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Earth Day Photo & Essay Contest
31 July 2010 | News story
More than 800 students in grades 5-8 took part in a unique national contest to photograph our changing world. The contest was organized by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies. From CEC Specialty Group Leader Nancy Colleton of IGES.
Arlington, Va.-- More than 800 students in grades 5-8 took part in a unique national contest to photograph our changing world. The winning photos capture nature in action across the country, from the rocky California coast, to the vulnerable Louisiana wetlands, to the picturesque north shore of Long Island.
This was the fourth-annual Earth Day Photo & Essay Contest held by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES).
"We're delighted that so many young students had the chance to discover the value and fun of documenting the nature and science of our changing planet through photography," said IGES President Nancy Colleton. "The quality of the entries was truly remarkable and made it quite challenging to select the winners."
Along with their photograph of something changing in their local environment, middle schoolers submitted an essay answering the following questions:
- What is the change taking place in your photograph?
- What may be causing the change?
- Was the change expected?
- How might the change impact surrounding areas, including people?
- How might this picture look different in the future?
Entries were judged by IGES staff based on relevance to the contest theme (depiction of change in the environment), uniqueness and overall appearance of the photo, and quality of the written explanation.
Martin Serrano, a sixth-grader from Rye Brook, N.Y., earned first place with his photograph of a yellow jacket building a nest. "Our environment is constantly changing in beautiful ways. What we see in my photograph is a queen yellow jacket building a nest after having mated with one or several male wasps," reads an excerpt from Serrano's essay. "This yellow jacket will soon lay eggs and store them separately in the small cavities of the sack also shown in the photograph. This way every egg will have its own cell."
Jessica Steinort, a seventh-grader from Scarborough, Maine, won second place with her picture of a road flooded out by a torrent of water. Steinort wrote: "This road was changed by the force of nature faster than a running gazelle, as are many natural disasters. Hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, these are all this flooded-out road on a massive scale. One change, one extra inch of snow, one more droplet of water, can change the world forever. Blink and you'll miss it."
Third place went to Andrew Broffman, an eighth-grader from East Norwich, N.Y., whose colorful snapshot captured flowering tree branches framing a blue sky with clouds and birds.
The top three winners receive a digital camera, digital photo frame and digital photo keychain, respectively. The top 10 (including the top 3) winners receive their photograph in a commemorative frame.
To view the winning photos from this year and previous years, please visit:
About IGES: Located in Arlington, Va., IGES was established in 1994 and is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization supported by public and private entities. IGES is a trusted leader in Earth and space science education, communication and outreach, and in fostering national and international cooperation in observing the Earth.
Sponsor a Student Contest: Is your company or organization looking for a way to support science education? Contact IGES at _EMAIL_ sponsorship opportunities. In addition to the photo contest for grades 5-8, IGES offers a science-themed art contest for students in grades 2-4, and cash awards for grades 9-12 students demonstrating the best use of geospatial tools or data to study Earth.
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies


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|Sir Stamford Raffles|
AKA Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles
Birthplace: Caribbean Ocean
Location of death: London, England
Cause of death: unspecified
Remains: Buried, St. Mary Churchyard, Hendon, London, England
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Executive summary: Founder of Singapore
English administrator, the founder of Singapore, was born on the 5th of July 1781 on board a merchantman commanded by his father, Benjamin Raffles, when off Port Morant, Jamaica. He received his early education at a school at Hammersmith, but when only fourteen he obtained temporary work in the secretary's office of the East India Company. In 1800 he was appointed junior clerk on the establishment. In 1805 the East India Company decided to make Penang a regular presidency, and sent out a governor with a large staff, including Stamford Raffles, who was appointed assistant-secretary. On the eve of his departure he married Mrs. Fancourt (Olivia Mariamne Devenish), widow of a surgeon on the Madras Establishment; she proved herself a helpful wife and counsellor to her husband in his rapid rise to fortune during the following nine years, dying prematurely in Java in November 1814. On his way out to Penang, Raffles began the study of the Malay language, and had mastered its grammar before his arrival. He continued his studies, finding a congenial fellow-worker and kindred spirit in John Leyden, who was invalided to Penang. In August 1806 Raffles was appointed acting secretary during the illness of that official, and in 1807 he received the full appointment. In the meantime he had acted as Malay interpreter, which entailed heavy and unappreciated work in addition to his regular duties. In 1808 his health gave way, and he was ordered for a change to Malacca. This proved a turning-point in his career. The East India Company had decided to abandon Malacca, and orders had been issued to dismantle it. Raffles perfected his study of Malay during his stay at this place, and learning from the Malays, with whom he mixed freely, that the abandonment of so important a position would be a grave fault, he drew up a report explaining the great importance of Malacca, and urging in the strongest manner its retention. This report was sent by the Penang authorities not only to London, but to the governor-general, the earl of Minto. The latter was so impressed by the report that he at once gave orders for suspending the evacuation of Malacca, and in 1809 the company decided to reverse its own decision. When the whole question was calmly considered in the light of subsequent events, many years later, the verdict was that Raffles had "prevented the alienation of Malacca from the British Crown." A direct correspondence with Lord Minto was established by the mediation of Leyden, who wrote to Raffles that the governor-general would be gratified in receiving communications direct from him. In June 1810 Raffles, of his own accord, proceeded to Calcutta, where Lord Minto gave him the kindest reception. Raffles remained four months in Calcutta, and gained the complete confidence of the governor-general. He brought Lord Minto around to his opinion that the conquest of the island of Java, then in the hands of the French, was an imperative necessity. To prepare the way for the expedition, Raffles was sent to Malacca as "agent to the Governor-General with the Malay States." He did his work well and thoroughly -- even to the extent of discovering that the short and direct route to Batavia by the Caramata passage would be safe for the fleet. In August 1811 the expedition, accompanied by Lord Minto, and with Sir Samuel Auchmuty in command of the troops (11,000 in number, half English and half Indian), occupied Batavia without fighting. On the 25th of the same month a battle was fought at Cornelis, a few miles south of Batavia, and resulted in a complete English victory. On the 18th of September the French commander, General Janssens, formally capitulated at Samarang, and the conquest of the island was completed. Lord Minto's first act was to appoint Raffles lieutenant-governor of Java. From September 1811 until his departure for England in March 1816, Raffles ruled this large island with conspicuous success and the most gratifying results. To give only one fact in support of this statement, he increased the revenue eightfold at the same time that he abolished transit dues, reduced port dues to one-third and removed the fetters imposed on trade and intercourse with the Javanese by Dutch officialdom. In his own words, his administration aimed at being "not only without fear, but without reproach." He had a still greater ambition, which was in his own words, "to make Java the center of an Eastern insular Empire", and to establish the closest relations of friendship and alliance with the Japanese, whom he described as "a highly polished people, considerably advanced in science, highly inquisitive and full of penetration." It is interesting to note that when another great Englishman, Rajah Brooke, began his career in Sarawak in 1838, he announced: "I go to carry Sir Stamford Raffles's views in Java over the whole Archipelago."
The policy of Raffles was based on the assumption that Java would be retained, but for reasons of European policy it was decided that it must be restored to Holland. After his return to England in 1816 he endeavored to obtain a reconsideration of the question, but the decision taken was embodied in a treaty and beyond all possibility of modification. During his stay in England Raffles was knighted by the prince regent, published his History of Java (1817) and discussed with Sir Joseph Banks a project for the foundation in London of a zoological museum and garden on the model of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. He also married his second wife, Sophia, daughter of T. W. Hull of Co. Down; he had many children by both marriages, but the only one to live beyond childhood was a daughter, who died fifteen years after her father's death, and before she was twenty. He left, therefore, no direct descendants.
In November 1817 Sir Stamford quitted England on his return to the East, where the lieutenant-governorship of Fort Marlborough (Sumatra) had been kept in reserve for him. His administration of Sumatra, which lasted from March 1818 until December 1823, was characterized by the same breadth of view, consistency of purpose and energy in action that had made his government of Java remarkable. He had not, however, done with the Dutch, who, on their recovery of Java, endeavored to establish a complete control over the Eastern archipelago, and to oust British trade. This design Sir Stamford set himself to baffle, and although he was more frequently censured than praised by his superiors for his efforts, he had already met with no inconsiderable success in minor matters when, by a stroke of genius and unrivalled statecraft, he stopped for all time the Dutch project of a mare clausum by the acquisition and founding of Singapore on the 29th of January 1819.
In 1824 Sir Stamford returned to England, but unfortunately the differences between him and the East India Company had resulted in an accumulation of disputes which placed a severe strain on his enfeebled constitution. The memorials and statements that he had to compile for his own vindication would fill a large volume, but at last the court passed (12th of April 1826) a formal decision in his favor. It did not omit, however, to censure him for "his precipitate and unauthorized emancipation of the Company's slaves", or after his death to make his widow pay £10,000 for various items, which included the expense of his mission to found Singapore! Harassed as he was by these personal affairs, he still found time to carry out his original scheme with regard to a zoological society in London. He took the largest part in the creation of the existing society, and his fine Sumatra collection formed its endowment. He was unanimously elected its president at the first meeting, and by a remarkable unanimity of opinion on the part of those who helped in the work, he has been recognized as the Founder of the Zoological Society. He was contemplating entering parliamentary life when his sudden death on his birthday 1826, ended his brilliant career at the early age of forty-five. Sir Frederick Weld, lieutenant-governor at Singapore, when unveiling the statue of his predecessor at that place in 1887, crystallized the thoughts of his countrymen and anticipated the verdict of history in a single sentence: "In Raffles, England had one of her greatest sons."
Father: Benjamin Raffles
Wife: Olivia Mariamne Devenish (m. 1805, d. 1814)
British East India Company
Knight of the British Empire 1816
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treatment of compression drying and deformation fixation in a closed heating system
Table 2 depicts the results of a simultaneous treatment of compression drying and deformation fixation in a closed heating system. Tables 2(a) and 2(b) depict the results for steam discharging times of 10 and 40 minutes, respectively, and the results therein were examined similarly as in the case of Table 1. A longer steam discharging time than that used for air-dried specimens was used due to a large MC. As depicted in Table 2(a), normal processing was possible under limited conditions. The MC after the simultaneous treatment of compression drying and deformation fixation in a closed heating system was approximately 25 percent. From Table 2(b), it can be observed that processing was possible under a wide variety of conditions, and the average specimen MC after processing was approximately 6 percent, hence demonstrating that the simultaneous treatment of compression drying and deformation fixation in the compression process of wood is feasible. Wood drying effects, such as drying checks and cupping, were not observed after the process. A noticeable swelling and a crack in the longitudinal direction were observed for the control specimens, which can most likely be explained by the aforementioned hydraulic pressure. Under the conditions denoted by the symbol "x" in Tables 2(a) and 2(b), swelling was observed, but a longitudinal crack did not form.
The effect of holes drilled into air-dried specimens was examined in a closed heating system on the deformation fixation of compressed wood. Specimens were drilled with holes to improve the permeability of steam in wood, and to reduce the press cooling-reheating process requirements that are problematic to contemporary deformation fixation. This investigation realized a basis for continuous press processing, which is expected to have important productivity and industrial implications for the lumbering industry.
The impact of drilled holes on the permeability of water in wood was examined using wet specimens. The impact of drilled holes and processing conditions on specimen compressive deformation and compression drying was investigated. The effect of the drilled holes on specimen permeability to water was observed from changes in specimen MC, compressive stress, and appearance. Water removal rates were markedly increased for drilled specimens, and the MC decreased correspondingly. Further, the MC was asymptotic at a constant value, depending on the CR. The higher the specimen MC prior to compression and the greater the CR, that is, the effect of removal was appreciable. The compressive stress of the drilled specimens was lower than that of the control specimens, and the hydraulic pressureinduced cracking was controlled by the drilled holes. The deformation speed was not observed to affect the MC change as a function of MC in this study, while the compressive stress increased proportionally to the deformation speed.
From the results obtained from processing wet specimens, it is clear that the simultaneous treatment of compression drying and deformation fixation is feasible, that is, wood can be dried using compression and fixation. This finding is expected to have important implications for reduced processing energy requirements, and improve the over efficiency of lumber processing. Unfortunately, the investigated pressing conditions were not suitable for the simultaneous treatment of compression drying and deformation fixation. Future work will investigate improved processing conditions or methods in the vein of compression drying.
Fukuta, S., F. Asada, and Y. Sasaki. 2007. Compressive deformation process of Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica). Wood and Fiber Sci. 39(4):548-555.
Ito, Y., M. Tanahashi, M. Kawai, M. Shigematsu, and Y. Shinoda. 1995. Compressively molded wood and practical processing by highpressure steam treatment. Res. Bulletin of the Faculty College of Agriculture, Gifu Univ. 60:121-127. (in Japanese).
Inoue, M., M. Norimoto, M. Tanahashi, and R.M. Rowell. 1993a. Steam or heat fixation of compressed wood. Wood and Fiber Sci. 25(3): 224-235.
__________, N. Kadokawa, J. Nishio, and M. Norimoto. 1993b. Permanent fixation of compressive deformation by hygro-thermal treatment using moisture in wood. Wood Res. and Technical Notes. 29:54-61. (in Japanese).
Norimoto, M. 1993. Large compressive deformation in wood. Mokuzai Gakkaishi 39(8):867-874. (in Japanese).
Norimoto, M. 1994. Transverse compression of wood and its application to wood processing. Wood Res. and Technical Notes. 30:1- 15. (in Japanese).
Okuyama, T. and I. Asano. 1970. Effect of strain rate on mechanical properties of wood. I. On the influence of strain rate to compressive properties parallel to the grain of wood. Mokuzai Gakkaishi 16(1): 15-19. (in Japanese).
__________, K. Tsuzuki, and I. Asano. 1970. Effect of strain rate on mechanical properties of wood. II. On the empirical equation of stress-strain relation in compression. Mokuzai Gakkaishi 16(1):20- 25. (in Japanese).
The authors are. respectively, Research Scientists, Aichi Industrial Technology Inst., Aichi, Japan ([email protected] lg.jp, [email protected]); and Professor, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sci., Nagoya Univ., Nagoya-city, Aichi, Japan ([email protected]). This paper was received for publication in August 2007. Article No. 10397.
(c) Forest Products Society 2008.
Forest Prod. J. 58(7/8):82-88.
Copyright Forest Products Society Jul/Aug 2008
(c) 2008 Forest Products Journal. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

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If you gave Lego brains, you might get something like Posey, a new hands-on way of interacting with computers developed at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, US.
When Posey's plastic pieces are snapped together, an exact copy of the construction appears on a computer screen. Every twist of, say, a stick figure's arm is mirrored in 3D modelling software.
The project, led by Mark Gross, aims to provide a more playful interface for computers.
"We're a big fan of construction kits, like Lego and Zoob," says Michael Weller, who is also working on the project. "One of the cool things about them is they allow undirected play that allows you to explore your ideas."
Posey's plastic pieces are a mix of hubs and struts that connect with ball-and-socket joints. The pieces have LEDs and sensors built into their ends so that they can communicate using coded signals of light. Pieces can also sense the angles between themselves and their neighbours, allowing the software to model their overall shape.
Each piece's plastic shell is stuffed with chips and devices for processing these signals. They are sent wirelessly to a computer using a low-power protocol called ZigBee. This means, bending Posey's pieces can make objects on-screen respond in real time.
Right now, each custom-made piece has about US$50 (£25) worth of parts, Weller estimates. But if mass produced, it could be much cheaper.
The group are trialling a few different uses for Posey. One of the more serious ones is using it to simultaneously build real and virtual models of molecules.
Within a program created by Gross's group, each piece can represent either an atom or a bond between atoms. As you put together Posey's pieces, the 3D virtual replica shows the molecules structure and displays its physical properties. It also suggests related molecules that could be built with slight modifications.
Virtual puppet shows
Posey would make a great toy. One playful use of the kit is to create skeletons of animated characters and animals. The onscreen version can be fitted with virtual skin and other features, and be made to move by twisting the Posey pieces.
"You could put on puppet shows over the internet" using Posey in this way, Weller says. These could be like the machinima movies created using videogames such as The Sims or Halo, Weller says. "We thought [Posey] could be a more accessible way of doing this."
"The first applications would probably be in education," says computer scientist Frank Marchese, of Pace University, New York, US. "But I can see this giving chemists more hands-on manipulation of the molecules they are simulating on the computer."
Since Posey syncs its movements with what's on the screen, "you get very good feedback, instead of moving a mouse or hitting a couple of keys," Marchese says. If Posey was modified to give force feedback to resist movements, "it could allow you to feel how strong the [molecule's] bonds are," he adds.
A paper on Posey will be presented at the Tangible Embedded Interaction conference in Bonn, Germany in February.
If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.
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Fri Feb 01 01:31:20 GMT 2008 by Tom
Suppose you use these Posey Joints on wearable 'armor'. With a Heads-Up Display and some smart software, you could ultimately be able to control machines/robots anywhere in the world using wireless connectivity. Remote control combat robots, bomb disposal units, deep sea subs, the possibilities are endless. You could even drive a car if all the control and IO tech was all in place. The new generation of Human Interface Devices for computer games...
Fri Feb 01 16:37:44 GMT 2008 by James Hamm
With everything new created something evil is born
this could be used in bad ways aswell as good
Application To Mobility Aids And Telepresence
Fri Feb 01 16:59:31 GMT 2008 by Yahya Abdal-aziz
Posey could easily adapt to providing increased mobility, activity and independence for mildly to moderately disabled people. It could also find use in hazardous environments. For example, manipulating radioactive materials would be much easier and more efficient if it were virtually hands-on, rather than constrained by space-suit like gauntlets attached to radiation-proof armour-glass. And I'd love to be able to send a Posey-controlled machine up the ladder that I can no longer climb, to clean the gutters and replace broken roof tiles!
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||July 18, 2003
GSA Release No. 03-21
|| Contact: Ann Cairns
Wildland Fire Impacts on Watersheds: A Special Conference of The Geological Society of America
Boulder, CO – Wildland fires are an inevitable fact of nature; recently they've also been viewed as a national security issue. They burn more than two million acres in the United States each year. Extended drought conditions, as well as common land management and development practices, make wildland ecosystems even more vulnerable to catastrophic damage.
When watershed areas burn, the threat is particularly ominous. Forest and rangeland watersheds serve as primary sources of drinking water for much of the population of the U.S. Yet many municipalities are unaware of what is likely to follow a fire and unprepared to deal with the consequences.
On October 21-23, 2003, scientists will gather with land managers, resource specialists, and fire management planners in Englewood, CO, for Wildland Fire Impacts on Watersheds: Understanding, Planning, and Response. Sponsored by the Geological Society of America, the meeting will be held at the Sheraton Denver Tech Center Hotel. A partial list of participating organizations includes the International Association of Wildland Fire, the USDA Forest Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the American Water Works Association, and The Nature Conservancy.
The meeting program will focus on geomorphological processes set in motion in the aftermath of wildland fire. Their impacts will be examined through a combination of talks and field trips to recent burn sites in Colorado. Topics such as soil erosion, debris flows, flooding, mass wasting, degraded water quality, and other environmental issues will be covered, along with strategies for mitigation.
Representatives of the media are invited to attend. Registration is complimentary although space is limited. Inquiries may be directed to Ann Cairns, Director of Communications, Geological Society of America (_EMAIL_). Writers interested but unable to attend should contact Ann Cairns for assistance.
Partial funding for this conference is provided by the U.S. Geological Survey Joint Fire Science Program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency).
For more information visit _URL_ The complete scientific program will be available for viewing online in midto late August.


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A Song for Saturday
An EasyEnglish Translation with Notes (about 1200 word vocabulary) on Psalm 92
Words in boxes are from the Bible.
Words in brackets, ( ), are not in the Hebrew Bible.
The notes explain words with a *star by them.
The translated Bible text has yet to go through Advanced Checking.
Jesus said, "Thank you, Father". (Matthew 11:25)
The Jews (people that were born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children) had a story that Adam sang this song the day after God made him. The Jews called that day the Sabbath, the 7th day. We call it Saturday. Really, we do not know who the person was that wrote Psalm 92. We call the person that wrote a psalm the psalmist. Maybe it was after God had done something good for his people Judah or Israel. Many Bible students think that it was when King Cyrus of Persia beat King Belshazzar of Babylon. Cyrus then sent the Jews home to their own country. For 70 years, the Babylonians had made them live in Babylon. Now they were free!
Study the psalm in 5 parts:
· Verses 1 - 3 say that it is good to tell the *LORD that he is great and to use music to do it.
· Verses 4 - 6 say that God has done something good. You would have to be silly not to see it.
· Verses 7 - 9 tell us that even if the enemy is strong, God will destroy them.
· Verses 10 - 11 tell us that God has made the *psalmist very strong. And also that God has destroyed his enemies.
· Verses 12 - 15 tell us that all *righteous people will be strong.
Verses 1 – 3: In this part there are two words for God and three words for things that make music. We call these things "musical instruments". They are the lute, harp and lyre. The psalm calls God "LORD" and "Most High". "LORD" means that he is always alive. "Most High" means that he is more important than anyone else is. In verse 2, "do what you have promised" suggests that God has done something good.
Verses 4 – 6: Now the *psalmist says that God has done something good. The *psalmist is now very happy. Only a silly man would not see what God has done. What God thinks is often hard to understand. Only fools would not agree that grass and weeds grow everywhere.
Verses 7 – 9: Grass and weeds grow everywhere! So do bad people. But God will destroy them and they will never come back again. Really, they destroy themselves, as Hosea 13:9 tells us. It says, "You have destroyed yourselves (yourselves means more than one yourself)".
Verses 10 – 11: Here Bible students think that the *psalmist was a leader of the people. If he wrote the psalm before Babylon beat the *Jews, then that leader was the king.
They made people king by pouring special oil over them. We are not sure what the wild animal was. Maybe it was a wild ox. An ox is a kind of cow.
Verses 12 – 15: Now the *psalmist talks about righteous people. Righteous is a word that means "very, very good". Only God is really righteous. But God makes people that love him righteous too. It does not mean that they are good. It means that they love God and want to obey him. They will not be as grass and weeds that do not live long, verse 7. Instead, they are as trees. They are as palm trees that produce fruit called "dates"; and as the cedar tree which lives for centuries. "The temple of our God" in verse 13 is the same as "the house of the *LORD". It was a special building where the people went to meet God.
1. Count how many times me, my or mine come in the psalm.
2. How many times does "*LORD" come in the psalm?
3. If you have a Bible, read Ezekiel 18.
4. Learn to say Psalm 92:8 by heart. (This means without looking at the words.)
© 2001-2002, Wycliffe Associates (UK)
This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level A (1200 words).
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The Association exists to encourage the scientific, educational, historical and interpretive activities of the National Park Service at George Washington Carver National Monument, and to promote the legacy of Dr. George Washington Carver.
Did You Know?
The Carver Birthplace Association (CBA) is the cooperating association of George Washington Carver National Monument. CBA was established in the early 1940's and began the letter writing campaign to bring the park into existence. CBA was incorporated, February 26, 1963.


'Bee road' plans to save key pollinators
Co-operative's Plan Bee scheme will set up corridors of wildflowers as a food-rich habitat for honeybees, hoverflies, butterflies and moths
Biodiversity in focus : A bee lands on wildflowers in the Temblor Range
Corridors of wildflowers will provide food-rich habitats for key pollinators. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
A series of "bee roads" will be planted across the country to provide corridors of wildflowers for insects, in a scheme unveiled by the Co-operative today.
The areas of land seeded with species such as lesser knapweed, field scabious, birdsfoot trefoil and red clover aim to provide a food-rich habitat for pollinators such as wild bees, honeybees, hoverflies, butterflies and moths.
The scheme to restore some of the 97% of wildflower meadows lost in recent decades forms part of the group's Plan Bee campaign to help bees, which are key pollinators of our food and which have seen numbers decline in recent years.
The first bee roads will be created in Yorkshire by the Co-operative and invertebrate charity Buglife.
Farmers and other landowners will sow wildflowers in two long rows which will eventually stretch north to south and east to west across Yorkshire, restoring a total of five hectares (12 acres) of land in a £60,000 pilot project.
The Co-operative hopes the initiative will be emulated in other counties.
Paul Monaghan, head of social goals at the Co-operative, said: "The UK has lost an alarming 97% of its wildflower meadows since the 1930s and this has had a major impact on pollinator numbers.
"The number of honeybees in the UK has halved in the last 25 years, and three-quarters of butterfly species and two-thirds of moths have seen population declines since the 1970s.
"By setting up these 'bee roads', we hope to make life easier for all pollinators and reverse their alarming decline."
Loss of wildflower meadows and the nectar-rich flowers which provide food for pollinating insects are thought to be one of the major reasons for declines in bees, along with the impacts of pesticides and diseases.
The Co-operative's Plan Bee is taking action in four areas: increasing the number of hives on the group's farmland; continuing its temporary ban on certain pesticides; funding new scientific research; and encouraging customers and members to grow bee-friendly plants, distributing seeds and training new beekeepers.


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What happens when you combine a steam locomotive from the past century with a new "biocoal" energy source? The result echoes the transformation of Marvel's superhero The Hulk — a powerful beast that is greener and packs more punch than many modern trains.
That combination of old train technology and a new biofuel could lead to a locomotive that requires less fuel, costs less and still has more horsepower than diesel-electric locomotives. The new "CSR Project 130" would eventually deliver a locomotive that can reach 130 miles per hour (209 kilometers per hour) — a modern marvel able to break the world speed record for fastest steam locomotive.
"Once perfected, creating the world's first carbon-neutral locomotive will be just the beginning for this technology which, we hope, will later be used for combined heat and power energy in the developing world as well as reducing the United States' dependence on fossil fuels," said Rod Larkins, special projects director at the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota teamed up with the nonprofit Sustainable Rail International to create the Coalition for Sustainable Rail (CSR) and CSR Project 130. Their top goal is to make the cleanest, most powerful passenger train locomotive in the world.
The refurbished locomotive would run on biocoal — a plant-derived material that is roasted to leave behind a blackened mass with the same energy density and material resemblance as coal. But biocoal has the environmentally friendly edge over real coal as a "carbon-neutral" energy source that also produces less ash, smoke and off-gases.
Success would mean more than just smashing a world speed record and seeing more steam locomotives pulling passenger or freight trains. CSR Project 130 aims to design power boilers and electric generators capable of running homes in both the U.S. and in developing world villages. Such spinoff technologies could lead to three times the benefits for every dollar spent on the project's engineering efforts, according to CSR.
To start, CSR bought a steam locomotive built in 1937 and gave it a cosmetic makeover at its current location in Topeka, Kan., in May. A move to Minneapolis within the next 12 months would allow the coalition to complete the engineering overhaul for the locomotive.
- 10 Future Public Transportation Vehicles
- Why America's Love Affair with Cars Is No Accident
- 10 Sci-Fi Predictions That Came True


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Going 3D the Israeli way
Posted By Tania Hershman On October 24, 2004 @ 11:00 pm In | No Comments
HumanEyes 3D creates a stereoscopic photograph by taking the pictures from a single digital camera which has been swept over a scene in continuous mode, and can even create a 3D picture of a complete 360 degree panorama.The virtual world of computers is finally catching up with reality and going three-dimensional, and an Israeli company is pioneering a simple approach to creating 3D content using a regular digital camera.
Until now, anyone who wanted to take a 3D photograph needed many cameras in different positions to take pictures of a scene from various angles. All these views of the scene were then merged to create a stereoscopic image, which means that, just like in real life when we look at something, each eye sees a different image and the brain combines the two to create a three-dimensional picture, without having to wear 3D glasses.
HumanEyes does away with all these cameras. In 2001, the company licensed technology developed by Professor Shmuel Peleg at the Hebrew University for taking 3D images with just one camera. The software that HumanEyes developed, called HumanEyes 3D, creates a stereoscopic photograph by taking the pictures from a single digital camera which has been swept over a scene in continuous mode, or has taken a number of still pictures of the scene. It can even create a 3D picture of a complete 360 degree panorama – something that could never be achieved before with multiple cameras.
Using only one camera, "the software calculates the virtual places where [multiple] cameras would be taking pictures if they existed," HumanEyes CEO and founder Gideon Ben Zvi told ISRAEL21c. The software pretends that there are many cameras photographing the scene, and creates the views that each of these pretend cameras would see, merging them to create a three-dimensional rendering of the scene. HumanEyes also allows the photographer to then create a picture of the scene from a different angle or zoom in on one particular place without having to re-take new photographs.
The resulting picture, which is made up of tiny, one-pixel-wide slices of selected views of the scene, is printed out and a special lenticular plastic sheet put over it so each eye sees a different image, and the viewer sees a 3D picture. Now the image can also be seen on the new 3D monitors, such as those from Sharp, that are just hitting the computer market.
HumanEyes' first application was aimed at graphic artists working in the packaging and advertising markets. One of the first to test the software in 2003 was Coca Cola, which used it to design vending machines with 3D pictures of Coke cans.
Coca Cola reported an average increase in sales of 11 percent from the ten 3D vending machines installed in various locations in Chile. Other customers include Dove soap, which created a 3D point-of-sale advertising campaign; Captain Morgan rum, which used HumanEyes to create 3D adverts on bus shelters in the US; Segafredo, the Italian coffee chain, for an advertising campaign in Italy, and the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf chain, for 3D storefront displays.
HumanEyes' activity in this graphics market has moved from what Ben Zvi calls "supporting projects" such as working with Coca Cola and Dove soap, to selling its products directly to graphic design and printing companies to create 3D. This is now one division of the company, and a second division has been set up for the newest trend: 3D computer monitors, laptops and other screens, including mobile phones.
Sharp was one of the first to launch a 3D desktop display, and in August 2004, HumanEyes and Sharp announced a partnership to offer everyone who buys a Sharp Actius RD3D display in 2004 a 30-day trial version of HumanEyes 3D Lite software, with the option to upgrade to the full version, to create 3D images with their digital camera to view on the desktop.
Despite the fact that almost four years have passed since HumanEyes was founded, no single-camera "shoot-and-click" 3D competitors have appeared on the scene. One player in the field who is also working with Sharp is the Australian company, DDD (dynamic digital depth). Its software converts existing 2D photos to 3D, but has several limitations: it can only guess the depth of the picture and it doesn't offer panoramic 3D or conversion of a series of pictures from one camera into an image that can be manipulated.
Ben Zvi has a history of successful imaging-related start-ups: He was a founder of the optical character recognition company Ligature and WizCom, the developers of the Quicktionary hand-held translation pen. HumanEyes has raised $5 million to date from, among others, BRM, the Israeli venture capital fund behind the success of firewall inventors Checkpoint; Benny Landa, the founder of digital printing pioneer Indigo and now strategic advisor to Hewlett Packard; and the Van Leer family fund.
HumanEyes, which is based in the High Tech Village of the Hebrew University's Givat Ram campus in Jerusalem, has offices in New York and Osaka, Japan, is now in the enviable position of having enough money in the bank, and doesn't need to raise any more funds.
This money will go towards not only the marketing and sales of current products, but also the adaptation of HumanEyes technology to all the 3D displays..
"Sharp sold 1.8 million 3D mobile phones in Japan in only 2 months," he says. "Everyone is now looking into it. People believe it is going to transform the world of monitors. When color monitors replaced black and white monitors they cost five times more. Today, 3-D monitors cost only 20 percent more to produce than color monitors. The manufacturers believe they are going to replace the standard monitors soon."
Ben Zvi believes it will become something everyone will have to have, even if they don't have a 3D content creation application. "It's like buying a mono radio for your car," he says. "Even though you only listen to news, you want to hear it in stereo."
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URL to article: _URL_
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The Curriculum Roadmap:
Chapter Three: The Interaction Between Design and Planning
The Vision and the Challenges
A curriculum design gives instructors and others a picture of the curriculum to be implemented, much like an architect gives clients a drawing of the house to be built. Just as the architectural design guides the development of a new house for the homeowner, this curriculum design guides the planning and development of Adult Basic Education courses. This chapter presents the key elements that form the design that guides instructional planning and curriculum application. The key elements of this curriculum include Generic Skills, a learning outcomes approach, contextually-based instruction for adults, and an authentic assessment rationale.
The vision for this curriculum is one that:
The vision also greatly impacts participants in our programs for it strives to empower adult learners, prepare them for a changing and demanding future, and encourage them to realize they have much to contribute to our communities.
With these high expectations come realistic challenges. Informed by critical and social theory, education has evolved a great deal in the last two decades. In keeping up with this change, professional development is of the utmost importance. As the Aboriginal numbers continue to grow in Adult Basic Education, current cross-cultural training becomes even more imperative. With shrinking budgets and a call for authentic materials that reflect our community of learners, having adequate planning time is vital to maximize the success of the implementation of this curriculum. These challenges only represent the obvious.
We know challenge and resistance are the natural partners that travel with change. If we can acknowledge this, perhaps we can better accept and recognize them when they arrive.
The key elements of this curriculum's design follow.
Generic Skills are skills that:
Generic Skills are best viewed as transferable general life skills or skills that contribute to independence. They may be transferred into contexts different from the ones in which they were first learned. The intent is that learners acquire the skill and then transfer and further develop it when attending further training and education, when in the workforce, or when participating in other life-long-learning activities. Generic Skills are essential to personal, social, and employment success.
Three primary references16 for the development of the Generic Skills were as follows:
The broad categories that make up the Generic Skills include:
Generic Skills are fundamental to each curriculum area in Adult Basic Education. Interconnection between Generic Skills, learning outcomes and content skills will be further discussed in PART THREE.
Generic Skills Chart - Click Here


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Background: Previous studies identifying patients with inflammatory bowel disease using administrative codes have yielded inconsistent results. Our objective was to develop a robust electronic medical record–based model for classification of inflammatory bowel disease leveraging the combination of codified data and information from clinical text notes using natural language processing.
Methods: Using the electronic medical records of 2 large academic centers, we created data marts for Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) comprising patients with ≥1 International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition, code for each disease. We used codified (i.e., International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition codes, electronic prescriptions) and narrative data from clinical notes to develop our classification model. Model development and validation was performed in a training set of 600 randomly selected patients for each disease with medical record review as the gold standard. Logistic regression with the adaptive LASSO penalty was used to select informative variables.
Results: We confirmed 399 CD cases (67%) in the CD training set and 378 UC cases (63%) in the UC training set. For both, a combined model including narrative and codified data had better accuracy (area under the curve for CD 0.95; UC 0.94) than models using only disease International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition codes (area under the curve 0.89 for CD; 0.86 for UC). Addition of natural language processing narrative terms to our final model resulted in classification of 6% to 12% more subjects with the same accuracy.
Conclusions: Inclusion of narrative concepts identified using natural language processing improves the accuracy of electronic medical records case definition for CD and UC while simultaneously identifying more subjects compared with models using codified data alone.


This circuit produces a musical tone whenever someone touches the touch point designated as TP in the circuit. The circuit works from two AA cells and produces enough sound.
The circuit uses IC UM 3481 commonly used in musical circuits. The IC contains a ROM with 512 musical notes, tone generator, rhythm generator, modulator, run off control, oscillators, frequency divider and preamplifiers,. So a very few number of components is required for this circuit.C1 and R1 act as the timing components for the built in oscillator. The transistor Q1 is used for driving the loud speaker. The base of the transistor Q2 is used as the touch point to trigger the musical bell.
Circuit diagram with Parts list.
 - The circuit can be assembled on a general purpose PCB.
 - Use two AA cells in series for powering the circuit.
 - The speaker can be 2 W, 8 Ohm.
 1. I have setup this ckt on a breadboard for testing. But touch technique is not working,the music is produced even without the touch.what can i do to make it proper working?
 2. than q, good application.
 but one question, is there any specific type of material to be used as touch point or any conducting material goes well?


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Communication with Physicians about Health Care Costs
CONTEXT: Health care costs have increasingly shifted to patients, and financial distress caused by medical care has increased. Patients may wish to discuss costs with their clinicians.
OBJECTIVE: Describe patient preferences for communication about cost in the clinical setting.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional, self-administered survey of a stratified random sample of the population insured in an integrated health care system in Washington State. Our sampling frame was the entire membership aged 21 years or older. Sampling was stratified by sex and group practice enrollment.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Preference for discussing health care costs with one's physician. We conducted regression analyses to determine predictors of communication preference; potential predictors included demographic characteristics, financial burden, delay in seeking care because of cost, and socioeconomic variables. Survey responses were weighted to adjust for nonresponse and sampling.
RESULTS: Of 7200 invitations sent, 2200 survey responses were returned. Ninety-two percent wished to know their out-of-pocket costs before beginning treatment. Most respondents preferred their physician talk with them about out-of-pocket costs (81.4%) and expressed comfort with discussing costs with their physician (75.6%). Overall, 43.7% reported any delay in seeking care in the previous 12 months. One in 5 respondents (21.6%) reported family medical debt. Delay in seeking care was positively and independently associated with preferring to discuss costs with one's physician; current medical financial burden was not.
CONCLUSION: Patient preferences for communication about costs with physicians are high, and medical debt and delay in care-seeking are prevalent. Delay in care-seeking independently predicts cost communication preferences.


For far to long the horrors of mainstream media sites link CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and other national TV news sites have been misleading the public by spreading half truths and straight up lies. In fact the public has been aware of it for quite some time and it's high time we start taking media into our own hands and start focusing on alternative media that is not bought and paid for by government bureaucrats running our country to the ground.
So what is the difference between Mainstream Media and Alternative Media?
Mainstream Media:
They include television, radio, online, and press such as magazines, journalists, and newspapers. They are network based and usually easy to find and reach large audiences. While many claim they don't have anything to do with the government behind closed doors they are government funded, ran, and owned, but some have not given into that pressure.
They use entertainment to spread news and entice the public. They often report on an entire range of news stories that are based off of how many viewers they have and what stories are preferred over others.
Alternative Media:
Are usually smaller in size and in many cases are polarized towards conservative and liberal perspectives. They are also found online, on the radio, in the paper, and other publication to a lesser extent on Television. They usually have less funding and smaller budgets.
It is composed of an alternative public world, a world of protest and political dialogue that has an oppositional role and improves democracy. If there's no resistance there is no democracy.
The Mainstream media audience usually prefers such outlets because they are easy to find. Alternative media audiences must put more work into finding and staying in touch with multiple alternative media sites. Many alternative media audiences are truth seekers that do not trust the mainstream media because of their known hypocrisy of lie spreading. Others prefer to tune into both mainstream and alternative media to get a variety of perspectives.
What Kind of News Will You Find on Alternative Media Versus Mainstream Media?
The diagram below displays an example of what you will find on each media outlet, neither are limited to these things:


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I like a good binge-watching session as much as anyone. Not long ago, I blew through all 96 episodes of Entourage in about two weeks! It seems I'm in good company. According to a recent survey, 70 percent of Americans are binge watchers.
With technology including streaming services and on-demand content transforming the way we consume media, it's important to ask: What effects does all this binge viewing have on the soundness of our sleep?
Binge watching and sleep quality
A new study tackles just that question. Scientists from University of Michigan and Belgium's University of Leuven investigated the prevalence of binge watching, and how these extended viewing sessions impact sleep. The study included 423 young adults ages 18-25. Researchers analyzed their regular TV-watching habits and binge-watching habits—the latter defined as "watching multiple, consecutive episodes of the same TV-show in one sitting"—along with assessments of their sleep quality, fatigue, and insomnia.
They found strong links between binge watching and sleep problems:
- Slightly more than 80 percent of participants considered themselves binge watchers—and among those, slightly more than 20 percent had binge watched at least a few times a week over the past month
- Among people identified as poor sleepers, about 1 in 3 experienced poor sleep quality linked to binge watching.
- Binge watching was linked to insomnia symptoms, fatigue, and poor sleep quality.
Researchers found differences between regular TV watching and binge viewing. Regular TV watching wasn't associated with poor sleep quality—but binge watching was.
How does binge watching disrupt sleep?
There may be a number of factors involved. Researchers in this study found sleep disturbances from binge watching were a result of mental stimulation that came from extended viewing in the evenings, a form of stimulation known as "pre-sleep arousal." Being exposed to the content of the programming—storylines, action, imagery—stimulates brain activity and alertness. And the duration of a binge-watch session creates enough pre-sleep arousal to interfere with our ability to fall asleep. Watching back-to-back episodes of your current favorite show may feel like a relaxing escape at the end of the day, but it's actually getting your brain fired up, not helping it wind down.
Binge watching is a relatively new phenomenon, and scientific findings about its relationship with mental and physical health are just beginning to arrive. Recent research links binge watching to feelings of loneliness, as well as depression and anxiety. A new study out of the United Kingdom shows that nearly a third of UK adults and teenagers think binge-watching has caused them to miss out on sleep or feel tired.
There's a longer history of research into the effects of TV watching—and plenty of evidence suggesting that too much of it is bad for sleep, as well as mental and physical well being. Watching more than two hours of TV on a daily basis is linked to several common sleep problems:
- trouble falling asleep
- waking during the night
- waking early in the morning and being unable to fall back to sleep
The lure of television can push bedtimes later and result in greater sleep debt, according to research. Sleep debt is the difference between the amount of sleep you need and the amount of sleep you actually get.


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Code Of Ethics For Computing At Skidmore College
The academic computing facilities at Skidmore College are intended as a learning resource for all members of the college community. While IT encourages users to explore the versatility and power of a modern computing environment, users must refrain from activities that are in violation of the goals of a liberal arts college.
Thus, all users agree to abide by the following rules:
- Computer facilities will not be used for activities that are in violation of campus, local, state, or federal rules. This includes cheating, plagiarism, theft, vandalism, pornography, copyright violations (including music, still images, video, software, and text), and other similar acts. Users should also avoid "unauthorized collaboration" as defined in the Academic Information Guide and Student Handbook.
- Computer facilities will not be used for moneymaking activities including the resale of computer services, test processing, or statistical analysis. Externally funded consultancies or research projects must be authorized in advance by the Dean of Faculty in consultation with IT.
- Users will respect an individual's right to privacy and will not read, copy, or print material written by others that is not intended for public inspection.
- Users will refrain from any activity that threatens the integrity of the computer system at Skidmore College. This includes, but is not limited to, the modification of system services and utilities, the assumption of unwarranted privileges, sabotage, or other activities that interfere with public access to computer resources.
- Users agree to abide by IT rules governing the equitable access to computer facilities. This includes, for example, rules to ration computer login time, or to control the distribution of software and documentation. Users will refrain from practices to subvert these access rules.
- Every user is personally responsible for the integrity of the account assigned to that individual. Usernames are not transferable to other users or publicly distributable without prior authorization from IT.
Violations of these rules may result in the revocation of computer use privileges and/or referral to the appropriate judicial forum.


text: From a Germanic word, karl, meaning 'free man', akin to Old English ceorl 'man'. The name, Latin form Carolus, owed its popularity in medieval Europe to the Frankish leader Charlemagne (?742–814), who in 800 established himself as Holy Roman Emperor. His name (Latin Carolus Magnus) means 'Charles the Great'. Carolus—or Karl, the German form—was a common name among Frankish leaders, including Charlemagne's grandfather Charles Martel (688–741). Charles is the French form. The name occurs occasionally in medieval Britain as Karolus or Carolus; it had a certain vogue in West Yorkshire from the 1400s, particularly among gentry families. The form Charles was chosen by Mary Queen of Scots (1542–87), who had been brought up in France, for her son, Charles James (1566–1625), who became King James VI of Scotland and, from 1603, James I of England. His son and grandson both reigned as King Charles, and the name thus became established in the 17th century both in the Stuart royal house and among English and Scottish supporters of the Stuart monarchy. In the 18th century it was to some extent favoured, along with James, by Jacobites, supporters of the exiled Stuarts, opposed to the Hanoverian monarchy, especially in the Highlands of Scotland. In the 19th century the popularity of the name was further enhanced by romanticization of the story of 'Bonnie Prince Charlie', leader of the 1745 rebellion.


text: Many organizations are currently becoming more environmentally friendly. Eco-efficiency maximizes the effectiveness of a business operation while reducing its impact on the environment; with the necessary skills, organizations can create more value while using less input. Prior empirical studies have suggested that firms engaging in eco-efficient activities are better valued than those without such activities. Therefore, this will enhance business efficiency and excellence. This study investigates the link between eco-efficiency, as environmental policy, and firm value in the United Kingdom (UK) for the period 1999 to 2008. We generate new insights into environmental–financial performance by using different definitions of the term 'eco-efficiency'. In the UK context our results support that eco-efficient firms have higher market values than those lacking environmental strategies. Hence, we recommend that firms become involved in environmental polices since the adoption of these polices will have a positive impact on firm value. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.


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NLT Kids Slimline Bible, Matthew 7:8 Wisdom, Leatherlike
The new Kids Slimline Bibles in the New Living Translation were designed for kids ages 8-12. The presentation page, and cover create an overall theme.
The New Living Translation is an authoritative Bible translation, rendered faithfully into today's English from the ancient texts by 90 leading Bible scholars. The NLT's scholarship and clarity breathe life into even the most difficult-to-understand Bible passages—but even more powerful are stories of how people's lives are changing as the words speak directly to their hearts. That's why we call it "The Truth Made Clear."
- 53-page dictionary/concordance helping kids locate passages on various topics
- 8 pages of full-color maps
- Words of Jesus in red
- Ribbon marker
- 8-point text size
- 8.00" x 5.75"


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This panel displays information about the current performance of your FortiNAC, and has the following tabs: Hardware, Software, and CPU Usage.
You can modify the thresholds used to determine when % Used displays as Warning (the colored bar is yellow) or Critical (the colored bar is red) in both the Hardware and Software tabs. By default, the threshold for Warning is 85% and Critical is 95%. To modify the thresholds, click on the colored bar and enter the new thresholds. Threshold changes are global and affect all users.


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In physician profiling initiatives, risk adjustment is often employed as part of the profiling process. The use of a risk adjuster can adjust for some of the effects of patient characteristics that may vary across providers. Using a risk adjuster can be a helpful advantage when reviewing and presenting data to physicians in a meaningful, credible manner. In most risk adjustment tools, the models offered present two perspectives. There is a concurrent model and a prospective model. Each offer different advantages and their use will vary based on the business question or need to be addressed. This post will look take a brief look at the use of concurrent model results in calculating a provider efficiency score.
The concurrent model describes the health status of a physician's panel of patients based on the patients' claim and enrollment experience during an assessment period. The assessment period is often the most recent 12 months. The concurrent model is particularly helpful in provider profiling when evaluating patterns or outcomes of practice.
In the following table, the populations enrolled with three hypothetical physician panels were compared to calculate efficiency scores; this process addresses a common provider concern that "my patients are sicker." Efficiency scores are typically calculated as a ratio of physicians' actual allowed claim costs and the expected allowed claim costs based on the concurrent risk scores of the population for which a physician is responsible.
Without risk adjustment, one may draw incorrect conclusions, because the physician practice or panel that appears to have the worst outcomes may simply have the sickest patients. In the example above, while Provider B has the lowest concurrent risk score and lowest actual PMPM cost, their efficiency score is the highest at 1.09 or 9% higher than the average for the total population.
Depending on your decision support tools and risk adjustment tools, risk scores are also available by service breakouts, such as inpatient, outpatient, and pharmacy. In this example, a further drill to the service categories to monitor the distribution of the costs across the service categories would provide additional insight. For example, a comparison of providers' efficiency in managing inpatient costs by comparing a population's actual inpatient costs to the costs predicted by the concurrent inpatient risk score.
Stay tuned for upcoming physician profiling blogs.


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Mass and Energy Balance in Fire Ventilation
Milestone! As I was preparing to upload this post, I realized that this is the 200th CFBT-US Blog Post since its inception in August of 2008. Quite a lot has happened since then. In 2008 there were few people in the fire service focused on the importance of fire dynamics to firefighting operations. Today it is a significant research focus and an ongoing topic of discussion throughout the US fire service. Progress is being made, but much remains to be done.
This post focuses on questions posed by firefighters in Europe and North America. Art Arnalich, a Fire Officer from Spain recently sent me a message asking for clarification and further explanation of the application of conservation of mass as it relates to fire ventilation. As always, questions form an excellent basis to examine what we think we know and how it applies in a practical context.
In my previous post, Large Vertical Vents are Good, But…, I stated:
Conservation of Mass: The mass of air entering a compartment (single compartment or building) must equal the mass of smoke and air exiting the building. This means that other than in the extremely short term, if smoke is exiting the building, air must be entering. This may be through one or more openings functioning solely as inlets or openings may be functioning as both inlets and outlets (with either a bi-directional flow or alternating (pulsating) flow). However, the mass of the inflow must equal that of the outflow.
Art writes: The first condition for the Principle of Conservation of Mass to be applied is that the physical system must be closed to all transfers of matter and energy. While a closed compartment could be considered as a nearly "closed system", a venting structure suffers important transfers of matter and energy. If we were to consider a bigger system (let's say the 100x100x100m cube in which the house and all of its fire gases are included) the PCM [principle of conservation of mass] applies… Being the structure volume constant, any exiting gases will create an interior drop of pressure that will instantly drag an equal volume of gases to enter. Inlets with the bigger pressure differentials (lower side) will observe the larger flows. Outflow volume must equal inflow volume unless significant pressure changes can take place (not likely). Since there is an important difference between inflow/outflow temperatures (and densities), inflow mass (mass=density x volume) does not equal outflow mass.
The amount of gases coming out of combustion as a result of the new oxygen flow has been disregarded. In an actual fire, outflow volume should be larger than inflow volume because combustion of products generates new gases in within the interior.
But that doesn't mean that mass in = mass out if we just consider the house. Total mass of unburned air + mass of fuel + mass of all combustion products = constant. But to measure this we can't consider the volume of the structure itself but the volume that contains all fire gases, unburned gases and the house.
Art Asks: Could you please explain the implications of Principle of Conservation of Mass applies at a molecular level…If Mass-in=Mass-out then there is no mass variation over time (dm/dt=0). This would mean that the total mass of the house before the fire equals its mass after the fire. That doesn't make sense.
Conservation of Mass and Energy
Mass is neither created nor destroyed in chemical reactions. The mass of any one element at the beginning of a reaction will equal the mass of that element at the end of the reaction. If we account for all reactants and products in a chemical reaction, the total mass will be the same at any point in time in any closed system.
In combustion, if you consider the mass of the fuel and atmospheric oxygen before combustion, this must be the same as the mass of unburned fuel, unused oxygen, plus the products of combustion (this leaves out nitrogen and other thermal ballast that are not part of the combustion reaction). This is a bit different than the balance of the mass of smoke exiting the compartment and the mass of air entering.
I posed a similar question to Dr. Stefan Svensson from Lund University concerning the difference in the volume of products of combustion discharged and air intake from a single opening with a bi-directional air track. I discussed Art's question with Stefan to ensure that my answer was clear and as accurate as possible (while maintaining a practical context).
In actuality, I should have stated that mass and energy must be balanced. Application of the principle of conservation of mass and energy in practical fire dynamics is an estimate and it applies on the molecular level (i.e. molecular mass). Usually we look at the building as a system in which the principle of conservation of mass and energy works as a rough estimate. If you define the system as a large cube that contains the building, the cube becomes the system.
In considering mass balance in a compartment fire it is important to keep in mind that solid fuel in the compartment is undergoing pyrolysis; thermally decomposing into gas phase fuel. Some of the fuel burns producing a range of combustion products and some remains unburned. Smoke is comprised of air, products of combustion, and unburned pyrolizate.
As air, products of combustion, and pyrolizate are heated, the volume increases (but mass stays the same), cooler outside air flowing into the building is more dense (smaller volume, but the same mass). This results in approximate balance between of the mass of hot air and products of combustion exiting the building and the mass of cooler external air entering the building.
Density of Dry Air at 20o C: 1.205 kg/m3 (at Sea Level)
Density of Dry Air at 300o C: 0.616 kg/m3 (at Sea Level)
The implications of this difference in density is that if 1 m3 of hot air and products of combustion exit the building at 300o C, they will be replaced by approximately 0.5 m3 of cooler air (which will have the same mass as the exiting smoke and hot air. This differential will increase further if the temperature of the smoke is higher (resulting in lower density). It is important to note that the volume of air is not the same as the products of combustion and air that exit the compartment, but the mass is the same.
Pressure Differential and Flow
Smoke movement is due to both pressure and differences in density (gravity current). However, in general, the pressure differential between the interior of the building and the exterior is what causes smoke discharge. However, this pressure differential is not uniform and will be higher in the hot upper layer than in cooler air below (if a two layer environment exists inside the building). This is fairly simple to visualize when considering a single compartment. As shown in the following four photographs, hot smoke exits at the top of the door (above the neutral plane) and air enters at the bottom of the door (below the neutral plane). Movement of smoke in this case is the result of both the pressure resulting from increased temperature of the gases in the upper layer and the difference in density between the hot smoke (less dense) and the cooler air (more dense).
Mike Sullivan from Canada posed several related questions, focusing on a video included in the Large Vertical Vents are Good, But… post. Just to get everyone back up to speed on the video, this test was conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Bensenville, IL. The building is a wood frame townhouse with a fire ignited on the first floor. The door on Floor 1, Side Alpha is closed and the window on Side 1, Alpha is open. The door to the second floor room where the open window is located is also open, providing a flow path between the window and the first floor fire.
Mike Asks: Although the Law of Conservation of Mass can be used to explain that for a mass of smoke to exit an equal amount of mass of oxygen must enter. But in reality is the mass of smoke inside the townhouse not an artificial mass—meaning—-typically all things in life are trying to reach an equilibrium. In this case I would think that the interior mass of smoke also elevates interior pressures and should continue exiting until an equilibrium with the exterior is met.
In the video the smoke does exit the window for quite a while. In this case if we were to discuss the Law of Conservation of Mass, would it be the mass of oxygen entering the lower part of the window that allows the smoke to exit OR with the fire burning in the living room is the mass of smoke being produced by the fire acting as a replacement for the mass of smoke exiting the window?
Both good questions! As previously discussed, smoke discharge (as well as movement on the interior) is the result of both differences in pressure and density. If considered simply from the perspective of higher pressure on the interior, smoke would discharge from the building until pressure equilibrium is reached (with the same pressure inside the building as outside). This is related to exchange of mass and energy, but only indirectly. If you opened a cylinder of compressed air, air would be discharged out of the cylinder into the atmosphere (no exchange). However, with a fire burning in the building, air must flow inward to sustain release of thermal energy, which in turn maintains (or increases) the temperature that causes the pressure increase.
Mike also had a question related to cooling of the upper layer with a solid stream, but that will be the focus of another post.
UL/NIST Video Series
Have a look at the seven part video series of Battalion Chief Derik Alkonis, LA County Fire Department; Steve Kerber, Underwriters Laboratories


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Access Remote Servers from Linux (ssh, vncviewer)
Remember, the exams are hands-on, so it doesn't matter which method you use to achieve the result, so long as the end product is correct.
The basic command for connecting via SSH is shown below.
# ssh user@host # ssh _EMAIL_
If a non default port has been used, the port can be specified with the "-p" flag.
# ssh -p 1234 user@host # ssh -p 1234 _EMAIL_
The "-X" option enables X11 forwarding from the remote server to your local X server. That way GUI tool like "Firewall Configuration" (
system-config-firewall) can be initiated on the remote server, but run on the local X server.
# ssh -X user@host # ssh -X _EMAIL_
The "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" file can be used to control the SSH connections to the server. The
DenyGroups entries block specific users and groups from accessing the servers using SSH. Wildcards can be used. When these entries are used it is assumed all other users are allowed access.
DenyUsers joe jayne h* DenyGroups developers test*
AllowGroups entries list those users and groups that can access the system via SSH. When these entries are used, it is assumed that all users and groups not listed are denied access.
AllowUsers joe jayne h* AllowGroups developers test*
The procedure for configuring a VNC server on RHEL6 is discussed here.
Once your VNC server is configured, you can connect to it from any VNC server. On Linux this will often be TigerVNC, installed using the following command.
# yum install tigervnc
Connect to a VNC server using the following command.
# vncviewer machine-name:port # vncviewer maggie.localdomain:3 # vncviewer 192.168.0.4:3
For more information see:
Hope this helps. Regards Tim...


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Need Quality Products? Please visit our Products Shop for Great Prices and Service!
The Fresh Water Aquarium Fish like the Common Goldfish are very popular and about every living person know of their existence.
As a reminder again, when we talk about cold water (usually without a heating device) species of fish, we mean for 10°C (50°F) - 22°C (72°F) water temperature.
Learn interesting information and join us in exploring them and choose the fish most suitable to your liking for your Aquarium. Don't have an Aquarium yet?. See our freshwater Aquarium setup section to get you going.
BOTTOM: Orange and White Calico Oranda
Be cautious though for it is easy to let the colours and strange shapes of fancy Goldfish influence your choice as illustrated in the photos on this page.
It is most important to consider the future welfare of the fish first when selecting aquarium fish. If you are a beginner we would suggest choosing only hardier varieties, such as the common Goldfish, Fantail goldfish, Comet or small Shubunkins as fresh water species.
BOTTOM: Bristol Shubunkin
The following section describes the origin and some background of the most popular varieties of types of Goldfish. The entries given on individual species as futher on this page are indications as to compatibility, food requirements, water requirements, preferred habitat and water temperature range.
Fish are extremely adaptable to environments and therefor a lot of aquarists will most of the time differ on especially temperature figures at which they maintain a particular species.
Fancy tailed goldfish and Goldfish facts are recommended reading pages to give more indepth understanding of the fresh water goldfish, and highlighting one of the beautifull types that are available today. We will get you started on one of these aquariums in no time by following our valued setting up a new aquarium advice for aquarium fish living in cold fresh water.
Goldfish are available in over 100 different varieties. The features which distinguish them, such as coloration, body shape, finnage and the size and shape of the eyes, are the result of many years of selective aquarium fish breeding.
Herewith a listing with valuable information to some of the Goldfish cold Fresh Water Aquarium Fish species that is popular:
This is just a few that is standing out, but many variations are available in combinations of those listed here.
For a more detailed discussion on goldfish feeding and goldfish diseases, please read these linked pages.
Other species like Sticklebacks and Sunfishes are also frequently found cold fresh water aquarium fish that will surely make interesting reading to the aquarist.
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The Bridge Street History Center Vision Statement:
The Bridge Street History Center seeks and will consider additions to the permanent collection that further the Bridge Street History Center's mission and promote a greater understanding and appreciation of Granbury and Hood County history.
The BSHC is currently accepting artifacts to be donated and will collect artifacts from the 1840's through 1985. Artifacts accepted will be considered a permanent addition to the collection to be maintained in perpetuity as long as they retain their physical integrity, identity, and authenticity, and remain consistent with the BSHC's stated mission.
Below are some of the categories of collections that would be considered by the BSHC:


Stoltenberg to head UN climate group
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Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was named over the weekend to take over as chairman of the United Nations' High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing. He succeeds former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who recently resigned.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has a new, prestigious job with the UN. PHOTO: UN/Paulo Filgueiras
It's a prestigious job for Stoltenberg and Norway, and a challenging one, as he and fellow group members seek ways of financing measures to cut emissions and otherwise try to reverse climate change.
Norway, under Stoltenberg's left-center government, has pledged billions to preserve the world's rain forests, which Stoltenberg sees as the "cheapest" means of reducing harmful emissions. He also has played a leading role in climate change negotiations around the world.
He was appointed to the UN group just this past spring by the UN's secretary general, to mobilize the financing promised for efforts against climate change during the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen last December. Developed countries are charged with raising USD 30 billion by 2012 and USD 100 billion annually from 2020 to fund measures aimed at limiting global warming to an increase of 2 degrees Celsius.
Members of the group include the prime minister of Ethiopia, the president of Guyana, government ministers from around the world including the finance ministers for Mexico and Singapore, and financiers including the vice chairman of Deutsche Bank, the president of the African Development Bank and the director of the US National Economic Council.
Views and News staff


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Making a model of the solar system is a project that nearly every child must complete at least once in her life. The wire hanger solar system mobile is a tried and true method of making a mock solar system. Use foam balls of varying shapes to achieve the size scale necessary to create the solar system. Try to add as much realism to the planets as possible for the best results. Cover the hanger in tiny stars cut from card stock to give the mobile a more finished appearance.
- Foam balls of various sizes
- Spray paint
- Card stock paper
- Wire hanger
- Fishing line
- Bamboo skewer
- 1/2-inch flat washers
- Wire hanger
- Craft glue
Spray paint each foam ball in the appropriate colors and patterns. Use yellow for the sun, gray for Mercury, blue and green for the Earth, red for Mars, orange and white for Jupiter, yellow for Saturn, light blue for Uranus and dark blue for Neptune. You can also include the dwarf planet Pluto, which used to be considered one of the main planets in the solar system, but now is a controversial planet. If you use Pluto, spray paint it gray.
Cut out a circle of paper to fit over Saturn and glue the rings around the planet.
Poke a hole through the center of each planet with a bamboo skewer.
Tie a length of fishing line to eight different washers. Thread the end of each fishing line through the hole in the center of each planet. Tie the other end of the fishing line to a wire hanger. Arrange the planets in the correct order.
Adjust the lengths of the strings so that the planets don't hit each other.
Cut out paper stars from card stock paper. Glue the stars onto the hanger with craft glue.
Things You'll Need
- Jupiterimages/BananaStock/Getty Images


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This Article argues that Fourth Amendment challenges to camping ordinances can prompt legislative efforts to solve the problem of homelessness in U.S. cities. By properly employing the Supreme Court of the United States' judicial standard for privacy rights, courts should consider the efforts of individual cities' efforts to curb poverty when asking the following question: does society view a homeless person's expectation of privacy as reasonable?
Fourth Amendment Challenges to Camping Ordinances: A Legal Strategy to Force Legislative Solutions to Homelessness,
Rich. J.L. & Pub. Int.
Available at: _URL_


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Wendy Kohlmann, MS,
Click image to
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
Huntsman Cancer Institute
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 13, 2012
When Where You Live May Determine If You Live
Rural dwellers less likely to follow cancer screening guidelines
SALT LAKE CITY— People who reside in rural areas of Utah are less likely to follow colorectal cancer (CRC) screening recommendations than their urban counterparts, according to researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah. This geographic disparity is evident across all risk groups, including those who have a family history of the disease.
"Our hypothesis was that geography matters," said Anita Kinney, Ph.D., R.N., who leads HCI's Cancer Control and Populations Sciences Research Program and is principal investigator of the study. "And what we found is that it does indeed matter."
Kinney is a professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Utah, a Jon and Karen Huntsman Presidential Professor in Cancer Research, and an HCI investigator. The research team's findings are reported in an article appearing in the current issue of the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
"Other studies have confirmed differences in health care behaviors between urban and rural residents. Ours is the first study to examine the influence of distance from, and availability of, CRC screening providers on the use of risk-appropriate screening among urban and rural dwellers," Kinney said.
American Cancer Society screening guidelines for patients with a family history of CRC recommend earlier and more frequent testing. Individuals with a parent, sibling, or child diagnosed with the disease when less than 60 years old are considered at high risk and should begin colonoscopy screening at age 40, or 10 years before the youngest age of diagnosis in the immediate family, whichever is earlier, and continue at five-year intervals.
Kinney's team analyzed data from the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System, a set of telephone surveys coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control and state health departments. The survey routinely includes questions about cancer screening, but not about familial CRC history. Working with the Utah Department of Health, the research team added questions concerning family history of CRC that indicated whether increased familial cancer risk was present.
"One fact that gets overlooked in addressing compliance with screening recommendations is the amount of time required for a person to obtain the appropriate screening," said co-author Kevin Henry, Ph.D., an HCI investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Utah. "With the longer distance travelled, a person may need to set aside a day or more from regular activities for preparations and travel as well as the procedure itself."
Other problems for rural residents may compound the problem, the researchers said. One is that rural residents are less likely to have health insurance that pays for cancer screening. Kinney pointed out that "preventive services such as cancer screening are covered in the Affordable Care Act, and this should increase the number of people who get regular screening."
Another problem, according to the researchers, is that rural dwellers are less likely than urban dwellers to receive a recommendation for CRC screening from a health care provider, which may be due to primary care provider shortages and provider time constraints.
"We know that CRC screening saves lives. The more people screened, the more lives we save," Kinney said.
Other co-authors on the study include Allison E. Anderson, M.P.H., and N. Jewel Samadder, M.D., of HCI, and Ray M. Merrill, Ph.D., M.P.H. of Brigham Young University. Financial support for this study was provided by the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, and grant numbers CA125194 and CA042014 (CCSG) from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
# # #
The mission of Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah is to understand cancer from its beginnings, to use that knowledge in the creation and improvement of cancer treatments, to relieve the suffering of cancer patients, and to provide education about cancer risk, prevention, and care. HCI is a National Cancer Institute-Designated cancer center, which means that it meets the highest national standards for cancer care and research and receives support for its scientific endeavors. HCI is also a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a not-for-profit alliance of the world's leading cancer centers that is dedicated to improving the quality and effectiveness of care provided to patients with cancer. For more information about HCI, please visit _URL_.


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Anionic detergents (including soap and the largest portion of modern synthetic detergents), which produce electrically negative colloidal ions in solution.Cationic detergents, which produce electrically positive ions in solution.Nonionic detergents, which produce electrically neutral colloidal particles in solution.Ampholytic, or amphoteric, detergents, which are capable of acting either as...
Cationic detergents contain a long-chain cation that is responsible for their surface-active properties. Marketed in powder form, as paste, or in aqueous solution, they possess important wetting, foaming, and emulsifying properties but are not good detergents. Most applications are in areas in which anionic detergents cannot be used. Cationic-active agents are used as emulsifying agents for...
What made you want to look up "cationic detergent"? Please share what surprised you most...


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When you're talking about a topping for bagels and cream cheese, lox is the name most tossed around — it just sounds natural to order a bagel with lox and cream cheese. But is lox really just smoked salmon? Here's a guide to what lox really is, as well as a primer on how different types of smoked salmon are made.
Lox was traditionally only made from the belly of salmon, although other parts of the fish are now also used. The salmon is salt-cured or brined but never cooked or smoked, so it has a very silky, rich texture and translucency. Lox is the traditional topping of bagels with cream cheese and is most often served thinly sliced.
- Get a recipe: How To Salt Cure Salmon (Lox) at Home
There are two other versions of lox where the preparation methods do vary a bit:
- Nova Lox: This lox, which comes from Nova Scotia, is actually cold-smoked after the curing or brining process.
- Gravlax: Gravlax is the Scandinavian preparation of lox, where lots of fresh dill and spices such as juniper berries and pepper, as well as some liquor such as aquavit or brandy, are additional ingredients used during the curing process.
- Get a recipe: Gravlax
Smoked salmon is a much more generic term than lox. Smoked salmon can be made from any part of the fish, and it starts with salt curing or brining, just as in lox.
The next step is where smoked salmon is different from lox. The salmon can be covered in spices or a dry rub after curing, then smoked in one of two ways:
- Cold-Smoked Salmon: The salmon is slowly exposed to smoke in about an 80°F environment for a few days. The salmon doesn't get cooked, so the flesh of cold-smoked salmon stays very moist and silky and has a beautiful translucent pink color. Cold-smoked salmon has a similar texture to lox, but has an additional layer of smoky flavor. It is also a common topping for bagels and cream cheese and is usually sold thinly sliced.
- Hot-Smoked Salmon: The salmon is smoked with heat in the same way meat gets smoked. The fish gets cooked all the way through and ends up with a firm, flaky, and drier texture, but it also has a distinct smoky flavor. When shopping for hot-smoked salmon, it looks very similar to a piece of cooked or grilled salmon.
- Get a recipe: How To Make Hot-Smoked Salmon
Updated from a post originally published in March 2011.


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Having survived for over 200 million years, some turtle species are now threatened with extinction because they get caught in fishing nets. Martin Lenhardt at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science has worked with turtles accidentally netted in Chesapeake Bay, and found a way to save them (WO 01/17119). Turtles have an air-filled middle ear that resonates at a frequency that changes with age and the depth of water. Lenhardt discovered that if boats emit a 100-kilohertz ultrasound signal, the shells of nearby turtles convert it to a lower frequency, between 200 hertz and 15 kilohertz. This makes the beasts' middle ears resonate, scaring them into swimming away or diving to safety.
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.


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Youth Engagement Lead (Seeds of Leadership)
Job Title - Youth Engagement Lead (Seeds of Leadership)
Employment Type: Contract - Full Time - 12 months
For the past 3 years at Seeds of Leadership, we have been dedicated to nurturing the leadership potential in youth. Through customized training, guidance, and community projects, we instill essential skills, mindsets, and characteristics integral to exemplary leadership. With a vision for a more equitable world, we underscore the pivotal role of emerging leaders in driving positive change.
Our mission is to identify and nurture young talents (Age 14 – 21), providing them with an uplifting environment to hone their leadership skills and emerge as the proactive innovators and leaders our world needs. With an entrepreneurial spirit, we're always seeking out ways to enhance our approach, services, and overall impact.
In just three years, we have empowered the launch of over 100 projects, positively affecting more than 2,000 lives. These young individuals have established businesses, addressed community issues, and initiated programs that bring transformative change to people. As we look forward to welcoming more Youth Cohorts, we are set on elevating the contributions of young individuals throughout Canada.
The role of the Youth Engagement Lead at Seeds of Leadership is crucial in fast tracking the development of our upcoming leaders. They serve as a primary role model for the youth as they navigate through the program's path. This position not only drives our youth programs but also lays the foundation for a nurturing environment where young individuals can thrive. Through mentorship, event coordination, and establishing valuable partnerships, the Engagement Lead directly impacts the youth's trajectory, ensuring they are equipped with the tools and confidence to make meaningful contributions to their communities and beyond.
We are looking for a creative, detailed oriented, and positive individual with a desire to have an impact on the development of youth. Someone vibrant, adaptable, and naturally relatable to young individuals. A person eager to get their hands dirty to get the work done and hungry for learning and improvements.
Please bear in mind that having a solid grasp of the subjects the youth are studying is essential for providing effective assistance. To aid in this, we will provide you with the necessary training, information and resources related to the topics.
What will you be doing?
- Youth development: Establishing mentorship ties by engaging with youth individually every month, ensuring they provide timely and quality project reports, and linking them with relevant resources for their growth and projects.
- Coordinating immersive learning events: Plan and oversee immersive learning experiences such as retreats, summits, and coaching circles. This includes managing a current events calendar, conceiving innovative engagement activities, budgeting for each event, and collaborating with the creative team to effectively promote the Seeds brand and its events.
- Youth scouting: Proactively identify and screen young individuals with leadership potential through partnerships with other organizations and by organizing recruitment events.
- Volunteer Engagement: Responsible for attracting, training, and supporting volunteers. This includes implementing recruitment strategies, providing necessary training, offering ongoing support, and maintaining strong relationships to keep volunteers engaged and motivated.
- Partnership building: Develop and sustain relationships with partners to enable youth to execute their impact projects collaboratively, as well as securing sponsorships for learning events.
- Grants acquisition: Identify pertinent grant opportunities, diligently track and follow up on applications, and creatively write and submit grant proposals.
To be successful you need the…
- Ability to relate to the youth
- Optimistic mindset
- Hunger for excellence
- Strong critical thinking
- Strong attention to detail
- Comfortable with flexible work time including weekends
Experience we are looking for:
Preferred experience of 2-3 years in supporting the development of youth


De Montfort Road, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1SR
01273 473 017
St Pancras
Catholic Primary School
Lesson Objective - Can I explain what the term 'equality' means?
Task 1
Read PowerPoint and write down or discuss any answers to the questions. Please email me your answer to the question 'What does equality mean? and give an example.
Equality PowerPoint
Task 2
Read the statements about women and decide whether they are true or false.


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Researchers at Cornell University found that mice who were obese had 25% fewer taste buds than mice who were not obese. They fed one group of mice a high fat diet to achieve rapid weight gain while another group of mice were fed a healthy diet. Then the researchers counted the taste buds on a spot on the tongue that is known to have large clusters of taste buds for each group of mice. The lean mice were found to have more taste buds than their rotund counter parts. Taste buds are known to constantly regenerate by 50 to 100 cells. The average life span of a taste bud is 10 days and complete turn over of taste buds takes about 4 weeks. The researcher noticed in the obese mice that cell death sped up and regeneration of taste buds slowed down. The researchers turned to fatty foods to see if that was the culprit for the loss in taste buds. After controlling for mice who were genetically resistant to obesity the researchers came to the same conclusions.
chronic inflammation in the body so researchers turned to a common inflammatory molecule called TNF-alpha. Mice specifically bred to not have TNF-alpha were fed a high fat diet, became obese but did not loose taste buds. When TNF-alpha was injected into the tongues of lean mice, the mice lost taste buds. From their data the researchers concluded that inflammation caused by obesity increases the loss of taste buds. They theorize that people who become obese continue to do so because they have to keep eating higher fat foods to be satisfied. This study is interesting because it shows how important of a role inflammation plays in obesity. Hopefully this research can used to help others achieve and maintain a healthy weight.


Re: Surrogates and character representation
On 7/28/05, William D Clinger wrote:
> You certainly don't need character offsets to do a string
> search, but the naive algorithm without random access to
> characters is O(mn). The Boyer-Moore algorithm improves
> this to O(n/m) in many cases. I believe one can construct
> artificial examples to show that some O(n/m) cases would
> degrade to an intermediate complexity, or even back to O(mn),
> in UTF-8 or UTF-16 without character offsets.
This is not correct. Any search algorithm that works on bytes
will work on on UTF-8 strings. That is, given a C function that
searches for a char* within a char* (e.g. strstr) then that will
return the correct result if the arguments are UTF-8 encoded,
no matter what algorithm is used.
It is in fact UTF-32 that has additional overhead for Boyer-Moore
searches as mentioned in my previous mail.


How can a language with 7 million speakers be endangered?
This Chapter is currently unavailable for purchase.
The stable trilingualism characteristic of older Kenyans is not shared by many young Kenyans. The shift away from Kenyan indigenous languages is affecting even large languages such as Gĩkũyũ. Where other scholars have been dismissive, claiming there is no threat to Gĩkũyũ, Jane Hill has strongly supported this research and has noted that the case of Gĩkũyũ shows the prescience of Krauss's (1992) point that the only safe languages are those that have institutional support. Using Lieberson and McCabe's (1982) domains of use in an analysis of Kenyan language ideologies in the discourses of nationalism, education, and development, I show how constellations of language repertoires that exclude indigenous languages have contributed to the striking shift to bilingualism among young Kenyans. Keywords: indigenous languages; language endangerment; languages of Kenya
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