men and women need to eat might be more dramatically different than we had realised. However, men and women eat very similar diets and our results suggest that our tastes and food preferences could be a shared compromise, as they are in crickets." Source: University of New South Wales Explore further: Life expectancy gap widens between those with mental illness and general population

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Monday, April 26, 2010 Systems and structures have been a fundamental part of the way I understand the world for as long as I can remember. If it's not the innate product of some gene, then the genesis of my systematic perspective probably dates back to the Lego™ set I had as a child. Gödel, Escher, Bach, and I took a course called Systems Dynamics. After all of that, I can give you the following brief definition: a system is a set of symbols and the rules by which those symbols may be manipulated. That may sound pretty abstract, but in simple, concrete terms, a system is a game. The symbols are the pieces or the players, and the rules are ... the rules. If you stop and think about it, practically everything in the human world is a system: all our technology, our laws, our businesses, and most kinds of social interactions involve things that can be manipulated and rules for manipulating them. Even things that appear to be single objects can be systems in both their structure and the sequence of operations by which they are produced. A systematic perspective is at the core of the practical arts of the makers. Put another way, to be a maker, you must understand the relationships between the whole and the parts. Image: Bill Longshaw / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Sense about Science ? equipping people to make sense of science and evidence We are a charitable trust that equips people to make sense of scientific and medical claims in public discussion. With a database of over 5,000 scientists, from Nobel prize winners to postdocs and PhD students, we work in partnership with scientific bodies, research publishers, policy makers, the public and the media, to change public discussions about science and evidence. Through award-winning public campaigns, we share the tools of scientific thinking and scrutiny. Our growing international Voice of Young Science network engages hundreds of early career researchers in public debates about research and evidence. Our activities and publications are used and shaped by community groups, civic bodies, patient organisations, information services, writers, publishers, educators, health services and many others. People look to us to: - Make sense of science and evidence - Provide quick help and advice - Make a fuss about things that are wrong - Represent the public interest in sound science - Activate networks of scientists and others in defence of evidence - We help people make sense of current discussions rather than taking them back to school - We stand up for scientific inquiry, free from stigma, intimidation, hysteria or censorship - We want everyone, whatever their experience, to stand up for evidence in public life

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It's been several years since we were first told that the next best thing to a cure for the common cold was zinc, the essential mineral found in most throat lozenges. A couple years later the zinc rug was yanked out from under us with a new study that suggested children and teenagers weren't benefiting from the magic mineral. So naturally, sniffling people everywhere were confused. Does zinc really prevent and curb cold symptoms or are we just risking losing our senses of smell for nothing? The New York Times helped its loyal readers none by confirming that "the research on zinc as a cold fighter is mixed." But good news may be in store for all of you who stocked up on Sunkist lozenges during the late 90s. According to the BBC, a new study suggests zinc may not only lessen the symptoms and duration of a cold, but could help prevent them altogether. "There is no proven treatment for the common cold, but experts believe zinc medications may help prevent and lessen infections by coating the common cold viruses and stopping them from entering the body through the thin lining of the nose," writes the BBC's Michelle Roberts . "It also appears to stop the virus from replicating, at least in laboratory tests." But be warned: long-term use of the mineral may be risky because of zinc's toxicity. The best dosages have not yet been determined. Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at cdickson at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

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|Chlorine was Discovered in 1774 by Carl Wilhelm Scheele.Chlorine gas is two and one half times as heavy asair, has an intensely disagreeable suffocating odor, and is exceedingly poisonous. In its liquid and solid form it is a powerful oxidizing, bleaching, and disinfecting agent.In nature it is only found combined with other elements chiefly sodium in the form of common salt – NaClIt is an essential microutrient for higher plants. Growth suffers if the amount of chloride in the soil fall below 2 ppm.| |Chlorine is an important chemical in water purification. Chlorine is also used widely in the manufacture of many products and items directly or indirectly: |Exposure to chlorine can occur in the workplace. People who use laundry bleach and swimming pool chemicals containing chlorine products are usually not exposed to chlorine itself. Chlorine is generally found only in industrial settings.Chlorine enters the body breathed in with contaminated air or when consumed with contaminated food or water. It does not remain in the body, due to its reactivity.Effects of chlorine on human health depend on how the amount of chlorine that is present, and the length and frequency of exposure. Effects also depend on the health of a person or condition of the environment when exposure occurs.Breathing small amounts of chlorine for short periods of time adversely affects the human respiratory system. Effects differ from coughing and chest pain, to water retention in the lungs. Chlorine irritates the skin, the eyes, and the respiratory system. These effects are not likely to occur at levels of chlorine that are normally found in the environment.| As a Chemical Weapon The German Army first used chlorine gas cylinders in April 1915 against the French Army at Ypres. French soldiers reported seeing yellow-green clouds drifting slowly towards the Allied trenches. They also noticed its distinctive smell which was like a mixture of pineapple and pepper. At first the French officers assumed that the German infantry were advancing behind a smoke screen and orders were given to prepare for an armed attack. When the gas arrived at the Allied front-trenches soldiers began to complain about pains in the chests and a burning sensation in their throats. Chlorine gas destroyed the respiratory organs of its victims and this led to a slow death by asphyxiation.

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Seeking Cause and Cure for Ailing Wetlands By TIM WACKER Published: July 15, 2007 THIS time of year the expansive flats of marsh grass in Cedar Beach Creek on Long Island's North Fork usually turn lime green as the summer sunshine pushes the vibrant salt marsh ecosystem into overdrive. But that seasonal shift has increasingly been streaked with shades of mud-brown and gray. A phenomenon commonly called sudden wetland dieback has denuded hundreds of acres of salt marsh in more urban environs like Jamaica Bay in Queens over the past decade. But its recent and aggressive advance across the New York area -- and especially into more pristine environs like the North Fork -- has some scientists worrying about what might happen if it keeps spreading. ''We need to find out the cause sooner than later,'' said Fred Mushacke, a marine biologist with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. ''We're losing wetlands at a rate of half an acre per year in Cedar Beach alone. In Jamaica Bay, it's 44 acres per year. ''If those rates get worse, we're going to reach a tipping point, and then there could be a mass die-off.'' The problem is not just on Long Island. Each year in New Jersey, Westchester and Connecticut, dozens of acres of tall marsh grass, Spartina alterniflora, are dying off. Scientists are not sure what is causing the phenomenon or what they can do to end it. ''This loss of this productive habitat would have widespread implications,'' said Nicole P. Maher, a wetlands specialist at the Nature Conservancy's Cold Spring Harbor office on Long Island. ''The marsh provides food, it filters water and it buffers storm and wave energy. It's very valuable to wildlife. We need to do more than just keep an eye on it.'' Salt marshes are also vital sources of food, Mr. Mushacke said. Each acre of spartina grass produces four tons of organic matter, which works its way into the food chain through algae until big fish are eating little fish and birds are eating the fish. ''The tidal wetlands are the most important and naturally occurring ecological unit in the world,'' Mr. Mushacke said. ''If you lose four tons of organic material per acre per year, that translates into tons of fish and shellfish you're losing.'' At the 173-acre Marshlands Conservancy in Rye, Westchester's popular birding destination, losses that started a decade ago have gradually consumed about a dozen acres. While some regrowth was reported last year, losses continue to outstrip gains. Along New Jersey's Delaware Bay, wetlands from Canton to Dennis Township have suffered damage in spots, and scientists are now inspecting other parts of the state for more. Marshes along a roughly 50-mile stretch of the Connecticut coastline between the Housatonic and Connecticut Rivers have been similarly stricken, said Ronald Rozsa, a marshland biologist with the State Department of Environmental Protection. The die-off is just part of a number of changes in these wetlands that scientists are having a hard time fully explaining. ''And we haven't really been able to look at marshes east of the Connecticut River,'' Mr. Rozsa said. Marsh vegetation changes through time, he said, but ''all of a sudden we're seeing this rapid movement of grasses.'' But the extent of the dieback is so unclear that officials in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York are asking for residents' help in tracking it. On Long Island, the Nature Conservancy is hoping to assist the state by monitoring East End marshes where hundreds of acres of wetlands could be affected. Theories abound for the cause of sudden wetland dieback. A fungus that attacks spartina grass, called fusarium, could be the cause, as could a tiny worm called a root nematode, Mr. Rozsa said. A more ominous theory is that global warming is having an effect. Mr. Rozsa and Mr. Mushacke agree that rising sea levels are suspected of causing sudden wetland dieback, but Mr. Rozsa said a 20-year lunar cycle called the tidal epoch, which produces long-term tidal fluctuations, complicates that theory. ''Is this an accelerated response to global warming?'' Mr. Rozsa said. ''We don't know. We saw grass dieback in the 1980s, and it grew back. The question now is: are we going to see that same grow-back again?'' Mr. Mushacke said he thinks not. He also argues that there is nothing sudden about the dieback, but that it has been gradually accelerating over the past decade. Since the late 1800s, Long Island marshes have experienced declines, but in many instances they have grown back. Since 1974, however, Long Island has lost 1,400 acres, or 8 percent, of an estimated 17,000 acres of marsh, with little growing back, Mr. Mushacke said. Much of that has been lost in the Jamaica Bay estuary to what is believed to be more of a development-related problem called marsh subsidence. But the recent emergence of wetland dieback in places on Long Island -- like Flax Pond in Old Field and Cedar Beach and Corey Creeks in Southold -- has included two versions of dieback also appearing in Connecticut, Cape Cod and up to Maine. One form occurs close to where the marsh bank meets the water. It kills the roots and the plant, leaving the peatlike soil underneath resembling Swiss cheese. In higher elevations of the marsh, called the high marsh, the dieback is also advancing, leaving a similar pockmarked landscape. The range of locations and the variety of symptoms make studying marsh dieback vexing, scientists say. ''We don't know the full depth of the problem yet,'' Mr. Mushacke said. ''There are marshes thathaven't changed at all, and that's also perplexing.'' Photo: GRAYING GRASS: Marsh grass dieback, right, at Cedar Beach Creek on Long Island. Fred Mushacke, below, a marine biologist for New York, at the creek. (Photographs by Deirdre Brennan for The New York Times)

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October is LGBT History Month worldwide except for the UK where they celebrate it in February other jurisdictions have been doing their own recollections and recognition of icons and important dates relevant to their own development and achievements but some of the representations and symbols we have come so used to have meanings as to why they were formed. I have been collecting all I can via materials and oral histories on a host of happenings in advocacy, entertainment and more. See previous posts from Gay Jamaica Watch HERE and from GLBTQ Jamaica on blogger HERE Where did some of the symbols come from and what do they mean? The rainbow flag is the most widely used and recognized symbol of the gay pride movement. The flag was developed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978. At the time, there was a need for a gay symbol which could be used year after year for the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade. Baker took inspiration from many sources–the hippie movement to the black civil rights movement–and came up with a flag with eight stripes. Baker explained that his colors each stood for a different aspect of gay and lesbian life: - Hot pink for sexuality. - Red for life. - Orange for healing. - Yellow for the sun. - Green for nature. - Blue for art. - Indigo for harmony. - Violet for spirit. Baker and thirty volunteers hand-stitched and hand-dyed the flags for the 1978 parade, and they were an instant hit. But when he took his design to the San Francisco Flag Co. to have it mass-produced for the 1979 parade, he had to remove the hot pink stripe. At that time, pink was not a commercially available color. Later that year, when Harvey Milk, was assassinated, the 1979 Pride Parade Committee realized that baker’s flag was the perfect symbol under which the LGBT community should unite. The committee got rid of the indigo stripe to make the colors evenly divisible along the parade route: red, orange, and yellow on one side of the street; green, blue, and purple on the other. This is the flag we see, and use, and fly, today. Most everybody recognizes the Pink triangle as a symbol taken directly from the Nazi concentration camps. When concentration camps are mentioned, most people tend to think of the Holocaust–for good reason–but the fact is that there were many homosexual prisoners in those camps as well. The real story of the Pink Triangle began prior to World War II, Paragraph 175, a clause in German law, prohibited homosexual relations. In 1935, during Hitler’s rise to power, he extended this law to include homosexual kissing, embracing, and even homosexual fantasies. Over 25,000 people were convicted under this law between 1937 and 1939 alone, and were sent to prisons and later concentration camps. Their sentence also included sterilization, most commonly in the form of castration. In 1942, Hitler extended the punishment for homosexuality to death. Prisoners in Nazi concentration camps were labeled according to their crimes by inverted colored triangles. - Green triangles were for regular criminals. - Red triangles were for political prisoners. - Two overlapping yellow triangles–to form the Star of David–were given to Jewish prisoners. - Pink triangles were given to homosexual prisoners. - Pink and Yellow overlapping triangles went to gay Jews, the lowest form of prisoner. Although homosexual prisoners were not shipped en mass to the Auschwitz death camps like so many of the Jewish prisoners, there were still large numbers of gay men executed along with other non-Jewish prisoners. The real tragedy though occurred after the war. When the Allies defeated the Germany and the Nazi Regime, the political and remaining Jewish prisoners were released from the camps; the regular criminals were not released for obvious reasons. The homosexual prisoners were never released though because Paragraph 175 remained West German law until 1969, so gay men and women watched other prisoners freed, and then spent another twenty-four years in prison. In the 1970s, the pink triangle was used in conjunction with the gay liberation movement, and in the 80s, ACT-UP [AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power] adopted the it as their symbol, but turned it upright to suggest an active fight rather than passive resignation. There are also people who were the triangle pointing up if they know someone who has died of AIDS. The pink triangle is a symbol closely connected to oppression and the fight against it, and stands as a vow never to let another Holocaust happen again. Like the word “queer,” it is a symbol of hate which has been reclaimed and now stands for pride. One symbol which continues to remain popular is the lower case Greek letter lambda. It was originally chosen by the Gay Activists Alliance of New York in 1970–a group which broke away from the larger Gay Liberation Front at the end of 1969, six months after it’s foundation in response to the Stonewall Riots. Because of its official adoption by the GAA, which sponsored public events for the gay community, the lambda soon became a quick way for the members of the gay community to identify each other. The reasoning was that the lambda would easily be mistaken for a college fraternity symbol and ignored by the majority of the population. Other meanings of the lambda symbol include: - The Greek letter “L” stands for “liberation.” - The Spartans believed that the lambda represented unity. - The Romans took it to mean; “the light of knowledge shining into the darkness of ignorance.” - The synergy which results when gays and lesbians work together towards a common goal. - The theory that straights and gays, or gays and lesbians, or any pairing of these three, are on different wavelengths when it comes to sex, sexuality, or even brain patterns. - An iconic rendering of the scales of justice and the constant force that keeps opposing sides from overcoming each other. The hook at the bottom of the right leg would then signify the action and initiative needed to reach and maintain balance. Whatever the lambda meant or means today, it’s everywhere. Even though at one time it acquired a strictly male connotation, it is used by both gays and lesbians today. Back in December of 1974, the lambda was officially declared the international symbol for gay and lesbian rights by the International Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Red Ribbon Project was created by singer/songwriter Paul Jabara and the New York-based Visual AIDS group in 1991. Visual AIDS is a charity group of art professionals aimed at recognizing and honoring friends and colleagues who are dying, or have died, of AIDS. Visual AIDS not only encourages art organizations, galleries, museums, and other AIDS organizations to commemorate those who have died of AIDS, but also to educate the public about the transmission of AIDS and HIV and the needs of those living with AIDS. The red ribbon was originally inspired by the yellow ribbons prominently displayed during the Gulf War in support of U.S. soldiers. The color red was chosen because it is the color of blood and its symbolic connection to passion and love. The red ribbon made its public debut when host Jeremy Irons wore it during the 1991 Tony Awards. Since then, wearing the red ribbon has become a fashion statement and extremely politically correct. There are those who feel that the red ribbon has lost it’s importance, and is now simply lip service to AIDS causes, however, the Red Ribbon Project is still going strong and remains a driving force behind AIDS awareness. It is the Project’s sincerest hope that one day it will no longer be needed. The White Knot. The symbol for Marriage Equality. The White Knot is the symbol for marriage equality. Wear it to show your support and to create conversation. Use it to tell everyone that equal rights are important. Share it so that all loving couples can have the same rights. Everybody deserves the right to Tie The Knot!

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The Missouri Indians first came to the attention of Europeans through the account left from the Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette expedition in 1673. On the Marquette map, they are referred to as the "Oumessourit." This is the Illinois name for them, and can be translated as the "people of the dugout canoes." It is not what the Missouri called themselves, but the name would remain. The Missouri were not newcomers to the area. While the Osage and Illinois had been pushed westward from the east after Europeans started settling the East Coast, the Missouri had been here for centuries. The earliest Oneota (ancestral Missouri) site in the area dates from A.D. 1250, and the Missouri Indian village (the Utz site) dates from as early as A.D. 1450. The Missouri were typical prairie dwellers. They lived in large rush mat-covered houses with from 15-25 people in each. These longhouses were fairly widely spaced across the village, which contained approximately 5,000 people at first European contact. The people grew corn, beans and squash in small agricultural plots, probably in the bottomlands. The crops were planted in the spring, and the people stayed in the village through the early stages of the crops. In June, they left on the summer hunt, principally seeking bison. In August, they returned to harvest the crops. While most remained for the rest of the year, the men often left on other hunting trips through the winter. The Old Fort, an irregular, double-ditched earthwork located in the park, was built by the ancestral Missouri Indians (Oneota). Archaeological investigations have not yet revealed the nature and purpose of this interesting man-made feature of the landscape. Because the Missouri were the first group encountered on the Missouri River, they were visited early by the French. Probably the first direct contact with Europeans came in 1680 or 1681 when two traders were captured by the Missouri and taken to their village. The first recorded encounter was in 1682 when French explorer Sieur de La Salle, Robert Cavelier, was on his way south to the mouth of the Mississippi River. His party came upon a group of Tamaroa (Illinois Indians) and some Missouri on their way to conduct a raid on the Osage Indians. About 1715, the Little Osage Indians moved from western Missouri and established a village near the Missouri to have greater access to fur traders. The Missouri often stopped traders from going upriver to obtain guns, lead and other items from them. Following the Big Osage and Little Osage, the Missouri contributed significantly to the fur trade in St. Louis. There are a number of accounts from the early part of the 18th century, with many centering around the construction of Fort Orleans by Etienne Veniard de Bourgmond across the river from the Missouri Indian village in 1721. De Bourgmond's account of his visit to the Kansa Indians the following year illustrates that the Missouri Indians had already been heavily affected by European diseases. When de Bourgmond came down with a fever, most of the people with him fled the expedition. Fort Orleans was abandoned in 1728, and it appears that shortly thereafter, the remaining Missouri moved to the Late Missouri Indian village near the Little Osage Indians. Disease and warfare with other tribes took their toll on the population. By 1758, there were only about 750 Missouri remaining. Warfare with the Sac and Fox and Ioway in the late 18th century forced the Little Osage and Missouri to abandon the area. Most of the surviving Missouri joined with the Otoes in Nebraska. In 1804, the Meriwether Lewis and William Clark Expedition passed the area and noted the location of the Late Missouri Indian village and the village of the Little Osage. Farther upriver, the first Indians they met were the remainder of the Missouri living with the Otoes. They estimated that there were 300 Missouri there at that time. By 1829, there were only 80 Missouri alive; 40 in 1882; and the last full-blooded Missouri Indian died about 1908. However, some members of the Otoe-Missouria Nation of Oklahoma continue to count their linage as Missouri.

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Conserving the Elusive Louisiana Pine Snake: Partners Take Action What are CCAs? one or more parties that address the conservation needs of candidate or at- risk species. Both Federal and non-... This is a status assessment of the double-crested cormorant in North America as of 2001. It includes general information on the bird, biological information and area-specific population information for throughout North America. This is a children's coloring book of various endangered species. It provides images of each species for coloring, as well as educational information on the species. The animals included are: Bald Eagle, California red-legged frog Karner Blue... This is a preliminary biological assessment of Kirwin National Wildlife Refuge. Stimulation for the report was based on the concept that future decisions related to the biological portion of the Comprehensive Conservation Plan will be based on the... This report is an initial biological assessment of wetland conditions on Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Slade National Wildlife Refuge, and Florence Lake National Wildlife Refuge that was conducted as part of the pre-planning phase for... Birds; Monitoring; Predators; Predator control; Species of concern; Statistics; These are the results of the 2003 peregrine falcon monitoring plan. The plan was established after the species' de-listing from the endangered species list, and takes place every three years. The report includes a description of methodology as... Joe has been a field biologists for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management for twenty-nine years. He has taken every opportunity to study eagles and ospreys. All his observations have been along river systems using a...

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The Gender Police (page 5) The second is a set of masculinity imperatives. Hypermasculinity is the dominant gender norm imposed by the gender police. Boys, but also girls, obtain status by displaying aggression and a willingness to demonstrate power at another’s expense. The third is normalized bullying. Bullying is the tool by which the most aggressive members of the gender police use coercive and often violent power to acquire and maintain high social status. By participating in gender policing, and targeting students they perceive to be failing in the task of meeting masculinity norms, students elevate their social status. The rigid status hierarchies found in today’s schools have not developed in a vacuum. They come from a larger, more encompassing set of values, generated by what I call a bully economy. Economic and cultural trends associated with extreme capitalism, including severe income disparities and related values pervasive in popular media, have helped institutionalize masculinity prescriptions (i.e., aggression and dominance) and intensified gender policing in multiple forms. Children today learn that status is everything, as described in chapter 1, “Social Status Wars.” Race and class are our most typical indicators of power, and conformity to gender expectations is paramount. This chapter explains how students become gender police recruits, and how their policing fuels battles over status and power in schools. Chapter 2, “Masculinity and White Supremacy,” examines theories of masculinity and their relevance both to school shootings and to the everyday violence that has become accepted in our schools. Boys are expected to be powerful and dominant and then are often attacked and ridiculed if they appear gay, poor, or nonwhite or have any number of other perceived differences. A recipe for violence ensues when boys are pressured to be hypermasculine and then are marginalized through classism, racism, heterosexism, or other forms of prejudice. “Violence against Girls,” chapter 3, addresses how boys learn from an early age that they assert manhood not only by being popular with girls but also by wielding power over them, physically, emotionally, and sexually. This chapter examines school shootings where the perpetrators specifically targeted girls who rejected them and where they lashed out indiscriminately as a result of perceived damage to their manhood after being “dumped.”

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The boy was about fifteen years old. He tried to stand very straight and still when he heard the news, but inside of him everything had gone black. It wasn't that he couldn't endure pain. In summer he would put a stone hot from the fire on his flesh to see how long he could stand it. In winter he would sit in the icy river until his Indian father smoking on the bank said he could come out. It made him strong against any hardship that would come to him, his father said. But if it had any effect on this thing that had come to him now, the boy couldn't tell what it was. For days word had been reaching the Indian village that the Lenni Lenape and Shawanose must give up their white prisoners. Never for a moment did the boy dream that it meant him. Why, he had been one of them since he could remember! Cuyloga was his father. Eleven years past he had been adopted to take the place of a son dead from the yellow vomit. More than once he had been told how, when he was only four years old, his father had said words that took out his white blood and put Indian blood in its place. His white thoughts and meanness had been wiped away and the brave thoughts of the Indian put in their stead. Ever since, he had been True Son, the blood of Cuyloga and flesh of his flesh. For eleven years he had lived here, a native of this village on the Tuscarawas, a full member of the family. Then how could he be torn from his home like a sapling from the ground and given to the alien whites who were his enemy! The day his father told him, the boy made up his mind. Never would he give up his Indian life. Never! When no one saw him, he crept away from the village. From an old campfire, he blackened his face. Up above Pockhapockink, which means the stream between two hills, he had once found a hollow tree. Now he hid himself in it. He thought only he knew the existence of that tree and was dismayed when his father tracked him to it. It was humiliating to be taken back with his blackened face and tied up in his father's cabin like some prisoner to be burned at the stake. When his father led him out next morning, he knew everybody watched: his mother and sisters, the townspeople, his uncle and aunt, his cousins and his favorite cousin, Half Arrow, with whom he had ever fished, hunted and played. Seldom had they been separated even for a single day. All morning on the path with his father, crazy thoughts ran like squirrels in the boy's head. Never before had he know his father to be in the wrong. Could it be that he was in the right now? Had he unknowingly left a little white blood in the boy's veins and was it for this that he must be returned? Then they came in sight of the ugly log redoubts and pale tents of the white army, and the boy felt sure there was in his body not a drop of blood that knew these things. At the sight and smells of the white man, strong aversion and loathing came over him. He tried with all his young strength to get away. His father had to hold him hard. In the end he dragged him twisting and yelling over the ground to the council house of the whites and threw him on the leaves that had been spread around. "I gave talking paper that I bring him," he told the white guards. "Now he belong to you." It was all over then, the boy knew. He was as good as dead and lay among the other captives with his face down. He was sure that his father had stayed. He could feel his presence and smell the sweet inner bark of the red willow mixed with the dried sumach leaves of his pipe. When dusk fell, a white guard came up. The other soldiers called him Del, perhaps because he could talk Delaware, the strange name the whites gave the Lenni Lenape and their languages. True Son heard Del tell his father that all Indians must be out of the camp by nightfall. From the sounds the boy guessed his father was knocking out his pipe and putting it away. Then he knew he had risen and was standing over him. "Now go like an Indian, True Son," he said in a low, stern voice. "Give me no more shame." He left almost at once and the boy heard his footsteps in the leaves. The rustling sound grew farther and farther away. When he sat up, his father was gone. But never before or since was the place his father was going back to so clear and beautiful in the boy's mind. He could see the great oaks and shiver-bark hickories standing over the village in the autumn dusk, the smoke rising from the double row of cabins with the street between, and the shining, white reflection of the sky in the Tuscarawas beyond. Fallen red, brown and golden leaves lay over roofs and bushes, street and forest floor. Tramping through them could be made out the friendly forms of those he knew, warriors and hunters, squaws, and the boys, dogs and girls he had played with. Through the open door of his father's cabin shone the warm red fire with his mother and sisters over it, for this was the beginning of the Month of the First Snow, November. Near the fire heavy bark had been strewn on the ground, and on it lay his familiar bed and the old worn half-grown bearskin he pulled over himself at night. Homesickness overwhelmed him, and he sat there and wept. After a while he was conscious of eyes upon him. When he looked up, he saw the white guard they called Del, standing there in the dusk that to the Indian is part of the day and part of the night. The white soldier was about twenty years old, with red hair and a hunting shirt of some coarse brownish cloth. The bosom stuck out like a pouch from his belongings carried in it. His belt was tied in the back and his cape fringed with threads that in the daylight were raveled scarlet and green. But what affronted the boy was that the white guard laughed at him. Instantly True Son turned and lay on his face again. Inside of him hate rose like a poison. "Once my hands are loose, I'll get his knife," he promised himself. "Then quickly I'll kill him." Excerpted from The Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter. Copyright © 2004 by Conrad Richter. Excerpted by permission of Vintage, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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1 of 7 Seven Wonders of the Modern World - Channel Tunnel Trains enter the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone, England. The Channel Tunnel is a 50 km long rail tunnel beneath the English Channel at the Straits of Dover, connecting Folkestone, Kent in England to Coquelles near Calais in northern France. The American Society of Civil Engineers selected Seven Wonders of the Modern World, engineering marvels that exemplified the abilities of humans to construct amazing features on Earth. This seven-page document will guide you through these Seven Wonders of the Modern World and will describe each "wonder" and its positive impact. The first wonder in alphabetical order is the Channel Tunnel. Opened in 1994, the Channel Tunnel is a tunnel under the English Channel that connects Folkestone in the United Kingdom with Coquelles in France. The Channel Tunnel actually consists of three tunnels: two tunnels carry trains and a smaller middle tunnel is used as a service tunnel. The Channel Tunnel is 31.35 miles (50 km) long, with 24 of those miles located under water. For more information about the Channel Tunnel, read the history of the Channel Tunnel and Facts About the Channel Tunnel.

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Living on the Edge Our world is in a constant state of transition, both in time and space. Most of us are more aware of the former, noting the passing of minutes, days and years. However, for many species, it’s changes in habitat across space that have a significant impact on their survival. Life needs edges, places where the shadows of the forest recede in the face of the sun, where waves of grasses dip their roots in murky waters, where ripples lap incessantly at a rock face, etching away the sand of the future. Edges create variety and when it comes to ecology, variety is truly the spice of life, at least in terms of its diversity. The technical term for a transition zone between two types of habitat is ecotone. It’s a place where two communities meet, knitting together elements of each other, often bringing the best of both worlds. Some ecotones are abrupt, like the striking boundary between forest edge and farmer’s field, a change so sudden, it can easily be seen from the air. Others are more gradual, such as the subtle gradation of shades from soft, sunny aspen leaves to the dark mossy needles of the boreal forest as one moves pole-ward throughout much of the northern hemisphere. Some edges we we can’t even see, like the lines between distinct communities layered on top of each other in the depths of a lake. It’s all a matter of perspective. What might seem like a continuum to us, may be a stark contract to another species. It all depends on the resources you value. Regardless of how they’re defined, edges are important places. They’re interfaces, areas where two distinct worlds can influence each other for better or worse. Edge-effects can be positive or negative, depending on the organism whose point of view you are looking from and what type of edge it is. Naturally occurring ecotones, like a reed bed bordering a lake shore, are hugely important areas, a bridge between the land and watery worlds, creating an interface where a greater number of species can thrive than would otherwise exist without these marshes. Whether they’re lines of trees along a winding stream, offering a windbreak in an otherwise open field, or a wet meadow cutting its way through a thick forest, edges can also provide natural thoroughfares, ancient pathways followed by generations of animals. However, that same linear accessibility can also become a problem when the edge is not natural. Clear-cuts slicing into an normally intact forest, seismic lines cross-crossing though arctic tundra or farmland pushing into what’s left of tall-grass prairie can create novel and unnatural ecotones, opening corridors for predators and invasive species, irrevocably changing the landscape. In contrast, what may be right-of-ways for some organisms may also be barriers for others, with human-caused edges limiting normally wider-ranging movements of many habitat-sensitive species, such as songbirds and woodland caribou. Anyway you cut it, the world is full of edges, both dividing and uniting this remarkable patchwork of landscapes in all three dimensions. Understanding the depth of that complexity and our impacts on it has kept biologists busy for decades and will continue to do so for many more to come. I, for one, welcome the chance to continue the exploration.

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Glaucoma is a chronic neurodegenerative disease of the retina, characterized by the degeneration of axons in the optic nerve and retinal ganglion cell apoptosis. DBA/2J inbred mice develop chronic hereditary glaucoma and are an important model system to study the molecular mechanisms underlying this disease and novel therapeutic interventions designed to attenuate the loss of retinal ganglion cells. Although the genetics of this disease in these mice are well characterized, the etiology of its progression, particularly with respect to retinal degeneration, is not. We have used two separate labeling techniques, post-mortem DiI labeling of axons and ganglion cell-specific expression of the βGeo reporter gene, to evaluate the time course of optic nerve degeneration and ganglion cell loss, respectively, in aging mice. Optic nerve degeneration, characterized by axon loss and gliosis is first apparent in mice between 8 and 9 months of age. Degeneration appears to follow a retrograde course with axons dying from their proximal ends toward the globe. Although nerve damage is typically bilateral, the progression of disease is asymmetric between the eyes of individual mice. Some nerves also exhibit focal preservation of tracts of axons generally in the nasal peripheral region. Ganglion cell loss, as a function of the loss of βGeo expression, is evident in some mice between 8 and 10 months of age and is prevalent in the majority of mice older than 10.5 months. Most eyes display a uniform loss of ganglion cells throughout the retina, but many younger mice exhibit focal loss of cells in sectors extending from the optic nerve head to the retinal periphery. Similar to what we observe in the optic nerves, ganglion cell loss is often asymmetric between the eyes of the same animal. A comparison of the data collected from the two cohorts of mice used for this study suggests that the initial site of damage in this disease is to the axons in the optic nerve, followed by the subsequent death of the ganglion cell soma. In a systematic examination of intraocular pressure (IOP) in inbred mice, John and colleagues described elevated levels of IOP and the subsequent development of an optic neuropathy in the DBA/2J (D2) line . The development of elevated IOP in these mice is linked to mutations in two genes, Gpnmb and Tyrp1, which encode a protein found in melanosomal membranes and an enzyme involved in melanin synthesis, respectively [2,3]. Recessive inheritance of both of these mutant genes causes the breakdown of the iris stroma and the release of pigment clumps into the anterior chamber of the eye. The association of these proteins with melanosomes has lead to the theory that toxic byproducts generated by the biosynthesis of melanin are released from the melanosome leading to the atrophy of the iris. In some respects, this disease resembles human pigment dispersion syndrome in that displaced pigment accumulates in the trabecular meshwork (TM) leading to elevated IOP and glaucoma. It is also clear that disease in the D2 mouse has an immune component that may contribute to both iris atrophy and the pathology of the TM. D2 mice exhibit a decrease in ocular immune privilege as they age. Leakage of the blood brain barrier leads to infiltration of monocytes and neutrophils into the anterior chamber and the iris , possibly in response to increasing amounts of toxic melanin byproducts accumulating in the anterior chamber. Bone marrow transplants into D2 mice, from genetically different donors, can effectively prevent the age-related decrease in immune privilege leading to a substantial reduction in both the anterior chamber disease and the subsequent increase in IOP. The temporal course of the pathology of the anterior chamber disease is relatively predictable, but by no means synchronous in D2 mice. In general, defects in the iris, as determined by transillumination, begin to occur in mice at ~6 months of age. Elevation in IOP is detected in animals anytime from 9–12 months, and is variable within the population . Early studies of the time course of retinal ganglion cell death indicated that a majority of animals exhibited significant cell loss and optic nerve degeneration by 12 months and TUNEL studies showed that peak cell death in the ganglion cell layer of these mice occurred between 10 and 13 months . Similarly, DBA/2NNia mice, a substrain of the DBA/2J line, also exhibited ganglion cell loss between 12 and 15 months of age [7-9]. Several studies have characterized the neuronal populations affected in this disease. Jakobs and colleagues described that the dying cells at this age were almost entirely made up of different sub-types of retinal ganglion cells, while other retinal cell-types, such as amacrine cells, were unaffected . A study by Moon et al showed a similar depletion of ganglion cells, but also noted changes in a subset of amacrines . An ultrastructural electron microscope study, conducted by Scheuttauf and colleagues, described two patterns of neurodegeneration as D2 mice age . Although this study relied on qualitative observations, it concluded that ganglion cell apoptosis was more prevalent in mice under 6 months of age, while necrotic cell death was more prevalent in older mice. In addition to necrosis, mice at ages of 8 and 11 months exhibited ischemic retinal changes, and showed evidence of activated Müller's cells and an increase in neoangiogenesis. Aged retinas showed no signs of inflammatory cells or damage to other retinal cell layers, such as the photoreceptors. These observations may be quite significant, because they indicated that necrosis was the principal mechanism of cell death during the period of elevated IOP. This assessment was made using relatively general morphological criteria on very few animals, however, and more recent studies using Bax knock out animals have demonstrated that intrinsic apoptosis is the primary pathway of cell death associated with elevated IOP in D2 mice . In this study, we report on the timing and pattern of both optic nerve and retinal degeneration in two separate cohorts of D2 mice. In both cases, the disease exhibits variable and asymmetric progression in mice as they age and has features that are consistent with glaucoma in humans. Additionally, a comparison of the onset of damage between the two, suggests that optic nerve degeneration precedes measurable damage in the retina, implicating the optic nerve as the initial site of damage in this disease. Evaluation of optic nerve degeneration in aging D2 mice A cohort of 270 nerves from 135 D2 mice, aged between 6 and 22.5 months, was used in this analysis. Mice were euthanized and the nerves labeled with DiI as described in the methods. Figure 1 shows examples of labeling from young (Fig. 1A) and aged mice (Figs. 1B and 1C). Young mice typically showed robust DiI labeling extending to the optic chiasm. Mice that exhibited degeneration of their nerves typically fell into the general categories of those showing symmetric (Fig. 1B) or asymmetric degeneration (Fig. 1C). In this latter group, some mice exhibited one relatively healthy appearing nerve and nearly complete loss of staining in the other. Further evaluation of the asymmetry of degeneration in these mice is presented below. Figure 1. Photomicrographs of the optic nerves of 3 mice labeled post-mortem with DiI. The images shown are dorsal views, looking down on the mouse head with the nose of the mouse facing the bottom of the image. The right nerve is on the left of each photomicrograph. (A) A young mouse (6 months of age) showing both optic nerves labeled from the globes to the optic chiasm. (B) An old mouse (10 months of age) showing relatively symmetric degeneration of both nerves. Degenerating nerves typically exhibit reduced label distally. (C) A second mouse at 10 months of age, showing asymmetric degeneration of it optic nerves. Only the left nerve is labeled. Bar = 0.5 mm. To quantify the extent of optic nerve degeneration in these mice, the pattern of label in each nerve was scored by 2 masked observers as described in the Methods. The time course of degeneration was then estimated by graphing the mean scores (± SEM) of nerves at each age (Fig. 2). Only a few mice aged 8 months or younger showed signs of degeneration using this labeling method. After 8 months the average level of degeneration rose dramatically and peaked at 11 months of age. The general pattern of age-related degeneration, as indicated by the DiI labeling technique, suggested that axonal degeneration followed a die-back pattern from the proximal end of the optic nerve to the distal end. To assess this pattern, we examined several nerves in different stages of disease histologically in transverse sections. Figure 3 shows a panel of silver stained sections taken at different intervals along 4 nerves. Surprisingly, nerves with early to moderate signs of degeneration using the DiI method (i.e., grades 2 and 3 nerves) showed mostly normal axon tracts throughout most of their length, but contained intermittent regions of degeneration beginning posterior of the lamina. These regions were marked by swollen axons and axonal fragments and could be found throughout the nerve, but were more prevalent in the proximal segment. Regions of degeneration were much more extensive in grade 4 nerves, while grade 5 nerves exhibited fewer axonal fragments and an increase in gliosis and connective tissue deposition. Figure 2. Graph of the mean (± SEM) severity score for individual optic nerves of mice as a function of age. This cohort of DBA/2J mice showed a steep increase in the prevalence of optic nerve degeneration at 9 months of age. Figure 3. Degeneration of axons occurs first in regions of the optic nerve proximal to the laminar region. A series of 16 photomicrographs are shown of 4 different optic nerves in different stages of degeneration based on the DiI-labeling pattern. The distal and proximal segments of each nerve were sectioned longitudinally and silver stained. The individual nerves are oriented from left to right, with their respective score shown at the top. Photomicrographs taken from each nerve are oriented from the laminar region (top panels) through to a region in the middle of the proximal segment (bottom panels). A normal nerve (left panels – score of 1) contains bundles of axons flanking columns of cells in the laminar region. Immediately posterior to this region, the axons separate from the bundles and anastomose along the entire length of the nerve. A nerve with moderate degeneration (panels second from the left – score of 3) also contains relatively normal appearing bundles of axons in the lamina. Small regions of degenerating axons are found along nerve posterior to the lamina, especially in the mid-region of the distal segment and the proximal segment. These regions are exemplified by swollen axons and axon fragments. Nerves with severe degeneration (panels third and fourth from the left) show much more extensive axonal degeneration and loss, gliosis, and scar tissue deposition. Bar = 15 μm. The DiI also revealed an interesting pattern of degeneration in approximately 26% of the nerves examined. In these nerves, intact tracts of axons appeared to be preserved at the periphery of the nerve, principally along the nasal side (Fig. 4). Histological evaluation of these nerves confirmed that the pattern of DiI label corresponded to a higher density of axons localized to the nerve periphery. Figure 4. Nerves with severe degeneration often show preservation of nasal tracts of axons. (A, B) DiI-labeled optic nerves showing nasal tracts of staining. The left nerve only is shown for each mouse. The nerve in panel B is almost completely degenerated. The edge of the nerve sheath on the temporal side is marked with an arrow. Bar = 0.6 mm. (C) Silver-stained cross section of a nerve showing a peripheral tract of DiI-staining. This low resolution montage was made up of a series of photomicrographs taken at 1000X. The nasal part of the nerve is oriented to the right. Bar = 15 μm. (D-F) Higher resolution images of the respective boxed region in (C) shown above each panel. (D) Temporal optic nerve. (E) Central optic nerve. (F) Nasal optic nerve. The nasal region of this nerve contains a higher density of axons, consistent with the DiI-labeling pattern. Bar in (F) = 4 μm. Evaluation of retinal ganglion cell loss in aging D2 mice A second cohort of 289 eyes from 145 D2 mice, heterozygous for the βGeo reporter gene (Fem1cR3/+), were aged and euthanized between the ages of 2.3 and 19.5 months. The retinas were stained with X-Gal and whole mounted for scoring using a semi-quantitative method. Figure 5 shows 4 retinas from different mice all aged to 13 months. Each retina representatives an example of increasing score from ~1 (Fig. 5A) to ~4 (Fig. 5D). These data also demonstrated the wide range of ganglion cell loss apparent in mice of the same age. A scatter plot of the scores for all the individual eyes is shown in Figure 6. Individual D2R3/+ mice within most age groups exhibited variable staining, but in general a minority of mice aged 8–10 months exhibited signs of degeneration (41%), while the majority of mice aged 10.5 months and older (>75%) showed moderate to severe damage. As a control group, we also scored 34 eyes from 17 aged C57BL/6R3/+ mice. These mice showed no loss of staining in either eye even at 16.5 months of age. Figure 5. Whole mounts of retinas taken from 13 month old DBA/2JR3/+ mice show variable levels of degeneration. Retinas were stained for βGEO activity in the presence of X-Gal. Each retina is taken from a different animal. This series of photomicrographs demonstrates the high degree of variability observed in disease progression in the DBA/2J line, where some animals have virtually no evidence of ganglion cell loss (A), while others have nearly complete cell loss (D). The retinas shown also demonstrate the scoring system used to quantify the βGeo staining patterns observed: (A) represents a score of approximately 1, (B) a score of approximately 2, (C) a score of approximately 3, and (D) a score of approximately 4. Retinas given a score of 5 exhibited no positively staining cells. Bar = 1 mm. Figure 6. Scatter plot of X-Gal staining scores for individual retinas from aged DBA/2J R3/+ mice compared to aged C57BL/6R3/+ animals. Loss of X-Gal staining correlates to the loss of retinal ganglion cells . A majority of DBA/2J mice older than 10.5 months exhibit reduced staining, relative to younger animals (closed circles). Although these mice develop progressively more damage as they age, there is a high degree of variability in the amount of damage exhibited by mice at the older ages. Retinal disease is associated with the DBA/2J genetic background, since no cell loss was observed in C57BL/6 mice (open circles) at any age examined. Using the R3 marker also allowed us to examine the pattern of cell loss over the whole retina. Essentially two patterns of loss were observed (Fig. 7). Mice aged between 8.5 and 10 months often showed regional cell loss, typically in wedge-shaped patterns extending from the optic nerve to peripheral retina. Older mice often exhibited more uniform cell loss, suggesting that areas of regional loss may coalesce as the disease progresses. For statistical analysis, we selected all the retinas that were scored as 1.5 or greater as being eyes with at least some degree of damage. Scores for individual lobes were compared to determine if particular regions of the retina were more susceptible than others to degeneration. No significant association was found (P = 0.75, ANOVA) indicating that regional loss occurred randomly around the retina. We then compared scores for peripheral and central retinal regions. In this analysis, we also found that cells were not preferentially lost in either retinal region (P values ranged from 0.72 to 0.99 by ANOVA, when individual regions of the retinas were tested separately). Figure 7. βGeo staining pattern of DBA/2JR3/+ mice showing distinct patterns of ganglion cell loss. (A) A retinal lobe of a young mouse showing normal staining for βGeo activity. (B) A retinal lobe from an older mouse (9 months), showing regional loss of ganglion cells in a sector of retina with adjacent regions of normal retina. (C) A retinal lobe from an old mouse (11.5 months) showing diffuse loss of ganglion cells generally uniformly across the retina. In this cohort of mice, the pattern of cell loss seen in the example in (B) was exhibited principally in middle-aged mice (8–9 months), with early signs of degeneration. Bar = 0.5 mm. The pattern of axon loss in the optic nerves of mice exhibiting different patterns of retinal degeneration was also examined (Fig. 8). Mice with wedge-shaped regions of loss in their retinas exhibited similar regions of focal axon loss near the laminar region of the optic nerve, where axon tracts were still in discrete bundles. The focal nature of these regions was dissipated in sections of the proximal segments of the same nerves (data not shown). A pattern of diffuse cell loss was associated with a similar pattern of diffuse axonal loss in the optic nerve. Figure 8. Retinas and optic nerves show consistent patterns of degeneration. A series of retinas and corresponding optic nerves from 4 different mouse eyes. The retinas were stained for βGEO enzyme activity and the optic nerves were sectioned just posterior to the laminar region and silver-stained. (A, B) A retina with extensive staining has a nerve with normal appearing nerve with well-defined bundles of axons. (C, D) A retina with two wedge-shaped regions of cell loss (asterisks) has a nerve with two similar focal areas of axon loss (asterisks). (E, F) A retina with a large region of cell loss (asterisk) in one half and uniform cell loss in the other has a nerve with a large contiguous region devoid of axons (asterisks), while the remainder of the nerve has a uniform depletion of axons. (G, H) A retina with nearly complete cell loss has a nerve with nearly complete axon loss. Each retina is oriented with the superior region to the top. Each optic nerve is oriented with the dorsal nerve to the top. The central retinal artery (A) and vein (V) are indicated. Bar = 0.45 mm (panels A, C, E, G) and 90 μm (panels B, D, F, H). The asymmetry and timing of degeneration in D2 mice During the evaluation of the optic nerves and retinas from individual mice, it was evident that some animals showed dramatic asymmetry in both optic nerve disease (see Fig. 1) and loss of ganglion cells in the retina. To assess the extent of asymmetry in optic nerve degeneration, the score for the left optic nerve was subtracted from the score for the right nerve and graphed as a scatter plot (Fig. 9A). Nerves that differed by less than 1 were considered symmetric, since this was generally the maximum difference in retinal scores given by masked observers for samples that they disagreed upon. Our analysis included mice with nearly end-stage degeneration of both nerves, thus we likely underestimated the asymmetry of disease because there was no way to assess how rapidly each individual nerve had degenerated in these animals. Of the 135 mice in this cohort, 81 (60%) exhibited asymmetric optic nerve degeneration, with no significant preference between the left and right eyes (P > 0.10, χ2 analysis). A total of 11 mice (8.1% of the entire cohort) exhibited complete asymmetry with one degenerated nerve and one normal nerve. Figure 9. Optic nerve and retina degeneration in DBA/2J mice is asymmetric. Scatter plots showing the difference in both optic nerve scores (A) or retina scores (B) for individual mice. The difference in score was calculated by subtracting the left eye (OS) score from the right eye (OD) score for each mouse. The expected result for symmetric degeneration would be a score of '0' for each animal, but clearly there is dramatic scatter of both the optic nerve and retina scores. Optic nerves also show a trend for asymmetry at an early age, consistent with the hypothesis that early damage occurs first in the nerve. Retina asymmetry is more pronounced at ages when the mice show clear signs of retinal degeneration. The difference in retinal score between eyes of the same mouse was also calculated and graphed (Fig. 9B). Eyes that differed by less than 0.5 on our grading scale were considered the same based on the level of variability observed in scorer agreement analysis. Forty percent of the mice (58/145 mice) had scores that differed between the eyes by more than 0.5 on our grading scale, again with no significant preference between left and right eyes (P > 0.50, χ2 analysis). A total of 13 mice (9% of the entire cohort) had scores that differed by more than 2.0 on the grading scale, which was similar to the percentage of mice exhibiting complete asymmetry of optic nerve degeneration. The results from two separate cohorts of aging D2 mice are reported here. In the first cohort, anterograde DiI-labeling and confirmatory histology showed a marked increase in degeneration of the optic nerve in a majority of mice when they reach 9 months of age. In the second cohort, ganglion cell loss was followed as a function of histochemical staining activity of the ROSA3 (Fem1cR3/+) βGeo reporter gene product. Using this method, a majority of mice exhibit moderate to severe damage by 10.5 months of age. Degeneration of the optic nerve The timing of optic nerve degeneration we observed in our mice followed a similar pattern recently reported by Libby et al. , with the exception that we detected signs of degeneration at 9 months of age, or 1 month earlier than the Libby study. A variety of factors may account for this difference, including different sensitivities in the methods used to evaluate the nerves, the numbers of mice analyzed at critical ages, and different housing and feeding conditions that could affect the timing of the disease in different colonies. By combining the data collected using silver staining of optic nerve sections and the DiI-labeling technique, we speculate that axons damaged in glaucoma start to degenerate in regions throughout the nerve, proximal to the laminar region. The overall pattern of degeneration, however, occurs in a retrograde direction. A similar pattern of retrograde degeneration has been reported in tibial nerves of mice after nerve crush . Interestingly, the pattern of degeneration of axons is different if a more acute lesion (transection) is performed on the tibial nerve. In this latter paradigm, Wallerian degeneration occurs in an anterograde direction and is initiated more rapidly than in nerves after crush. The direction of degeneration we observe in D2 mice suggests that the nerve lesion in glaucoma is more akin to crush in severity. In addition to the retrograde direction of loss, we also observed the "preservation" of peripheral tracts of axons in a significant number of nerves examined. The lack of uniform degeneration across the whole diameter of the nerve suggests that damage to the axons is probably more focal than diffuse. A similar condition has been reported in the nerves of humans with glaucoma [14-17] and non-human primates with experimental glaucoma . In these cases, glaucomatous degeneration followed a classic "hourglass" pattern of axon loss in the inferior and superior regions of the optic nerves, which has been associated with structural differences in the collagen beams of the lamina cribrosa . Similarly, mice with experimental ocular hypertension (as apposed to the chronic disease exhibited by D2 mice) exhibit initial axon loss in the superior optic nerve . Although we have not detailed any predictable pattern of loss in DBA/2J mice, when present, the preserved axon tracts are found predominantly in the nasal optic nerve. Structural studies of the optic nerve head in some strains of mice have not found any evidence of an extracellular lamina cribrosa , but this does not preclude the possibility that mice also have some kind of increased structural support in different regions of the optic nerve. The method of DiI-labeling also allowed us to rapidly evaluate the symmetry of optic nerve damage in each mouse. A majority of animals exhibited more damage in one nerve over the other, with no preference between left and right eyes. Like the non-uniform degeneration of axons we observed in some optic nerves, asymmetric degeneration between eyes is also similar to the natural history of this disease in humans. Several independent studies in which visual field defects and changes to the optic disc were analyzed, have reported marked asymmetry of disease progression in glaucoma patients [21-25]. Degeneration of the retina Using βGEO activity to mark ganglion cells, the earliest detectable changes in the retina we observed were at 8–10 months of age, with a peak in the number of animals showing degeneration occurring by 10.5–11 months of age. Our data showing peak disease at this age are consistent with the TUNEL data reported by Libby et al and the loss of fluorogold-labeled ganglion cells in DBA/2NNia mice, a substrain of DBA/2J , indicating that the progression of disease is not unduly influenced by the presence of a single R3 allele. Our results contradict the observations made by Scheuttauf and colleagues , however, in that we found no obvious increase in cell loss in 6 month old mice. Since the Scheuttauf group did not quantify the amount of cell loss they observed, it is not known if the reported increase in cell death they observed was large enough to detect using the βGeo staining method. It is also clear that the timing of retinal degeneration is highly variable in a population of aging D2 mice and because this other study used relatively small numbers of mice for their studies, their data may not be representative of the general population. The βGeo staining method also provided us with some insight on the pattern of cell loss exhibited in the D2 retina. The majority of mice showed a diffuse pattern of loss throughout the retina. Many mice in the early stages of retinal degeneration, however, clearly showed regional cell loss, often in the form of large pie-shaped sectors of retina extending from the optic nerve to the periphery. An identical pattern of ganglion cell loss was independently observed in aged D2 mice by Jakobs and colleagues and may be consistent with the "patchy" cell loss reported in DBA/2NNia mice by others [8,9], although these mice appear to lose cells preferentially from the central retina rather than in sectors . In each of these studies, ganglion cell depleted regions of the retina were typically bordered by normal regions of retina, suggesting that damage had occurred initially to discrete bundles of axons in the optic nerves of these animals. Since the only region of the nerve where discrete bundles exist is in the laminar region (see Fig. 3), this is the likely site of initial insult in glaucoma. Histological evaluation of the laminar regions of nerves from eyes with regional cell loss also showed similar patterns of discrete areas of axon loss supporting this hypothesis. Like the optic nerve studies, we also observed asymmetry in the loss of βGeo positive cells in the two eyes of single mice, indicating that the disease progresses independently in each eye. This finding is also consistent with ERG response changes reported in the DBA/2NNia mice , where the decrease in amplitude of the b-wave form was much more variable between the two eyes of aged (15 month) mice compared to younger animals. Although the exact cause of the ERG changes was not elucidated, the authors attributed it primarily to retinal damage. Comparison of the timing of optic nerve and retinal degeneration We compared the time course of both optic nerve and retinal degeneration in an effort to estimate if one preceded the other. Figure 10 shows a plot of the mean optic nerve scores and the mean retina scores plotted relative to age. Signs of optic nerve disease were observed 1–2 months before detectable ganglion cell loss in the retina. This comparative analysis suggests that the initial damage to ganglion cells in this model occurs to their axons in the optic nerve. One caveat with this comparison, however, is that we used two independent cohorts of mice to assess optic nerve and retinal disease. Secondly, since we used ranks based on non-linear criteria for determining the onset of degeneration, we cannot be certain that early onset retinal degeneration may be found to occur at a younger age when examined using a more linear method of quantification. Our data are consistent, however, with recent observations that ganglion cells with relatively normal somas exhibit shrinkage of their axons and fail to label by retrograde transport of vital dyes injected into the superior colliculus, also suggestive of early axonal damage . Figure 10. Peak optic nerve damage precedes peak retinal damage in DBA/2J mice. Line graph of the mean optic nerve degeneration (closed circles) and mean retinal degeneration (open circles) as a function of age in two cohorts of DBA/2J mice. In this comparative analysis, DBA/2J mice exhibited optic nerve disease before they exhibited retinal disease, consistent with theories of human glaucoma that predict that the initial damage in response to ocular hypertension occurs at the level of the lamina cribrosa [14, 17, 30]. In summary, this study of the pattern of optic nerve and retinal degeneration in D2 mice provides some interesting insights into the sequence of events in the pathology of the disease. Analysis of the timing of both optic nerve and retinal degeneration suggests that the nerve is affected first. Axons begin to degenerate posterior to the lamina in intermittent regions throughout the nerve, but are more prevalent in the proximal regions, making the overall pattern of degeneration appear retrograde by DiI staining. The loss of ganglion cells in the retina is delayed by about 1 month, and often first occurs in discrete wedges of cells. Since damage likely occurs first in the optic nerve, it is reasonable to assume that the discrete pattern of damage observed in the retina is due to damage to adjacent bundles of axons, which are only found in the laminar region. Thus, the lamina is probably the initial site of damage in glaucoma in these mice, analogous to previous studies suggesting a similar etiology in humans [14,15,17]. Handling of animals and generation of DBA/2J ROSA3 mice Experiments using mice were conducted in accordance with the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology statement on the use of animals for ophthalmic research and the University of Wisconsin Animal Care Committee. A colony of D2 mice was established from breeders purchased from the Jackson Laboratory (JAX – Bar Harbor, ME) and routinely backcrossed onto new founders from JAX in order to reduce genetic drift in the colony. The ROSA3 line of mice was initially generated in the laboratory of Philip Soriano using the promoter trap gene βGeo (a fusion protein of β-galactosidase and neomycin phosphotransferase). In this line, the βGeo trap gene was inserted into the first intron of Fem1c. Adult animals express this gene in distinct populations of neurons in the CNS. In the retina, βGeo is expressed predominantly in the majority of retinal ganglion cells . The ROSA3 allele (Fem1cR3 - R3) was crossed into the D2 background by successive breeding through 10 generations. D2 mice, heterozygous for the R3 allele, were generated by crossing homozygous animals (Fem1cR3/R3) with wild-type D2 mates obtained from JAX. Mice were maintained on a 4% fat diet (8604 M/R Diet, Harland Teklad, Madison, WI) in a 12 hr light/dark cycle. Post-mortem DiI labeling of optic nerves Axons in the optic nerves of D2 mice were labeled post-mortem with DiI crystals (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR) using a modification of the procedure described by Plump et al . Briefly, adult mice between 6 and 21 months of age were euthanized. The heads were removed and fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde in Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS) for 1 hr at room temperature. After fixation, the heads were skinned and a 270° incision was made around the circumference of the globe at the limbus of each eye to allow the corneas to flip open. The lenses were removed, and crystals of DiI were embedded into the optic nerve head of each eye using watchmaker's forceps. To keep the crystals in place, the lenses were replaced and the corneas folded back into position. Heads were incubated for 2 weeks in PBS containing 0.1% sodium azide at 37°C to allow the DiI to diffuse along the axon plasma membranes. After incubation, the skullcap and underlying brain tissue was removed to expose the optic nerves from the globe to the chiasm. Fluorescent label in the nerves was visualized using a Leica MZ FL III fluorescent dissecting microscope with a digital camera attachment (Leica, Bannockburn, IL). To estimate the staining intensity of each nerve, individual nerves were scored by 2 masked observers using a 5 point scale ranging from label extending from the globe to the optic chiasm (score of 1) to no detectable label in the entire nerve (score of 5). An exemplar of the 5 different scores is shown in Figure 11. A weighted Kappa statistic showed a high level of agreement between the 2 observers (κ = 0.818, 95% CI = 0.697 to 0.939). Figure 11. Summary of the scoring criteria for DiI-labeled nerves and X-gal stained retinas. (A) Exemplar of scored optic nerves. Only the left nerve is shown for 5 individual mice. The scores range from 1 for label from the globe to the chiasm, to 5 for no signs of label. Younger mice typically exhibited nerves that were scored 1–2, while older mice typically had nerves showing some level of degeneration (3–5). Bar = 0.5 mm. (B) A photomicrograph of a retina (OD) stained for βGEO activity taken from a 10.5 month old mouse. This particular example appears to have 2 wedges of cell loss, one superior and one temporal, at different stages of degeneration. (C) A cartoon of a flatmounted retina where each quadrant is separated into 4 regions and given a score based on the intensity of stain present. The quadrants represented are (clockwise): SN, superonasal; IN, inferonasal; IT, inferotemporal; ST, superotemporal. The scores in each region of the quadrants represent the scores given by 1 masked observer for the retina in (B). The average of all the scores in each quandrant then becomes the total score for that quadrant, and the average of these 4 scores becomes the final total score for that retina. Optic nerve histology After DiI staining and imaging, optic nerves were removed from the mouse heads and processed for histology. Nerves were dissected with a small region of the globe still attached to help define regions proximal and distal to the retina. Nerves were fixed for 4 hr at 22°C in 10% Formalin in PBS, embedded in JB-4 Plus plastic (glycol methacrylate, Polyscience, Warrington, PA), and sectioned at 2 μm thickness. Cross sections were taken within 1.0 mm of the globe (distal segment) and within 1.0 mm of the chiasm (proximal segment). Some nerves were also sectioned longitudinally. Sectioned nerves were stained using a silver impregnation technique, which selectively stains the axons . Optic nerves were digitally photographed using an Olympus BH-2 photomicroscope (Mellville, NY). Histochemical staining for βGeo enzyme activity and scoring of retinal wholemounts Mice were euthanized at the appropriate ages and the superior region of each eye was marked using an ophthalmic cautery to place a small burn in the cornea. Eyes were then enucleated, and the anterior chamber and lens of each was removed after a relaxing cut was made in the superior retina in line with the cautery mark. Retinas were stained with X-Gal (1 mg/mL) as described previously , with the exception that enucleated eye cups were stained for a standard period of 21–22 hrs at 37°C in an effort to ensure all eyes were stained an equal period of time. After staining, retinas were removed from the eye cups and flat mounted on charged glass Plus microscope slides (Fisher Scientific, Chicago, IL) using care to maintain retinal orientation based on the superior retina. Three additional relaxing cuts were then made to flatten the tissue onto the slide. This procedure resulted in retinas with 4 relatively equal sized lobes corresponding to the superonasal, superotemporal, inferonasal, and inferotemporal quadrants. To estimate the staining intensity of each retina, each individual lobe was scored separately by 3 observers using a 1 to 5 point scale. Briefly, each lobe was divided into 4 regions (2 central and 2 peripheral) and each region was scored independently from 1 to 5. A score of 1 was given to retinas with a dense staining pattern. A score of 2 was given to retinas that exhibited reduced, but still widespread distribution of positive cells. Correlative cell counts from sample retinas indicated that these retinas had at least 50% of the positive cells in the ganglion cell layer remaining. A score of 3 was given to retinas with markedly reduced staining, to a maximum of approximately 75% cell loss. A score of 4 indicated sparse distribution of positive cells in the ganglion cell layer, while a score of 5 was given to retinas with no evidence of positive cells in the ganglion cell layer. The mean of the 4 scores for each lobe was considered the score for that lobe, and the mean score of each of the 4 lobes was considered the mean score for that retina. This scoring method created data sets that enabled statistical analysis of cell loss between the peripheral and central retina, between different lobes of each retina, and between different retinas. An example of a scored retina is shown in Figure 11. A weighted Kappa statistic revealed a high level of agreement among the scorers using this method (κ = 0.667, 95% CI = 0.32 to 1.0). CLS and RWN (corresponding author) jointly conceived and designed this study, analyzed all the data, and wrote the manuscript. CLS and JAD developed the retina scoring system and KTJ contributed to the scoring and statistical evaluation of the retina cohort. RWN and YL developed the optic nerve scoring system. YL did the DiI staining experiments and optic nerve histology. YL and JAD did the retina staining experiments. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. This work was supported by a grant from The Glaucoma Foundation (RWN), grants from The National Eye Institute (R03 EY13790 and R01 EY12223 to RWN, and CORE grant P30 EY016665 to the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences), and an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness. The authors would like to thank Ms. Inna Larsen for assistance in breeding the Rosa3 allele onto the DBA/2J genetic background. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1998, 39:951-962. PubMed Abstract Mo JS, Anderson MG, Gregory M, Smith RS, Savinova OV, Sereze DV, Ksander BR, Streilein JW, John SWM: By altering ocular immune privilege, bone marrow-derived cells pathogenetically contribute to DBA/2J pigmentary glaucoma. Libby RT, Anderson MG, Pang IH, Robinson Z, Savinova OV, Cosma IM, Snow A, Wilson LA, Smith RS, Clark AF, John SWM: Inherited glaucoma in DBA/2J mice: pertinent disease features for studying the neurodegeneration. Danias J, Lee KC, Zamora MF, Chen B, Shen F, Filippopoulos T, Su Y, Goldblum D, Podos SM, Mittag T: Quantitative analysis of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss in aging DBA/2NNia glaucomatous mice: comparison with RGC loss in aging C57BL/6 mice. Schuettauf F, Rejdak R, Walski M, Frontczak-Baniewicz M, Voelker M, Blatsios G, Shinoda K, Zagorski Z, Zrenner E, Grieb P: Retinal neurodegeneration in the DBA/2J mouse - a model for ocular hypertension. Arch Ophthalmol 1981, 99:635-649. PubMed Abstract Arch Ophthalmol 1981, 99:137-143. PubMed Abstract Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1980, 19:137-152. PubMed Abstract Arch Ophthalmol 1994, 112:349-353. PubMed Abstract Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 1994, 232:290-296. PubMed Abstract Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1999, 40:849-857. PubMed Abstract Genes & Dev 1991, 5:1513-1523. PubMed Abstract Plump AS, Erskine L, Sabatier C, Brose K, Epstein CJ, Goodman CS, Mason CA, Tessier-Lavigne M: Slit1 and Slit2 cooperate to prevent premature midline crossing of retinal axons in the mouse visual system. Bancroft JD, Stevens A: Bielschowsky's silver stain for axons in frozen and paraffin sections (modified). In Theory and Practice of Histological Techniques. 3rd edition. Edited by Bancroft JD and Stevens A. New York, Churchill Livingstone; 1990:347-348.

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The effect of primers on shear bond strength of acrylic resins to different types of metals Statement of problem: Poor chemical bonding of acrylic resins to metal alloys can result in microleakage and failure of the bond. Metal primers have been shown to be effective in improving the bond strength of acrylic resins to metal alloys. However, there is insufficient information about their effects on bonding to different types of metals. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of metal primers on the shear bond strength of acrylic resins to 3 different types of metals. Material and methods: A total of 432 disk-shaped wax patterns (10 mm in diameter and 2 mm thick) were cast in a Ti alloy (Tritan), base metal (Co-Cr alloy, Wironit), or noble metal (Au-Ag-Pt alloy, Mainbond EH). After casting, the disk surfaces were finished with abrasive paper under water. The noble alloy was airborne-particle abraded with 50-@mm aluminum oxide; the other alloys were airborne-particle abraded with 110-@mm aluminum oxide for 10 seconds. Specimens of each metal were divided into 3 groups (n=48) and received 1 of the following acrylic resins: (1) heat polymerized (Meliodent), (2) autopolymerized (Meliodent), or (3) microwave polymerized (Acron MC). The specimens were then divided into 4 subgroups (n=12) which received 1 of the following metal primers: (1) Metal Primer, (2) Alloy Primer, (3) Meta Fast, or (4) no primer (control). All specimens were stored in distilled water at 37^oC for 24 hours after polymerization and then thermal cycled (5000 cycles at 5-55^oC with a 30-second dwell time). After thermal cycling, the specimens were tested in a universal testing machine at a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min in shear mode. Data (MPa) were analyzed using 3-way ANOVA and the post hoc Tukey HSD test (@a=.05). Results: The 3-way ANOVA indicated that shear bond strength (SBS) values varied according to the metal type, metal primer, and acrylic resin used (P<.001). Conclusions: The metal primers were associated with an increase in the adhesive bonding of acrylic resins to metal alloys. The SBS of the acrylic resin to the base metal alloy was significantly higher than the SBS to the noble and titanium alloys. Version: za2963e q8zaa q8zb4 q8zcd q8zdc q8zea q8zf0 q8zg2

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http://pubget.com/paper/20416414/The_effect_of_primers_on_shear_bond_strength_of_acrylic_resins_to_different_types_of_metals

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Curious Symbol Structure m.meier at SPIEKERMANN.DE Wed Dec 27 01:28:42 EST 2006 I am interested in an answer on this question from an expert, too. What I hope I understood from many little parts of information is: Specially for drawing thick line (line width > 1) you need a "pen". And think of the tip of the pen as being a circle or en ellipse. So your thick line is drawn by putting many ellipses one after another. A long time ago I read in a documentation for the "old" GKS about an optimization algorithm. Because you don't need to calculate the whole ellipse for each step. I hope, this explanation has some truth in it! Bill Thoen schrieb: > I'm trying to learn the MapServer lore and now I'm focusing on symbols. Can > anyone tell me what the logic is where one is defining a _line_ style by > using a TYPE of ELLIPSE (instead of LINE) and POINTS definition of one (x > y) as in the symbol definition below? (This is from > NAME 'dashed1' > TYPE ELLIPSE > POINTS 1 1 END > FILLED true > STYLE 10 5 5 10 END > I'm just curious. This seems like some historical artifact from the days > when learning MapServer was hard. ;-) > The TYPE ELLIPSE seems especially weird to me. Why not TYPE LINE? > - Bill Thoen More information about the mapserver-users

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http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/mapserver-users/2006-December/021577.html

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A study looking at global warming in terms of heat stress on humans — which also has application to other mammals, like pets and livestock — says half the world’s population centers could become dangerously hot within the next few centuries if the warming trend continues. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says the so-called “wet-bulb temperature,” an index factoring in heat and humidity, could begin exceeding 35 degrees Celsius, 95 degrees Fahrenheit, for extended periods. The 35-degree threshold is the point at which the ambient temperature tends to induce “hyperthermia” (overheating) in humans and other mammals. Even with modest warming, this could expose large fractions of the population to unprecedented heat stress and with severe warming it would become intolerable, potentially dwarfing other impacts from global warming, the study concludes. The results stem from climate simulations done by Purdue Professor Matthew Huber on supercomputers operated by ITaP. “It changes the nature of the game,” Huber, an earth and atmospheric sciences professor, says of the study he did with colleague Steve Sherwood at the University of New South Wales in Australia. “We’re playing a different game than people have assumed. Most people think we’re playing a game of roulette with unfortunate but not catastrophic impacts if we are unlucky. Our study indicates that the risks involved are more akin to Russian roulette, and we don’t know how many chambers have rounds in them.” Writer: Greg Kline, science and technology writer, Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP), (765) 494-8167, [email protected] Last updated: May 5, 2010

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http://www.itap.purdue.edu/newsroom/detail.cfm?NewsID=2159

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The combination of population reduction and women’s rights was already like oil and water. Adding CO2 reductions to the mix only makes things By Ian Angus For more than two centuries, the idea that the world’s ills are caused by poor people having too many babies has been remarkably successful at diverting attention from the complex social causes of poverty and injustice. Forty years ago, Paul Ehrlich’s best-seller The Population Bomb applied the idea to environmental problems: “The causal chain of deterioration is easily followed to its source. Too many cars, too many factories, too much detergent, too much pesticide, multiplying contrails. Inadequate sewage treatment plants, too little water, too much carbon dioxide – all can be traced easily to too many people.” Ehrlich’s book convinced many environmentalists, and led to the formation of a variety of groups that focused solely on the supposed evils of overpopulation. Today, as women’s rights activist Betsy Hartmann warns in a recent article, populationist arguments are back – but now groups such as the US-based Population Connection (formerly Zero Population Growth) and the UK’s Optimum Population Trust have added a “faux feminist twist” to their attacks on the reproductive rights of Third World women. “Along with the bad news that women’s fertility is destroying the planet comes the good news that family planning is the solution. In other words, you don’t have to feel guilty about blaming poor women for the world’s problems because you can help them improve their lives by having fewer babies.” What’s worse, she writes, these arguments aren’t just being promoted by the population zealots in ZPG and OPT: “In fact, perhaps what is most distressing about the current population control resurgence is how many liberal feminists and progressive media outlets are jumping on board. “There’s even an attempt by the Sierra Club and others to bring reproductive justice activists into the fold in the name of ‘Population Justice.’ The assumption is that we live in a win-win world where there’s no fundamental contradiction between placing disproportionate blame for the world’s problems on poor women’s fertility and advocating for reproductive rights and health.” That prompted an outraged reply from Laurie Mazur, the founder of Population Justice and editor of A Pivotal Moment: Population, Justice and the Environmental Challenge. “Betsy Hartmann implies that everyone working on population-environment issues is part of a misogynistic plot to bring back ‘population control.’ I’m here to tell you she is wrong. “I am a lifelong, card-carrying feminist and political progressive. I am passionately committed to sexual and reproductive health and rights, to environmental sustainability, and to closing the inequitable divide between men and women, rich and poor. And I believe that slowing population growth — by ensuring that all people have the means and the power to make their own decisions about childbearing — will contribute to those ends.” Mazur is undoubtedly sincere, but in my opinion Hartmann’s criticisms and concern are fully justified. In this article I focus on some specific problems with the “Population Justice” concept that Mazur defends. I won’t repeat the broader criticisms of the population growth explanation for climate change that I and others have made elsewhere. A New Conversation? Mazur presents herself as the voice of reason in the “polarized debate” between population extremists like Paul Ehrlich on one side, and people like Betsy Hartmann, whom she labels “population deniers,” on the other. Mazur calls for a “a new conversation about population and the environment,” with a goal of “slowing population growth” but doing so without coercion, respecting women’s need for reproductive health services and right to make their own choices. But that’s not a new conversation. For two decades, even the most reactionary population control outfits have given lip service to women’s rights and voluntary birth control – but they still blame poor women’s fertility for environmental problems, and call for reducing the birth rate in the Third World as the sine qua non of any solution. The anti-immigrant Optimum Population Trust, for example, says that it favors “non-coercive policies to limit and stabilise population growth,” and talks of “empowering women to control their own fertility.” In language similar to Mazur’s, OPT says, “All environmental problems, and notably those arising from climate change, would be easier to solve with a smaller future population.” The similarities aren’t coincidental. In the early 1990s, liberal feminists associated with the Clinton administration blocked with population control advocates to outvote the Vatican at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development. Defeating the religious right was important, but in the process the population controllers learned to hide their views behind feminist vocabulary – and some liberal feminists adopted the “too many babies” ideology. Mazur’s approach reflects the views of the latter group. Non-Coercive Population Reduction? Mazur tries to distance herself from hardcore populationism by rejecting “coercive population control.” Coercion not only violates women’s rights, she writes, it isn’t necessary. “We now know that the best way to slow population growth is not with top-down ‘population control,’ but by ensuring that all people are able to make real choices about sexuality and reproduction.” Of course it’s vitally important that women everywhere have the right and power to make real choices, but is a focus on slowing population growth the way to accomplish that? Haven’t decades of experience shown that women’s right to choose is undermined when reproductive health programs are driven by environmental and population concerns? The line between coercive and non-coercive birth control programs is not easily drawn: programs motivated by overpopulation arguments tend to promote population reduction, regardless of the actual needs of the communities and individuals involved. That’s especially true in the impoverished countries that population programs usually target, where poor women have long been deprived to the power to make choices about many aspects of their lives. Project staff who believe they are protecting the environment frequently pressure women to accept sterilization or unsafe long-term contraceptives. Supposedly voluntary programs have included coercive elements such as denying women access to other services if they don’t attend lectures on the importance of having fewer babies, or dividing people into teams that compete for maximum participation in family planning services. It’s noteworthy that Optimum Population Trust, despite its proclaimed belief in voluntary programs, also calls for “national tax and benefits systems to provide incentives to parents to have one or two children only.” For the poor, being denied such benefits could very well be a form of coercion. A particularly brutal case of hidden coercion occurred in Peru in the late 1990s, when a supposedly voluntary family planning program led to the involuntary sterilization of more than 200,000 indigenous women, while the country’s president was sanctimoniously declaring his government’s support for gender equality and reproductive rights at international women’s conferences. An essay included in Mazur’s own book concludes that this horrendous campaign was a direct result of the program’s focus on reducing Peru’s birthrate. The first lesson of that experience, the authors write, is that “human rights abuses are likely where reproductive health services are seen as a means to an end, rather than as an end in themselves.” That’s an important lesson for anyone who considers promoting family planning as a way to reduce population and greenhouse gas emissions. Why Third World Women? Mazur says that she wants to reduce emissions by slowing population growth – but if that’s so, why does her project place so much emphasis on the fertility of the poorest women in the world? Per capita emission rates in the United States, Canada and Australia are the highest in the world. If more babies equals more emissions, shouldn’t Mazur’s group emphasize population reduction in rich countries, where each avoided birth will have a greater effect than dozens in the global south? In A Pivotal Moment, Mazur poses that question herself, and gives a strange answer: “The answer lies in the future. The developing countries are where the lion’s share of population growth will occur, and they are also where development must occur for half of humanity to escape from grinding poverty. The affluent countries can reduce emissions by reducing the vast amounts of waste in our systems of production and consumption. But the developing countries are not likely to raise their standards of living without more intensive use of resources and higher emissions.” Let’s get this straight. Most emissions come from the developed countries, but they can clean up their act. However, for some reason poor people trying to get out of poverty can’t use low-emission technology, so let’s make sure there are fewer of them. Instead of dealing with the real problems that exist in the North today, Mazur would have us target poor women in the South because of what they might do in the future. This makes no sense. Not only do Third World countries have low overall emission rates, but within those countries women are low emitters – and the poorest women produce the lowest levels of all. They are the first and greatest victims of global warming, and they bear the least responsibility for causing it – but Mazur tells us that that their fertility is the problem we should address. It’s difficult to see either feminism or justice in that. Mazur’s approach directs attention away from the huge ecological debt that rich countries owe to the global South. A central focus for the global climate justice movement is the demand for repayment of that debt, both in financial contributions and through massive transfer of low emissions technology that can enable economic development without promoting climate change. Achieving this won’t be easy – but populationists who start from socially conservative assumptions don’t even consider the possibility of transforming the way the global economy works. In Hartmann’s words: “Missing from the equation is any notion that people are capable of effecting positive social and environmental change, and that the next generation could make the transition out of fossil fuels.” The wrong way to go For the poorest women in the world, winning unrestricted access to high quality health services, including safe birth control and abortion, would be a huge victory. But linking that campaign to global warming is the wrong way to go. The name “Population Justice” sounds good, but the project rests on an illusion, on a self-defeating attempt to combine incompatible causes. As the feminist scholar Asoka Bandarage wrote following the 1994 Conference on Population and Development: “As liberal feminist activists form alliances with population control advocates and depend on the latter’s monetary and institutional support, they, too, come to accept the neo-Malthusian position which reduces ‘women’s rights’ to ‘reproductive rights,’ which in turn are equated with ‘population policies’. … [S]ubsuming women’s issues within the neo-Malthusian framework leads to a neglect of the social structural roots of women’s subordination.” The combination of population reduction and women’s rights was already like oil and water. Adding CO2 reductions to the mix only makes things worse, treating the fight for women’s rights as an instrument for achieving technical goals, not as a demand for justice in its own right. By adapting to populationist prejudices, the Population Justice project is heading down a dangerous road. It is adding a liberal voice to the efforts of bigots and misogynists to blame Third World women for global warming, and by doing so it undermines both women’s rights and the fight against climate change. My thanks to Lis Angus, Simon Butler and Richard Fidler for their advice and comments on this article. Ian Angus is editor of the online journal Climate and Capitalism. His book The Global Fight for Climate Justice was published by Resistance Books (UK) in 2009, and will be released in North America by Fernwood Publishing in February 2010. Paul Ehrlich. The Population Bomb. Ballantyne Books, 1968. pp 66-67 In what follows, all quotes from Betsy Hartman are from “The ‘New’ Population control Craze: Retro, Racist, Wrong Way to Go” which was first published in On the Issues. In what follows, all quotations from Laurie Mazur are from these sources: - “Population & environment: a progressive, feminist approach.” Originally published in On the Issues, Fall 2009. - “The Population Debate Is Screwed Up.” Alternet, March 28, 2009. - “A neglected climate strategy: Empower women, slow population growth.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, October 12, 2009. - “Introduction,” to Laurie Mazur, editor, A Pivotal Moment: Population, Justice and the Environmental Challenge. Island Press, Washington DC, 2009 For links to some articles on the population debate, see “Why Population Isn’t the Problem.” Climate and Capitalism, December 7, 2009. OPT News Release, August 17 2009. “Tackle Population Growth to Beat Climate Change.” James Oldham. “Rethinking the Link: A Critical Review of Population-Environment Programs.” February 2006. Susana Chávez Alvarado with Jacqueline Nolley Echegaray. “Going to Extremes: Population Politics and Reproductive Rights in Peru.” in Mazur, A Pivotal Moment, pp. 292-299 Asoka Bandarage. Women, Population and Global Crisis: A Political-Economic Analysis. Zed Books, London, 1997. p. 7

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http://climateandcapitalism.com/2010/01/31/womens-rights-and-population-reduction-programs-like-mixing-oil-and-water/

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On August 13, 2012 the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flew over the South Pacific Ocean and captured a curious true-color image. Although at first glance this white and blue image seems to be a study of clouds against ocean, a closer looks reveals that in the lower left corner of the image, the apparently white “cloud” is tinged with gray and lies in in long tendrils across the surface of the ocean. These swirls are not clouds – they are floating pumice. A raft of floating pumice was noticed in the South Pacific Ocean as early as August 1, and visited by an ocean going vessel that was traveling along a chain of underwater volcanoes between Auckland and Raoul Island, New Zealand on August 9 and 10. But the source of the eruption was not readily apparent. Several local volcanoes, including Monowai, located north of the raft, had recently erupted – but no known eruption correlated with the appearance of the pumice in the ocean. Using a combination of seismology and satellite imagery, scientists were able to discover the origin of the pumice – Havre Seamount in the Kermadec Islands. Seismologists identified a cluster of earthquakes in this region on July 17 and 18. Ranging in magnitude from 4.0 and 4.8, they were consistent with magma rising in a volcano prior to eruption. Volcanologist Erik Klemetti and NASA visualizer Robert Simmon then examined a month’s worth of MODIS images from the Aqua and Terra satellits and found ash stained water, gray pumice and a volcanic plume over the seamount on July 19, 2012. Night time imagery suggested that the eruption may have begun on July 18. By July 21, the eruption appeared to have waned, leaving behind the dense rafts of pumice. Winds and currents spread the pumice into a series of twisted filaments, spread over an area about 450 by 250 kilometers (280 by 160 miles) as of August 13.

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Melanie Thernstrom discusses the history of treating pain in her new book. Chronic pain is more widespread, misdiagnosed, and untreated than any major disease in America, affecting as much as 10% of the population. In her new book “The Pain Chronicles,” author Melanie Thernstrom outlines the history of medicine’s quest to alleviate pain from the first use of ether for surgery in 1842 to the modern use of controversial opioids and the advent of neuro-imaging to retrain the brain to cope with pain. Thernstrom waged her own battle with chronic pain and ultimately found a regime of physical therapy, Botox, Celebrex and Tramadol to deal with it. Her book examines the elusive nature of pain and how often misguided notions of pain have prevented proper treatment of unrelenting pain that many confront with grace and courage everyday. Melanie Thernstrom, author of The Pain Chronicles: Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing and the Science of Suffering (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

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Sonoma County Department of Health Services has determined that a pet cat in the Glen Ellen area had rabies, the first domestic animal in the county to test positive since the 1990′s. The cat, which was unvaccinated, was taken to a veterinarian Monday for strange and aggressive behavior. The cat’s owners have received post-exposure preventative care. Animal Care and Control visited the neighborhood where the cat lived and notified neighbors of a possible risk of exposure to rabies if they had any contact with the cat. Both people and pets were evaluated for risk of exposure and referred appropriately for care. “This incident serves as an important reminder that rabies is still present in our animal populations, and sporadic cases in domestic animals can still occur,” said Karen Holbrook, deputy health officer. Rabies is not increasing in Sonoma County, and no human cases have occurred in recent years in the County, Holbrook said. Bats, raccoons, skunks, and foxes are most often affected in California, but all mammals can become infected. People should not pet or touch wild animals, including feral cats. Vaccination of pets is essential to protect their health and their owner’s health as well. State law requires vaccination of all dogs and it is strongly recommended that cats also be vaccinated. “The importance of vaccinating cats can be seen from this episode,” Holbrook stated. “If your pet is not current in its rabies vaccinations and encounters a rabid animal it will be recommended to be euthanized. VIP PetCare will offer $5 canine and feline rabies vaccinations for the next three weeks at each of its Community Veterinary Clinics in Sonoma County. See Theanimalshelter.org for clinic times and locations.

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The aging of American society is not a transitory phenomenon caused by baby boomers, said Jack Rowe, professor of health policy management at Columbia University, in a recent conference called “Designing Homes and Neighborhoods for an Aging Population” at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. “It’s a permanent structural change induced by greater longevity.” Core U.S. institutions, including housing, “are not engineered for the society we’re going to have,” he said. By 2030, nearly 20 percent of U.S. residents will be 65 and older, and every state will see its older population increase as a percentage of its total population. By 2050, the number of people 65 and older will grow by 125 percent, to 88.5 million. The number of those 85 and older will triple, from 5.8 million to 19 million. Already, one-fourth of households include a resident 65 or older. Nearly half of women over age 60 live alone. One in three baby boomers is single and lives alone. More will be alone as they age. Close to 90 percent of Americans would like to stay in their homes as they age, said Nancy LeaMond, executive vice president of the AARP’s state and national group. Yet today’s houses are “built to last but not to adapt,” she said. “We can’t fit an older population into our current housing.” The current housing stock will need to be retrofitted. Henry Cisneros, former secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and executive chairman of CityView, said the transformation has already begun. “Aging in place is a reality for most Americans.” Cisneros discussed several housing strategies to deal with these changes: - Retrofitting existing homes. Seventy percent of people 65 and older live in detached, single-family homes, and many intend to stay. A certified, affordable renovation package, said Cisneros, could create a “lifelong home.” Potential items include the following: roll-under kitchen and bathroom sinks, grab bars, curbless showers, lever faucets and door handles, no-step entrances, and wider doors and hallways to accommodate wheelchairs. Such changes could be paid for with community development block grants and other federal money. Retrofitting homes could be a job creation strategy. - Developing new housing that is appropriate in scale and accessorized for advancing age. Thirty percent of Americans age 55 and older indicated that they would consider moving to a smaller townhouse, duplex, or condominium, according to a 2002 report by the National Association of Realtors, but only 15 percent now live in such housing. “We need to be producing more housing that is smaller-scale, affordably priced, suitable for multifamily use, located in walkable communities, and close to amenities, commercial districts, health facilities, and public transit,” Cisneros wrote in Independent for Life: Homes and Neighborhoods for an Aging America , a book released at the conference. One option is cohousing, which offers individual dwellings that share common space for community activities. Such arrangements are often multigenerational. The neighborhood design allows older residents to continue to function independently while being part of a community. - Naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs). Neighborhoods where many residents are older would offer services such as certified home renovation, senior nutrition and fitness programs, community policing tailored to special needs, or help with everyday activities like bathing. - New communities. It will be important to have a wider range of choices of walkable, transit-oriented communities for older people who have had to give up their driver’s license. These communities can be in infill, first-ring suburbs or in exurbs. In many places, suburban institutions have been recycled—for instance, abandoned shopping malls or big-box stores have been transformed into walkable communities. In some cases, said Cisneros, communities may need to modify their zoning codes to offer expanded housing choices. Good transit options and walkable communities are essential to helping seniors maintain their autonomy, and HUD offers sustainable-communities grants to help communities plan for both. One feature that makes a community walkable: “You shouldn’t have to be a former Olympic sprinter of any age to get across the street before the light changes,” said LeaMond. Older communities can be retrofitted for walking, as Chattanooga, Tennessee, is doing. “It’s the biggest change in Chattanooga in 25 years,” said Mayor Ronald Littlefield. “We’ve built miles of greenway and trails. Some are wheelchair-accessible.” In housing, universal design makes the built environment more accessible not just for the elderly, but also for the disabled and, as the name implies, for the general population. “A lot of housing assumes it’s for June Cleaver,” said Ilene Rosenthal, deputy secretary for the Maryland Department of Aging. “You’re never going to get old, you’re never going to have a stroke.” In communities, universal design includes features such as better lighting; larger, better illuminated street signs; and wheelchair accessibility. In homes, such design can include small adaptations like lever door handles and large clock face displays, and larger ones such as more open floor plans and minimum-width hallways that allow for adequate turning radius. It’s expensive to retrofit homes with adaptive features, so it’s better to build for them in the first place, said Fernando Torres-Gil, director of the UCLA Center for Policy Research on Aging. One often-overlooked issue is the housing needs of moderate-income seniors. “The statistics look grim: big increases in low- and moderate-income seniors and the very old,” said Robyn Stone, executive director of the LeadingAge Center for Applied Research. Baby boomers might well have less money as they age than their parents did. In response, Stone said, “we need to think of housing as a base for bringing services into the community.” There will be many people who shouldn’t stay in their own home at 90. They may not be ready for a nursing home or be able to afford assisted care in their home. There should be more options for affordable housing and services for people in such situations, said Stone. In the end, “if we can rebuild America so people can maintain their ability to function and their autonomy, we will all profit from an aging society,” said Laura Carstensen, founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. “It will be a story not about old age, but a story about long life.”

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Writing Q&A 4:Character description; fiction and grammar Published: October 11, 2006 |Q: When describing a character's appearance, I either over do it or don't give enough. How do I know what to include and what to leave out? | This is a tricky balance. Too much description and your reader might tune out. Too little and you risk not presenting the character the way you intended. A good practice is to choose a few defining details, ones that capture the essence of the character's appearance. This way, you fix the important details and readers can still actively engage their own imaginations, filling in the rest. For example, in Annie Proulx's The Shipping News, Quoyle is described like this: A great damp loaf of a body. At six he weighed eighty pounds. At sixteen he was buried under a casement of flesh. Head shaped like a crenshaw, no neck, reddish hair ruched back. Features as bunched as kissed fingertips. Eyes the color of plastic. The monstrous chin, a freakish shelf jutting from the lower face. At this point, my version of Quoyle may have attached ear lobes and a sprinkling of moles on his arms and yours may not, but it doesn't matter, because Proulx has laid out the essentials of Quoyle's appearance. We both have the same idea of how Quoyle inhabits space, from his size to his "monstrous chin." (In fact, Quoyle often covers his chin throughout the novel. It becomes his most defining physical feature.) Details of appearance don't need to be so prominent--or monstrous--to define. Terron Musgrave, a character in Russell Banks' The Book of Jamaica, "wore his hair in long, matted, leonine locks called dreadlocks, and in profile he did indeed resemble a dark male lion, which was as he desired it." Notice how this detail also gives insight into the character. In fiction, attention to appearance shouldn't just create the outer shell; it should give a glimpse inside, too. Don't be afraid to use metaphor or simile when describing appearance. It can be an effective and artful way to convey both a bit of the outer and the inner, as in this description of a grandfather who is almost a hundred years old in Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North: He is no towering oak tree with luxuriant branches growing in a land on which Nature has bestowed water and fertility, rather is he like the sayal bushes in the deserts of the Sudan, thick of bark and sharp of thorn, defeating death because they ask so little of life. And remember, you don't have to get all the details of appearance in one big chunk of narrative. An accumulation over the course of the novel or story can create a full picture of the character, and if the details are attached to meaningful action, the reader won't even notice how it's happening. A bit like sneaking the dog's medicine in a piece of tasty liverwurst. |Q: Does fiction have to be grammatically correct? | Grammar helps us understand each other with clarity and accuracy. A missing comma can completely change the meaning of a sentence: Joe jumps, cycles and trains. Joe jumps cycles and trains. In the first, Joe is engaged in a vigorous workout. In the second, he's well on his way to being the next Evel Kneivel. Some grammatical indiscretions can even leave your reader chuckling at the very moments they shouldn't: Only Mrs. Tan's shoe shop had a generator, and she opened her doors to the relief crews that brought food and water. Inside, young men from the town filled boxes with old ladies. Of course, the old ladies weren't stuffed in boxes during this heroic effort. But that's what the sentence says, doesn't it? Proper grammar is a reflection on your attention to detail. If you can't be trusted to put the comma properly inside a quotation mark at the end of a line of dialogue, what else can't you be trusted to do correctly? In these respects, grammar is as important in fiction as it is in sixth-grade language arts. However, fiction can be enhanced by the deliberate misuse of grammar. Plenty of writers use fragment sentences to create urgency, punctuate a sentiment, or craft a distinct voice. Run-on sentences have gotten a workout in fiction, too. Faulkner wrote individual sentences that lasted pages. Jack Kerouac often used run-ons to create rhythm and momentum, creating the definitive style that is showcased in On the Road. (If you're not sure what fragment and run-on sentences are--or the difference between lay and lie, for that matter--a good grammar book can get you up to speed.) Throwing grammatical convention to the wind in fiction is fine, with these caveats: meaning should be clear and you have a compelling reason for doing so. Authorial laziness does not qualify. Brandi Reissenweber teaches fiction writing and reading fiction at Gotham Writers' Workshop and authored the chapter on characterization in Gotham's Writing Fiction: The Practical Guide. Her work has been published in numerous journals, including Phoebe, North Dakota Quarterly and Rattapallax. She was a James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing and has taught fiction at New York University, University of Wisconsin, and University of Chicago. Currently, she is a visiting professor at Illinois Wesleyan University and edits Letterpress, a free e-newsletter for fiction writers. Send your questions on the craft of creative writing to [email protected].

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Learn Exchange Server 2000: Setting Up DNS for Internet Access by Michael Bell This article in the 'Learning Exchange Server 2000 in 15 Minutes a Week' series looks at setting up the DNS so that Exchange 2000 can access the Internet. The article also covers the Nslookup utility for troubleshooting DNS settings. One of the most frequent problems I see people having with Exchange 2000, and the question I am probably asked the most relates to setting up Exchange 2000 to access the Internet. In this article I will explain how to set up DNS to allow an Exchange 2000 server to access the Internet, as well as how to use Nslookup to troubleshoot DNS settings. Obviously, I can't cover all possible configurations, but I am going to try and cover the most basic configuration. I am going to go with the understanding that most of you already have your Exchange Server installations completed. If not, then this isn't the article that will cover that. For installing Exchange, take a look at one of my earlier articles. Once you have Exchange 2000 installed, there isn't much else to be done on the Exchange side. Exchange is tightly integrated with Active Directory, but more importantly, it is very tightly integrated with IIS. This integration allows Exchange 2000 to connect to the Internet without requiring any connectors to be installed or configured. This version of Exchange is a little different, as previous ones required a connector of some type to be configured. For example, Exchange 5.5 required an Internet Mail Service Connector (IMS) to access the internet. There are a couple of different ways that we could configure DNS for our Exchange 2000 server. For example, I might be running DSL with a firewall like Proxy 2.0 or ISA Server in place. This would mean that we would have a public IP on the external network card of the firewall. If we were running our own DNS server, we could simply put the appropriate Host (A) and Mail Exchanger (MX) records into our DNS database. With this setup, when a client queries our DNS server, the record fors our Exchange 2000 server would be returned, and the client would be able to communicate with our server. This is a simple configuration from the standpoint of DNS, although it would require additional work to get the Exchange Server communicating from behind the firewall. For additional information on how to configure this, see Q276388 and Q308599. However, judging from the questions that I am getting, the majority of users aren't setting up their servers in this type of environment. The majority of the questions I am seeing are centered around small companies that are running a single Exchange 2000 server and their own DNS servers for internal purposes, but using an ISP for external name resolution. Although this situation is a little more complicated than our previous example, it is by no means impossible. Probably the biggest problem facing most people is a lack of understanding of how DNS works. For this, I recommend reading 'DNS and BIND', by Paul Albitz and Cricket Liu. You can find this book just about any place that sells books on technology. Another good resource would be the Windows 2000 help files, as well as the Windows 2000 Resource Kit. Now, lets get back to our problem. We have our Exchange 2000 Server installed, and we have our internal DNS working, taking care of Active Directory and all its needs. So how do we configure it to allow our internal clients to be able to send e-mail out to the Internet and also allow internet users to send e-mail to internal users? The first thing we need to take a look at is how we get our email out to the Internet. In this case, setting up our internal DNS server to forward requests that it can't handle to our ISP's DNS server should do the trick. So what I would need to do would be to go into the DNS MMC, right click on the DNS server object, go to properties, and then select the Forwarders tab. I would type in the address or addresses of my ISP's DNS server(s), clicking add after each one. My DNS server will simply send the requests that it can't resolve out to my ISP's DNS Server. This will allow my clients to get their e-mail out to the internet, but at this point, I am only halfway done. I still need some way to give users access to my Exchange server. The trick here is that my Exchange server is running on my internal network, probably running on a Private IP address. In this case, we have to add the appropriate MX and A records to our ISP's DNS Server. The records would point to the public IP address for our company, typically the external interface of our firewall. Now, we would need to use something like Network Address Translation (NAT) to convert the incoming request and redirect it to our Exchange server. In my earlier example using ISA server, publishing Exchange from behind the ISA server allows you to accomplish this task with a minimal of effort, because ISA will forward the requests for Exchange to the appropriate address, allowing external clients access to our internal Exchange server. Given that we have configured everything correctly, our internal clients should be capable of sending and receiving both internal and internet e-mail. But how do we know that we set up DNS correctly? Enter Nslookup. Nslookup is a troubleshooting utility that allows us to query a DNS database for the presence of appropriate records, among other things. For internal DNS, we can simply open up the DNS MMC console and verify that we have correctly configured the Forward and Reverse Lookup Zones. This is easy enough because we are in charge of these zones; we manage, create and delete them. But what about our ISP's DNS database? How do you know that they have correctly configured the A and MX records. The answer would be to do a simple query of their DNS database using Nslookup. From Windows NT 4.0, 2000, and XP, simply drop to a command prompt and type in Nslookup Once you hit enter, you can now query the DNS database. In my case, I have typed in that I am looking for an MX record. The second option tells the Nslookup utility what domain name I am looking for. In this case, it is my business domain, Bellcs.com. The screen would look like this: You can also see from looking at the second screen shot that I am querying my ISP's DNS server, which is 18.104.22.168. However, this ISP isn't authoritative for this particular domain name, as you can see from the reply that has been returned. It does show that I do have a configured Mail Server, as well as the Name Servers for my domain. So this is how I can see what is in my ISPs DNS database without having access to the physical DNS server. Obviously, there is a lot more to Nslookup than what I have shown here. For more information about this utility, simply type nslookup and press Enter. Then type help and press Enter. You can also lookup Nslookup in Windows 2000 Help, or online at Technet. That should do it for now. Hopefully this helps to shed some light on configuring your Exchange 2000 servers to access the internet, as well as the DNS settings necessary to make it work.

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Daily use of the electronic equipment is known as household electronics, and turns on TV, phone, DVD, CD, PC, the laptop etc. This equipment is made around the world. With advance in electronics at continuous speed many flood of electronics of a new version of a product every year and cost existing products reduce by the market continuously, and it is one of the biggest advantage of the industry of household electronics. Electronic waste - one of the related problems electronic point and many manufacturers plans to deal now with them, vanishes for nothing. All electronic devices use semiconductors, and without these semiconductors any of the electronic device isn't full. The semiconductor behaves as an insulator in an absolute zero (-273 degrees on Celsius) and can be distinct from the conductor that at this temperature the most remote filled electronic power strip is absolutely filled in the semiconductor, are compared to the conductor in which the group is partially overflowed. At room temperature the semiconductor show very small electric conductivity much below, than that from the conductor. Dope in the semiconductor: The most widespread semiconductors used for electronic devices, are silicon and a germaniye. Though some other conductors, such as iridic фосфид, arsenide of gallium and mercury telluride of cadmium also are used. The pure semiconductor which is also known as peculiar semiconductor when being varnished with an electronic rich element, for example, arsenic or an electronic imperfect element, for example, pine forest in very small amount, its increases in conductivity and the resulting conductor, is known as the external conductor. My arsenic of a dope (electronic rich) and pine forest (an imperfect electron) in silicon, we receive n-type (negative type) and p-type (positive type) semiconductor devices. We can create p-n connection, varnishing a various element in various area of the semiconductor, and the device is known as the diode. As we can create p-n-p or n connections - p - n-structures, and the device is known as triodes. It is the device which we can receive moving pictures and sounds on distance. The whole transfer and systems of the receiver demand the following entrances. 1. The chamber for live images or the managing director of the spot scanner for transfer of films and a sound source. 2. Transmitters to transmit both images and sounds. 3. Systems of the receiver to receive these signals. 4. The device of display which is or CRT, Back design, the LCD monitor or plasma. To show a signal in forms of images and sounds.

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"Everybody has been pushing the connection between obesity and ghrelin," said Dr. Roy G. Smith, director of the BCM Huffington Center on Aging, "Companies have been developing ghrelin antagonists as anti-obesity drugs. Now these drugs may have a value in treating diabetes." The downside is that the drugs may not forestall obesity. In studies in his laboratory, mice bred to be deficient in both ghrelin (which stimulates appetite) and leptin (associated with controlling obesity) could be expected to be thin or of normal body weight, said Smith, also a professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at BCM. That was a surprise, said the paper's first author, Dr. Yuxiang Sun, a BCM instructor in the center. "They were just as fat as the mice bred to lack only leptin," said Smith. However, their glucose levels were lower than in leptin-deficient mice. When Sun did a glucose tolerance test on the mice, she found much lower levels in the animals that did not produce either ghrelin or leptin. "They were more resistant to glucose because they secreted more insulin in response to the glucose challenge," said Smith. When Sun and Smith investigated further, they found lower levels of uncoupling protein-2 (Ucp2) in cells called pancreatic islets (where insulin is made). Reducing Ucp2 improves the cell's ability to make ATP, the cell's energy molecule, thereby increasing the sensitivity of the pancreatic beta cell (the cell in the pancreas which produces insulin) to glucose-induced insulin release. Further tests in animals lacking ghrelin, showed that besides increased insulin secretion, their sensitivity to insulin was increased, said Sun. "That means glucose was cleared more efficiently." While Smith sees a role for drugs that block ghrelin in treatment of type 2 diabetes (which usually occurs in adulthood and is often associated with obesity), he sounds a cautionary note. "If through this process, you increase ATP production by the beta cell, you may in the long-term get oxidative stress which could eventually destroy the beta cell," he said. He said he does not yet have data to determine whether that is true or not. In an accompanying analysis, Dr. Rexford S. Ahima of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, wrote, "Overall, the studies provide compelling evidence that ghrelin has unique dual effects on glucose homeostasis (the balance between glucose and insulin), at least in a genetic model. Ghrelin antagonism (or blocking) may be a new approach for treating type 2 diabetes by improving insulin secretion in response to glucose and enhancing peripheral insulin action. The challenge is to ascertain if these results in rodents can be translated to patients." Others who participated in the research include Drs. Mark Asnicar, Pradip K. Saha and Lawrence Chan, all of BCM. This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009 Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

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Samuel Lander Ledgers, 1838-1865 Creator: Lander, Samuel, 1792-1865. Collection number: 5449 View finding aid. Abstract: The Reverend Samuel Lander Sr. was born in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1792, the son of William Lander. He married Eliza Ann Miller (b. 1793) in 1812; the couple had at least four children. Lander, a Methodist minister and carriage maker, moved to Boston, Mass., in 1818 because of Catholic intolerance of Methodism in Ireland. The family first lived in Newark, N.J., before settling in Salisbury, N.C., where Lander became a United States citizen. He lived in Lincolnton, N.C., from 1828 until his death in 1865. The collection consists of two ledger books kept by Samuel Lander between 1838 and 1865. The books include records, often annotated with detailed information, of money received and expenditures for various household goods, his carriage making business, boarders, and land; records of deaths; and hours, terms of employment, agreements, and notes on various hired hands, apprentices, and slaves, some of whom may have been hired out by Lander’s son William. Notes on hands and apprentices include conditions of hire, reports of bad conduct, and discharges. The entry for 2 March 1847 records the sale of slaves. Repository: Southern Historical Collection Collection Highlights: The two ledgers contain information about the enslaved people belonging to Lander, as well as those that have been hired out. The entry for 2 March 1847 records the sale of enslaved individuals.

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In May, 2011, a scandal in Taiwan concerning contamination of food with plasticisers received worldwide attention. Local manufacturers of food additives had illegally used a plasticiser, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), as a substitute for palm oil in emulsifier formulas to cut costs; a huge number of beverages, food products, and food additives became tainted. DEHP is classified by the US Environmental Protection Agency as a probable human carcinogen (class B2). It can also interfere with the endocrine system in the body and is regarded as an endocrine disruptor or hormonally active agent. Plasticisers are industrial chemicals that increase the plasticity, flexibility, and durability of materials. Plasticisers have become a group of ubiquitous environmental pollutants in China owing to their massive use and persistent property. Human beings can be exposed to toxic plasticisers through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal exposure. DEHP, the most commonly used and produced phthalate, has been widely detected in the environment including water, air, soil, and food products in China (table The latest (unpublished) data from our laboratory show an average concentration of DEHP of 0·472 μg/L and a concentration of dibutyl phthalate (DBP) of 0·563 μg/L in drinking water in Shanghai. Other studies indicate that the estimated daily intakes of DEHP and DBP for Chinese people exceeded the reference dose of the US Environmental Protection Agency and the tolerable daily intake of the European Food Safety Authority.4 DEHP concentrations and frequency of occurrence in environment and foodstuff in China In view of the environmental ubiquity of plasticisers in China, short-term and long-term effects of environmental exposure to toxic plasticisers on population health should be regarded as a research priority to provide urgently needed information for proper interventions. We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.

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Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News Sanford N. McDonnell died on March 19 at age 89. Not surprisingly, newspaper obituaries are highlighting his many successful years at the helm of the McDonnell Douglas Corp. But I predict that when the history of our era is written, Sandy (as everyone called him) will be best remembered as America's leading advocate for character education in our schools. Of course, I'm biased because I got to see this humble, compassionate and visionary man up close for more than 20 years as a fellow board member of the Character Education Partnership — the organization he founded and guided after he retired from the business world. Sandy led the way, making a compelling case for taking character seriously with business colleagues, political leaders, educators, parents, students — and anyone else who would listen. It worked. Despite a misbegotten obsession with high-stakes testing among policymakers, character education is back on the education agenda after decades of neglect. Today, thanks to the efforts of CEP and like-minded organizations, thousands of educators are transforming the culture of their schools by teaching and modeling core ethical values such as honesty, integrity, caring, responsibility and respect. Although much more needs to be done to reach all schools, the character-education movement has made great inroads — and is here to stay. What does educating for character have to do with First Amendment freedoms? In a word, everything. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom," wrote Benjamin Franklin. "As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." What Sandy accurately described as a "crisis of character" plagues our country. From corporate scandals to overcrowded prisons, from bullying and cheating in schools to widespread drug abuse, character-related failures threaten the health of American democracy — and the vitality of our freedoms. Sandy understood that schools can't do it all — which is why CEP promotes strong partnerships with parents and communities in developing a character-education mission. But in the civic arena, schools have an obligation to prepare young people to be engaged, ethical citizens committed to "liberty and justice for all." Yes, reading and math are important. But what matters most in a democracy is what kinds of human beings are reading the books and doing the math. Understood properly, comprehensive, effective character education is all about giving students (and all members of the school community) meaningful opportunities to practice freedom responsibly in a school culture that encourages, among other things, respect for the rights of others, shared decision-making, civic engagement, peer mediation and ethical use of the Internet. In short, a school committed to educating for character is a school that actually practices what it teaches in civics classes about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Every year at the CEP annual meeting, Sandy helped honor "schools of character" from every region of the country. One typical winner, a middle school serving a disadvantaged population in Sandy's own state of Missouri, has many of the "best practices" that define effective character education. Students hold class meetings and participate in making class rules. Trained peer mediators help fellow students resolve conflicts. Teachers include discussion of ethical issues in classes across the curriculum. In these and other ways, students, teachers, staff and parents work together to create and sustain a caring, ethical community. Before implementing character education, this middle school was considered a "failing school." Today, grades are up, suspensions and discipline problems are down, and parents are no longer fleeing — they're lining up to get in. Sandy's message was simple, but profound: The character of a nation is determined by the character of its people. "Is there no virtue among us?" asked James Madison, the primary author of the Bill of Rights. "If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea." For your inspiration and leadership — and for reminding us of the inseparable link between character and freedom — thank you, Sandy. Charles C. Haynes is senior scholar at the First Amendment Center. His email address is [email protected]. - My view: UDOT listened, made a good choice - Letters: Move to the center - Richard Davis: Abortion laws should keep up... - My view: Why moderates lost the caucus vote - Letters: No welfare, ever - Comprehensive immigration reform or bust - In our opinion: Susan Cox Powell's case is... - In our opinion: Scouting success will come... - Letters: No welfare, ever 70 - My view: Why moderates lost the caucus... 32 - Letter: The real death panel:... 30 - Tolerance and the same-sex marriage debate 29 - Letters: Move to the center 26 - In our opinion: Big screen exploitation... 25 - Richard Davis: Abortion laws should... 22 - Robert J. Samuelson: Can Americans stem... 20

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Could the mammalian middle ear have evolved … twice? 21 November 2006 The amazingly complex middle ear of mammals has three bones—the incus, malleus and stapes, popularly known as the hammer, anvil and stirrup—while reptiles have only one. Because of its complexity, evolutionary theorists have long said it must have originated once only, in some ancestral creature from which all mammals today are descended. As an article in New Scientist put it: ‘The process was so complex that mammal experts assumed that it must have occurred only once, before monotremes split off from the other mammals more than 150 million years ago.’1 |It requires blind faith to believe that things ‘so complex’ could have evolved once, let alone twice or more.| That’s not surprising. Consider the remarkable transformation that evolutionists maintain took place: three jawbones of the ancestor reptile somehow gradually migrated over generations (while the jaw kept being useful for chewing) to eventually become the three bones that transmit sound in the mammalian ear. So it’s hard enough to conceive of such an amazing series of events taking place once, let alone twice. But the discovery2 of a ‘115-million-year-old fossil of a tiny egg-laying mammal thought to be related to the platypus provides compelling evidence of multiple origins of acute hearing in humans and other mammals.’3 This raises the problem: ‘How can this supposedly rare and unexpected evolutionary change have occurred so commonly in early mammals?’3 Click image to enlarge. In the various reports and commentary spawned by this fossil, no clear evolutionary mechanism is proposed, except to describe it as ‘a remarkable example of homoplastic evolution’ [another term for convergent evolution—the supposed independent evolution of similar structures].2,4 In other words, as New Scientist reports, evolution ‘invented’ the mammalian middle ear twice: ‘The advantages of the middle ear are so great it was inevitable it should evolve twice in two groups with similar constraints.’1 This is yet another example of the contortions evolutionists have to go through to try to make the fossils (which are not millions of years old but, in reality, largely a legacy of the Flood, only 4,500 years ago) fit with evolutionary theory. It requires blind faith to believe that things ‘so complex’ could have evolved once, let alone twice or more. And why would natural selection even bother? Reptiles hear quite well. (See Dr David Menton’s DVD presentation ‘The Hearing Ear and the Seeing Eye’, available from our online bookstore.) - Hecht, J., So good they were invented twice, New Scientist 185(2487):16, 2005. - Rich, T., Hopson, J., Musser, A., Flannery T., Vickers-Rich, P., Independent Origins of Middle Ear Bones in Monotremes and Therians, Science 307(5711):910–914, 2005. - The University of Chicago Hospitals, Prehistoric jawbone reveals evolution repeating itself, 17 March 2005. - Martin, T., and Luo, Z-X, Homoplasy in the Mammalian Ear, Science 307(5711):861–862, 2005.

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Online Safety at School Is it enough to supervise your children's online activities at home, by setting and enforcing rules such as no chatting, no instant-messaging people you don't know, no filling out registration forms, and no putting personal information on your Web site? Should you also worry about their online safety at school? Statistically, kids are safer online at school than at home. They are often better supervised at school, as someone usually oversees all their online activities by watching the PCs or using monitoring technology. Also, most children have limited school Internet access; the less time they spend online, the less likely they are to be drawn into something harmful. Another key factor is the expertise of school librarians and media specialists. One of them told me that you can always tell when students are surfing where they shouldn't be: Other kids gather around to see what's on the screen. It's rarely pornography; more often it's a gory site, or one that targets a student. Librarians can usually find sites that threaten specific children, by watching for high traffic to little-known sites (which kids find by word of mouth). Many schools block instant messaging and chat. Since most Internet sexual predators entice children through these means, this alone makes your child much safer. Still, make sure that the school and its board have effective policies in place to deal with a variety of cyberrisks. Ask if the school has an acceptable-use policy. It should be signed both by students and parents, and clearly state the rules, the consequences of violating them, and how to report problems. Find out what happens if a parent refuses to sign; too many schools let the student go online anyway, feeling it's needed for their education. Ask about privacy. Does the school have a Web site? Does it include the school directory or students' personal information? Student photos? (Pictures should show groups of four or more students and not give their names.) Does the school let students fill out forms online or register at Web sites? COPPA (the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) bars Web sites from letting preteens use interactive communications (chat, IM, discussion boards, e-mail) or from collecting personally identifiable information from them without parental permission. In cases when a school acts in lieu of a parent in giving consent, are parents informed? Are teachers aware of the regulations? What sort of Web site content filtering does the school provide? (As federal technology funding is tied to its use, some filtering is in effect mandated.) How effective is it? What happens when an innocent site is blocked? (Can someone unblock it, permanently or session by session?) Does the school rely only on a software solution, or is a wider approach applied to teach children how to navigate the Web safely? Are kids taught to use the "filter between their ears"? What rules for Web surfing have been set up, and how are they communicated and enforced? What if students cyberbully others? Often schools try to discipline students for Web sites and online communications originating from home, but whenever the discipline is challenged, the school loses. Schools have had to pay substantial damages in lawsuits that civil-liberties groups brought on students' behalf. When cyberbullying occurs, a school should call students and parents in and try to resolve the problem consensually. When a student reports receiving a serious threat (as of death, serious bodily harm, or a bomb), law enforcement must be called immediately. The Columbine attack was foretold online. Many other attacks have been avoided by swift action by schools and police. Ask whether the school has a safety officer and how it would respond to something serious. Does the school know how to save online evidence and retain logs? Ask the police to send a cyberdetective to visit the school; if they don't have one, they can ask the nearest ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children) task force unit for help ( www.ncjrs.org/html/ojjdp/jjbul2001_12_5/contents.html ). The school may want to install a product such as Spector Pro to collect and store a record of all online activity. This and other monitoring products are reviewed on page 103. (Make sure the school notifies parents and students of such monitoring in the acceptable-use policy.) Children can be inventive in finding ways to abuse the Internet and each other. But if parents, teachers, students, library personnel, safety officers, and school officials and boards work together, we'll keep making progress in ensuring that students' online experience is as safe as possible. Parry Aftab is an Internet privacy and security lawyer. She runs WiredKids.org, the world's largest online safety and help group. To join, drop by www.wiredsafety.org. To contact her, email her at [email protected]. blog comments powered by Disqus

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In 15th- and 16th-century Germany, parents were told to send their children to school when the children started to act “rational.” And in contemporary America, children are deemed eligible to enter kindergarten according to an arbitrary date on the calendar known as the birthday cutoff — that is, when the state, or in some instances the school district, determines they are old enough. The birthday cutoffs span six months, from Indiana, where a child must turn 5 by July 1 of the year he enters kindergarten, to Connecticut, where he must turn 5 by Jan. 1 of his kindergarten year. Children can start school a year late, but in general they cannot start a year early. As a result, when the 22 kindergartners entered Jane Andersen’s class at the Glen Arden Elementary School near Asheville, N.C., one warm April morning, each brought with her or him a snack and a unique set of gifts and challenges, which included for some what’s referred to in education circles as “the gift of time.” This from the New York Times.

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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary December 19, 2007 National Mentoring Month, 2008 A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America Millions of Americans lend their time, talent, and energy to become mentors and make a difference in children's lives. During National Mentoring Month, we honor these caring individuals for their dedication to changing our country one heart and soul at a time. By sharing their knowledge and experiences, mentors serve as examples for young people and help teach them the skills they need to succeed in life. They also provide stability, instill important values, and build confidence in those they assist. Mentors are soldiers in the armies of compassion, and they encourage children to set goals and achieve their dreams. My Administration is committed to helping our Nation's children realize their full potential by expanding opportunities for Americans to mentor. To raise awareness of the challenges facing our youth and encourage adults to connect with young people through family, school, and community, First Lady Laura Bush is leading the Helping America's Youth initiative. Through the USA Freedom Corps, we are connecting individuals with volunteer opportunities, including mentors who work with young people in schools and community organizations. By encouraging Americans to mentor, we are doing our part to see that more of America's children grow into strong, confident, and successful adults. I appreciate all those who reach out to young people and inspire future generations to pass on this rich tradition that makes our country strong. I urge all Americans to get involved in mentoring programs and to visit the USA Freedom Corps website at volunteer.gov to learn more about mentoring opportunities in their communities. Together, we can build a culture of service and foster a more compassionate society that recognizes the value and purpose in every single human life. NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 2008 as National Mentoring Month. I call upon all Americans to recognize the importance of mentoring, to look for opportunities to serve as mentors in their communities, and to observe this month with appropriate activities and programs. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this nineteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-second. GEORGE W. BUSH # # #

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The research team, led by Philippe Cluzel, Assistant Professor in Physics at the University of Chicago, arrived at its finding by analyzing E. coli's chemotaxis system, the system that transmits the biochemical signals responsible for cell locomotion. "We studied this simple system in bacteria as a model system for the general study of signal transduction networks," Cluzel said. "Signal transduction networks are everywhere in nature. The division of our cells is controlled by a signal transduction network, and its malfunction causes cancers." The network that controls the movement of E. coli, a single-celled organism, is much simpler than the system that divides human cells. But signal transduction networks exhibit the same design principles across species, Cluzel said. Consequently, researchers will now attempt to apply their research methods to higher organisms. A combination of traditional genetic experiments and computer simulations contributed to the study. "The methods they're using I think in many ways are the future of biology," said Michael North, deputy director of the Center for Complex Adaptive Systems Simulation at Argonne National Laboratory. North, who did not participate in the study but who is familiar with its findings, lauded Cluzel and his co-authors for their mathematical rigor and for pushing signal transduction research to new levels of volume and efficiency. "They were able to collect more data than anyone had in the past by a wide margin," North said.

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Background: The Dutch began to colonize Indonesia in the early 17th century; the islands were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. Indonesia declared its independence after Japan's surrender, but it required four years of intermittent negotiations, recurring hostilities, and UN mediation before the Netherlands agreed to relinquish its colony. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state. Current issues include: alleviating widespread poverty, preventing terrorism, continuing the transition to popularly-elected governments after four decades of authoritarianism, implementing reforms of the banking sector, addressing charges of cronyism and corruption, and holding the military and police accountable for human rights violations. Indonesia has been dealing with armed separatist movements in Aceh and in Papua. Blogs from Padang Latest Blogs from Padang - November 4th 2012 Geckos Love Coffee by Words: 1381 Photos: 18 - September 13th 2012 Emo Punks and Harbour Scum by Words: 1928 Photos: 18 - April 19th 2012 Why is the lounge moving? by Words: 1213 Photos: 8 - April 18th 2012 Journeys and Destinations Cubadak Island by Words: 1467 Photos: 8 - November 27th 2011 Pitstop at Pitstop by Words: 746 Photos: 6 - May 20th 2010 Oh dear god why did we do this? by Words: 561 Photos: 2 - February 20th 2010 My Last Days in West Sumatra by Words: 1067 Photos: 0 - February 13th 2010 Sumatra: The Mentawai Islands by Words: 2441 Photos: 40 - January 25th 2010 Hands On in West Sumatra, Indonesia by Words: 2103 Photos: 0 - October 3rd 2009 Earthquakes in Indonesia by Words: 88 Photos: 0 - September 30th 2009 Humanitarian Ops again? by Words: 1547 Photos: 14 - September 23rd 2009 Toba to Padang...the hard way! by Words: 1206 Photos: 20 - August 19th 2009 The more things change, the more they stay the same. by Words: 826 Photos: 18 - October 17th 2008 Rewind - Indo, Padang Part 1 by Words: 1002 Photos: 0 - June 12th 2008 South of Padang Coast Suggestions? by Words: 45 Photos: 0 - May 26th 2008 PADANG TO BENGKULU by Words: 319 Photos: 0 - January 10th 2008 13. Tag 10.1 152 km Maninjau -- Lubuk Basung -- Tika -- Pariaman -- Padang by Words: 593 Photos: 13 - December 27th 2007 Padang by Words: 869 Photos: 12 - December 5th 2007 Arrival in West Sumatra by Words: 1277 Photos: 0 - January 20th 2007 mentawai by Words: 1011 Photos: 13

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Surface Tension by Anna Christiansen Cable 3rd Place - Natural Category School: Evanston Township High School Teacher: Daniel DuBrow This insect is able to stay on top of the water because of a physics property called surface tension. This allows more dense objects, like the insect, to stay on top of substances with a lower density, like the water. Water molecules that are not on the surface are surrounded on all sides by other water molecules, and they are attracted to each other. On the other hand, water molecules that are on the surface are not surrounded on all sides. Each molecular attraction causes the molecules to have less potential energy, which results in the molecules at the surface to have a higher potential energy than the ones underwater. In order for the surface area to increase, water molecules that are not on the surface must be pushed to the surface, but because they have a lower potential energy, this requires a certain amount of energy to do. If the object on top of the water does not have enough energy to increase the surface area, than the object will not sink, just like the insect in the picture.

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Last modified: September 11, 2012 Proterozoic to Lower Cambrian strata of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin are exposed within the Canadian Cordillera (Fig. 6.1). All exposures have been transported northeastward from their original site of deposition by structures that formed during Late Jurassic to Eocene deformation of the eastern Canadian Cordillera. This chapter deals with three major unconformity-bounded successions: Middle Proterozoic (~1.5 - 1.2 Ga), Upper Proterozoic (~0.78 - 0.54 Ga) and Lower Cambrian (0.54 - 0.53 Ga). Each succession is dominated by clastic strata and is notable for great thicknesses: up to 11 km for the Middle Proterozoic, 9 km for the Upper Proterozoic, and 4 km for the Lower Cambrian. Upper Proterozoic and Lower Cambrian strata form part of a narrow, sinuous belt of correlative rocks that extend for over 4000 km, from Alaska to northern Mexico (Stewart, 1972). Underlying Middle Proterozoic strata lack this longitudinal continuity (Fig. 6.1). These successions record multiple extension events in the early history of the western margin of the North American craton and the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. In this chapter each succession (Middle Proterozoic, Upper Proterozoic, Lower Cambrian) are discussed separately. Two Middle Proterozoic assemblages are recognized - the Purcell (Belt) Supergroup in southeastern British Columbia and southwestern Alberta, and the Muskwa assemblage in northeastern British Columbia (Fig. 6.1). Both assemblages were deposited some time within an 800 million year interval bracketed by the age of the unconformably underlying Proterozoic crystalline basement (1.57-1.78 Ga) and the unconformably overlying Upper Proterozoic Windermere Supergroup (0.73-0.77 Ga). Each assemblage consists predominantly of fine-grained clastic and carbonate rocks that form successions several kilometres thick. The Purcell Supergroup hosts one giant and numerous smaller Pb-Zn (Ag) deposits. Many thick basic sills (Moyie sills) intrude the basal part of the supergroup. U-Pb zircon dating indicates that most of these were intruded between 1.45 and 1.33 Ga (Zartman et al., 1982; Höy, 1989). Local lithostratigraphy and sedimentology are generally well known. However, the paucity of reliable radiometric dates and the absence of biostratigraphic control has hindered correlation within and between the assemblages and precluded accurate dating of each assemblage. Interpretation of geological, geochronological and paleomagnetic data suggests Belt-Purcell sedimentation occurred between 1.5 and 1.2 Ga (cf. McMechan and Price, 1982a), although not all workers agree. The isotopically undated Muskwa assemblage has been correlated with the Purcell (Bell, 1968) or Mackenzie Mountains (0.8-1.2 Ga; Eisbacher in Hoffman, 1989) supergroups. In this chapter we focus on eastern and central exposures of the Purcell Supergroup. Information on northern and western assemblages, where the sediments are commonly intensely deformed, can be obtained from the references cited below. Recent summaries of the lithologies, ages and tectonic settings of the Purcell and Muskwa assemblages are included in Ross et al. (1989) and Aitken and McMechan (in press). These include recent stratigraphic descriptions and assignments from western exposures of Purcell strata suggested by Reesor (1984, pers. comm.). Numerous workers have examined the Purcell Supergroup in the course of bedrock mapping and mineral exploration studies. Important regional stratigraphic and tectonic syntheses are presented in McMechan (1981) and Price (1964). Höy (1982) and Morton et al. (1973) summarized the main mineral deposit types and occurrences. Details of the giant Sullivan Pb-Zn (Ag) mine are described in Hamilton et al. (1982). Bell (1966, 1968) is the only geologist to have published significant information on the Muskwa assemblage. Two different interpretations of the tectonic setting of the Belt-Purcell Basin have been proposed. Canadian geologists have generally suggested a subsiding delta environment in a continental- margin setting (Walker, 1926; Reesor, 1957; Price, 1964) with the succession representing the initiation and formation of a passive margin (McMechan, 1981). Recently, increasing evidence for a west side to the Belt-Purcell Basin in the United States (e.g., Finch and Baldwin, 1984; Winston et al., 1984) has led to the reconsideration of an intracratonic basin setting (e.g., Winston et al., 1984), an idea initially proposed by Walcott (1910) and then abandoned. Chemical trends from Moyie Sills exposed in the southern Purcell Mountains are typical of basic volcanism in an incipient rift environment, or the early stages of continental rifting (Höy, 1989). The quartzite and carbonate strata forming the lower part of the Muskwa assemblage were derived from the northeast and deposited on a shallow-water shelf. The deeper-water slates that make up the upper part were transported to the northwest, possibly along the axes of linear troughs developed parallel to the margin of the craton (Bell, 1968). Exposure of Muskwa assemblage formations is limited areally. The nomenclature and general lithologies of this assemblage are summarized in Figure 6.2 . A volcanic unit (Nicol Creek Formation, Purcell Lava) forms the only chronostratigraphic marker within the Purcell Supergroup and is the main tie line of the correlation chart (Fig. 6.3). Because of the lack of biostratigraphy and paucity of geochronological control, intrabasinal correlation of other units is based strictly on lithostratigraphic correlation of homologous strata. This can result in the correlation of facies that are not exact correlatives in time. In addition, alternative lithostratigraphic correlations may be possible for some parts of the succession. The cross section of Figure 6.4 contains an example of this for the lower part of the succession between Cate Creek- St. Eloi Brook, Sage Creek and Shell Grouse. The favoured correlation, shown on the correlation chart, has the lower Altyn, Waterton and Tombstone Mountain formations changing basinward into the upper unit of the Aldridge Formation. In the alternative correlation (inset, Fig. 6.4), only the Tombstone Mountain Formation changes facies into the upper unit of the Aldridge Formation. The thick, fine-grained clastic- and carbonate-dominated succession forming the Purcell Supergroup can be divided into four broad divisions (basal, lower, middle carbonate and upper) on the bases of distinctive rock types and readily correlatable sequences (Fig. 6.5; McMechan, 1981). Variations in thickness and facies are most pronounced in the basal division, with a thinner, platformal, carbonate succession in the east and a thick, clastic, basinal succession in the west. Facies and thickness variations in the fine-grained clastics of the lower division reflect the embayed configuration of the basin margin and the interplay between sources of detritus to the east and south. The middle carbonate division is in a thin, platformal facies along the northeastern limit of exposure and a thicker, more basinal facies elsewhere. The upper division represents a variety of subaerial and shallow-water environments (Fig. 6.5). The only widespread disconformity recognized within the Purcell succession occurs within the upper division at the base of the Sheppard Formation. However, if Phanerozoic successions serve as an analogue for Middle Proterozoic strata, there surely must be many unrecognized disconformities within the Purcell Supergroup. Important lithological changes in the upper part of the upper division occur near the western and northern limits, rather than near the northeastern limit of exposure as in the underlying units. These changes (summarized in Aitken and McMechan, in press) may reflect the influence of source areas to the west (Root, 1987). The regional cross section (Fig. 6.4) clearly illustrates the great thickening of the Purcell Supergroup away from its eastern margin and its predominantly fine-grained clastic and carbonate composition. Rocks of the Purcell Supergroup are generally brightly colored. The obvious change in the basal division from platformal carbonates near the basin margin to basinal turbidites and argillites contrasts with the subtle lithological changes in overlying divisions. The section is oriented across the rectilinear basin margin (see inset Fig. 6.4). The Sage Creek-Pacific Atlantic Flathead section represents a more basinal locale than the adjacent sections and forms the key section for correlation of basal division platformal and basinal facies (see McMechan, 1981; Fermor and Price, 1983, for details). Two different lithostratigraphic correlations proposed for this important section are illustrated. The great variation in the stratigraphic position of the overlying sub-Middle Cambrian or sub-Devonian unconformity is largely a function of the northwestward uplift of the lower Paleozoic (Montania) high (Norris and Price, 1966), complicated by pre-Devonian block faulting near its crest, which apparently reactivated fault structures formed during extrusion of the Purcell volcanics (McMechan and Price, 1982b). The upper Purcell synsedimentary block faulting occurred between the Mount Baker and Steeples sections (Fig. 6.4). Petroleum exploration wells drilled in the 1980s provide excellent reference logs for the eastern facies and the western, basal turbidite facies of the Purcell Supergroup (Fig. 6.6). Thick mafic sills intruded into the turbidite succession are clearly recognized in the DEI Moyie well by their blocky, low gamma-ray response. The relatively high conductivities found in the unnamed and Tombstone Mountain formations in the Shell Grouse well may be due to the presence of graphitic layers such as those that occur in equivalent strata exposed nearby. The present structure of the Purcell Supergroup reflects its distribution on thrust sheets of the Rocky Mountain Thrust and Fold Belt. In Canada, all sections have been transported over 100 km northeastward from their site of deposition. Thickness variations in the lower and also the middle carbonate division of the Purcell outline a rectilinear basin margin with a prominent northeast-trending re-entrant near the northwest corner of the isopach map (Fig. 6.7a,b). The almost 200 km east-west jog in the shape of the basin margin is mirrored by the northeastern limit of Purcell exposure, suggesting that the thrust faults carrying Purcell strata step upsection near the margin of the basin. The pattern of thickness variation for the upper division (excluding the Roosville Formation) is different from that of the underlying divisions. These changes suggest a reorganization of the basin. This reorganization was associated with extrusion of volcanic rocks and the development of a fault-controlled sub-basin (Fig. 6.7; McMechan, 1981). The northeast-trending re-entrant, apparent on all isopach maps, is a graben structure that formed during Middle Proterozoic extension (McMechan, 1981). It appears to be the western extension of a buried, graben-like structure in the basement of southern Alberta (Kanasewich et al., 1969). Within the Upper Proterozoic Windermere Supergroup it is not yet possible to correlate individual beds or events on a basin-wide scale, with the possible exception of 'the marker', which is discussed below. In the southern Canadian Cordillera, strata of the Windermere Supergroup unconformably overlie the Middle Proterozoic Purcell Supergroup in the central Purcell and southern Selkirk mountains, and nonconformably overlie the Deserters gneiss (728 + 8, -7 Ma; Evenchick et al., 1984) in the Deserters Range, and Malton and associated gneisses south of Valemont, B.C. (Murphy, 1990); elsewhere the base of the Upper Proterozoic is not exposed (Fig. 6.8). The Windermere Supergroup consists predominantly of coarse-grained, feldspathic conglomerate and pebbly sandstone ('grits') and pelitic shale, and less common carbonates. These strata were deposited some time within a 210 to 230 million year interval bracketed by the age of the basal Windermere Supergroup (730-770 Ma, Evenchick et al., 1984; Devlin et al., 1988) and the overlying Lower Cambrian Gog Group (540 Ma). Isolated studies have established the local stratigraphy and lithostrati- graphic correlations; however, the lack of biostratigraphic markers and the paucity of good radiometric age determinations have hampered detailed time-stratigraphic correlations within and between the various assemblages. In this chapter we focus on exposures of the Windermere Supergroup south of 57°N. Detailed structural, stratigraphic and sedimentological studies have been conducted locally in areas of the southern Canadian Cordillera. Recent preliminary syntheses of the lithologies, age and tectonic setting of the Windermere Supergroup are given in Ross et al. (1989), Aitken (1990), Aitken and McDonough (1990), and Campbell and Gabrielse (in press). Bond and Kominz (1984) discuss a possible tectonic evolution and subsidence history for the Upper Proterozoic and the overlying lower Paleozoic succession of the Canadian Cordillera. In the southern Canadian Cordillera, most of the Windermere Supergroup comprises deep-water (below wave base) mass-flow deposits emplaced as part of a rift-margin and/or continental- margin succession. Locally, glaciation strongly influenced sedimentary facies and sequence patterns at the base of the succession in the south and in the middle part of the Windermere succession between 54° and 57°N. By contrast, concurrent with glaciation in the adjacent highlands, equivalent strata in eastern and central Idaho were deposited in deep to shallow water in an active volcanic rift-basin (Link, 1983; Elston et al., in press). The top of the Windermere generally is eroded. In parts of the southern Rocky Mountains, 2 to 3 km of strata are bevelled beneath the sub-Lower Cambrian unconformity (Aitken, 1969; Simony and Aitken, 1990). Deposition was locally affected by small- and large-scale basin structures. Large-basin structures include the'Windermere High', a northwest-trending offshore high that developed south of 53°N, and which extended southeastward to the more prominent 'Montania' high. There are many problems concerning the geological framework of the Windermere Supergroup (see Simony and Aitken, 1990). The issues include: 1) the involvement of rifting; 2) structural controls on sedimentation; 3) intra-Windermere correlation; 4) the emplacement of thick and extensive deep-water, coarse-grained feldspathic "grits" with little or no apparent facies changes; 5) the source of carbonate detritus (the "vanished" carbonate platforms); and 6) the role of glaciation both in sedimentation and as a possible control on eustatic sea-level variation. The coarser grained lower parts of the Windermere Supergroup have been interpreted as having been deposited either within a single rift basin or in a complex of rift basins (e.g., Stewart, 1972). This was followed by development of a passive margin, resulting in the deposition of the upper, finer grained, more uniform continental succession (Gabrielse, 1972). The timing of the rifting events and their relation to the subsequent breakup and drift of the margins of the proto-Pacific ocean remain controversial (Thompson et al., 1987; Devlin et al., 1988; Gabrielse, 1972; Stewart, 1976; among others). A number of different stratigraphic names have been applied to the various units within the Windermere Supergroup (Fig. 6.8). Some of these formations most likely are time-correlative but the exact details of the correlations are uncertain and controversial. A distinctive sedimentary unit, informally known as'the marker', occurs within the mainly coarse-grained grits of the Windermere. This marker is characterized by a pelitic succession, dominated by rhythmic marble-silty pelite and sulfidic pelite in the Cariboo Mountains (Ross and Murphy, 1988) and is interpreted as correlative with distal turbidites and hemipelagites in the Baird Brook division of the Purcell Mountains (Kubli, 1990) and with the deep-water resedimented carbonates and pelites in the Old Fort Point Formation, near Jasper (Dechesne, 1990). The'marker' and its equivalents have been interpreted as relative sea-level highstand deposits and have been tentatively correlated on a basin-wide scale for over 35 000 km2 (Ross and Murphy, 1988). In some sections, such as at Cushing Creek (Fig. 6.9d), there is more than one carbonate and pelite horizon similar to the'marker', suggesting that the Old Fort Point and other limestone breccias correlated with the'marker' may not be unique. The use of the'marker' as a basin-wide time-correlation tool remains equivocal, but with the lack of any other suitable litho-, bio- or chronostratigraphic datum within the Windermere, the'marker' and its equivalents are used as a tie line in the correlation chart (Fig. 6.8) and the regional cross sections. Primitive trace and body fossils in the East Twin, Isaac and Byng formations may assist in correlating the upper part of the Windermere (see biostratigraphy). The Mount Nelson Formation (Fig. 6.8) in its type section, west of Invermere, British Columbia, is interpreted by Root (1987) to be the basal unit of the Windermere Supergroup. Here the Mount Nelson consists mainly of shallow-water dolostone, sandstone, siltstone, and argillite. At the type section of the Mount Nelson Formation, there are local occurrences of'Toby-like' diamicton included within the Mount Nelson, and of 'Mount Nelson-like' dolostone within the Toby Formation, suggesting that the Mount Nelson and the Toby are somehow genetically related (Root, 1987). Elsewhere, units mapped as the'Mount Nelson Formation' probably are older strata belonging to the uppermost Purcell Supergroup (Reesor, 1984). The type-area Mount Nelson records the earliest stages of subsidence associated with the initial Windermere extension (Root, 1987). The Toby Formation (Fig. 6.8) unconformably overlies the type-area Mount Nelson Formation and units of the Purcell Supergroup, ranging from the Gateway, Dutch Creek to'Mount Nelson' formations. Up to 2.3 km of section have been eroded beneath the sub-Toby unconformity (Root, 1987). The Toby Formation typically comprises massive, matrix-supported diamictite, consisting of sand- to boulder-size clasts set in an argillite matrix. Clast and matrix composition varies widely, depending upon the composition of the tilted fault blocks that provided the source material (see Aalto, 1971; Root, 1987). The rare occurrence of striated clasts, dropstone structures and "exotic" granitic clasts suggests that the Toby successions are, in part, glacial or glaciomarine in origin (Aalto, 1971). Recent sedimentological studies show that part of the succession may have originated as subaqueous debris flows at the base of tilted fault blocks, and that part of the succession was affected by syndepositional faulting (Root, 1987). Basic volcanics (Irene, Fig. 6.8) locally overlie the Toby in the southern Selkirk Mountains (Rice, 1941; Little, 1960). The next succeeding units within the Windermere, comprising much of the Horsethief Creek, Miette and Kaza groups, consist predominantly of coarse-grained, feldspathic, pebbly sandstone and conglomerate ('grit'), which alternate with thick, varicoloured argillites (Fig. 6.9d). The argillites locally contain thin interbeds of siltstone and fine-grained sandstone, many of which show Bouma sequences typical of deep-water turbidites. Less commonly, other argillites have siltstone and fine-grained sandstone interbeds that may represent bottom current or contourite deposits (Ross, pers. comm. 1990; Kubli, pers. comm., 1990). Local studies show that some of the grits occurred as submarine channels on small, tilted fault blocks (Arnott and Hein, 1986), or as larger submarine-channel complexes that flowed between fault blocks (McDonough, 1989). Locally, finer grained strata (argillite and deep-water limestone, Cushing Creek Formation) are exposed beneath the main grit-bearing units in central exposures (Fig. 6.9d). The grits are most notable for their uniform character along depositional strike and lack of obvious, well-defined vertical facies patterns. One interpretation is that they represent "midfan submarine fan facies" (Carey and Simony, 1985; Ross et al., 1989; among others). A problem with this interpretation is accounting for midfan facies occurring in apparently continuous zones for over 700 km along strike, and 400 km across strike (Simony and Aitken, 1990). Some of the channel fills show northwest trends parallel to the northwest depositional strike (McDonough, 1989); whereas other channel fills have north to northeast transport directions perpendicular to the strike of the paleoslope (Arnott and Hein, 1986). An alternative interpretation is that the grits were emplaced on coalescing deep-water slope aprons along graben margins (cf. Hein, 1989, for examples). In the central Rocky Mountains, a thick succession of diamictite (Vreeland Formation, Fig. 6.9d) occurs in a stratigraphic interval equivalent to the lower part of the middle Miette McKale Formation. This diamictite includes a large proportion of plutonic and volcanic boulders, derived from crystalline basement, set in an argillaceous matrix (Ross et al., 1989). Diamictites of the Vreeland Formation are underlain by siltstone, argillite, calcareous siltstone and rare grit of the Paksumo Formation in exposures near Paksumo Pass, and by an unnamed succession of quartzose chloritic wacke, quartzite, pelite, amphibolite (may be younger intrusives) and minor limestone in the Deserter's Range (Fig. 6.8b). From Mt. Vreeland the diamictite abruptly changes facies into grits and argillites of the lower part of the McKale Formation near 54°N (McMechan, 1990). Because the Vreeland diamictite occurs well above the base of the Windermere succession, where it nonconformably overlies 728 Ma gneiss, it is younger than the approximately 770 Ma diamictites found at the base of the Windermere succession in the Mackenzie Mountains (Rapitan Group) and probably younger than the basal Toby diamictite found to the south. The Vreeland diamictite has dropstone structures and represents glaciogenic sedimentation. This glaciation would correlate with the younger glacial interval (Ice Brook Formation) recognized by Aitken (1988, 1989a, 1991) in the Mackenzie Mountains (McMechan, 1990). The Vreeland diamictite is abruptly overlain by either a thin banded limestone or fine-grained clastics. Large blocks of platformal carbonate (olistostromes) occur within dark argillites of the lower Framstead Formation immediately above the diamictite (Fig. 6.9d, north end). Locally, deep-water limestone occurs within the argillite sequence. A westward-thickening grit unit occurs within the argillites beneath the shallow-marine carbonates of the Chowika Formation. These grits are traceable into grits forming the top of the McKale Formation (Fig. 6.9d, Paksumo Pass to Cushing Creek; McMechan, 1990). The Chowika carbonate platform shales out to the west and south into the East Twin Formation. The upper Miette Group (East Twin and Byng formations) primarily consists of argillites, with thinner units of sandstone. Locally, the argillites coarsen-and shallow-upward into platform carbonates. These platform carbonates occur in the Jasper area (e.g., Basilica Mountain, Fig. 6.9d) and are disconformably overlain by the Gog Group. Poulton (1973) described a similar 200 m thick stromatolitic carbonate bank disconformably overlain by the Lower Cambrian Hamill Group in the Rogers Pass area. This carbonate passes westward into deep-water resedimented carbonates and clastic slope successions. In the Cariboo Mountains, carbonates of the Cunningham Formation (Figs. 6.8, 6.9a) are probably correlative with the Byng Formation near Jasper (Fig. 6.8). The carbonate breccias and detritus found in units of the McKale, Old Fort Point, and Isaac show that similar but older carbonate banks and platforms must have existed east of the exposed Windermere succession. In a few areas, puzzling unconformity-bounded, coarse clastic units occur between typical upper Windermere and typical Lower Cambrian lithotypes. These include the Jasper Formation near Jasper, and the Three Sisters Formation in the southern Selkirk Mountains (Figs. 6.9c, 6.9d) Both consist of crossbedded, feldspathic to arkosic sandstones and conglomerates, with minor argillites and siltstones (Charlesworth et al., 1967; Little, 1960; Devlin and Bond, 1988). Both units have been interpreted as Late Proterozoic or Early Cambrian in age by various authors. On Figures 6.8 and 6.9c, 6.9d we interpret these units as being older than the widespread, locally feldspathic sandstones at the base of the Hamill and Gog groups. In the Cariboo Mountains, the top of the Upper Proterozoic consists of interbedded carbonates and terrigenous clastics of the Yankee Belle Formation (Fig. 6.8). This unit is probably younger than most of the upper Miette Group strata, and is disconformably or conformably overlain by the sandstone-dominated Yanks Peak Formation, which is equivalent to the basal Gog Group to the southeast. In the Mackenzie and Wernecke mountains, Northwest Territories, the Windermere Supergroup contains simple trace fossils and Ediacaran megafossils throughout the topmost 2.5 km of section (Narbonne and Hofmann, 1987). The first trace fossils and Ediacaran megafossils occur in the deep-water grits below a tillite, indicating that significant colonization of the deep seafloor began in the Late Precambrian and may relate to waning glaciation (Aitken, 1989a). Ediacaran-bearing limestones also occur near Jasper (Byng Formation, Fig. 6.9d; Hofmann et al., 1985) and medusoid forms resembling the Ediacaran fossils have been reported from the upper Isaac Formation in the Cariboo Mountains (Ferguson and Simony, 1991). Diversity and complexity of trace fossils increases upward toward the Precambrian/Cambrian boundary, commonly marked by the abrupt occurrence of complex two- and three-dimensional forms in the Cambrian (Narbonne et al., 1987). Preliminary biostratigraphic zones appear to be correlative across North America (Narbonne et al., 1987), and as such they may provide a correlation tool for the uppermost Windermere strata and aid in the distinction of the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary. In the southern Canadian Cordillera, the lower Paleozoic successions, including the Gog, upper Cariboo, Hamill and lower Lardeau groups (Fig. 6.8), are notable for their striking similarity along tectonic strike. A number of units are very widespread and can be used for long-distance correlation (Fig. 6.8). The base of the Gog Group is most likely Early Cambrian (570 Ma) and this unit and the correlative Hamill Group unconformably or disconformably overlie the Upper Proterozoic Windermere Supergroup. Sediments are predominantly sandstones deposited on a rapidly subsiding continental margin at a time marked by a worldwide transgression (Vail et al., 1977). The Peyto Limestone Member and Hota Formation at the top of the Gog Group contain very late Early Cambrian Ollenellus (trilobite) fauna. Thus, the age range for the Gog Group is Early Cambrian to very late Early Cambrian. In the southern Canadian Cordillera, the top of the Gog Group is bevelled by the sub-Middle Cambrian unconformity (Aitken, 1989b). East of the Rockies in the Alberta Basin the relationship of the Gog quartzite to the Basal Sandstone is uncertain; however, most workers consider the Basal Sandstone to be the temporal equivalent of the Middle Cambrian Mount Whyte Formation of the Rockies (Aitken, 1968; Pugh, 1975). In the southern Canadian Cordillera, detailed structural, stratigraphic and sedimentological studies have been conducted in local study areas, but regional studies are lacking for the Gog Group. Recent preliminary syntheses of the lithologies, age and tectonic setting of the Gog Group are given by Aitken (1989b) and Campbell and Gabrielse (in press b). Bond and Kominz (1984) modelled the subsidence history of these lower Paleozoic successions. Devlin and Bond (1988) discussed regional correlations of the Lower Hamill Group in southeastern British Columbia. The style of sedimentation indicates that most of the Gog and Hamill groups was deposited along a stable passive continental margin. Local structural controls included the influence of Montania and the Windermere High in the southeast and the McBride Arch, with the inboard Robson Trough, to the northwest (Young, 1979). Subsidence analysis led Bond and Kominz (1984) to conclude that the thermal subsidence of the lower Paleozoic passive margin was initiated by a latest Proterozoic or earliest Cambrian rifting event. Greenstones interbedded with deep-water mass-flow deposits in the northern Selkirk Mountains (Fig. 6.9b) are considered direct evidence for an episode of extensional tectonism during the earliest Cambrian (Devlin, 1989). A number of formations are recognized within the Lower Cambrian succession of the southern Canadian Cordillera. Many of these formations are very uniform throughout the area, although in general, they become more shaly toward the west. Because of the fairly uniform nature of most of the units, correlations are more certain than in the underlying Windermere, and are summarized in Figure 6.8. Two sedimentary units are used as datums. These are the base of the archeocyathid-bearing Mural Formation, and the base of the Ollenellus-bearing Peyto Member/Hota Formation (Figs. 6.8, 6.9). The Mural correlates regionally with the archeocyathid- bearing limestones of the Donald, Mohican/Badshot formations of the Dogtooth and Purcell mountains, and with the Old Dominion Limestone of northwestern Washington (Fig. 6.9b, 6.9c). Initial deposits of the Lower Cambrian are feldspathic, poorly sorted, conglomeratic or pebbly sandstones. In the basal McNaughton, very thick successions of massive conglomerate were emplaced by fan deltas and possibly braided rivers in the central Rocky Mountains (Fig. 6.9a; Young, 1979). Farther south, feldspathic conglomerates are generally absent. Devlin and Bond (1988) interpreted the Three Sisters Formation as an Early Cambrian fluvial succession, which may be equivalent to the basal McNaughton. However, we have followed the pre-Hamill Group interpretation of Little (1960) on our regional cross section (Fig. 6.9c). In the northern Selkirk Mountains, the lower sandstone within the Hamill Group (Fig. 6.9b) is unchannelled and uniform along strike, and has features indicating a shallow-marine origin (Devlin, 1989). The next unit in this area is a greenstone and graded sandstone unit, which is interpreted as representing a period of volcanism, creation of a deep-water paleoslope or fault scarp, and the emplacement of large volumes of submarine mass flows along the base-of-slope. Sedimentation is interpreted to have been strongly influenced by syndepositional faulting. With waning tectonic activity and filling of the fault basin, shallow-marine deposition returned and the upper sandstone unit resulted (Fig. 6.9b). Finally, as clastic supply dwindled, carbonate sedimentation associated with a possible transgression ensued, resulting in deposition of the Badshot limestone (Fig. 6.9c). Lateral equivalents to the upper sandstone in the northern Selkirks are very well exposed in the Kicking Horse Pass area, where they have been studied in detail (Hein, 1987; Hein et al., in press; Fig. 6.9b, 6.9c). Here, the tidally-dominated Fort Mountain Formation consists of quartzite and less common shale. This is succeeded by the shaly, shallow-marine Lake Louise Formation which, in turn, is overlain by shelf sandstone ridges of the St. Piran Formation. As with the clastic successions in the Selkirk Mountains, clastic supply diminished through time, with the capping limestone of the Peyto Formation completing the sequence. To the northwest, in the central Rocky Mountains, sandstones of the lower McNaughton are shallow marine and strongly tidally influenced (Fig. 6.9a). In the Robson Trough (Walker Creek and Bastille Creek, Fig. 6.9a) the middle and upper McNaughton formations are shallow-marine successions. Laterally equivalent strata to the west, over the McBride Arch, are subaerial (Yanks Peak Formation; Mt. Cochran and Dome Creek, Fig. 6.9a; Young, 1979). During deposition of the Midas Formation, sand supply was greatly diminished, and weak tidal currents moved material in the Robson Trough and to the west. Finally, the Robson Trough was infilled and an iron-rich, calcareous green shale, interpreted as a lateritic paleosol (Young, 1979), was deposited above the McNaughton, forming the basal unit of the Mural. Shallow-marine carbonates of the Mural Formation record a transgression. Overlying quartz sandstones of the Mahto Formation (Fig. 6.8) record two large-scale sandstone-shale successions deposited in shallow-marine to alluvial environments. The Mural Formation thins and becomes sandier to the south and east (Figs. 6.9c, 6.9d). Where the Mural is no longer recognized, the Mahto is not distinguished from underlying strata. Clastic supply diminished and limestones of the Hota Formation (Peyto Member) occur at the top of the group. The clastic successions within the Gog Group lack body fossils but contain a diverse trace fossil assemblage (Magwood, 1988). Some of the common traces documented in the Kicking Horse Pass/ Lake Louise area include: Bergaueria, Cruziana, Skolithos, Didymaulichnus, Rusophycus, Gordia, Planolites, Chondrites, Phycodes, Teichichnus and Zoophycus, plus others. Most of these forms and their abundance suggest that these traces belong to the Cruziana ichnofacies. Concentrations of Skolithos (called'pipestone rock' locally) occur in coarser grained, and higher energy deposits (Fig. 6.9c). The presence of well developed Cruziana and Rusophycus within the Gog Group in the Lake Louise area indicates it is Atdabanian in age (Magwood, 1988). This is supported by the presence of the Olenellus index fossils in the Peyto Member, which also are Atdabanian in age. Elsewhere, lower Gog Group strata contain more simple traces and a less diverse ichnofacies (Young, 1979). We would like to thank Shell Canada Limited for providing detailed lithology logs for the Shell Grouse and Shell MacDonald wells; Kevin Root and Rick Young for their careful review of the manuscript; Peter Fermor for discussions on Purcell correlations and lithotypes in the Lewis thrust sheet; and Peter Gubitz, Peter Neelands and Elizabeth Johnston for drafting of original figures.

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There are very few working steam engines left in the world. The 4449 is one of them. For seventeen years, this steam locomotive rolled along Southern Pacific tracks before its retirement in 1958. Then in the mid-seventies, the 4449 was restored to help celebrate the nationís bi-centennial. Since then the engine has been used in movies and for numerous special events. It was a special event that brought the 4449 to northern Idaho in the summer of 2000. The Burlington Northern & Sante Fe was sponsoring an employee appreciation excursion throughout the northwest. According to engineer Doyle McCormack, operating one of these trains is like playing a fine musical instrument. ďThe steam engine is really a magnificent piece of machinery. Itís probably manís most perfect machine.Ē Steam locomotives got their start in the 1830ís, and dominated the railroad landscape for more than a century. In the 1950ís, the more efficient diesel trains began operating, and eventually led to the demise of steam engines. That makes the 4449 a great link to our past.

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- DUBLIN (AFP) - Irish doctors were urged on Monday to be cautious about giving blood transfusions in order to minimise the risk of transmitting infections, amid fears that the human form of mad cow disease could also be passed on. - "In particular, the possibility that variant Jakob Disease (vCJD) may be spread by transfusion cannot be discounted as the present time," guidelines issued by the National Blood Users Group (NBUG) state. - NBUG, which was set up by the government in 1999, said the full risk of blood infections could not currently be defined. - In a statement, Health Minister Micheal Martin said: "The objective must be to avoid unnecessary blood - A series of meetings this month will decide whether up to one in four of Ireland's blood donor pool should be banned from giving blood because of concerns about vCJD, the fatal human version of mad cow - No case has ever been discovered of vCJD being spread - "It is huge dilemma," a Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) spokeswoman said. - "It is a theoretical risk but you have to act on the basis there could be transmission." - Experts are considering rejecting two categories of in a strategy that would have serious implications for maintaining supplies of blood for Irish hospitals. - The ban would hit people who have had blood transfusions in Ireland between 1980 and 1996 and also people who lived in Britain and other countries suffering from BSE for a total of six months at any time during the 16 years. - The ban on people who have received transfusions in is because of a risk that they could have received blood donated by people exposed to BSE from eating imported beef or from people who had lived in BSE countries and had been exposed there. - Despite the fact that one in four of Irish people need a transfusion once in their lifetime, only five percent of the population -- or about 100,000 people -- donate blood. - Ireland has had only one case of vCJD, involving a woman who had lived in the UK. - The blood bank has had major problems in the past with the infection of more than 1,600 people, most of them women, with Hepatitis C and HIV. - A judicial tribunal is currently investigating the surrounding infection of people suffering from the blood clotting disorder - More than half the country's 400 strong haemophiliac community were infected and more than 70 have died, some of them young Site Served by TheHostPros

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This book can serve as a textbook or tutorial for anyone who wants to learn the prolog programming language. No prior programming experience is required. Some basic knowledge of logic can come in handy. For those new to the subject, a short introduction to logic is given, but this is not required reading. This page lists free online tutorials and references on the Prolog programming language and on logic programming. Many of the tutorials are designed to teach you how to program in Prolog from ground up The Prolog course for which these notes are designed is intended for undergraduate students who have some programming experience and may even have written a few programs in Prolog An On-line Guide to Prolog Programming designed and maintained by Roman Bartk This health encyclopedia contains over 3,800 articles on virtually every topic you want to learn more about, all with illustrations to help you understand more about your body. Browse the Encyclopedia using the links below, or use our search box (above) to search for specific terms. Here I solved my problem to print in Linux with a Laser Jet 1005 printer. Here you can find resources to help with printing under free operating systems like GNU/Linux and the BSDs or under commercial UNIX-like systems such as Solaris and OS X. The Assembly Language Resource

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Deforestation has already reached an alarming stage globally, and if we don’t do something to save the forests, Mother Nature will continuously take its course to bring about global disasters. The earth is now totally plagued by the loss of nature because it remains to be our primary hope in living on this planet. Perhaps unknown to many, huge forests absorb the carbon wastes from the environment mostly produced by man, and they a great source of oxygen for the earth. The big trees out there have been propagated for so many years and if we take them out, a vital source of our life will be lost, and there is no way of taking them back. These trees hold the soil in the forest to avoid soil erosion and big flooding in lowlands. If we destroy them carelessly, Mother Nature will give us major calamities in return. You have heard many casualties and destroyed properties caused by big floods in many countries due to deforestation. Large areas of the forests have been destroyed all over the earth and if you scan the satellite assessment of deforested areas, you will see that there are only a few left of the green lands that we used to have. Preventing wanton deforestation is a major concern these days in many parts of the world, but the means to implement it has remained controversial. The only key for survival of the forests is man, but there has to be a continuous program for orientation of man, giving emphasis to consequences of deforestation rather than financial motives. Cutting of young trees for use as firewood and charcoal must be totally banned because it does not allow the trees to grow instead, they are cut prematurely. If 100 men cut 500 young trees in a day, just imagine the volume in one year. Big logging companies are involved in cutting of big trees for financial gains. They are not in the forest to preserve trees but to destroy them for money. Some of them are illegal loggers who are backed up by men of authority. There has to be stiff penalties for people who are personally motivated on the destruction of the forests because if we don’t do that, they might totally vanish one day without our notice. You can contribute in your own simple ways to preserve the forest by informing authorities of ongoing illegal cutting of trees in your area. Ask people to join you in the “Green Earth Movement”. You can approach your friends and neighbors about your initiative, or join the websites which are concerned on preservation of the environment. In the absence of a large number of concerned people who have the same kind of interest for the good of humanity, your movement to halt and prevent deforestation could not win. Government support and the citizens’ participation can give a meaningful solution to the crucial problem of deforestation anywhere in the world. Planting of fast-growing trees is the best solution to replace the fallen trees and make the vast deforested areas and barren lands productive.

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15 November 2011 If you are just starting out on your journey with seed saving then peas and beans are a good start for a number of reasons – - They are large and easy to find and handle - They dry out naturally and preserve well - They don’t require any special processing - They are quick to produce and you can harvest a suitable amount in one season Beans are particularly good because the seed will stay fertile for 5 to 10 years and they do not easily cross pollinate whereas broad bean seed may only last 1 year (4 years in a cool dry place) and you will need several hundred metres between varieties to prevent cross pollination. Pea seeds will last 5 years in storage and because the plants are mainly self pollinated you only need a tall crop between rows to prevent cross pollination between varieties. To save the seeds identify the high yielding plants and stop picking the pods and allow them to dry on the bush or vine. If there is any evidence of the bush or vine becoming diseased, particularly with a virus like blight, or if the plants don’t grow true to type, remove these plants from the patch and don’t save their seed. Leave the pods in place until they are dried off and are brittle, then harvest them and remove the seed from the pods, for a “backyard” amount of seed this is a good night time job in front of the TV. Once the seed is removed from the pod, place it in a glass jar labelled with the type of plant, the variety and the year the seeds were harvested, seal and store in a cool dry place. Easy, peasey!

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By Tonya Veal Photo Courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service What bird flops around on short orange legs and webbed feet, weighs 16 pounds and has a 9-foot wingspan? The American white pelican may be awkward on land, but is a sight to behold when soaring through the air. This pelican is one of the largest North American birds. American white pelicans are found near shallow lakes and marshes, bays and beaches. They like shallow water because they don’t dive for food. Some of their brown pelican cousins, found in coastal areas, dive for food. A group of pelicans trick small fish into moving to shallow water so they can scoop them up in their mouths. A stretchy pouch on the underside of their bill allows them to gather large amounts of food. They eat small fish, crayfish and salamanders. These pelicans eat almost three pounds of food a day. American white pelicans can be found in Canada, Mexico, California, Texas, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Utah. Of all the areas in Utah, Gunnison Island is the most popular choice for nesting and breeding. There are many shallow bottomed fisheries near this island, making it a perfect nesting sight. Once baby pelicans are born, the adults bring recently digested food back up into their mouth pouch for the young birds to eat. So, having a nest close to a fishing area is a top priority. American white pelicans are social birds. They communicate through a series of low groans, grunts and squawks. These pelicans tend to hang out in groups. They are often seen resting, roosting and sun bathing together. Whether they’re tricking fish, flying around or having a squawking contest, these birds act like one big pelican family. In California, American white pelicans are protected by the Department of Fish and Game under a Migratory Bird Treaty Act, but they are not on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service list of endangered species. In November 2009, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the brown pelican, that coastal-residing relative of the American white pelican, from the endangered list. Years of work by conservation organizations helped preserve nesting sites to make sure pelicans were thriving. American white pelicans are fascinating birds. To find out more about this species of pelican, you can visit the following website links: That’s a BIG BIRD! This story about the American White Pelican is the second in a series of stories about big birds in America, which began with the story about Trumpeter Swans. Watch for new stories on the Whooping Crane and California Condor as well as an unusual big bird found in the United Kingdom and Europe, the Great Bustard. Click here to read Trumpeter Swans -- Mates for Life

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When formatting semantic web triplets (subject -> predicate -> object) for display, it is useful to have further information about the predicates that are available. Predicates can be classified into three different types: Related, Independent and Sets. Knowledge of these predicate types can inform presentation of semantic web data in a display. Related predicates naturally belong together. When all data for a subject is presented a user will generally expect that related predicates are displayed in close proximity to each other and perhaps have a title to name the cluster of predicates (e.g. Personal Data”). Related predicates proximally cluster in a display to reinforce the meaning of each other. Examples of related predicates are: foaf:familyName & foaf:givenName, dc:subject & dc:type and wgs84_pos:lat & wgs84_pos:long (latitude and longitude) . A cluster of related predicates may indicate that a linked ontological class could have been formed from the cluster and linked back to the original subject, but the ontology designers probably decided to simplify the ontology be reducing inter-subject relationships. Examples of this are: foaf:familyName & foaf:givenName could have been moved into a PersonName class but given that almost every person has a name it would be pointless complexity to have done so. Independent predicates stand completely alone and are not related to other predicates within an ontological class. Note that related and independent should be more considered a continuum of the degree of relatedness between all predicates in an ontological class. Independent predicates are those that do not naturally cluster with other predicates. Examples of independent predicates are: dc:name, rdf:title, and foaf:depiction. Set predicates can be repeated many times within a subject with different objects in each triplet. This effectively creates a list (or set) of predicate-object pairs within the subject. Examples include: geoname:wikipediaArticle, foaf:knows and gedcom:marriage. Users will generally expect that sets members will be displayed in close proximity. In some display formats it is possible (and perhaps even preferable) to display the predicate label only once. It is possible to identify set type predicates by examining the rdf data because set type predicates will be repeated with different objects. Automatically identifying related and independent predicates is not so easy because information about these predicate types are not generally contained in the ontological specification. Therefore, additional ontological specification is needed and relatedness/independentness will need to be added by humans once per ontology. Given that each predicate type has different user expectations for display then a semantic web browser that knows the predicate type contained within an ontological class can make more user appropriate decisions about the display of semantic web data.

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The first visitors to the Oregon territory were made up of explorers and fur traders. These adventurers came to the territory to harvest the furs that were so widely in demand in the European countries. As the furs became depleted and the territory began to open up for settlement, these same individuals retired to the areas that they had become familiar with. Many of the fur traders were French Canadian and metis (of French Canadian and Indian ancestry). I have listed many of these early settlers on my web page at Pre 1839 settlers by Stephenie Flora French Canadian Names by Bernard Lussier Metis Culture and History Links Lives Lived West of the Divide by Bruce McIntyre Watson now available as a free ebook. Also still available as a reasonably priced 3 volume set in hard copy. Brooks Historical Society My name is Stephenie Flora. Return to [ Home Page ] All [ Comments and Inquiries ] are welcome.

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An Introduction to Molecular Biology/Macromolecules and Cells The term Molecular biology was first used by Warren Weaver in 1938. Molecular biology is the study of molecular underpinnings of the processes of replication, transcription, translation, and cellular function. The term macromolecule was coined by Nobel laureate Hermann Staudinger in the 1920s, although his first relevant publication on this field only mentions high molecular compounds (in excess of 1,000 atoms). At that time the phrase polymer as introduced by Berzelius in 1833 had a different meaning from that of today: it simply was another form of isomerism for example with benzene and acetylene and had little to do with size.Some examples of organic macromolecules are bio-polymers (carbohydrates, proteins and lipids, Polysaccharides) and synthetic polymers (plastics, synthetic fiber and rubber). A carbohydrate (kɑ:bəˈhaɪdreɪt/) is an organic compound which has the empirical formula Cm(H2O)n; that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, with a hydrogen:oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water). Carbohydrates can be viewed as hydrates of carbon, hence their name. Structurally however, it is more accurate to view them as polyhydroxy aldehydes and ketones.Historically nutritionists have classified carbohydrates as either simple or complex, however, the exact delineation of these categories is ambiguous. Today, simple carbohydrate typically refers to monosaccharides and disaccharides and complex carbohydrate meeans polysaccharides (and oligosaccharides). Monosaccharides (from Greek monos: single, sacchar: sugar) are the most basic units of biologically important carbohydrates. They are the simplest form of sugar and are usually colorless, water-soluble, crystalline solids. Some monosaccharides have a sweet taste. Examples of monosaccharides include glucose (dextrose), fructose (levulose), galactose, xylose and ribose. Monosaccharides are the building blocks of disaccharides such as sucrose and polysaccharides (such as cellulose and starch). Further, each carbon atom that supports a hydroxyl group (except for the first and last) is chiral, giving rise to a number of isomeric forms all with the same chemical formula. For instance, galactose and glucose are both aldohexoses, but have different chemical and physical properties. A disaccharide or biose is the carbohydrate formed when two monosaccharides undergo a condensation reaction which involves the elimination of a small molecule, such as water, from the functional groups only. Like monosaccharides, disaccharides also dissolve in water, taste sweet and are called sugars.The glycosidic bond can be formed between any hydroxyl group on the component monosaccharide. So, even if both component sugars are the same (e.g., glucose), different bond combinations (regiochemistry) and stereochemistry (alpha- or beta-) result in disaccharides that are diastereoisomers with different chemical and physical properties. Depending on the monosaccharide constituents, disaccharides are sometimes crystalline, sometimes water-soluble, and sometimes sweet-tasting and sticky-feeling. |Disaccharide||Unit 1||Unit 2||Bond| |Sucrose (table sugar, cane sugar, beet sugar, or saccharose)||glucose||fructose||α(1→2)| |Lactose (milk sugar)||galactose||glucose||β(1→4)| An oligosaccharide (from the Greek oligos, a few, and sacchar, sugar) is a saccharide polymer containing a small number (typically three to ten of component sugars, also known as simple sugars (monosaccharides). Oligosaccharides can have many functions; for example, they are commonly found on the plasma membrane of animal cells where they can play a role in cell-cell recognition.In general, they are found either O- or N-linked to compatible amino acid side-chains in proteins or to lipid moieties . e.g.Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), which are found in many vegetables, consist of short chains of fructose molecules. (Inulin has a much higher degree of polymerization than FOS and is a polysaccharide.) Galactooligosaccharides (GOS), which also occur naturally, consist of short chains of galactose molecules. These compounds can be only partially digested by humans. Polysaccharides are polymeric carbohydrate structures, formed of repeating units (either mono- or di-saccharides) joined together by glycosidic bonds. These structures are often linear, but may contain various degrees of branching. Polysaccharides are often quite heterogeneous, containing slight modifications of the repeating unit. Depending on the structure, these macromolecules can have distinct properties from their monosaccharide building blocks. They may be amorphous or even insoluble in water.Starches are glucose polymers in which glucopyranose units are bonded by alpha-linkages. It is made up of a mixture of Amylose (15–20%) and Amylopectin (80–85%). Amylose consists of a linear chain of several hundred glucose molecules and Amylopectin is a branched molecule made of several thousand glucose units (every chain 24–30 glucose unit). Starches are insoluble in water. They can be digested by hydrolysis, catalyzed by enzymes called amylases, which can break the alpha-linkages (glycosidic bonds). Humans and other animals have amylases, so they can digest starches. Potato, rice, wheat, and maize are major sources of starch in the human diet. The formation of starches are the way that plants store glucose.Glycogen is a polysaccharide that is found in animals and is composed of a branched chain of glucose residues. It is stored in liver and muscles.Chitin is one of many naturally occurring polymers. It is one of the most abundant natural materials in the world. Over time it is bio-degradable in the natural environment. Its breakdown may be catalyzed by enzymes called chitinases, secreted by microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi, and produced by some plants.Arabinoxylans are the copolymers of two pentose sugars - arabinose and xylose. Proteins are polymer of amino acids linked together by peptide bonds. Amino acids can be divided into two group essential amino acids and non-essential amino acids. Proteins and carbohydrates contain 4 kcal/gram as opposed to lipids which contain 9 kcal/ gram. The liver, and to a much lesser extent the kidneys, can convert amino acids used by cells in protein biosynthesis into glucose by a process known as gluconeogenesis. The essential amino acids, which must be obtained from external sources (food), are leucine, isoleucine, valine, lysine, threonine, tryptophan, methionine, phenylalanine and histidine. On the other hand, non-essential amino acids are synthesized in our body from other amino acids. The non-essential amino acids are arginine, alanine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamine, glutamic acid, glycine, proline, serine, and tyrosine. Proteins( /ˈproʊtiːnz/; also known as polypeptides) are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and folded into a globular or fibrous form. The amino acids in a polymer are joined together by the peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid residues. The sequence of amino acids in a protein is defined by the sequence of a gene, which is encoded in the genetic code.Proteins were first described by the Dutch chemist Gerhardus Johannes Mulder and named by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius in 1838. Lipids are a broad group of naturally occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The main biological functions of lipids include energy storage, as structural components of cell membranes, and as important signaling molecules. Cell contain near about 70% of water. Lipids in membrane Eukaryotic cells are compartmentalized into membrane-bound organelles which carry out different biological functions. The glycerophospholipids are the main structural component of biological membranes, such as the cellular plasma membrane and the intracellular membranes of organelles; in animal cells the plasma membrane physically separates the intracellular components from the extracellular environment. The glycerophospholipids are amphipathic molecules (containing both hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions) that contain a glycerol core linked to three fatty acid-derived "tails" by ester linkages and to one "head" group by a phosphate ester linkage. While glycerophospholipids are the major component of biological membranes, other non-glyceride lipid components such as sphingomyelin and sterols (mainly cholesterol in animal cell membranes) are also found in biological membranes. In plants and algae, the galactosyldiacylglycerols, and sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol, which lack a phosphate group, are important components of membranes of chloroplasts and related organelles and are the most abundant lipids in photosynthetic tissues, including those of higher plants, algae and certain bacteria. Bilayers have been found to exhibit high levels of birefringence which can be used to probe the degree of order (or disruption) within the bilayer using techniques such as dual polarisation interferometry. A biological membrane is a form of lipid bilayer. The formation of lipid bilayers is an energetically preferred process when the glycerophospholipids described above are in an aqueous environment. In an aqueous system, the polar heads of lipids align towards the polar, aqueous environment, while the hydrophobic tails minimize their contact with water and tend to cluster together, forming a vesicle; depending on the concentration of the lipid, this biophysical interaction may result in the formation of micelles, liposomes, or lipid bilayers. Other aggregations are also observed and form part of the polymorphism of amphiphile (lipid) behavior. Phase behavior is an area of study within biophysics and is the subject of current academic research. Micelles and bilayers form in the polar medium by a process known as the hydrophobic effect. When dissolving a lipophilic or amphiphilic substance in a polar environment, the polar molecules (i.e., water in an aqueous solution) become more ordered around the dissolved lipophilic substance, since the polar molecules cannot form hydrogen bonds to the lipophilic areas of the amphiphile. So in an aqueous environment, the water molecules form an ordered "clathrate" cage around the dissolved lipophilic molecule. Role of lipid in signalling In recent years, evidence has emerged showing that lipid signaling is a vital part of the cell signaling. Lipid signaling may occur via activation of G protein-coupled or nuclear receptors, and members of several different lipid categories have been identified as signaling molecules and cellular messengers. These include sphingosine-1-phosphate, a sphingolipid derived from ceramide that is a potent messenger molecule involved in regulating calcium mobilization, cell growth, and apoptosis; diacylglycerol (DAG) and the phosphatidylinositol phosphates (PIPs), involved in calcium-mediated activation of protein kinase C; the prostaglandins, which are one type of fatty-acid derived eicosanoid involved in inflammation and immunity; the steroid hormones such as estrogen, testosterone and cortisol, which modulate a host of functions such as reproduction, metabolism and blood pressure; and the oxysterols such as 25-hydroxy-cholesterol that are liver X receptor agonists. As we know that water is very essential for most of the living organisms.We also know very well that water have chemical formula i.e. H2O. One molecule of water made up of two hydrogen (H) atoms which covalently bonded to a single oxygen(O) atom.Cell contain nearly 70% of water. Noncovalent bond A noncovalent bond is a type of chemical bond, typically between macromolecules, that does not involve the sharing of pairs of electrons, but rather involves more dispersed variations of electromagnetic interactions. The noncovalent bond is the dominant type of bond between supermolecules in supermolecular chemistry. Noncovalent bonds are critical in maintaining the three-dimensional structure of large molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids, and are involved in many biological processes in which large molecules bind specifically but transiently to one another. The energy released in the formation of noncovalent bonds is on the order of 1-5 kcal per mol. There are four commonly mentioned types of non-covalent interactions: hydrogen bonds, ionic bonds, van der Waals forces, and hydrophobic interactions. The noncovalent interactions hold together the two strands of DNA in the double helix, stabilize secondary and tertiary structures of proteins, and enable enzyme-substrate binding and antibody-antigen association. Intramolecular noncovalent interactions are largely responsible for the secondary and tertiary structure of proteins and therefore the protein's function in the mechanisms of life. Intermolecular noncovalent interactions are responsible for protein complexes (quaternary structure) where two or more proteins function in a coherent mechanism. Most drugs work by noncovalently interacting with biomolecules such as proteins or RNA. Relatively few drugs actually form covalent bonds with the biomolecules they interact with; instead, they interfere with or activate some biological mechanism through noncovalently interacting in very specific locations on specific biomolecules which present the perfect combination of noncovalent binding partners in just the right geometry. The best example of a hydrogen bond is found between water molecules.Water molecules contains two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.Two molecules of water can form a hydrogen bond between them. Inside the cell hydrogen bonding also plays an important role in determining the 3D structures of proteins and nucleic bases. In these macromolecules, bonding between parts of the same macromolecule cause it to fold into a specific shape, which helps determine the molecule's physiological or biochemical function. The double helical structure of DNA, for example, is due to hydrogen bonding between the base pairs, which link one complementary strand to the other and enable replication.Hydrogen bonds are also important in the structure of macromolecule cellulose. We should also remember that the hydrogen bond is stronger than a van der Waals interaction, but generally weaker than ionic bonds. pH plays important role in living organism As we know very well in chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at 25 °C (77 °F). Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline. pH measurements are important in medicine, biology, chemistry, food science, environmental science, oceanography, civil engineering and many other applications. In a solution pH approximates but is not equal to p[H], the negative logarithm (base 10) of the molar concentration of dissolved hydronium ions (H3O+); a low pH indicates a high concentration of hydronium ions, while a high pH indicates a low concentration. Crudely, this negative of the logarithm matches the number of places behind the decimal point, so for example 0.1 molar hydrochloric acid should be near pH 1 and 0.0001 molar HCl should be near pH 4 (the base 10 logarithms of 0.1 and 0.0001 being −1, and −4, respectively). Pure (de-ionised) water is neutral, and can be considered either a very weak acid or a very weak base (center of the 0 to 14 pH scale), giving it a pH of 7 (at 25 °C (77 °F)), or 0.0000001 M H+. For an aqueous solution to have a higher pH, a base must be dissolved in it, which binds away many of these rare hydrogen ions. Hydrogen ions in water can be written simply as H+ or as hydronium (H3O+) or higher species (e.g. H9O4+) to account for solvation, but all describe the same entity. Most of the Earth's freshwater surface bodies are slightly acidic due to the abundance and absorption of carbon dioxide; in fact, for millennia in the past most fresh water bodies have long existed at a slightly acidic pH level. However, pH is not precisely p[H], but takes into account an activity factor. This represents the tendency of hydrogen ions to interact with other components of the solution, which affects among other things the electrical potential read using a pH meter. As a result, pH can be affected by the ionic strength of a solution – for example, the pH of a 0.05 M potassium hydrogen phthalate solution can vary by as much as 0.5 pH units as a function of added potassium chloride, even though the added salt is neither acidic nor basic.pH also play important role in living organism. The pH of different cellular compartments, body fluids, and organs is usually tightly regulated in a process called acid-base homeostasis. The pH of blood is usually slightly basic with a value of pH 7.365. This value is often referred to as physiological pH in biology and medicine. Plaque can create a local acidic environment that can result in tooth decay by demineralisation. Enzymes and other proteins have an optimum pH range and can become inactivated or denatured outside this range. The most common disorder in acid-base homeostasis is acidosis, a condition in which there is an acid overload in the body, generally defined by pH falling below 7.35. In the blood, pH can be estimated from known base excess (be) and bicarbonate concentration (HCO3) by the following equation: Cell The basic unit of life The cell is the functional basic unit of life. It was discovered by Robert Hooke and is the functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. Some organisms, such as most bacteria, are unicellular (consist of a single cell). Other organisms, such as humans and birds, are multicellular. Humans have about 100 trillion or 1014 cells; a typical cell size is 10 µm and a typical cell mass is 1 nanogram. The largest cells are about 135 µm in the anterior horn in the spinal cord while granule cells in the cerebellum, the smallest, can be some 4 µm and the longest cell can reach from the toe to the lower brain stem (Pseudounipolar cells). The largest known cells are unfertilised ostrich egg cells which weigh 3.3 pounds. In 1835, before the final cell theory was developed, Jan Evangelista Purkyně observed small "granules" while looking at the plant tissue through a microscope. The cell theory, first developed in 1839 by Matthias Jakob Schleiden and Theodor Schwann, states that all organisms are composed of one or more cells, that all cells come from preexisting cells, that vital functions of an organism occur within cells, and that all cells contain the hereditary information necessary for regulating cell functions and for transmitting information to the next generation of cells. The word cell comes from the Latin cellula, meaning, a small room. The descriptive term for the smallest living biological structure was coined by Robert Hooke in a book he published in 1665 when he compared the cork cells he saw through his microscope to the small rooms monks lived in.There are two types of cells: eukaryotic and prokaryotic. Prokaryotic cells are usually independent, while eukaryotic cells are often found in multicellular organisms. Origin of life and Miller's experiment Earth's early atmosphere Some evidence suggests that Earth's original atmosphere might have contained fewer of the reducing molecules than was thought at the time of the Miller–Urey experiment. There is abundant evidence of major volcanic eruptions 4 billion years ago, which would have released carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) into the atmosphere. Experiments using these gases in addition to the ones in the original Miller–Urey experiment have produced more diverse molecules. The experiment created a mixture that was racemic (containing both L and D enantiomers) and experiments since have shown that "in the lab the two versions are equally likely to appear." However, in nature, L amino acids dominate; later experiments have confirmed disproportionate amounts of L or D oriented enantiomers are possible. Originally it was thought that the primitive secondary atmosphere contained mostly ammonia and methane. However, it is likely that most of the atmospheric carbon was CO2 with perhaps some CO and the nitrogen mostly N2. In practice gas mixtures containing CO, CO2, N2, etc. give much the same products as those containing CH4 and NH3 so long as there is no O2. The hydrogen atoms come mostly from water vapor. In fact, in order to generate aromatic amino acids under primitive earth conditions it is necessary to use less hydrogen-rich gaseous mixtures. Most of the natural amino acids, hydroxyacids, purines, pyrimidines, and sugars have been made in variants of the Miller experiment. More recent results may question these conclusions. The University of Waterloo and University of Colorado conducted simulations in 2005 that indicated that the early atmosphere of Earth could have contained up to 40 percent hydrogen—implying a possibly much more hospitable environment for the formation of prebiotic organic molecules. The escape of hydrogen from Earth's atmosphere into space may have occurred at only one percent of the rate previously believed based on revised estimates of the upper atmosphere's temperature. One of the authors, Owen Toon notes: "In this new scenario, organics can be produced efficiently in the early atmosphere, leading us back to the organic-rich soup-in-the-ocean concept... I think this study makes the experiments by Miller and others relevant again." Outgassing calculations using a chondritic model for the early earth complement the Waterloo/Colorado results in re-establishing the importance of the Miller–Urey experiment. Conditions similar to those of the Miller–Urey experiments are present in other regions of the solar system, often substituting ultraviolet light for lightning as the energy source for chemical reactions. The Murchison meteorite that fell near Murchison, Victoria, Australia in 1969 was found to contain over 90 different amino acids, nineteen of which are found in Earth life. Comets and other icy outer-solar-system bodies are thought to contain large amounts of complex carbon compounds (such as tholins) formed by these processes, darkening surfaces of these bodies. The early Earth was bombarded heavily by comets, possibly providing a large supply of complex organic molecules along with the water and other volatiles they contributed. This has been used to infer an origin of life outside of Earth: the panspermia hypothesis. The Miller and Urey experiment (or Urey–Miller experiment) was an experiment that simulated hypothetical conditions thought at the time to be present on the early Earth, and tested for the occurrence of chemical origins of life. Specifically, the experiment tested Alexander Oparin's and J. B. S. Haldane's hypothesis that conditions on the primitive Earth favored chemical reactions that synthesized organic compounds from inorganic precursors. Considered to be the classic experiment on the origin of life, it was conducted in 1952 and published in 1953 by Stanley Miller and Harold Urey at the University of Chicago. After Miller's death in 2007, scientists examining sealed vials preserved from the original experiments were able to show that there were actually well over 20 different amino acids produced in Miller's original experiments. That is considerably more than what Miller originally reported, and more than the 20 that naturally occur in life. Moreover, some evidence suggests that Earth's original atmosphere might have had a different composition than the gas used in the Miller–Urey experiment. There is abundant evidence of major volcanic eruptions 4 billion years ago, which would have released carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) into the atmosphere. Experiments using these gases in addition to the ones in the original Miller–Urey experiment have produced more diverse molecules. The experiment used water (H2O), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), and hydrogen (H2). The chemicals were all sealed inside a sterile array of glass tubes and flasks connected in a loop, with one flask half-full of liquid water and another flask containing a pair of electrodes. The liquid water was heated to induce evaporation, sparks were fired between the electrodes to simulate lightning through the atmosphere and water vapor, and then the atmosphere was cooled again so that the water could condense and trickle back into the first flask in a continuous cycle. At the end of one week of continuous operation, Miller and Urey observed that as much as 10–15% of the carbon within the system was now in the form of organic compounds. Two percent of the carbon had formed amino acids that are used to make proteins in living cells, with glycine as the most abundant. Sugars, liquids, were also formed. Nucleic acids were not formed within the reaction. But the common 20 amino acids were formed, but in various concentrations. In an interview, Stanley Miller stated: "Just turning on the spark in a basic pre-biotic experiment will yield 11 out of 20 amino acids." - CO2 → CO + [O] (atomic oxygen) - CH4 + 2[O] → CH2O + H2O - CO + NH3 → HCN + H2O - CH4 + NH3 → HCN + 3H2 (BMA process) The formaldehyde, ammonia, and HCN then react by Strecker synthesis to form amino acids and other biomolecules: - CH2O + HCN + NH3 → NH2-CH2-CN + H2O - NH2-CH2-CN + 2H2O → NH3 + NH2-CH2-COOH (glycine) Other experiments This experiment inspired many others. In 1961, Joan Oró found that the nucleotide base adenine could be made from hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and ammonia in a water solution. His experiment produced a large amount of adenine, which molecules were formed from 5 molecules of HCN. Also, many amino acids are formed from HCN and ammonia under these conditions. Experiments conducted later showed that the other RNA and DNA nucleobases could be obtained through simulated prebiotic chemistry with a reducing atmosphere. There also had been similar electric discharge experiments related to the origin of life contemporaneous with Miller–Urey. An article in The New York Times (March 8, 1953:E9), titled "Looking Back Two Billion Years" describes the work of Wollman (William) M. MacNevin at The Ohio State University, before the Miller Science paper was published in May 1953. MacNevin was passing 100,000 volt sparks through methane and water vapor and produced "resinous solids" that were "too complex for analysis." The article describes other early earth experiments being done by MacNevin. It is not clear if he ever published any of these results in the primary scientific literature. K. A. Wilde submitted a paper to Science on December 15, 1952, before Miller submitted his paper to the same journal on February 14, 1953. Wilde's paper was published on July 10, 1953. Wilde used voltages up to only 600 V on a binary mixture of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water in a flow system. He observed only small amounts of carbon dioxide reduction to carbon monoxide, and no other significant reduction products or newly formed carbon compounds. Other researchers were studying UV-photolysis of water vapor with carbon monoxide. They have found that various alcohols, aldehydes and organic acids were synthesized in reaction mixture. More recent experiments by chemist Jeffrey Bada at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (in La Jolla, CA) were similar to those performed by Miller. However, Bada noted that in current models of early Earth conditions, carbon dioxide and nitrogen (N2) create nitrites, which destroy amino acids as fast as they form. However, the early Earth may have had significant amounts of iron and carbonate minerals able to neutralize the effects of the nitrites. When Bada performed the Miller-type experiment with the addition of iron and carbonate minerals, the products were rich in amino acids. This suggests the origin of significant amounts of amino acids may have occurred on Earth even with an atmosphere containing carbon dioxide and nitrogen.. Prokaryotes are single-cell organisms that do not have a nucleus, mitochondria, or any other membrane-bound organelles. In other words, neither their DNA nor any of their other sites of metabolic activity are collected together in a discrete membrane-enclosed area. Instead, everything is openly accessible within the cell, some of which is free-floating. A distinction between prokaryotes and eukaryotes (meaning true kernel, also spelled "eucaryotes") is that eukaryotes do have "true" nuclei containing their DNA. Unlike prokaryotes, eukaryotic organisms may be unicellular, as in amoebae, or multicellular, as in plants and animals. The difference between the structure of prokaryotes and eukaryotes is so great that it is sometimes considered to be the most important distinction among groups of organisms. The cell structure of prokaryotes differs greatly from that of eukaryotes. The defining characteristic is the absence of a nucleus. Also the size of Ribosomes in prokaryotes is smaller than that in eukaryotes, which is now where respiration takes place. The genomes of prokaryotes are held within an irregular DNA/protein complex in the cytosol called the nucleoid, which lacks a nuclear envelope. In general, prokaryotes lack the following membrane-bound cell compartments: mitochondria and chloroplasts. Instead, processes such as oxidative phosphorylation and photosynthesis take place across the prokaryotic plasma membrane. However, prokaryotes do possess some internal structures, such as cytoskeletons, and the bacterial order Planctomycetes have a membrane around their nucleoid and contain other membrane-bound cellular structures. Both eukaryotes and prokaryotes contain large RNA/protein structures called ribosomes, which produce protein. Prokaryotes are usually much smaller than eukaryotic cells. Prokaryotes also differ from eukaryotes in that they contain only a single loop of stable chromosomal DNA stored in an area named the nucleoid, whereas eukaryote DNA is found on tightly bound and organized chromosomes. Although some eukaryotes have satellite DNA structures called plasmids, in general these are regarded as a prokaryote feature, and many important genes in prokaryotes are stored on plasmids. Prokaryotes have a larger surface-area-to-volume ratio giving them a higher metabolic rate, a higher growth rate, and, as a consequence, a shorter generation time compared to Eukaryotes. A criticism of this classification is that the word "prokaryote" is based on what these organisms are not (they are not eukaryotic), rather than what they are (either archaea or bacteria). In 1977, Carl Woese proposed dividing prokaryotes into the Bacteria and Archaea (originally Eubacteria and Archaebacteria) because of the major differences in the structure and genetics between the two groups of organisms. This arrangement of Eukaryota (also called "Eukarya"), Bacteria, and Archaea is called the three-domain system, replacing the traditional two-empire system. Eukaryotic cell The origin of the eukaryotic cell was a milestone in the evolution of life, since they include all complex cells and almost all multi-cellular organisms. The timing of this series of events is hard to determine; Knoll (2006) suggests they developed approximately 1.6 – 2.1 billion years ago. Some acritarchs are known from at least 1,650 million years ago, and the possible alga Grypania has been found as far back as 2,100 million years ago. Fossils that are clearly related to modern groups start appearing around 1.2 billion years ago, in the form of a red alga, though recent work suggests the existence of fossilized filamentous algae in the Vindhya basin dating back to 1.6 to 1.7 billion years ago. Biomarkers suggest that at least stem eukaryotes arose even earlier. The presence of steranes in Australian shales indicates that eukaryotes were present 2.7 billion years ago. There are many different types of eukaryotic cells, though animals and plants are the most familiar eukaryotes, and thus provide an excellent starting point for understanding eukaryotic structure. Fungi and many protists have some substantial differences, however. An animal cell is a form of eukaryotic cell that makes up many tissues in animals. The animal cell is distinct from other eukaryotes, most notably plant cells, as they lack cell walls and chloroplasts, and they have smaller vacuoles. Due to the lack of a rigid cell wall, animal cells can adopt a variety of shapes, and a phagocytic cell can even engulf other structures. There are many different cell types. For instance, there are approximately 210 distinct cell types in the adult human body. Plant cells are quite different from the cells of the other eukaryotic organisms. Their distinctive features are: A large central vacuole (enclosed by a membrane, the tonoplast), which maintains the cell's turgor and controls movement of molecules between the cytosol and sap A primary cell wall containing cellulose, hemicellulose and pectin, deposited by the protoplast on the outside of the cell membrane; this contrasts with the cell walls of fungi, which contain chitin, and the cell envelopes of prokaryotes, in which peptidoglycans are the main structural molecules The plasmodesmata, linking pores in the cell wall that allow each plant cell to communicate with other adjacent cells; this is different from the functionally analogous system of gap junctions between animal cells. Plastids, especially chloroplasts that contain chlorophyll, the pigment that gives plants their green color and allows them to perform photosynthesis Higher plants, including conifers and flowering plants (Angiospermae) lack the flagellae and centrioles that are present in animal cells. Fungal cells are most similar to animal cells, with the following exceptions: A cell wall that contains chitin Less definition between cells; the hyphae of higher fungi have porous partitions called septa, which allow the passage of cytoplasm, organelles, and, sometimes, nuclei. Primitive fungi have few or no septa, so each organism is essentially a giant multinucleate supercell; these fungi are described as coenocytic. Only the most primitive fungi, chytrids, have flagella. Other eukaryotic cells Eukaryotes are a very diverse group, and their cell structures are equally diverse. Many have cell walls; many do not. Many have chloroplasts, derived from primary, secondary, or even tertiary endosymbiosis; and many do not. Some groups have unique structures, such as the cyanelles of the glaucophytes, the haptonema of the haptophytes, or the ejectisomes of the cryptomonads. Other structures, such as pseudopods, are found in various eukaryote groups in different forms, such as the lobose amoebozoans or the reticulose foraminiferans. |Typical organisms||Bacteria, archaea||Protists, Fungi, Plants, Animals| |Typical size||~ 1–10 µm||~ 10–100 µm (sperm cells, apart from the tail, are smaller)| |Type of nucleus||nucleoid region; no real nucleus||real nucleus surrounded by double membrane| |DNA||circular (usually)||linear molecules (chromosomes) with histone proteins| |RNA-/protein-synthesis||coupled in cytoplasm||RNA-synthesis inside the nucleus protein synthesis in cytoplasm |Cytoplasmatic structure||very few structures||highly structured by endomembranes and a cytoskeleton| |Cell movement||flagella made of flagellin||flagella and cilia containing microtubules; lamellipodia and filopodia containing actin| |Mitochondria||none||one to several thousand (though some lack mitochondria)| |Chloroplasts||none||in algae and plants| |Organization||usually single cells||single cells, colonies, higher multicellular organisms with specialized cells| |Cell division||Binary fission (simple division)||Mitosis (fission or budding) Plant cell is different from animal cell Plant cells are eukaryotic cells that differ in several key respects from the cells of other eukaryotic organisms. Their distinctive features include: A large central vacuole, a water-filled volume enclosed by a membrane known as the tonoplast maintains the cell's turgor, controls movement of molecules between the cytosol and sap, stores useful material and digests waste proteins and organelles. A cell wall composed of cellulose and hemicellulose, pectin and in many cases lignin, are secreted by the protoplast on the outside of the cell membrane. This contrasts with the cell walls of fungi (which are made of chitin), and of bacteria, which are made of peptidoglycan. Specialised cell-cell communication pathways known as plasmodesmata, pores in the primary cell wall through which the plasmalemma and endoplasmic reticulum of adjacent cells are continuous. Plastids, the notables one being the chloroplasts, which contain chlorophyll and the biochemical systems for light harvesting and photosynthesis, but also amyloplasts specialized for starch storage, elaioplasts specialized for fat storage, and chromoplasts specialized for synthesis and storage of pigments. As in mitochondria, which have a genome encoding 37 genes, plastids have their own genomes of about 100-120 unique genes and, it is presumed, arose as prokaryotic endosymbionts living in the cells of an early eukaryotic ancestor of the land plants and algae. Unlike animal cells, plant cells are stationary. Cell division by construction of a phragmoplast as a template for building a cell plate late in cytokinesis is characteristic of land plants and a few groups of algae, the notable one being the Charophytes and the Order Trentepohliales. The sperm of bryophytes have flagellae similar to those in animals,but higher plants, (including Gymnosperms and flowering plants) lack the flagellae and centrioles that are present in animal cells. |Typical animal cell||Typical plant cell| Origin of Eukaryotic organelles and endosymbiotic theory The endosymbiotic (from the Greek: endo- meaning inside and -symbiosis meaning cohabiting) theory was first articulated by the Russian botanist Konstantin Mereschkowski in 1905. Mereschkowski was familiar with work by botanist Andreas Schimper, who had observed in 1883 that the division of chloroplasts in green plants closely resembled that of free-living cyanobacteria, and who had himself tentatively proposed (in a footnote) that green plants had arisen from a symbiotic union of two organisms. Ivan Wallin extended the idea of an endosymbiotic origin to mitochondria in the 1920s.These theories were initially dismissed or ignored. More detailed electron microscopic comparisons between cyanobacteria and chloroplasts (for example studies by Hans Ris), combined with the discovery that plastids and mitochondria contain their own DNA (which by that stage was recognized to be the hereditary material of organisms) led to a resurrection of the idea in the 1960s. The endosymbiotic theory was advanced and substantiated with microbiological evidence by Lynn Margulis in a 1967 paper, The Origin of Mitosing Eukaryotic Cells. In her 1981 work Symbiosis in Cell Evolution she argued that eukaryotic cells originated as communities of interacting entities, including endosymbiotic spirochaetes that developed into eukaryotic flagella and cilia. This last idea has not received much acceptance, because flagella lack DNA and do not show ultrastructural similarities to bacteria or archaea. According to Margulis and Dorion Sagan, "Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking" (i.e., by cooperation). The possibility that peroxisomes may have an endosymbiotic origin has also been considered, although they lack DNA. Christian de Duve proposed that they may have been the first endosymbionts, allowing cells to withstand growing amounts of free molecular oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. However, it now appears that they may be formed de novo, contradicting the idea that they have a symbiotic origin. It is believed that over millennia these endosymbionts transferred some of their own DNA to the host cell's nucleus during the evolutionary transition from a symbiotic community to an instituted eukaryotic cell (called "serial endosymbiosis"). This hypothesis is thought to be possible because it is known today from scientific observation that transfer of DNA occurs between bacteria species, even if they are not closely related. Bacteria can take up DNA from their surroundings and have a limited ability to incorporate it into their own genome. Eukaryotic organelles Eukaryotes are one of the structurally complex cell type, and by definition are in part organized by smaller interior compartments, that are themselves enclosed by lipid membranes that resemble the outermost cell membrane. The larger organelles, such as the nucleus and vacuoles, are easily visible with the light microscope. They were among the first biological discoveries made after the invention of the microscope. Not all eukaryotic cells have each of the organelles listed below. Exceptional organisms have cells which do not include some organelles that might otherwise be considered universal to eukaryotes (such as mitochondria). There are also occasional exceptions to the number of membranes surrounding organelles, listed in the tables below (e.g., some that are listed as double-membrane are sometimes found with single or triple membranes). In addition, the number of individual organelles of each type found in a given cell varies depending upon the function of that cell. |Chloroplast (plastid)||photosynthesis||double-membrane compartment||plants, protists (rare kleptoplastic organisms)||has some genes; theorized to be engulfed by the ancestral eukaryotic cell (endosymbiosis)| |Endoplasmic reticulum||translation and folding of new proteins (rough endoplasmic reticulum), expression of lipids (smooth endoplasmic reticulum)||single-membrane compartment||all eukaryotes||rough endoplasmic reticulum is covered with ribosomes, has folds that are flat sacs; smooth endoplasmic reticulum has folds that are tubular| |Golgi apparatus||sorting and modification of proteins||single-membrane compartment||all eukaryotes||cis-face (convex) nearest to rough endoplasmic reticulum; trans-face (concave) farthest from rough endoplasmic reticulum| |Mitochondria||energy production (house), Mitochondria are self-replicating organelles that occur in various numbers, shapes, and sizes in the cytoplasm of all eukaryotic cells.||double-membrane compartment||most eukaryotes||has some DNA; theorized to be engulfed by an ancestral eukaryotic cell (endosymbiosis)| |Vacuole||storage, helps maintain homeostasis||single-membrane compartment||eukaryotes| |Nucleus||It houses the cell's chromosomes, and is the place where almost all DNA replication, RNA transcription take place||double-membrane compartment||all eukaryotes||contains bulk of genome| Mitochondria and chloroplasts, which have double-membranes and their own DNA, are believed to have originated from incompletely consumed or invading prokaryotic organisms, which were adopted as a part of the invaded cell. This idea is supported in the Endosymbiotic theory. ||detects light, allowing phototaxis to take place|| ||green algae and other unicellular photosynthetic organisms such as Euglenids |Acrosome||A picture of a spermazoa cell with its acrosome colored in red||helps spermatoza fuse with ovum||single-membrane compartment||many animals| |Autophagosome||vesicle which sequesters cytoplasmic material and organelles for degradation||double-membrane compartment||all eukaryotic cells| |Centriole||anchor for Cytoskeleton, helps in cell division||Microtubule protein||animals| |cilium||movement in or of external medium; "critical developmental signaling pathway".||Microtubule protein||animals, protists, few plants| |Glycosome||carries out glycolysis||single-membrane compartment||Some protozoa, such as Trypanosomes.| |Glyoxysome||A picture of a Glyoxysome hydrolyzing fatty acids within a plant cell||conversion of fat into sugars||single-membrane compartment||plants| |Hydrogenosome||A picture of a hydrogenosome within a eukaryotic cell||energy & hydrogen production||double-membrane compartment||a few unicellular eukaryotes| |Lysosome||breakdown of large molecules (e.g., proteins + polysaccharides)||single-membrane compartment||most eukaryotes| |Melanosome||Melanosomes with varying amounts of melanin in an animal cell||pigment storage||single-membrane compartment||animals| |Mitosome||not characterized||double-membrane compartment||a few unicellular eukaryotes| |Myofibril||muscular contraction||bundled filaments||animals| |Nucleolus||A nucleolus within a nucleus||ribosome production||protein-DNA-RNA||most eukaryotes| |Parenthesome||not characterized||not characterized||fungi| |Peroxisome||breakdown of metabolic hydrogen peroxide||single-membrane compartment||all eukaryotes| |Ribosome||translation of RNA into proteins||RNA-protein||eukaryotes, prokaryotes| |vesicle||material transport||single-membrane compartment||all eukaryotes| Prokaryotic organelles Prokaryotes are not as structurally complex as eukaryotes, and were once thought not to have any internal structures enclosed by lipid membranes. In the past, they were often viewed as having little internal organization; but, slowly, details are emerging about prokaryotic internal structures. An early false turn was the idea developed in the 1970s that bacteria might contain membrane folds termed mesosomes, but these were later shown to be artifacts produced by the chemicals used to prepare the cells for electron microscopy. However, more recent research has revealed that at least some prokaryotes have microcompartments such as carboxysomes. These subcellular compartments are 100 - 200 nm in diameter and are enclosed by a shell of proteins. Even more striking is the description of membrane-bound magnetosomes in bacteria, as well as the nucleus-like structures of the Planctomycetes that are surrounded by lipid membranes. |Carboxysome||carbon fixation||protein-shell compartment||some bacteria| |Chlorosome||photosynthesis||light harvesting complex||green sulfur bacteria| |Flagellum||movement in external medium||protein filament||some prokaryotes and eukaryotes| |Magnetosome||magnetic orientation||inorganic crystal, lipid membrane||magnetotactic bacteria| |Nucleoid||DNA maintenance, transcription to RNA||DNA-protein||prokaryotes| |Plasmid||DNA exchange||circular DNA||some bacteria| |Ribosome||translation of RNA into proteins||RNA-protein||eukaryotes, prokaryotes| |Thylakoid||photosynthesis||photosystem proteins and pigments||mostly cyanobacteria| Macromolecules which are present in the cell membrane Cell membranes contain a variety of biological molecules, notably lipids and proteins. Material is incorporated into the membrane, or deleted from it, by a variety of mechanisms: Fusion of intracellular vesicles with the membrane (exocytosis) not only excretes the contents of the vesicle but also incorporates the vesicle membrane's components into the cell membrane. The membrane may form blebs around extracellular material that pinch off to become vesicles (endocytosis). If a membrane is continuous with a tubular structure made of membrane material, then material from the tube can be drawn into the membrane continuously. Although the concentration of membrane components in the aqueous phase is low (stable membrane components have low solubility in water), there is an exchange of molecules between the lipid and aqueous phases. The cell membrane consists of three classes of amphipathic lipids: phospholipids, glycolipids, and cholesterols. The amount of each depends upon the type of cell, but in the majority of cases phospholipids are the most abundant. In RBC studies, 30% of the plasma membrane is lipid. The fatty chains in phospholipids and glycolipids usually contain an even number of carbon atoms, typically between 16 and 20. The 16- and 18-carbon fatty acids are the most common. Fatty acids may be saturated or unsaturated, with the configuration of the double bonds nearly always cis. The length and the degree of unsaturation of fatty acid chains have a profound effect on membrane fluidity as unsaturated lipids create a kink, preventing the fatty acids from packing together as tightly, thus decreasing the melting temperature (increasing the fluidity) of the membrane. The ability of some organisms to regulate the fluidity of their cell membranes by altering lipid composition is called homeoviscous adaptation. The entire membrane is held together via non-covalent interaction of hydrophobic tails, however the structure is quite fluid and not fixed rigidly in place. Under physiological conditions phospholipid molecules in the cell membrane are in the liquid crystalline state. It means the lipid molecules are free to diffuse and exhibit rapid lateral diffusion along the layer in which they are present. However, the exchange of phospholipid molecules between intracellular and extracellular leaflets of the bilayer is a very slow process. Lipid rafts and caveolae are examples of cholesterol-enriched microdomains in the cell membrane. In animal cells cholesterol is normally found dispersed in varying degrees throughout cell membranes, in the irregular spaces between the hydrophobic tails of the membrane lipids, where it confers a stiffening and strengthening effect on the membrane. Lipid vesicles or liposomes are circular pockets that are enclosed by a lipid bilayer. These structures are used in laboratories to study the effects of chemicals in cells by delivering these chemicals directly to the cell, as well as getting more insight into cell membrane permeability. Lipid vesicles and liposomes are formed by first suspending a lipid in an aqueous solution then agitating the mixture through sonication, resulting in a uniformly circular vesicle. By measuring the rate of efflux from that of the insideof the vesicle to the ambient solution, allows researcher to better understand membrane permeability. Vesicles can be formed with molecules and ions inside the vesicle by forming the vesicle with the desired molecule or ion present in the solution. Proteins can also be embedded into the membrane through solubilizing the desired proteins in the presence of detergents and attaching them to the phospholipids in which the liposome is formed. These provide researchers with a tool to examine various membrane protein functions. Plasma membranes also contain carbohydrates, predominantly glycoproteins, but with some glycolipids (cerebrosides and gangliosides). For the most part, no glycosylation occurs on membranes within the cell; rather generally glycosylation occurs on the extracellular surface of the plasma membrane. The glycocalyx is an important feature in all cells, especially epithelia with microvilli. Recent data suggest the glycocalyx participates in cell adhesion, lymphocyte homing, and many others. The penultimate sugar is galactose and the terminal sugar is sialic acid, as the sugar backbone is modified in the golgi apparatus. Sialic acid carries a negative charge, providing an external barrier to charged particles. Proteins within the membrane are key to the functioning of the overall membrane. These proteins mainly transport chemicals and information across the membrane. Every membrane has a varying degree of protein content. Proteins can be in the form of peripheral or integral. The cell membrane plays host to a large amount of protein that is responsible for its various activities. The amount of protein differs between species and according to function, however the typical amount in a cell membrane is 50%.These proteins are undoubtedly important to a cell: Approximately a third of the genes in yeast code specifically for them, and this number is even higher in multicellular organisms. The cell membrane, being exposed to the outside environment, is an important site of cell-cell communication. As such, a large variety of protein receptors and identification proteins, such as antigens, are present on the surface of the membrane. Functions of membrane proteins can also include cell-cell contact, surface recognition, cytoskeleton contact, signaling, enzymatic activity, or transporting substances across the membrane. Most membrane proteins must be inserted in some way into the membrane. For this to occur, an N-terminus "signal sequence" of amino acids directs proteins to the endoplasmic reticulum, which inserts the proteins into a lipid bilayer. Once inserted, the proteins are then transported to their final destination in vesicles, where the vesicle fuses with the target membrane. Facts to be remembered Some theorists suggest that the atmosphere of the early Earth may have been chemically reducing in nature, composed primarily of methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), water (H2O), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), carbon dioxide (CO2) or carbon monoxide (CO), and phosphate (PO43-), with molecular oxygen (O2) and ozone (O3) either rare or absent. The sequence of chemical events that led to the first nucleic acids is not known. In such a reducing atmosphere, electrical activity can catalyze the creation of certain basic small molecules (monomers) of life, such as amino acids. This was demonstrated in the Miller–Urey experiment by Stanley L. Miller and Harold C. Urey in 1953. Phospholipids (of an appropriate length) can spontaneously form lipid bilayers, a basic component of the cell membrane. The polymerization of nucleotides into random RNA molecules might have resulted in self-replicating ribozymes . Synthesized proteins might then outcompete ribozymes in catalytic ability, and therefore become the dominant biopolymer, relegating nucleic acids to their modern use, predominantly as a carrier of genomic information. 1632–1723: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek teaches himself to grind lenses, builds a microscope and draws protozoa, such as Vorticella from rain water, and bacteria from his own mouth. 1665: Robert Hooke discovers cells in cork, then in living plant tissue using an early microscope. 1839: Theodor Schwann and Matthias Jakob Schleiden elucidate the principle that plants and animals are made of cells, concluding that cells are a common unit of structure and development, and thus founding the cell theory. The belief that life forms can occur spontaneously (generatio spontanea) is contradicted by Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) (although Francesco Redi had performed an experiment in 1668 that suggested the same conclusion). 1855: Rudolf Virchow states that cells always emerge from cell divisions (omnis cellula ex cellula). 1931: Ernst Ruska builds first transmission electron microscope (TEM) at the University of Berlin. By 1935, he has built an EM with twice the resolution of a light microscope, revealing previously unresolvable organelles. 1953: Watson and Crick made their first announcement on the double-helix structure for DNA on February 28. 1981: Lynn Margulis published Symbiosis in Cell Evolution detailing the endosymbiotic theory. Evidence which support endosymbiotic theory Mitochondria and plastids are formed only through a process similar to binary fission. In some algae, such as Euglena, the plastids can be destroyed by certain chemicals or prolonged absence of light without otherwise affecting the cell. In such a case, the plastids will not regenerate. They are surrounded by two or more membranes, and the innermost of these shows differences in composition from the other membranes of the cell. They are composed of a peptidoglycan cell wall characteristic of a bacterial cell. Both mitochondria and plastids contain DNA that is different from that of the cell nucleus and that is similar to that of bacteria (in being circular in shape and in its size). DNA sequence analysis and phylogenetic estimates suggest that nuclear DNA contains genes that probably came from plastids. These organelles' ribosomes are like those found in bacteria (70S). Proteins of organelle origin, like those of bacteria, use N-formylmethionine as the initiating amino acid. Much of the internal structure and biochemistry of plastids, for instance the presence of thylakoids and particular chlorophylls, is very similar to that of cyanobacteria. Phylogenetic estimates constructed with bacteria, plastids, and eukaryotic genomes also suggest that plastids are most closely related to cyanobacteria. Mitochondria have several enzymes and transport systems similar to those of bacteria. Some proteins encoded in the nucleus are transported to the organelle, and both mitochondria and plastids have small genomes compared to bacteria. This is consistent with an increased dependence on the eukaryotic host after forming an endosymbiosis. Most genes on the organellar genomes have been lost or moved to the nucleus. Most genes needed for mitochondrial and plastid function are located in the nucleus. Many originate from the bacterial endosymbiont. Plastids are present in very different groups of protists, some of which are closely related to forms lacking plastids. 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Fidelis Iota is the retired teachers' chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa, an honorary organization for women educators. Cruickshank said people learn to mask their feelings at a young age, and that forms of art expression such as drawing, beading, music, poetry and clay can help people integrate both sides of their brain to deal with emotions. After a trauma of some kind, 80 percent of the information about it stays in the right side of the brain, Cruickshank said, leaving a person with no words to express the pain and anger. Over time, with art therapy, the memory goes over to the left side of the brain, and the person can talk about the trauma, she said. Even Alzheimer's patients can benefit from art therapy in which the patient tells the therapist about the creation and what it means, she said. She stressed that the therapist should not tell the artist what is in the piece, but let the artist explain it in his or her own words. Although art therapy is especially useful with children and troubled teens, Cruickshank said it can also help stroke victims engage parts of the brain. After Cruickshank showed several examples of drawings by at-risk young people, she gave everyone a plain piece of paper and a pencil and asked Cruickshank explained what different aspects of the drawings could mean, giving the retired teachers a glimpse of how art therapy can work. She also said art is important in schools - something many teachers agreed with. Cruickshank, who retired in 2009, was introduced by close friend April Klein. The program followed a short business meeting led by President Betsy Wilson. Fern Dewees presented a thought for the day on being thankful for even little things. Visitor Barbara Quinter, daughter of Eleanor Mitchell, was introduced. Hazel Cook announced that Cathy Dunn, a former English teacher at Redlands High School and former member of Alpha Delta Kappa, had recently died. Dunn was chairman of the school's English department for many years. Pat Gorman from the Yucaipa chapter reported that the active Yucaipa group celebrated Founder's Day by welcoming a new member and giving treats to all educators in Yucaipa. Melinda Stevens of the Redlands chapter reported that they also celebrated Founder's Day and held their annual New Teacher Tea, welcoming all new teachers and administrators. They purchased books and presented one to each school in the Redlands district for their libraries. Their next meeting will welcome the AFS exchange students in Redlands. Wilson announced that yearbooks would be updated instead of being reprinted every year. She also congratulated those with November birthdays. Hostesses were Klein and Gorman. The Redlands High School choral department will present the program at the Dec. 7 meeting. SOURCE: Fidelis Iota chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa

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From Ohio History Central Victoria Claflin was born on September 23, 1838, in Homer, Ohio. Her family belonged to the working class and tried to earn a living by selling home-concocted medicines and by telling fortunes. Before Claflin turned sixteen, she married Dr. Channing Woodhull. The couple remained married approximately ten years, before divorcing. In 1868, Victoria Woodhull and her sister, Tennessee Claflin, moved to New York City. Upon their arrival, they continued to tell fortunes and sell medicines. One of their customers was Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of the wealthiest citizens in the United States. Vanderbilt provided the two sisters capital to start Woodhull, Claflin and Company, a stockbrokerage firm. The company quickly prospered and allowed the two women to begin their own magazine, Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly. This journal called for equal rights for women with men. It also called for free love. Thanks to Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly, Woodhull emerged as a prominent spokesperson for the women's rights movement during the 1870s. In 1872, Woodhull sought election as President of the United States. Her running mate was noted-abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Woodhull lost the election to Ulysses S. Grant. Woodhull seemed to attract controversy. Her candidacy for president and her stance on free love dismayed many Americans. She also published inflammatory stories in Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly, including an article that attacked Henry Ward Beecher, who sued the two women. A court of law found the women innocent of libel. The two sisters also published a copy of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. Woodhull and Claflin were supporters of socialism, and their publication of Marx's work illustrates this point. In 1877, Woodhull moved to England, purportedly using money that she had inherited from Cornelius Vanderbilt. She spent the remainder of her life in England, although she returned to the United States on several occasions. Woodhull continued to author numerous books. She also published the Humanitarian, a magazine, with her daughter from 1892 to 1910. Woodhull died on June 10, 1927. - Frisken, Amanda. Victoria Woodhull's Sexual Revolution: Political Theater and the Popular Press in Nineteenth-Century America. N.p.: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004. - Gabriel, Mary. Notorious Victoria: The Life of Victoria Woodhull, Uncensored. N.p.: Algonquin Books, 1998. - Goldsmith, Barbara. Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism, and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull. N.p.: Harper Perennial, 1999.

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by Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J. | Editorial | Homiletic & Pastoral Review | October 2011 In his textbook, Philosophical Psychology (FSSP, Elmhurst, PA 1999), Prof. D.Q. McInerny lists and evaluates the six presuppositions of Darwinist evolution. The first presupposition is that life came to be, the way it is on earth, through natural means; there is no need for divine intervention, such as we find in the Book of Genesis. The second element is that life arose from non-life. The claim is that, over millions of years, matter became more complex until, by some chance of volcanic activity or lightning, there was a sudden transformation to the organic state, the beginning of life. The third element is the idea that all life we know on earth is to be traced back to that first primitive form of life. Once life had gained a foothold on earth, there was more complexification until animal life evolved from plant life. After that, the two kingdoms continued to develop over millions of years to produce the many species of plant and animal life, including man. According to the fourth element in the theory, it all began with a simple cell that underwent changes. The multiplicity of species in plants and animals is explained by chance mutation. The mutations, they say, must be small so that the new entity can survive; the change is positive, and gives the new entity an advantage over what went before. It is more suitable to survive, and to propagate others like itself. The improved one survives, and its ancestors do not. The process went on for millions of years to produce all the life forms on earth. The fifth element is natural selection, or the survival of the fittest. The mutated organisms, that have an enhanced capacity for survival, is what Darwin called natural selection. The fourth and fifth elements are the key to the explanation of why one species is formed into another. So the mutations are necessarily very small, with the process requiring an immense amount of time—millions, and perhaps billions, of years.

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Area: 3,904 square miles; population: 6,046 (in 2000); county seat: Kanab; origin of county name: after Thomas L. Kane, an influential supporter of the Mormons; principal cities/towns: Kanab, Orderville, Glendale; economy: tourism, services; points of interest: Lake Powell, Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Kodachrome Basin, Old Paria, Navajo Lake, Hole-in-the Rock. The high desert landscape of Kane County belongs to the Colorado Plateau geographical province. The waters of man-made Lake Powell on the Colorado River form the county’s eastern border, and, with the exception of the Virgin and Sevier rivers, all of the streams in Kane County are part of the Colorado River system. The northwest corner of the county is forested. The county’s prehistoric Indian dwellers were part of the Anasazi Culture. Archaeologists have recorded hundreds of sites on Fifty Mile Mountain within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, but few have been excavated because of their remoteness. Historic Indian groups are primarily Southern Paiute. Several towns, including Kanab, were first settled in the mid-1860s and then abandoned. Kanab was resettled in 1870 by Levi Stewart and others at the request of Brigham Young. In March 1874 Young encouraged the formation of a United Order at Orderville. Although United Orders were organized in many Utah towns, including Kanab, the Orderville experiment in communal living was more successful and longer lived than all the others, making this town unique among Utah settlements. By the 1880s Mormon Church support had become lukewarm, and the United Order of Orderville was dissolved. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries a majority of the county’s residents were either farmers or raised livestock. In 1922, when Deadwood Coach with Tom Mix was filmed in Kane County, the Parry brothers of Kanab led in the development of lodging, food, and other services for film crews; and by the 1930s Kanab was called “Little Hollywood” because so many movies were made there. The 1920s and 1930s also saw Kanab become a tourist center for visitors to Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Grand Canyon national parks. During the construction of Glen Canyon Dam near Page, Arizona, which began in 1956, Kanab’s population doubled and the economy boomed. The creation of Lake Powell, one of Utah’s major recreational sites, brought new service industries connected with boating and fishing to the area, especially the Bullfrog Basin marina in the extreme northeast corner of the county. Enormous coal reserves in the Kaiparowits Plateau and Alton fields are Kane County’s most important natural resource and may, if environmental issues are resolved, dictate a new economic future based on mining. Miriam B. Murphy

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Clemente Jose Zulueta From WikiPilipinas: The Hip 'n Free Philippine Encyclopedia Clemente Jose Zulueta (1876-1904) was a lawyer, revolutionary journalist, bibliographer and pioneer librarian, whose multifarious career was cut short by sudden illness. Early Life Zulueta was born in Paco, Manila on 23 November 1876. His mother died five days after his birth and his father died when he was still a young child. The orphaned boy was adopted by Agustin de la Rosa and Juliana Estrada who raised and treated him as their own. He was affectionately called Peping. He started his studies at Colegio San Antonio de Padua. He later transferred to Colegio San Juan de Letran. He later shifted to Ateneo Municipal where he obtained a bachiller en artes, the equivalent of a high school diploma. His early studies were marked by a precocious involvement in culture and the arts, and he participated in tertulias with his friends Rafael Palma, Cecilio Apostol, Fernando Ma. Guerrero, Jaime De Veyra and Jose C. Abreu. He took up law at the University of Santo Tomas, where he cultivated his love for the literary arts and poetry, writing primarily in Spanish. His peers were Fernando Maria Guerrero, Jose Abreu, Rafael Palma, Cecilio Apostol, Epifanio de los Santos and Honorio Valenzuela. His poem “Afectos A La Virgen” was awarded third prize in 1895 with a “lirio de plata” (silver lily) by the Academia Bibliografica Mariana of Lerida, Spain. It was published in Revista Catolica de Filipinas, VII, No.5, March 1, 1896. One of his theatrical plays was awarded a prize by the Academia de San Franciso de Borja of Manila. His early writings were much influenced his studies on Latin America, including the biography of Jose Marti, hero of the Cuban Revoltion. His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution. The Revolutionary Phase Appearing before Governor-General Camilo Polavieja as an independent observer and journalist, he obtained a special pass to cross both frontlines. While in the revolutionary camp, he developed strong sympathy with its cause and undertook a new career as a revolutionary journalist. His first venture was La Libertad, together with friend Epifanio de los Santos, published in Malabon. Its first issue was dedicated to a certain Colonel Pacheco. The newspaper was later seized by the Revolutionary government and Zulueta transferred to the newspaper La Independencia, where he joined its editor General Antonio Luna. M. Kaun was his pseudonym. Other fellow writers and friends were Mariano V. del Rosario, Cecilio Apostol, Fernando Ma. Guerrero, Felipe R. Calderon, and Jose C. Abreu. Its other illustrious contributors were Apolinario Mabini, Rosa Sevilla Alvero and Jose Palma. He married Paz Natividad, the sister of the revolutionary General Mamerto Natividad. Library Pioneer He became a professor at the Liceo de Manila and a librarian at the Centro Artistico and Club International. In 1903 he began a new career as a curator for the Exposition Board, charged with collecting art and literary artifacts for the Philippine Exhibit at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. This was followed by his appointment as collecting librarian for the Insular Government under William H. Taft under Philippine Commission Act 688 on 17 march 1903. Leaving on 29 April he visited Marseilles, Barcelona, Madrid, London and Paris in search of rare Philippine books and documents that would form the core collection of the planned Philippine Library. He came into contact with the great Filipiniana collector and bibliographer Wenceslao Retana, whom he later gifted with Jose Rizal's original diary from 1 January to November 1884. In return Retana gave him a bibliographical listing of Filipiniana in the Spanish national archives. Retana would later eulogize him upon his early death. Zulueta also advised the American scholar James Alexander Robertson as to reliable sources. Robertson was then at work in Seville as the co-editor of The Philippine Islands, 1493 to 1898, together with Emma Helen Blair. For example, he correctly urged Robertson to use the C. Amoretti transcription of Pigafetta’s account of Magellan’s voyage, which was published in Milan in 1800. In Spain he visited the Biblioteca Nacional and the Museo Biblioteca de Ultramar, which had in its core collection the artifacts of the 1887 Exposicion General de Filipinas. Among his many discoveries of rare manuscripts were Governor General Fernando Valdes Tamon’s Plazas, Fuerzas Castillos y, Presidios en Filipinas, published in 1839 and Fray Ignatio Francisco Alzina’s History of the Bisayan Islands, published in 1668. Back in Manila in mid-1904, Zulueta submitted his collection report titled Fuentes Historicos de Filipinas. He championed the publication of a "general compilation of historical sources" as an aid to writing the country’s history", urging not only more work in foreign archives but the collection of local materials, including literary works. Furthermore Zulueta, a true pioneer in Philippine historiography, advocated the indigenous element (elemento indígena) in Philippine history and favored its rewriting to give primacy to native agency. His life was cut short by an illness, dying in Manila on 10 September 1904, at the young age of 28, though his ideas were further championed by his friend Felipe R. Calderon and further supported by Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, Pedro Paterno, and Epifanio de los Santos. His fabled collection was purchased by the Philippine government from his widow Doña Paz Natividad by Manuel Artigas, director of the Filipiniana section of the Philippine Library. Together it would form the richest assembly of Philippine books in existence, together with the Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, Tabacalera, James LeRoy and Manuel Artigas collections. The Filipiniana section was tragically destroyed in the Battle of Manila in 1945, as it was housed in the basement of the Legislative Building, which was blown to bits. "Sa napakabatang gulang na dalawampu at walo, yumao sa Maynila noong ika-9 ng Setyembre 1904 si G. Clemente Jose Zulueta, isang katutubo sa bansang iyon. Nagtungo siya sa Europa noong 1903 para saliksikin ang mga archivo at aklatan. At sa Madrid, Sevilla at Londres nagsagawa siya ng isang kampanyang kapuri-puri. Nang bumalik siya sa Maynila, noong Hunyo ng 1904, my dala-dala siyang napakaraming mahalagang mga datos, libro at dokumento ng mahahalagang pag-aaral na may uring pangkasaysayan at pangbibliograpiya. Nabasa namin ang ilang mga papeles niya at hinangaan namin sa batang Zulueta ang katangian ng isang bibliograpong may hindi pangkaraniwang katangian. Binigla siya ng kamatayan, dalwang buwan pagkablik niya sa kanyang inang bayan. Nawalan ng isang napakahalagang elemnto ang Kasaysayan at ang Bibliograpiya." In His Own Words - "Sang-ayon sa mga namamayaning kuru-kuro tungkol sa paksa ng kasaysayan, malaon na ang panahon na naroon sa kanyang luklukan ang mga salik hinggil sa katutubo. Laging ipinalalagay na hindi lamang siya ang nagpasimula ng maraming malalaking bagay kundi, siya rin ang nagsagawa noon." - Manuel, E. Arsenio. 1970. “Zulueta, Clemente Jose.” In Dictionary of Philippine Biography. Quezon City: Filipiniana Publications 2. - _______________. 1995. “On the Need for Compiling Documentary Sources for Historical Writing and Study.” In Dictionary of Philippine Biography. Quezon City: Filipiniana Publications. 4: 99-103. Mojares, Resil. 2006. Brains of the Nation: Pedro Paterno, T.H. Pardo de Tavera, Isabelo de los Reyes and the Production of Modern Knowledge. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press. - Ponce, Mariano and Jaime C. De Veyra. "Sino si Peping Zulueta?" in "Efemerides Filipinas". Translated into Filipino by Edgardo Tiamson, Teresita Alcantara and Erwin Bautista. Office of Research Coordination, University of the Philippines, Quezon City: 1998, pp. 600-607. External Links - http://tl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epifanio_de_los_Santos Zulueta together with Epifanio de los Santos, accessed 3 October 2008]

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Walking the Tight Rope: The brain gathers information about our environment through many sensory systems. It then uses this information to direct the bodyís movement, allowing us to interact with our surroundings. In microgravity, important information ó the stimulus of gravity ó is no longer available to many of the bodyís sensory organs, located in the inner ear, muscles, joints, and skin. Fortunately, the brain is adaptive and can adjust its processing of the remaining information to optimize control of body orientation and movement in space. After return to Earth, however, the brainís processing pathways no longer expect sensory information caused by gravity. One notable consequence of this is that balance control is temporarily disrupted in returning astronauts, as the brain readapts to gravity-related stimuli. Balance Control After Space Flight The general objective of the Postflight Recovery of Postural Equilibrium study is to quantify the effects that inflight neurological changes have on postflight balance control. This study will characterize the normal sensory and muscular response to space flight, and will define how this response affects balance control after return to Earth. The specific objectives are: (1) to identify how the role of sensory information in balance control changes during postflight recovery; (2) to define how much balance control is degraded immediately after space flight and how long is required for full recovery of preflight function; and (3) to examine the effects of demographic factors like age, gender, and mission duration on these responses. This investigation has previously involved 49 crewmembers, including nine from long duration stays aboard the Russian space station Mir. On STS-95, data collected from four crewmembers will be compared to data from previous space flight subjects. The presence of a septuagenarian crewmember provides a unique opportunity to examine the effects of age on postflight balance control. A parallel study of Earth-bound subjects is also being planned with the National Institute of Agingís (NIA) Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging (BLSA) to characterize the normal degradation in balance control that occurs with age. Results from this ground-based study will aid investigators in interpreting how much Senator Glennís results may represent those of others in his age group. |Astronauts learn to adjust to the microgravity environment aboard the Space Shuttle. Balance control performance will be tested before and after the STS-95 flight using a computerized dynamic posturography system widely employed for evaluation of balance disorders. This system has been modified to provide complete sensory and muscular data about balance control. It consists of a platform and a visual surround scene, both of which are motorized to simulate motion. Subjects complete multiple tests before and after the flight to establish stable individual performance levels and the time required to recover them. Two balance control performance tests will be administered. The first test will examine the subjectís responses to sudden, balance-threatening movements of the platform. Computer-controlled platform motors will produce sequences of rotations (toes-up and toes-down) and translations (backward and forward) to perturb the subjectís balance. The second test will examine the subjectís ability to stay upright when visual and/or ankle muscle/joint information is modified mechanically. These NASA studies of postflight balance disorders are aimed at characterizing and eventually minimizing the safety and health risks to astronauts during and after space flight. Information obtained from this investigation is being used to design techniques for restoring lost movement and balance control capabilities in astronauts. ||A specially modified, computerized dynamic posturography system measures how balance control is changed after astronauts return to Earth from space flight. A relatively large number of individuals on Earth suffer from prolonged, frequently life-long , clinical balance disorders. Disorders like Meniereís disease and traumatic injuries to the inner ear can severely influence quality of life. Currently, human space flight is the only means available for studying the response to sustained loss and recovery of inner ear information. The National Institute of Healthís National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders (NIDCD) is using the recovery information from this study to better understand the recovery process of inner ear patients and to improve rehabilitation treatments on Earth. Falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths in the elderly and these numbers continue to grow. By the year 2000, falls are estimated to result in 30,000 hip fractures in the United States. This investigation is of particular interest to the NIA because inner ear disorders are thought to account for 10Ė50% of falls among senior citizens. Study data from previous astronaut subjects have already been compared with similar data from elderly subjects to demonstrate similarities between these balance disorders. The NIA plans to examine these similarities in greater detail with a ground-based study that parallels the STS-95 study. Points of Contact: William H. Paloski, Ph.D. Johnson Space Center F. Owen Black, M.D., F.A.C.S. National Institute of Health/NIDCD Legacy Holladay Park Clinical Research and E. Jeffrey Metter, M.D. National Institute of Health/NIA Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging Gerontology Research Center Curator: Kim Dismukes Responsible NASA Official: John Ira Petty Updated: 25 October 1998 you should know about Web Accessibility and Policy Notices

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The Twin Bubbles of 1720; France and England gulled by professionals Almost 100 years after the time of Tulipomania came the twin bubbles of 1720. The Mississippi Bubble was centred on Paris and the South Sea Bubble occurred largely in London. Despite their exotic names, these were crises of capitalism’s heartland. Tulipomania spread to some extent from Amsterdam to nearby cities. The contagion in 1720 spread far more decisively from Paris to London, and to other European cities, making these twin events a clear precursor to the age of globalisation.

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A study by scientists at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), drawing on historical and new satellite images, has collected the first hard evidence detailing the true extent of damage to this important habitat for people, wildlife and fisheries. The news, which highlights the mounting pressure facing freshwater areas across the globe, was unveiled today as the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), gave UNEP a unique set of satellite images taken in 1992, the year of the Earth Summit, and the year 2000. The images, well over half of which have never been seen or analyzed before by the scientific community, are valued at US dollars 20 million. Klaus Toepfer, the Executive Director of UNEP, said:" These findings on Mesopotamia have only been made possible by 'eyes-in-the sky'. Iraq's difficult situation in the past decade has limited access to and hindered monitoring of events in the area. As a result, this major ecological disaster, comparable to the drying up of the Aral Sea and the deforestation of large tracts of Amazonia, has gone virtually unreported until now". UNEP is urging Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey which are those countries responsible for the marshlands and the Tigris and Euphrates, rivers that feed them, to agree to a recovery plan (see Notes To Editors). A scientific assessment of the Tigris-Euphrates river basin is being carried out by UNEP in collaboration with regional organizations to help demonstrate how improvements can be made. Commenting on the gift of an estimated 16,000 images by the United States Government and NASA to UNEP, he added:" With these new data sets we hope to learn much more about the true level of environmental damage happening on Earth, from the real extent of illegal logging in South East Asia and urban sprawl in the United States, to habitat loss in sub-Saharan Africa". Tim Foresman, Director of UNEP's Division of Early Warning and Assessment, said: "One of UNEP's key roles is to monitor the state of the world's environment. For this we need hard facts. Satellites, some of which have been in orbit for decades, have documented the rapid shrinking of Lake Chad and the Aral Sea, the growth of the Sahara, the deadly effects of oil spills and other major environmental changes. And today they are helping us in disclosing the true extent of damage to the Mesopotamian wetlands. Their importance cannot be underestimated". He adds that the data will also be used to pin point areas of the globe at particular risk from the effects of natural disasters and speed up UNEP's push to create an index of vulnerable locations. "The way we misuse land plays a significant role in aggravating the impact of cyclones, hurricanes, earthquakes, storms and other natural disasters on peoples' lives, livelihoods and property. Deforestation increases the risks of landslides, and badly planned development, from the shanty towns of the world's growing cities to sprawling settlements along the coasts, and exacerbates the harm caused by severe floods and storms, " said Mr. Foresman. "More precise information on the extent of environmental degradation, urban sprawl and the effects of phenomena such as El Niño and global warming should allow us to better predict areas of the world at greatest risk from natural calamities. In turn this should help local, regional and national governments to act before it is too late," he said. The decision to give UNEP the first complete set of detailed, up-to-date, satellite images was announced by the United States government last year. Over the past six months NASA, working with other US agencies, has been assembling the images taken by its Landsat craft including the Landsat-7 satellite. For more information please contact: Nick Nuttall, Media Officer UNEP on Tel: 254 2 623084, fax: 254 2 623927, e-mail: [email protected] (in Washington telephone: Regional Office for North America on 1 202 785 0465 or e-mail [email protected]) or Tore Brevik, Spokesman/Director, Communications and Public Information in Nairobi on Tel: 254 2 623292, e-mail: [email protected] For the PDF format http://www.grid.unep.ch/activities/sustainable/tigris/marshlands/marshlands.pdf For the html version http://www.grid.unep.ch/activities/sustainable/tigris/marshlands/ UNEP News Release 01/52 Maps - click on the button to get big size map Satellite image 1973 Satellite image 2000 Notes To Editors Mesopotamia and The Fertile Crescent. There have been intermittent warnings in the past few years that the Mesopotamian marshlands have been disappearing. The UNEP study graphically documents, with satellite images, the scale and speed of their disappearance. Comprising an integral part of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, the marshlands are located at the confluence of these two rivers in southern Iraq, partially extending into Iran. The study, due to be published later in the year, shows that these vast wetlands which once covered between 15,000 and 20,000 square kilometres now cover less than 1,500 to 2,000 square kilometres. The cause of the decline is mainly as a result of damming upstream as well as drainage schemes since the 1970s. The Tigris and the Euphrates are amongst the most intensively dammed rivers in the world. In the past 40 years, the two rivers have been fragmented by the construction of more than 30 large dams, whose storage capacity is several times greater than the volume of both rivers. By turning off the tap, dams have substantially reduced the water available for downstream ecosystems and eliminated the floodwaters that nourished the marshlands. The immediate cause of loss of marshland is, however, the massive drainage works implemented in southern Iraq in the early 1990s following the second Gulf War. The satellite images provide hard evidence that the once extensive marshlands have dried-up and become desert with vast stretches salt encrusted. A small northern fringe of the Al-Hawizeh marsh, straddling the Iran-Iran border (known as the Hawr Al-Azim in Iran), is all that remains. Even this last vestige is rapidly disappearing as its water supply is impounded by new dams and diverted for irrigation. The collapse of Marsh Arab society, a distinct indigenous people that has inhabited the marshlands for millennia, adds a human dimension to this environmental disaster. Around one fifth of the estimated half-million Marsh Arabs are now living in refugee camps in Iran with the rest internally displaced within Iraq. A 5,000 year-old culture, heir to the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians, is seriously in jeopardy of coming to an abrupt end. The impact of marshland loss on the area's teeming wildlife is probably equally devastating with significant implications for global biodiversity, including migratory birds, from Siberia to southern Africa. The marshlands disappearance has placed an estimated forty species of waterfowl at risk. Mammals, such as the smooth coated otter, that exist only in the marshlands are now considered extinct. Coastal fisheries in the northern Gulf, which depend on the marshlands for spawning grounds, have also experienced a sharp decline. Despite this tragic human and environmental catastrophe, UNEP believes that there is hope. Bold measures need to be taken by the custodians of this natural treasure for the conservation of the remaining transboundary Al-Hawizeh/Al-Azim marshes before it is too late. UNEP also calls on Iraq and other riparian countries, and international donors to give the Mesopotamian marshlands a new lease on life by re-evaluating the role of water engineering works and modifying them where necessary, with a long-term view to reinstating managed flooding. Finally, UNEP proposes an integrated river basin approach involving the three main riparian countries (Iraq, Syria and Turkey as well as Iran for the Tigris tributaries) to manage decreasing water resources sustainably and reverse negative environmental trends in the region. To continue in present ways would spell the wholesale ecological demise of lower Mesopotamia, and ultimately undermine the foundation of life for future generations. UNEP therefore urges riparian countries to re-initiate dialogue and adopt an international agreement on sharing the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates for the benefit of people and nature, and to ensure an adequate water supply to the marshes. To help stimulate and better advise this process, UNEP in collaboration with regional organizations is carrying out a comprehensive scientific assessment of the Tigris-Euphrates basin, which should provide the scientific underpinnings for the improved management of the twin rivers. Other Uses Envisaged by UNEP For the New NASA Data Sets. Prioritizing Urgent Environmental Work Tim Foresman, Director of UNEP's Division of Early Warning and Assessment, says the gift of US dollars 20 million of images taken in 1992 and 2000 will help identify priority areas around the globe where limited conservation funds urgently need to be spent. The images, which will show how the planet's land and coastlines have changed over the past decade, will mean that governments can no longer be "economical with the truth," he says. Impacts of industrial, agricultural and development policies on meadows, mountain ranges, mangrove swamps, national parks and World Heritage Sites will become public knowledge available to scientists, pressure groups and individuals for the first time. Improving The Role Of Environmental Agreements The imagery will also help in tracking the effectiveness of over 500 international and regional environmental conventions, treaties and agreements covering everything from the protection of wetlands to those aimed at helping migratory birds. Mr. Foresman says: "At the moment, assessing the extent of illegal logging or the drainage of wetlands in many countries is based to a great extent on conjecture, goodwill and the differing abilities of governments to gather the information in the field. For developing countries with limited resources, equipment and staff the task can be especially difficult". "Once these images, giving us wall to wall coverage of Earth, are studied we will be able to say for the first time, with a great deal of precision, if the government figures are sound. We will have a God's eye view," he says. Monitoring The Effectiveness of UN Agency Work The satellite information will also act as a kind of space-based, eco-auditor. Organizations, governments and green groups will be able to evaluate with scientific certainty the environmental impacts of programmes carried out by bodies such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and UN agencies. "We should be able to properly assess the damage of a development programme and the success or failure of an environmental project such as a tree planting scheme,' says Mr. Foresman. Empowering Grassroots Activisim Meanwhile the images should transform the way local government, green groups and protestors operate. People will be able to download images relating to their local environment. These should help them better assess whether projects such as new road, housing or port development have been environmentally damaging to habitats and wildlife. Mr. Foresman says:" We are planning to link the images with a registry of local experts, able to interpret the satellite data. This will give interested parties, who may be considering filing a lawsuit or an objection, the accurate and relevant information they need. We hope to have this part of the service up and running in two to three years time". UNEP plans to make the satellite information available through the UNEP/GRID Sioux Falls centre which is co-located at the United States Geological Survey's Data Center in Sioux Falls. The imagery will also be regionally available through UNEP centres based in places such as Nairobi, Kenya; Geneva, Switzerland; Bangkok, Thailand; the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, UK and Grid Arendal in Norway. Mr. Foresman says UNEP will be working with sister UN bodies, universities, research institutes and other interested parties to analyse the Landsat images. Pin Pointing Regional Hot Spots Some of the first fruits will be from studies of more than 100 "hot spots" of environmental degradation, identified in six regional areas of the globe, where existing knowledge is sparse or incomplete. Other potential sites include the Masai Mara in Kenya, the Venice lagoon in Venice, Italy and the north west rainforests of the United States. The images will also be used in the forthcoming Millenniun Ecosystem Assessment being orchestrated by the World Resources Institute in co-operation with an international network of scientists and organizations such as UNEP. The four-year Assessment hopes to plug some of the significant gaps in knowledge on the state of the world's ecosystems from forests, mangrove swamps and coral reefs to mudflats, salt marshes and flower-rich meadows. The imagery is to be used to improve the scientific validity of UNEP's third and fourth Global Environment Outlook (GEO) reports. Additional Notes To Editors: The Landsat programme, originally named the Earth Resources Technology Satellite programme, was NASA's first step at properly studying land features from space. Seven craft have been launched, the last of which was Landsat-7. It was put into orbit from 1998 to 1999. It can "see" features down to a resolution of 30 metres. Landsat craft use sensors, able to detect light reflected from Earth, in the visible wavelengths and in the infrared. Different wavelengths or spectral frequencies indicate different features on the ground. Vegetation typically reflects more green light than red and is very reflective or bright in the infrared. Many dry soils reflect more light in the green and moderately more in the infrared Landsat data can be used for a variety of observations including detecting different crops and tree types; whether vegetation is healthy or suffering from say pests or drought; soil conditions; forest and grassland fire damage; areas of wetlands, forest and other habitats; road and rail networks; buildings and the extent of urban areas; different rock types and minerals; ice and snow cover; flood plains; sedimentation in rivers; ocean circulation; waves; fish shoals; areas of mining activity and pollution. Some Applications To Date: Landsat imagery of circulation and sedimentation patterns along coasts has been used by the State of Delaware to devise a strategy for deploying equipment to contain oil spills. Information about faults and fracture zones derived from Landsat imagery has been used in the United States and abroad to select locations for new power plants. Japan has used the images to monitor pollution in Osaka Bay. Landsat sensors, aimed at Antractica, have revealed previously unknown groups of mountains in southern Victoria Land and at the head of Lambert Glacier. When monitoring water quality in two Virginia reservoirs, Landsat revealed small lakes that were not depicted on maps. Landsat data has also been used as courtroom evidence in reaching agreement on land development, shown how air pollution can affect weather and to boost planning for control of forest fires.

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3- to 4-Year-Olds: Developmental Milestones 3- to 4-Year-Old Development: Emotional and Social Milestones continued... In addition, your 3- to 4-year-old is becoming more social. Your child may now be able to cooperate with his or her friends, take turns, and may begin to show some problem-solving skills. At this point in development, your child should be able to: - Imitate parents and friends - Show affection for familiar family and friends - Understands the idea of "mine" and "his/hers" - Show a wide range of emotions, such as being sad, angry, happy, or bored In addition, you may notice your child's imagination is in overdrive. This can be good and bad. Fantasy and pretend play becomes more interesting and involved, but your child may also start developing unrealistic fears, such as believing a monster is lurking in the closet. 3- to 4-Year-Old Development: When to Be Concerned All kids grow and develop at their own pace. Don't worry if your child has not reached all of these milestones at this time. But you should notice a gradual progression in growth and development as your child gets older. If you don't, or if your child has signs of possible developmental delay, as listed below, talk to your child's doctor. Signs of developmental delay in 3- to 4-year-old children include: - Inability to throw a ball overhand, jump in place, or ride a tricycle - Frequent falling and difficulty walking stairs - Inability to hold a crayon between his or her thumb and fingers; has trouble scribbling and cannot copy a circle. - Unable to use a sentence with more than three words and uses "me" and "you" inappropriately - Persistent drooling and trouble speaking - Cannot stack four blocks and has trouble handling small objects - Continues to experience extreme separation anxiety - Lacks interest in interactive games and doesn't engage in fantasy play - Does not play with other children and doesn't respond to non-family members - Has trouble with self-control when angry or upset - Does not understand simple commands - Avoids making eye contact - Resists getting dressed, sleeping, and going to the bathroom Also, if you notice your child resisting or struggling with doing things that he or she was once able to do, tell your child's doctor. This can be a sign of a developmental disorder. If your child does have developmental delay, there are many treatments available to help your child.

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101: Your First Lesson in the Economics and Politics of Petrol By: Mike Magda © 2004 PickupTruck.com Gasoline prices hit an all-time high in this Spring, and forecasters are predicting more records for the summer. The American Automobile Association (AAA) says gas demand could be up 1.6 percent for the year. Given the already strained refining capacity in America and foreign countries—especially in the volatile Middle East—tightening their production output, pickup truck owners will not get a break at the pump. High gas prices usually lead to a lot grumbling and complaining, but very few motorists will change their driving habits or switch to a more fuel-efficient vehicle. One recent survey noted that gas would have to stay at $2.75 a gallon for six months before just five percent of the survey’s respondents would purchase a different vehicle. Economists say high gas prices don’t shock the pocketbook as hard compared to price spikes when the first oil embargo hit this country in the early ‘70s. Today, gasoline prices are a much lower percentage of our disposable income. When you factor in inflation, gas prices are quite reasonable. And when you compare the cost of American gasoline to petrol in Europe, we have quite a bargain. But gas prices do play an important role in the psychology of the average American, and that’s why high prices can shake consumer confidence. So if gas prices do go up dramatically this summer, expect the topic to be heavily debated during the presidential campaign. owners don’t have a choice: They need their heavy frame and gas-slurping V8 for work or favorite recreation. But few motorists really know what goes into their tank. There are numerous myths and misconceptions about gasoline. So PUTC has compiled and answered some of the more frequently asked questions about gasoline: is gasoline and how is it made? Gasoline is a liquid mixture of volatile hydrocarbons. Petroleum crude pumped from below ground can be refined or distilled into a variety of hydrocarbon products, ranging from lightweight methane gas to heavyweight asphalt. Gasoline is produced by combining middleweight hydrocarbon products, and then mixing in chemical additives to achieve desired performance levels. Diesel fuel is made from slightly heavier hydrocarbons. gasoline really come from dead dinosaurs? A likely theory on the origin of petroleum focuses on organic matter—mostly vegetable but some animal—decomposing under heavy pressure and the absence of air over millions of years. The octane number or grade measures a gasoline’s ability to resist detonation and/or spontaneous ignition. The higher octane number, the more resistance to detonation. Also known as pinging or knocking, detonation occurs when there is abnormally high pressure in the cylinder, forcing the piston backward against its will on the compression stroke. A pre-ignition condition has a slightly different cause and more destructive results, but the knocking noise is the same. Both can lead to significant internal engine damage. what does the octane number mean? The original reference point came in the early 1900s when 87 octane gasoline was a blend of 87 percent iso-octane and 13 percent heptane. Gasoline formulas and octane rating methods have changed dramatically since. Now called the Anti-Knock Index (AKI), this is the octane number posted on the pump by law. Generally, three grades are available: 87 (sometimes called regular), 89 and 91 (sometimes called premium). The numbers themselves mean little to the average consumer, but every driver needs to be aware that all vehicles require an adequate grade of gasoline. is the proper grade of gasoline for my vehicle? Check the owner’s manual first and be sure that the recommendation is listed as an Anti-Knock Index number. Some foreign car manuals may indicate a Research Octane Number (RON), which is higher than the AKI. As a quick rule of thumb, you can subtract 5 from the RON to get the AKI. The recommended grade should be adequate for normal driving, but if you hear a pinging or knocking noise, step up a grade immediately. You should also purchase a higher grade when carrying or towing heavy loads, driving to a hotter climate or traversing mountain ranges as a precaution to knocking. I mix different octane grades in my tank? Sure. In fact, some gas stations have just two underground tanks and mix the middle grade in the pump before it goes into your truck. Whether mixing your own petrol cocktail is economical depends on the prices. The cost of 89 is usually halfway between 87 and 91 anyway. my truck run better if I step up to 91 octane? Not necessarily. Quality fuel will not heal a sick engine or improve fuel economy. A truck manufacturer may recommend high-octane fuel because the engine is designed to run on premium. If the manufacturer recommends 87 octane, then use it until you detect knocking. Giving your truck premium fuel is not the same as eating health food in place of sugar snacks. all gasoline brands alike? No. The actual composition produced at different refineries in the country can vary, even within the same brand. Formulas are different for each climate and season. Additives, such as detergents, are different between brands. Laws are different for each area of the country regarding oxygenated gas to help improve emissions. Even the way wholesalers, transporters and gas station operators store and manage their stock can make a difference. It is possible to get a bad batch of gasoline. When you find a brand and station that suits your needs, stick with it. do gas prices change so much? Simple economics of supply, demand and competition. Gasoline prices not only depend on the cost of foreign crude oil, taxes, refinery costs and capacities, inventories and supplier/dealer profit margins, but intangibles such as world events, financial markets and environmental regulations. Local gas stations are independent operators and set their own prices based on local competition, real estate rents and labor costs. Some speculation is necessary because the current pricing has to pay for the next delivery does gasoline cost so much? Compared to other consumer liquids, gasoline is a bargain. Bottled water sells for about $4 a gallon, mouthwash is around $18 a gallon and cold medicine is close to $180 a gallon. Adjusted for inflation, the real cost of gasoline is less than what it was 30 years ago. are ethanol and methanol? Ethanol is an alcohol fuel derived from corn and methanol is derived from natural gas. Both burn cleaner than gasoline but aren’t cost effective for general consumers. Mixed with 15 percent gasoline, ethanol (called E85) and methanol (M85) can be used in a Flexible Fuel Vehicle (FFV). is a Flexible Fuel Vehicle? The engine in a FFV automatically adjusts between gasoline and other fuels such as E85 and M85. Major vehicle manufacturers have FFVs for sale, sometimes at a lower cost than gas-only models because of tax breaks. Alternative fuels costs more, are harder to find and may offer lower fuel economy. The upside is a cleaner burning vehicle, and sometimes there are tax advantages and HOV-lane privileges. do diesel engines get better fuel mileage? The diesel cycle is inherently more efficient than the “Otto” cycle used in gasoline engines. Diesel fuel is also heavier and contains more energy. But diesel engines do not accelerate well, are extremely noisy and pollute more. Those conditions are quickly changing as government regulations will soon force diesel engines to run almost as clean as current grandfather says he put mothballs in his gas tank to make his car run faster. Does that trick still work? No. It’s true that gasoline formulas in the ‘40s retained some oxygen when mothballs were dissolved in the tank. This additional oxygen might have compensated for a rich fuel condition in the engine and improved performance. Today’s fuels and engine-management systems are so sophisticated that mothballs will not make any difference, except possibly to clog up filters. I use over-the-counter additives? Gasoline already has a high dose of chemical additives to keep fuel injectors and valves clean under most driving conditions. If an engine has been diagnosed with dirty injectors, then an over-the-counter additive may help. As mentioned before, gasoline brands are different, and certain driving conditions may lead to injector deposits that are not cleaned by the additives in the driver’s regular gasoline choice. long can I store gasoline? About six months if the gas is stored in a sealed metal container and placed in a cool location. A gasoline has deteriorated if it has a fowl smell, is cloudy or shows signs of separation. does the nozzle at the end of the hose on the gas pump know when the tank A small hole is located near the tip of the nozzle, and from there a small tube leads back to a check valve in the handle. When fuel reaches the tube, the check valve releases the handle.

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Lyndon Baines Johnson was the 36th President of the United States (b. 1908, d. 1973). The tall, canny Texan who became President upon the death of John F. Kennedy, was a master politician who had once ruled Congress as a Senate majority leader. His election by a record total 43 million votes in 1964 provided a mandate to enact an ambitious series of domestic programs collectively called "The Great Society." Artifacts include: golf clubs and shoes, a pair of sunglasses and First Lady Ladybird Johnson's bowling ball and shoes.

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Why Not . . . ? here are several portable acoustic musical instruments that many people associate with the sound of old-time music, and that they suppose should be included in an instrumental ensemble that purports to evoke the sound of the music the men of the Corps of Discovery enjoyed on the trail. In the interest of factual relevance, while knowing we can never perfectly recapture either the sound or the spirit of their music-making, here are some answers to some obvious questions. Because the banjo did not belong to American popular culture during the era of Lewis and Clark. Writing of slave culture in his book, Notes on Virginia, Thomas Jefferson stated, "The instrument proper to them is the Banjar, which they brought hither from Africa."1 The banjo evolved out of a West African long-necked string instrument, its body made of half a hollow gourd covered with animal hide. The banjo as we know it today became part of American popular culture about 1830, with the emergence of the minstrel show, a popular entertainment form consisting of parodies of Black culture, manners and music. There is no evidence in the journals or elsewhere that York, Captain Clark's personal slave, could play the "banjar."...a guitar? Because the guitar did not hold the same position in 18th-century American popular culture as it came to occupy after 1850. One reason was that the violin ruled in both the vernacular and cultivated musical traditions, and guilds ("unions").The guitar originated in Spain during the early 16th century.2 Around 1750 the five-course (five-string) form underwent a number of structural changes, including an increase to six courses. The first famous player of the new six-string guitar was the Spanish composer, Fernando Sor (1778-1839).3 In early eighteenth-century France, the guitar was mainly popular among the nobility, and is frequently seen in that context in the paintings of Antoine Watteau (1684-1721). In America, the guitar was the woman's instrument of choice, primarily in the cultivated tradition. There were several guitars In Thomas Jefferson's household at Monticello, belonging to his wife, daughter Polly, and granddaughters.4 Eighteenth-century guitars were considerably smaller than modern guitars--sometimes but one-fourth as large--and used strings made of gut. Their sound was consequently much softer, sweeter, and less resonant than nineteenth and twentieth century instruments. Because the harmonica was not invented until the mid-1820s, in Vienna, Austria. It was modeled after a Chinese wind instrument made of wood, with vibrating reeds, called a sheng, which was imported to Europe in 1777. At first a novelty, and a children's toy, the harmonica's appeal spread slowly until it reached a peak of popularity in the mid-20th century, especially in blues and pop music. From the 1960s on, despite the musicians' union's refusal to acknowledge it as a musical instrument, it gained a permanent place in late 20th century American popular culture through the performances of Bob Dylan. Folk and blues musicians and fans often speak of a harmonica as a "harp," thus confusing it, in the minds of nearly everyone else, with a jews harp. ...a bass viol? Although string bass instruments were less standardized then than now, and most types were smaller than today's bass viol, any one of them still would have been too large to be conveniently carried on the expedition. In the cultivated ("classical") tradition during the 17th and 18th centuries, a bass instrument playing the bass notes, and a keyboard instrument to play the harmonies, were obligatory for most instrumental ensembles. The two together were called the basso continuo, or "continuous bass." The bass instrument was normally bowed, not plucked or "slapped" as in today's popular styles. In the vernacular ("popular") tradition, such as dance music, pictorial evidence suggests that the basso continuo was seldom present. In Protestant church music, however, a prominent bass line was considered highly desirable. The American composer William Billings (1746-1800), whose hymns, anthems and psalms some of the men of the Corps might have known, preferred that half the singers in a choir be basses. The bass viol, known also today as a bass fiddle, bull fiddle, string bass, double bass, or just bass,5 is nominally a member of the violin family, but in shape it retains some of the features of the pre-Renaissance viol family, such as the sloping upper body. --Joseph Mussulman; rev. 5/03 1. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, ed. William Peden (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1954), 288n. Jefferson also averred that the banjar was the antecedent of the guitar, but that is false; they originated in two different, apparently isolated cultures. 2. The word guitar is the Spanish cognate for the name of the ancient Greek plucked or strummed string instrument, the lyre-shaped cithara (pronounced either SITH-a-ra or KITH-a-ra). 3. Sor, Lewis, and Clark were contemporaries, though it seems unlikely that they ever heard of one another. 4. Helen Cripe, Thomas Jefferson and Music (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1974), 47-48. 5. Rhymes with base. The name is derived from the Italian word basso (pronounced BAH-so), meaning bottom.

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The following HTML text is provided to enhance online readability. Many aspects of typography translate only awkwardly to HTML. Please use the page image as the authoritative form to ensure accuracy. Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce et al., 2004). Self-management extends beyond basic adherence to treatment guidelines; it includes such things as self-monitoring and the application of appropriate cognitive, behavioral, and emotional responses. The evolution of the patient’s role includes an increasing emphasis on collaborative care. Health care professionals and patients are familiar with the traditional provider-patient treatment model, in which providers assume responsibility for all decisions (Funnell, 2000). However, the role of the patient has undergone a redefinition in recent years and their role is now considerably more expansive. This has altered the environment that older adults will encounter as they enter their retirement years and, in most cases, begin to utilize the health care system more extensively. In an ideal model of collaborative care, patients first work with their providers to set realistic goals; this requires skills in collaborative goal setting and in the development of an action plan (Bodenheimer et al., 2002; Hibbard, 2003). Then, once the goals and the plan are set, patients are responsible for executing the daily routines that are necessary to effectively treat or ameliorate their conditions; this part of the process is termed self-management. Self-management interventions are designed to help patients understand how their behaviors affect their illness and their lives and to use that information to shape their decision making. They address real-world challenges, such as those encountered by patients who are both diabetic and asthmatic and have trouble maintaining their exercise regimens. Only a small percentage of the educational content of self-management programs concerns disease-specific information. The majority of the content deals with generic lifestyle issues, such as exercise, nutrition, and coping skills. This self-management education supplements—but does not replace—traditional patient education, and it emphasizes the acquisition of skills rather than just knowledge (Wagner, 2000). Studies show that teaching patients these types of self-management skills is more effective than providing information alone (Bodenheimer et al., 2002). Self-management is predicated on the assumption that patients have both the ability to understand basic health care information (“health literacy”) and the ability to use that knowledge to help manage their own care (“patient activation”)1 (Greene et al., 2005). Individuals with low health-literacy rates report having poorer health status and using fewer preventive services (Williams et al., 1998). In general, older adults tend to have lower health literacy and lower activation levels than younger adults These concepts would not apply to older adults with significant cognitive impairments.

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JUST think how eerie it would be, yet also how peaceful - people all around having conversations on their mobile phones, but without uttering a sound. Thanks to some military research, this social nirvana just might come true. DARPA, the US Department of Defense's research agency, is working on a project known as Advanced Speech Encoding, aimed at replacing microphones with non-acoustic sensors that detect speech via the speaker's nerve and muscle activity, rather than sound itself. One system, being developed for DARPA by Rick Brown of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, relies on a sensor worn around the neck called a tuned electromagnetic resonator collar (TERC). Using sensing techniques developed for magnetic resonance imaging, the collar detects changes in capacitance caused by movement of the vocal cords, and is designed to allow speech to be heard above loud background noise. DARPA is also pursuing an approach first developed at ... To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.

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Nature's fury reached new extremes in the U.S. during the spring of 2011, as a punishing flooding and rainfall brought the greatest flood in recorded history to the Lower Mississippi River, an astonishingly deadly tornado season, the worst drought in Texas history, and the worst fire season in recorded history. There's never been a spring this extreme for combined wet and dry extremes in the U.S. since record keeping began over a century ago as shown by statistics released last week by the National Climatic Data Center. One other results is the Gulf of Mexico’s hypoxic zone is predicted to be larger than average this year, due to extreme flooding of the Mississippi River this spring, according to an annual forecast by a team of NOAA-supported scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Louisiana State University and the University of Michigan. The forecast is based on Mississippi River nutrient inputs compiled annually by the U.S. Geological Survey. Scientists are predicting the area could measure between 8,500 and 9,421 square miles. The largest hypoxic zone measured to date occurred in 2002 and encompassed more than 8,400 square miles. The average hypoxia impacted area over the past five years is approximately 6,000 square miles, much larger than the 1,900 square miles which is the target goal set by the Gulf of Mexico/Mississippi River Watershed Nutrient Task Force. Hypoxia is caused by excessive nutrient pollution, often from human activities such as agriculture that results in too little oxygen to support most marine life in bottom and near-bottom water. The hypoxic zone off the coast of Louisiana and Texas forms each summer and threatens valuable commercial and recreational Gulf fisheries. In 2009, the dockside value of commercial fisheries in the Gulf was $629 million. Nearly three million recreational fishers further contributed more than $1 billion to the Gulf economy taking 22 million fishing trips. "This ecological forecast is a good example of NOAA applied science," said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. "While there is some uncertainty regarding the size, position and timing of this year’s hypoxic zone in the Gulf, the forecast models are in overall agreement that hypoxia will be larger than we have typically seen in recent years." During May 2011 stream-flow rates in the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers were nearly twice that of normal conditions. This significantly increased the amount of nitrogen transported by the rivers into the Gulf. According to USGS estimates, 164,000 metric tons of nitrogen (in the form of nitrite plus nitrate) were transported by the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers to the northern Gulf. The amount of nitrogen transported to the Gulf in May 2011 was 35 percent higher than average May nitrogen loads estimated in the last 32 years. "The USGS monitoring network and modeling activities for water quantity and quality helps us connect the dots to see how increased nutrient run-off in the Mississippi watershed during a historic spring flood event impacts the health of the ocean many hundreds of miles away," said Marcia McNutt, Ph.D., USGS director. The vast flooding was caused probably by La Niña.During a La Niña episode in the Eastern Pacific, when the equatorial waters cool to several degrees below average, abnormally dry winter weather usually occurs in the southern U.S., and abnormally wet weather in the Midwest. This occurs because La Niña alters the path of the jet stream, making the predominant storm track in winter traverse the Midwest and avoid the South. Cold, Canadian air stays north of the jet stream, and warm subtropical air lies to the south of the jet, bringing drought to the southern tier of states. La Niña's influence on the jet stream and U.S. weather typically fades in springtime, with precipitation patterns returning closer to normal. However, in 2011, the La Niña influence on U.S. weather stayed strong throughout spring. The jet stream remained farther south than usual over the Pacific Northwest and Midwest, and blew more strongly, with wind speeds more typical of winter than spring. The positioning of the jet stream brought a much colder than average spring to the Pacific Northwest, with Washington and Oregon recording top-five coldest springs. Spring was not as cold in the Midwest, because a series of strong storms moved along the jet stream and pulled up warm, moist Gulf of Mexico air, which mixed with the cold air spilling south from Canada. The air flowing north from the Gulf of Mexico was much warmer than usual, because weaker winds than average blew over the Gulf of Mexico during February and March. This reduced the amount of mixing of cold ocean waters from the depths, and allowed the surface waters to heat up. Sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico warmed to 1.8°F above average during April--the third warmest temperatures in over a century of record keeping. These unusually warm surface waters allowed much more moisture than usual to evaporate into the air, resulting in unprecedented rains over the Midwest when the warm, moist air swirled into the unusually cold air spilling southwards from Canada. For further information: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110614_deadzone.html or http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/article.html

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Apr. 17, 2008 The Earth's jet streams, the high-altitude bands of fast winds that strongly influence the paths of storms and other weather systems, are shifting--possibly in response to global warming. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution determined that over a 23-year span from 1979 to 2001 the jet streams in both hemispheres have risen in altitude and shifted toward the poles. The jet stream in the northern hemisphere has also weakened. These changes fit the predictions of global warming models and have implications for the frequency and intensity of future storms, including hurricanes. Cristina Archer and Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology tracked changes in the average position and strength of jet streams using records compiled by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, the National Centers for Environmental Protection, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The data included outputs from weather prediction models, conventional observations from weather balloons and surface instruments, and remote observations from satellites. Jet streams twist and turn in a wide swath that changes from day to day. The poleward shift in their average location discovered by the researchers is small, about 19 kilometers (12 miles) per decade in the northern hemisphere, but if the trend continues the impact could be significant. "The jet streams are the driving factor for weather in half of the globe," says Archer. "So, as you can imagine, changes in the jets have the potential to affect large populations and major climate systems." Storm paths in North America are likely to shift northward as a result of the jet stream changes. Hurricanes, whose development tends to be inhibited by jet streams, may become more powerful and more frequent as the jet streams move away from the sub-tropical zones where hurricanes are born. The observed changes are consistent with numerous other signals of global warming found in previous studies, such as the widening of the tropical belt, the cooling of the stratosphere, and the poleward shift of storm tracks. This is the first study to use observation-based datasets to examine trends in all the jet stream parameters, however. "At this point we can't say for sure that this is the result of global warming, but I think it is," says Caldeira. "I would bet that the trend in the jet streams' positions will continue. It is something I'd put my money on." The results are published in the April 18 Geophysical Research Letters. Other social bookmarking and sharing tools: Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above. Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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The People’s Power Pavilion from Michael Jantzen The Peoples Power Pavilion is a large public gathering place designed to promote the development, and use of alternative energy systems in the built environment. It also functions as an architectural art attraction for the community in which it is built, and generates alternative power for that community from the wind, the sun, and from the people who visit the pavilion. Energy from the wind is generated through a large custom-made vertical axis wind turbine mounted on the top of the pavilion. Energy from the sun is generated through flexible solar cells that are adhered to the roof of the pavilion in the form of long black strips. Energy from the people who visit the pavilion is generated through eight custom-built exercise bikes located at the center of the Peoples Power Pavilion. These bikes, which are mounted to the floor, can be used by the public free of charge. People can activate the bikes with their cell phones. As they pedal the bikes, electrical energy is sent into the local power grid. Each person is given an energy credit for their own power bill, based on the amount of energy they produce. In addition, each person can access real time information (while they are exercising) about their health status from small monitors that are mounted in front of each bike. There is a large cylindrical shaped low energy consuming LED display screen and light (powered by the pavilion) hung from the center of the ceiling. The display screen can be used as a community bulletin board and/or it can display abstract light patterns generated by the ebb and flow of the energy being captured by the wind, sun, and/or by the people pedaling the bikes. There are also many places for people to sit under the roof of the pavilion and, if they wish, access the Internet. The Peoples Power Pavilion can be closed off with glass doors in the winter, or left open year round. Search 26k+ Solar Articles - Securitization and Renewable Energy - The All-Electric Fiat 500e - The Energy Supercomputer - A Breakthrough or Just Another PV Module? - Bloom Energy Sees Revenue Drop in Q1 - Catching Photosynthesis in the Act - Top 5 Ways The U.S Military is Utililizing Renewable Energy - New Solar Technology to Increase Efficiency - The Rise Of The Green Machines - Solar Savings: Tax Credits and Solar - Australian Scientists Printing Solar Cells Down Under - Why are Auto Dealers Hating on Tesla?

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