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Within the Belgian Radon Programme the Belgian Building Research Institute is responsible for theinvestigation of techniques for prevention and mitigation of radon problems in dwellings. One of themost regular actions is the installation of a sub-slab depressurisation (SSD) system. As there are noready-to-use systems available on the Belgian market, a system has to be designed for every specificsituation.
This study examines the way of utilizing a ceiling fan for airflow control in a large air-conditionedroom. Although it seems that CFD simulation is useful in predicting the airflow around a ceiling fan, modeling of a ceiling fan as a body of rotation is very complicated. Therefore, in this study, airflow of a ceiling fan is modeled as boundary conditions of air velocity data measured near the ceiling fan.
Research has shown that highly efficient solar powered ceiling fans improve thermal comfort and potentially provide health benefits when air conditioning or conventional ceiling fans are not available, such as during the 2003 summer heat waves in Europe, and in many undeveloped areas of the world. Ceiling fans can improve the spatial effectiveness of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. They can reduce air conditioning energy use if occupants increase thermostat set-points and reduce frequency of operation, and if waste heat from the fan motor is minimized.
Part of the task in the design of ventilation systems involves selection and specification of system components - components sizes and expected performance characteristics or criteria to achieve specific ventilation objectives for anticipated environmental conditions. Careful selection of these components is required to ensure that they are able to react to changes in environmental conditions.
This paper provides an overview of the benefits of plenum fans and a detailed discussion of some of the pitfalls. After covering some of the benefits leading to extensive use of plenum fans, included is a brief discussion of the major complaint expressed about plenum fans, which is that plenum
fans are less efficient than housed fans. Finally, the bulk of the paper covers problems that can result from poor design practices, sloppy construction, and careless handling.
The analytical model described in the first part of the paper is partially validated here by comparing the theoretical results to experimental data collected in a series of model test experiments in an open-jet anechoic wind tunnel. The emphasis is on the validation of the trailing-edge noise model. A comparison is made with existing numerical computations in the literature. The transfer function is found to be roughly invariant with respect to flow conditions encountered on an isolated airfoil. Furthermore, a first application of the model to a cooling fan is presented.
This paper, the first of 2 parts, is dedicated to the analytical modeling of the broadband noise radiated by subsonic fans, such as encountered in HVAC or engine cooling applications. A fan noise prediction scheme is proposed on the basis of single-airfoil linearised unsteady aerodynamics theories. Spanwise distributed sources only are investigated, corresponding to three basic mechanisms, namely the noise from impingement of upstream turbulence, the trailing edge noise associated with turbulent boundary layer scattering, and vortex shedding noise.
This paper is a description of the design process of a new generation low noise axial fan. The emphasis is on the practical use of acoustic knowledge issued from published work and engineer know-how. The use of date issued from numerical simulation is also presented.
This paper presents a comparison of the predicted and measured acoustic system effect induced by a box with a lateral opening at the inlet of an axial flow fan. The objective of this study carried out on an academic configuration, is to develop and validate prediction models for real cases.
Energy efficient operation of variable speed fans in Variable Air Volume (VAV) systems ishighly dependent on both the type of duct design as well as the type of control strategy thathas been implemented in association with the volume flow demand profiles of each individualzone in the building. The quantification of energy savings due to duct design and the effects offan control have generally been poorly understood, even with very simplistic types of controlstrategies, e.g. static pressure P + I control which have often been employed.


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Authentic Assessment - " Mission Possible or Mission Impossible?
Faculty of Computing, Health and Science
School of Natural Sciences / Centre for Ecosystem Management
This paper describes the successful implementation of authentic assessment items within two undergraduate units in the School of Natural Sciences. It argues that the content of any authentic assessment needs to ne contextualized and thus discipline specific. Within the field of environmental planning, there is an ongoing debate about both the nature and definition of the subject which makes creation truly authentic assessment problematic. The environment planning unit now includes three assessment items which replicate many of he practices required of an environmental planner. In contrast, in the field of chemistry, it is difficult to replicate the work practices of a professional chemist within the University learning environment. In the chemistry unit, an industry trip and seminar have been included to provide a more authentic learning environment for the students. The paper shows that it is possible to create assessments that are authentic and also meet the University's learning requirements.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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The "Green" Modernists
January 24, 2013
Two and half years in the making and created almost entirely by the Institute for Sustainable Design and The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture faculty, staff, alumni and students, the acclaimed new exhibition Lessons from Modernism: Environmental Design Considerations in 20th Century Architecture (1925 to 1970) opens on January 29th in the Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery. Approachable enough for a novice interested in architecture yet holding new insights for professionals and scholars the exhibition seeks to upend entrenched notions of architecture's Modernist era as disconnected from contemporary values of sustainability and environmental consciousness.
Its inspiration? "The 21st century and the dilemmas we are facing," Kevin Bone, Director of the ISD, Professor at the School of Architecture, and a principal on the project says. "We wanted to challenge the perception in certain architectural camps that sustainability is something you call a consultant to help you on by recognizing there was a time when these environmental relationships were integral to the architectural idea." To do that a core group of faculty, staff and alumni from the School of Architecture winnowed a list of over 100 projects from the Modernist era down to 25 examples. These incorporate both well-known and less well-known works across a range of building types including houses, schools and mixed-use facilities in a diversity of climate zones. In each case the research team looked for architects that had been on record discussing their ideas about the work's relationship to natural phenomena.
"We wanted someone who is not necessarily an architect to be able to come in here and understand the content we are trying to put forward" Prof. Bone says. A visitor to the gallery would first be treated along the hallway to a row of black and white photographs of each building presented as "artistic impressions," Prof. Bone says. Entering the gallery, visitors will see scale models of all 25 projects filling the space of the room. Mounted waist-high on separate "kiosks" and finished a uniform bone white, the models make a bold presentation as they invite close examination of each building's every detail. Contextualizing information covers the walls. A panel on each project includes its history, a basic study of each building's relationship to the sun and an investigation of the building's particular interaction with the environment through landscaping or construction. A locator map puts the buildings in relationship to each other on the globe and in their related climate zones. A general timeline puts the 25 selections relative to other 20th century architectural masterworks that were considered but not included.
"It has been something of a monumental undertaking," Prof. Bone says. All the models, research, drawings and photographic material have been produced exclusively for this exhibition, with generous support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. But the engine making it possible has been collaboration by faculty, alumni and students at the school. For example Wes Rozen ('05) of Situ Studio did the computer numeric modeling for the landscapes. Builder of Scale, a model-making studio run by Dan Schillberg ('03) built two of the models, and recent graduate Daniel Wills ('12) spearheaded a summer-long model making effort in 2012 conducted by students at the school. "This group of staff, alumni and students of the School of Architecture have contributed their time and worked very hard to make this exhibition possible," Prof. Bone says.
black and white photos by Pat McElnea
During a preview visit we asked Prof. Bone to select a few favorites. Immediately he maneuvers over to the model of what appears to be a modest Japanese pagoda. His hands hover over it. "This is an amazing one which I didn't really know before we did this show. Antonin Raymond, who went to Japan to help Frank Lloyd Wright build the Imperial Hotel, developed this project called the Kuruizawa Summer House and Studio (see above) in a sub-tropical, humid landscape in Japan. He adapted an iconic section from Le Corbusier's work for a house in Chile, a project proposed in stone and concrete, a material pallet appropriate for that region. Raymond took aspects of the same spatial diagram that appeared in Corbusier's drawing but through a different strategy of materiality and envelope made this appropriate for a different climate and a different cultural setting. This all-wood house with a thatched roof uses locally sourced materials and the vernacular of Japanese wood construction to create a system of passive ventilation controls for managing comfort. For example, the winds that rise up the hill waft over a cooling pool fed by a spring and then lift up over the high point of the house, acting as a natural evaporative cooler."
Prof. Bone points out other notable works such as Johannes Duiker's Open Air School for the Healthy Child (1930, at right), an early work of Modernism built in The Netherlands. A multi-story building, for every indoor classroom an adjoining outdoor space was also built, facing the direction of the winter sun for use year round. Another example, a single-story luxury home from the Greek Isles kept comfortable without mechanical equipment, has local connections. The architect, Constantinos Decavallas, co-founded the Form and Climate Research Group at Columbia University while a graduate student there in the 1950s, predating "green design" by almost 40 years.
A corrective to misperceptions could not be more enjoyable or edifying than a visit to Lessons from Modernism. Through original research presented in all new drawings, photos and models an alternative reading emerges about Modernist architecture, one of the most examined and seemingly codified cultural movements of the last 100 years. Refining a huge amount of collaborative work down to accessible, thought-provoking demonstrations, the exhibition shows visitors that the relationship of buildings to their environment was much on the mind of 20th century architects long before there was ever a LEED certification. "It is also a reminder that very good architectural work can be made with an element of simplicity," Prof. Bone says, "Here are architectural masterpieces attuned to the environment and that are relatively modest."
Lessons From Modernism
Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery
January 29 - March 23, 2013 (extended!)
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 12-7pm
(Closed Sunday and Monday)
For more, read the Artinfo interview with Kevin Bone discussing the exhibition.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Transition in Time Series Data Mining on Correlated Items
The authors are given a large database of customer transactions, where each transaction consists of transaction-id, the items bought in the transaction and the transaction time. The whole set of transaction is divided into a number of segments called durations (intervals) based on transaction time. And the dividing standard can be monthly, quarterly or yearly. They introduce the problem of mining strong association rules between consecutive durations using FP-tree and correlation coefficient, which is used to quantitatively describe the strength and sign of a relationship between two variables. This paper deals with the changes in the correlation between any two itemsets at the transition of the consecutive duration. Milestone is a change over point between durations.


text: Following an indepth exam board presentation by Hilary Quigg of AQA I was asked by Languages South East to give a few ideas to help teachers on the Isle of Wight to prepare their students for the Controlled Assessments. My main message was "Don't Panic"- good teaching remains good teaching no matter what the end exam, as long as we base it on sound pedagogy. Although in my eyes there are huge issues with the current exam set-up, there are potential gains if we can get our learners to a point where they have a base armoury of language that we can build on in every stage 1 before we build up to a controlled assessment. With plenty of games, opportunities to argue and practise language in a meaningful way we can jump through those hoops that are in front of us. If any of the games don't make sense just from the slides, feel free to leave a comment below and I'll explain them further.


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SHRM Assurance of Learning
Assurance of Learning Assessment for Graduating HR Students:
The Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM) Assurance of Learning Assessment for graduating HR students is the new universal benchmark for students who are completing an HR degree and who have little to no work experience in HR. It benefits students by showing employers the student has acquired the minimum knowledge required to be a successful HR professional, and it gives recent graduates an important advantage over other entry-level candidates by showing the student has achieved the Certificate of Learning upon passing an exit exam. The assessment helps universities meet their accrediting body's assurance of learning requirements because it helps show the HR degree program teaches what it states it will teach. And, it helps employers know that the student has taken an additional step to ensure their degree, complemented by the Certificate of Learning achievement, adequately prepares them for their career in HR. As part of SHRM's broader academic initiative, the Assessment represents an important step along an HR professional's career development path. It complements both formal classroom knowledge acquired through a degree program and experiential learning gained through internships. To learn more, visit the Assurance of Learning page on the SHRM website.


Eder single or multiclass
graz dating app
The mind itself, and eder single or multiclass state of consciousness humans find themselves in, is integral to mental health and wellbeing, therefore, there is a focus on the mind and consciousness as it relates to psychology, psychotherapy, and the pursuit of happiness. There is much that is unseen or still unknown in our world, yet as time progresses, more is being discovered in the field of science, so this has formed another part of the singles hannover kostenlos pursued by the website.
The universe has fascinated man for eons, so astronomy, cosmology and UFO's are included in the categories.
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It was felt that a place was eder single or multiclass that brought together divergent interests such as politics and government, economics and banking, technology, and the impact this has had on the Earth's climate and ecosystems. The founders believe in objectivity, supported by research and reference material where appropriate, and as a result, information shared on the website strives to be balanced and unbiased, but informative.
It is hoped the reader will leave the website having gained further knowledge about a subject of their interest.
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REAL basic 2006 review
Forget coding - write apps using drag and drop
Our Verdict
A feature-packed and mature programming platform
 - Easy to use
 Plenty of features
 - Not as capable as Visual Basic
BASIC used to be an accessible and easytolearn programming language. This is epitomised by the first two letters, B and A in the acronym, standing for 'beginners' and 'all-purpose'.
Yet the term BASIC now has more in common with rapid application development than a stepping stone to programming, and this as true with REALbasic as it is with Microsoft's venerable Visual Basic.
Both offer a single integrated environment for designing and building applications, with an emphasis firmly planted on drag and drop, rather than late-night coding sessions. You don't need to be any kind of a hacker to use these tools, but your first program is going to need more than just typing PRINT "HELLO" - there will be a learning curve.
Learning the basics
REALbasic attempts to make learning as painless as possible. The quality of the documentation is excellent, as is the tutorial that accompanies this release. There's little assumed knowledge and beginners should be able to start their own projects after just a few hours of study.
The only criticism is that all documentation is supplied as Adobe Acrobat PDFs, rather than as a more mouse navigable Windows Help file. This is no doubt because REALbasic has always been a multi-platform development tool, and there are versions for both Mac and Linux machines.
This has advantages: projects are interchangeable between platforms, but it's a pity that there isn't a more tailored approach for each system.
Applications are built by dragging and dropping different components from a tool palette onto the windows and panels that will make up your program. Components include everything from simple geometric shapes, to media players and embedded Microsoft Office documents.
Clicking each element will open a functional code editor, with features syntax highlighting, code completion and contextual help. You really get your hands dirty adding the functionality that binds all the components together.
The REALbasic syntax has many features that you'd expect from a modern object-oriented language, including inheritance, methods and properties, which is a far cry from old BASIC interpreters. You only need to add little bits of code, such when want to double-click a button. The editor makes it as easy as possible by listing all the empty methods where your code can go.
Extras for 2006
New features for this release are modest. The highlight is an attempt to make localisation easier. Using language constants, you can create an external file that contains all string data used within your application. Translators can then use this, along with a free tool called Lingua, to translate each string and create a localised version of your application.
Another new feature is the ability to script repetitive IDE tasks. This is like a macro mode, and helps with some of the more laborious copy and paste routines. REALbasic is also pushing to take over some of Microsoft's dominance, with the inclusion of several important Visual Basic 6 data types.
REALbasic is a finely tuned and effective development platform. It's not as capable as Visual Basic, but neither is it as bloated. It even shares many of its keywords. However, RealBASIC's main selling point is platform interoperability.
The Professional version can create binaries for Mac and Linux, which isn't possible in this version, but sharing code with other platforms is still a big advantage. Graham Morrison


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Preserving the Heritage by Preserving the SkillsDick Wagner
The Center for Wooden Boats
I. Who we are.The Center for Wooden Boats is a maritime museum focusing on the small boats of our past. We have more than 100 vessels of historic significance on display, representing diverse functions and diverse cultures. Most are in the water or next to the water, ready to launch. We are a "do-touch" museum because we believe the most challenging and long-lasting means of education is direct experience. And educating about our maritime heritage is our mission. Our boats are classrooms - and so is our Boatshop, which also floats. In the boats or in the Boatshop, visitors learn maritime heritage by doing it. They learn the skills to sail the old boats and build the classics. The whole CWB environment is on the water. We are a floating village, which is a historic metaphor of Seattle.
CWB is located on a lake in the center of the city, a few blocks from the core business district. We have created a site within the city that is an oasis of tranquillity, where one is separate from the urban bustle. The cries of Canada Geese drown out the roar of vehicles. We have muskrats that nest along the bank and frequent visits from Great Blue Heron, Bittern, Kingfisher and beaver. This environment is, in effect, light years away from the scream of police sirens and the clang of garbage cans. It is a neutral, non-threatening environment, conducive to receiving new signals, signals from the past. Our physical boundaries are about two acres. Our wetland boundaries are the 700 acres of Lake Union. And, when one is in one of our boats, the campus is extended as far as the boat goes. In that sense, we may be the world's largest maritime museum. Besides that, we consistently have been officially chosen as one of Seattle's "best places for a cheap date" by the publication, Seattle's Best Places, and recently we were singled out in the guide, Romantic Places in the Northwest, as "one of the best places to kiss."
II. What we do.CWB is a museum of programs. The programs are instruction in traditional maritime skills. Our exhibits are put to work. Those boats that need restoration are restored where the public can watch, ask questions and be encouraged to participate. Every museum has a back room where the dinosaur bones or Ming china is restored. At CWB every place is the back room and the public is invited in.
Over the years, the subjects of our workshops in maritime heritage skills have pretty much remained the same, but the audience has grown to include the wide spectrum of our community. A great example of the inclusiveness of CWB is that a replica 26' Umiak built in the summer of 1996 by a class of high-risk teenagers is being paddled twice a week by a team of Hawaiian native dancers to help reinstill their sense of teamwork. We hope. through our environment and programs, to be an integral part of our community where everyone, no matter what their age, abilities or cultural background, can be welcome and comfortable. We see our role as a community center with a maritime heritage spin. We do not charge admission.
School and group field trips include getting aboard various boats and, weather permitting, a sail in one of our larger boats or a paddle in the Umiak. Within a few minutes of leaving the dock, even pre-schoolers begin to get the hang of paddling as a crew. There is room for 20 five-year-olds, each with a paddle, but it only takes one on each side to get the Umiak moving.
"Cast Off" is our program to give free half-hour rides in our 20' 1906 steam launch, Puffin, or one of our larger sailboats. The idea is for people to get an instant introduction to a hands-on museum.
Sail NOW! is basic sailing instruction where the goal is to have students solo in all our livery boats. Instruction is year-round on Saturdays and Sundays and weekday evenings June through August.
LiveryWhere our visitors can rent a variety of rowing and sailing vessels. Renting a classic wooden boat in a classic lakeside setting is an experience one will long remember.
Boat Festival - our yearly gigantic public relations event where about 150 wooden boats of all sizes and vintages gather with the idea of an event that is affordable, accessible and educational. Boats must allow the public to board; small boats take visitors for a sail. There are skills demonstrations, including a Quick & Daring boatbuilding contest and a Toy Boat workshop.
Sail Away Challenge - a weekend sailing clinic for physically disabled people. We hold these one to three times each summer.
People with AIDS arrive every Wednesday afternoon for either a sailboat ride or to work as volunteers. This winter that made small boat models as Christmas tree decorations for us to sell in our gift shop.
Youth programs are of prime importance to us. We give sailing instruction to public and private school kids, including Seattle's Alternative School #1 which organized its own yacht club.
During the summer, our youth programs include one-week sailing instruction sessions for Boy Scout troops. Our Summer in the City program provides one-week sessions in sailing and seamanship for middle-school-aged youngsters. We also provide World of Wonder, a week-long rowing and seamanship class for 5- to 7-year olds.
"All Aboard" is the umbrella for our various programs for at-risk youth. Communities throughout America are witnessing a crisis in public education. Kids are dropping out due to lack of purpose and confidence "All Aboard" is about using the resources of heritage small boats to give teenagers in crisis the life skills, sense of purpose and confidence they lack. We believe "All Aboard" gives high-risk youth their last and best opportunity to succeed in mainstream learning and society. "All Aboard" involves practical use of math, science, social studies, language arts and maritime history in an adventure environment.
This program is a proven success in changing the lives of youths on the threshold of desperation. We have endorsements of the effects of "All Aboard" from the mental health professionals who have placed their clients in "All Aboard." We believe the program should be an example and goal for others working to rehabilitate youth at risk. Possibly more significant is that we have also successfully used the "All Aboard" concept of learning by doing with other groups, including people with AIDS, people with physical disabilities, the deaf, developmentally disabled people, desk-bound bureaucrats and college-bound youth. They all leave CWB exhilarated by their learning experience, passionate about the boat they built or the skills they learned and bonded to CWB. This program for at-risk youth is fuel for learning that benefits people of all ages and abilities.
III Why we do it.All museums want to know how they measure up, how the public feels about them. The usual means of evaluation is the guest register. Comments are always positive: "We had a great time" or "Wonderful exhibits." No one dares say, "My feet got tired" or "I was really bored."
The dream of every museum is to somehow make a change in the lives, or at least the horizons of knowledge of their visitors. At CWB, we can see measurable changes. After their first ride in a Whitehall or a Cape Cod cat boat or our steam launch, people walk away smiling, excited. Many leave with skills they never thought they would learn: how to build a wooden boat or how to sail a classic. And, like four-year-old Christopher who told his pre-school teacher after a field trip, "I want to come back to this please touch place real soon," they do.
That's why we do it: Evaluations that really count!
Return to the Preservation Conference Schedule page.


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The present research aims at gathering information on how LGBT individuals are living through the ongoing changes that are traversing Europe in terms of regulation of same-sex relationships. In a moment of transitions and strong public debates across Europe on same-sex sexualities and parenting rights, this research intends to ascertain how LGBT individuals perceive the impact that the presence (or absence) of laws has on their intimate lives. The research was conducted in four countries with different social contexts and legal frameworks: France, Iceland, Italy, Spain.
Central to the research are questions about the legal recognition of relationship, as well as about how laws are perceived to impact one's relationships and one's parental projects. This research hence investigates a selected group of participants' narratives about their daily lives with and without the recognition of the law and the larger society they live in. It also examines the degree to which the respondents define themselves as able to live their relationships safely and securely. In particular questions are asked as to whether strategies for negotiating one's visibility differ between the countries analysed. How are the laws or the absence thereof circumnavigated to accommodate non-normative familial arrangements? How are the material and symbolic impacts of laws (or lack thereof) narrated by our informants?
In our research, Iceland represents the Scandinavian model of recognising same-sex couples, first through a 'registered partnership' device created especially for same-sex couples and then by opening up marriage with nearly all parental rights. But Iceland also recognises a registered cohabitation protection that offers more flexibility for couples in terms of the shape of their union as well as the framework of their separation.
Spain instead represents a case where the absence of recognition was followed by equal marriage and adoption rights in 2005. At the national level therefore there was no institute such as civil partnership that was put in place in particular for same-sex couples but it is important to stress that regional laws had been legally recognising different types of cohabitation and familial arrangement before 2005.
In 2011, at the time the project was conceived, France allowed same-sex couples to enter PACS, a civil contract which does not deal with family matters but only with material aspects of cohabitation. After the investigation started, in 2013 France extended marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples. Other parenting rights such as access to ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies) for lesbian couples are however still not legally recognised. At first sight, the change of law in France created a scheme that is more or less similar to the Icelandic one.
Italy is going through some major changes in the legal recognition of same-sex couples and gay and lesbian parenting rights, albeit in a way that is far from linear. In May 2016 the Parliament approved the legal recognition of same-sex relationships, however step-child adoption was not included in the legal framework and women who are not in heterosexual marriage are still barred access to ART. However increasingly tribunals in Italy are granting recognition to parenting projects outside heterosexual couples, surpassing the gaps that characterise the political debate. The interviews analysed in this paper have been collected in 2014 and 2015 when Italy had no law at all. Compared to the other three countries, it is interesting to examine how participants frame their claim to rights and the impact the absence of legal recognition has had on their life and well-being.


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England; textile Dutch or German
Silk, linen, pigment
L. at center back 58 in. (147.3 cm)
Purchase, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1995 (1995.235a,b)
This painted silk gown is The Costume Institute's earliest example of the eighteenthcentury fashion for exoticism and chinoiserie. The gown's bold, somewhat fantastical floral pattern, with its use of dense areas of saturated color, is not, however, typical of the more commonly seen Chinese export silks, with their delicate and naturalistic designs.
Technical analyses of The Costume Institute's examples of Chinese export textiles by the Museum's Objects Conservation Laboratories revealed pigments bound in animal glue with underpainted designs in lead white outlined in silver and black paint. In contrast, the analysis of this gown disclosed the presence of a plant gum binder but no underpaint or silver and black painted outlines. Four pigments were used to create the palette—Prussian blue, gamboge, and red and brown lake—suggesting that the gown is most likely of European manufacture.
As early as the late eighteenth century, factories had been established in England, France, Holland, and Germany to replicate Chinese painted silks. Huguenots had begun to produce silks in Germany with the support of the Prussian governor, and it is likely that this textile is of Dutch or German origin. In addition, evidence suggests that the gown itself was constructed in England and thus is an exceedingly vivid surviving example of the intersecting transits of culture and commerce that permeated the period.


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|PRACTICAL INFECTION CONTROL COLLOQUY|
1. IP/OSHA Toolkit
Kay shares a comprehensive Infection Prevention & OSHA Toolkit for Dental Professionals and Trainers provided in a flash drive with accompanying directions. The toolkit is entirely paperless that can be placed on chairside computers for easy access. A training folder can be printed out for employee orientation. This toolkit can be used by beginners in dental infection prevention and seasoned practitioners alike both in education and consulting.
Some of what is included in the flash drive: Internet links to government agencies such as CDC and OSHA, Forms (Employee health immunizations, incident reports, OSHA training documentation), filled in OSHA plans including the new Hazard Communication Program Global Harmonizing System, etc. Note - the contents of the flash drive will be emailed to session participants via a file transfer program.
2. Making Infection Control Memorable
Ever feel like your students/audiences aren't excited about infection control and safety? Learn how to motivate by presenting your courses in a memorable and entertaining manner. Learn how to use hands-on experiences, games and demonstrations to drive your point home. You'll be the Mr/Ms Wizard by teaching in ways that will motivate the participants to strive for infection control excellence.
After attending this program, participants should be able to:
- Solve the issue of complexity in the preparation of Infection Prevention and OSHA programs using a minimum of effort
- Describe the benefits of adding an Infection Prevention Component to dental procedures
- Create an IP/OSHA program for their region, using the flash drive as a template
Making IC Memorable:
1. Convey a memorable message about Infection Control to others
2. Enhance presentation skills in large and small groups
3. Motivate individuals to take actionable steps to improve Infection Control


Saltern Microbial Communities Dine on DNA
In our paper, we show that DNA can be used as a source of phosphorus by a microbial community of a saltern. Yet, these microbes do not consume just any DNA…
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Extracellular DNA (eDNA) is present in every habitat, but is found at its highest concentrations in hypersaline environments. Laboratory experiments have shown that the model halophilic archaeon, Haloferax volcanii, is capable of utilizing DNA as a source of phosphate, and has a bias for some sources of DNA over others. To better understand usage of DNA in a natural microbial community, we developed an experiment wherein a mixed microbial community (sampled from a solar saltern in Isla Christina, Spain) was supplemented with various combinations of carbon, nitrogen, phosphate, and DNA and measured the impact of this supplementation on the community.
Sequencing revealed that the composition of DNA from the water column was quite different from the DNA obtained from cells. One might expect that the DNA present in the water column would just be a reflection of composition of the cellular fraction, and that the populations from the water column and the cellular fraction of a water sample would be the same, as all the dissolved DNA would be consumed at the same rate, regardless of composition. The dissimilarity instead suggests that there is a considerable amount of bias in consumption of DNA, and the DNA remaining in the water column could represent the accumulation from populations with DNA that is less "palatable". We were pleased to see that bias in DNA consumption is not limited to Hfx. volcanii.
In our work, we fed the sampled community with DNA or inorganic phosphate. Interestingly, the supplementation of DNA or phosphate alone did not allow the communities to grow, but the addition of carbon and nitrogen along with a phosphate source did, suggesting that the DNA was only being utilised as a phosphate source, rather than also supplying other elements as well. The growth of communities given DNA was comparable to those given phosphate, suggesting that consumption of DNA is a common means for the present cells to acquire a source of phosphate, but the growth was slightly more robust with phosphate than when DNA was supplied. Analysis of remaining phosphate after any of the treatments revealed more organic phosphate (DNA) being left behind than inorganic phosphate. This shows that inorganic phosphate is the most readily consumed, and again speaks towards there being a bias towards the source of phosphate as food. Supplying the communities with nitrogen alone showed no appreciable growth, carbon alone showed a small amount of growth, and a combination of carbon and nitrogen without phosphate showed growth, albeit not as much as when phosphate was also supplied. We believe this shows that all elements can be a limiting resource in the context of a natural saltern.
Sequencing also revealed that the composition of microbial community will shift depending on the type of nutrient supplementation. Because of this, we can't help but wonder if the composition of a community could be driven by the nutrients available, and if it might even be possible to predict the response of a community to the added nutrients. Future studies are needed to explore these ideas.
Andrea Makkay
Research Associate, University of Connecticut


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Life started From Lightning Bolts
It's possible that life on Earth began with a bolt of lightning.
No, the world's first bacteria were not literally animated by a stray thunderbolt (sorry, Dr. Frankenstein). Trillions of lightning bolts over a billion years of Earth's early history may have helped unlock essential phosphorus compounds that paved the way for life on Earth, according to a new study published Tuesday (March 16) in the journal Nature Communications.
Lead research author Benjamin Hess, a graduate student at Yale University's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, told Live Science, "In our study, we demonstrate for the first time that lightning strikes were possibly a major source of reactive phosphorus on Earth around the time that life evolved [3.5 billion to 4.5 billion years ago]."
"Lightning strikes may have thus contributed to the emergence of life on Earth by supplying phosphorus."
Life Scattered Through Sky?
How does an out-of-the-blue event contribute to the emergence of terrestrial life? It's all about the phosphorus atoms, or more precisely, the organic materials that phosphorus atoms can produce when combined with other bio-essential elements.
Consider phosphates, which are ions made up of three oxygen atoms and one phosphorus atom and are important to all forms of life. Phosphates are major components of bones, teeth, and cell membranes, and form the backbones of DNA, RNA, and ATP (the primary source of energy for cells).
However, while there was probably plenty of water and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to work with around 4 billion years ago, both of which are important for life's fundamental molecules, much of the planet's natural phosphorus was wrapped up in insoluble rock, making it difficult to mix into organic phosphates. So, how did Earth come to possess these vital compounds?
According to one hypothesis, early Earth got its phosphorus from meteorites carrying a mineral called schreibersite, which is partly made of phosphorus and soluble in water; if tonnes of schreibersite meteorites crashed into Earth over millions or billions of years, enough phosphorus could be released into a concentrated region to provide the right conditions for biological life, according to the new study.
When life appeared on Earth around 3.5 billion to 4.5 billion years ago, the rate of meteor strikes on Earth fell "exponentially," Hess said, since most of our solar system's planets and moons had largely taken shape. This complicates the hypothesis of interstellar phosphorus.
Hess says that there is another way to render schreibersite right here on Earth. It just takes a little bit of ground, a cloud, and a few trillion jolts of lightning.
Bolts in Billions
Lightning can heat surfaces to nearly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius), forming new minerals that were not previously present. Hess and his colleagues looked at a lightning-blasted clump of rock called fulgurite that was previously excavated from an Illinois site for the new research. Tiny balls of schreibersite, as well as a number of other glassy minerals, were discovered inside the rock by the team.
The team had to determine whether enough lightning might have hit early Earth to release a large amount of phosphorus-rich schreibersite into the atmosphere, now that they had preliminary proof that lightning strikes would produce phosphorus-rich schreibersite. The researchers calculated how many lightning strikes could have fallen over the planet last year using models of Earth's early atmosphere.
Currently, approximately 560 million lightning bolts strike the Earth each year; 4 billion years ago, when Earth's atmosphere was considerably richer in the greenhouse gas CO2 (and therefore hotter and more vulnerable to storms), the team determined that anywhere from 1 billion to 5 billion bolts struck each year. The team calculated that between 100 million and 1 billion bolts hit the ground each year (the rest discharged above the oceans).
And, according to Hess, up to a quintillion (a 1 followed by 18 zeros) lightning strikes could have reached our young earth over a billion years, each one releasing a small amount of available phosphorus. Lightning strikes alone may have provided Earth with anywhere from 250 to 25,000 pounds of phosphorus (110 to 11,000 kilogrammes) each year between 4.5 billion and 3.5 billion years ago, according to the researchers.
Phosphorous on Consideration
That's a wide selection, with a lot of confusion about early Earth conditions baked in. However, Hess believes that even a small amount of phosphorus may have influenced the emergence of life.
"All that is needed for life to form is a single location with the right ingredients," Hess told Live Science. "Yes, [250 lbs.] of phosphorus per year might have been enough if it was concentrated in a single tropical island arc. However, if there are several such sites, this is more likely to occur."
The question of whether lightning hit sufficiently exposed land on early Earth to have an effect on life will never be completely resolved. However, the latest research shows that it was mathematically feasible.
According to the researchers, it's possible that a combination of asteroid impacts and lightning strikes provided Earth with the phosphorus it required to weave the first bio-essential molecules including DNA and RNA. However, future research into early terrestrial life should avoid striking lightning in the record.


text:
Face-Centered-Cubic Lithium Crystals Formed in Mesopores of Carbon Nanofiber Electrodes
- Face-Centered-Cubic Lithium Crystals Formed in Mesopores of Carbon Nanofiber Electrodes
- 이병순; 서종현; 손승범; Seul Cham Kim; 최인석; 안재평; 오규환; 이세히; Woong-Ryeol Yu
- hollow carbon nanofibers; flexible Li-ion battery; freestanding electrode; irreversible capacity; Li FCC crystal
- Issue Date
- ACS Nano
- VOL 7, NO 7, 5801-5807
- In the foreseeable future, there will be a sharp increase in the demand for flexible Li-ion batteries. One of the most important components of such batteries will be a freestanding electrode, because the traditional electrodes are easily damaged by repeated deformations. The mechanical sustainability of carbon-based freestanding electrodes subjected to repeated electrochemical reactions with Li ions is investigated via nanotensile tests of individual hollow carbon nanofibers (HCNFs). Surprisingly, the mechanical properties of such electrodes are improved by repeated electrochemical reactions with Li ions, which is contrary to the conventional wisdom that the mechanical sustainability of carbon-based electrodes should be degraded by repeated electrochemical reactions. Microscopic studies reveal a reinforcing mechanism behind this improvement, namely, that inserted Li ions form irreversible face-centered-cubic (FCC) crystals within HCNF cavities, which can reinforce the carbonaceous matrix as strong second-phase particles. These FCC Li crystals formed within the carbon matrix create tremendous potential for HCNFs as freestanding electrodes for flexible batteries, but they also contribute to the irreversible (and thus low) capacity of HCNFs.
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- KIST Publication > Article
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jQuery makes it trivial to add simple effects to your page. Effects can use the built-in settings or provide a customized duration. You can also create custom animations of arbitrary CSS properties.
See the effects documentation for complete details on jQuery effects.
An important note about animations: In modern browsers, and especially on mobile devices, it is often much more efficient to achieve animations using CSS rather than JavaScript. The details of doing this are beyond the scope of this guide, but if you are only targeting mobile devices or browsers that support CSS animations, then you should use CSS for animations where possible. You may also want to consider setting to true on low-resource devices; doing so will cause animation methods to immediately set elements to the desired state, rather than animating to that state.
Built-in effects
Frequently used effects are built into jQuery as methods that you can call on any jQuery object:
 -.show() Show the selected elements.
 -.hide() Hide the selected elements.
 -.fadeIn() Animate the opacity of the selected elements to 100%.
 -.fadeOut() Animate the opacity of the selected elements to 0%.
 -.slideDown() Display the selected elements with a vertical sliding motion.
 -.slideUp() Hide the selected elements with a vertical sliding motion.
 -.slideToggle() Show or hide the selected elements with a vertical sliding motion, depending on whether the elements are currently visible.
Once you've made a selection, it's simple to apply an effect to that selection.
$( '.hidden' ).show();
You can also specify the duration of built-in effects. There are two ways to do this: you can specify a time in milliseconds...
$( '.hidden' ).show( 300 );
... or use one of the pre-defined speeds:
$( '.hidden' ).show('slow' );
The predefined speeds are specified in the jQuery.fx.speeds object; you can modify this object to override the defaults, or extend it with new names:
// re-set an existing predefined speed = 50;
// create a new pre-defined speed
jQuery.fx.speeds.turtle = 3000;
// Since we've re-set the 'fast' speed, this will now animate over the
// course of 50 milliseconds
$( '.hidden' ).hide( 'fast' );
// After they are created, we can use custom speeds just as we use the
// built-in speeds
$( '.other-hidden' ).show( 'turtle' );
Often, you'll want to do something once an animation is done — if you try to do it before the animation completes, it may affect the quality of the animation, or it may remove elements that are part of the animation. You can provide a callback function to the animation methods if you want to specify what should happen when the effect is complete. Inside the callback, this refers to the raw DOM element that the effect was applied to. Just like with event callbacks, we can turn it into a jQuery object by passing it to the $() function: $( this ).
$( 'p.old' ).fadeOut( 300, function() {
 $( this ).remove();
Note that if your selection doesn't contain any elements, then your callback will never run! If you need your callback to run regardless of whether there are elements in your selection, you can create a function and use it for both cases:
var oldElements = $( 'p.old' );
var thingToAnimate = $( '_TAG_' );
// This function will be a "callback" to the "show" method when there are
// elements to show. Otherwise, we will simply call it immediately
var removeOldElements = function() {
if ( thingToAnimate.length ) {
 // When passed as a callback to "show", the function will be invoked
 // when the animation is complete'slow', removeOldElements );
} else {
Custom effects with.animate()
If the built-in animations don't suit your needs, you can use.animate() to create custom animations of many CSS properties. (Notably, you cannot animate the color property, but there is a plugin that makes it possible).
The.animate() method takes up to three arguments:
 - an object defining the properties to be animated
 - the duration of the animation, in milliseconds
 - a callback function that will be called when the animation is complete
The.animate() method can animate to a specified final value, or it can increment an existing value.
$( '.funtimes' ).animate({
 left: '+=50', // increase by 50
 opacity: 0.25,
 fontSize: '12px'
 function() {
 // executes when the animation is done
Note that if you want to animate a CSS property whose name includes a hyphen, you will need to use a "camel case" version of the property name if you do not quote the property name. For example, the font-size property must be referred to as fontSize.
Managing animations
jQuery provides two important methods for managing animations.
 -.stop() will stop currently running animations on the selected elements.
 -.delay() will pause before the execution of the next animation method. Pass it the number of milliseconds you want to wait.
jQuery also provides methods for managing the effects queue, creating custom queues, and adding custom functions to these queues. These methods are beyond the scope of this guide, but you can read about them here.


text:
Dr. Manno discusses running and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Is it an option for the RA patient?
When it comes to exercise, an area of concern for some patients is fatigue, doesn't exercise make you more tired? Here is what Dr. Manno has to say about exercise and fatigue.
- Exercise can actually improve energy, decrease fatigue, and improve sleep. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part.
- Once exercise has been incorporated into your lifestyle, fatigue will begin to decrease over time.
Remember to always talk to your doctor before starting a workout regimen!
Finding the right type of exercise is important for those with arthritis. Two main areas of exercise are aerobic exercise and resistance exercise. Aerobic exercise also known as cardio includes things like running, walking, or swimming. Resistance exercise is includes things like weight training or body weight exercises.
Tips for finding the right exercise:
- Research has shown both cardio and resistance exercise is best.
- Whatever exercise you choose, it will be beneficial to your health and to your joints.
- Do something you enjoy. This will help to incorporate exercise into your lifestyle.
Always talk to your doctor before starting a workout regimen to make sure you are exercising safely.
- Key symptoms of infection are fever, chills, and clammy sweating.
- Other signs of infection may be shortness of breath, nasal or chest congestion.
- A urinary tract infection may present with frequent, burning, and painful urination.
- Symptoms of skin or wound infections are redness, swelling, soreness, and warmth. Pus and foul odors may also be present with an infection.
- Be sure to call your doctor if you have any of these symptoms to see if treatment is required.
Importance of Infection Recognition
If you are on a biologic medication, your immune system is altered. This puts you at a higher risk for serious infections. Please take a look at some of the signs and symptoms of infections so you know when to call your doctor.
Signs and Symptoms of Infection
One of the first signs of infection is a fever. It is encouraged that you have a thermometer accessible at home, that way, when you call your doctor you can let them know if you have a fever. Sweating such as feeling clammy or breaking out in chills and not being able to get warm is another possible sign of infection.
Another thing to take note of is any changes in your cough or the development of a cough or a sore throat. Also, be aware of any shortness of breath. Take note of any nasal congestion, chest congestion, or stiffness in your neck. While these symptoms may not mean infection, it is important you have them checked out.
Burning, painful, and frequent urination may be signs of a urinary tract infection. If you notice any unusual discharge including vaginal discharge or discharge anywhere else such as the eyes be sure to tell your provider.
Symptoms of a skin infection in a cut or open wound are redness, soreness, swelling, and warmth in that area. Keep an eye out for any pus or foul smelling odors coming from your cut.
If you have any of these symptoms, or symptoms related to shingles, it is important to let your doctor know so it can be diagnosed and treated if necessary.


text: Canned and bottled tea drinks contain not only green tea epicatechins (GTE), namely (−)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), (−)-epicatechin gallate (ECG), (−)-epigallocatechin (EGC) and (−)-epicatechin (EC), but also four GTE epimers, namely (−)-gallocatechin gallate (GCG), (−)-catechin gallate (CG), (−)-gallocatechin (GC) and (−)-catechin (C). In the present study we examined the antioxidant activity and bioavailability of these epimers compared with their corresponding precursors. The epimerisation reaction was induced by autoclaving GTE extract derived from longjing green tea at 120°C for 20 min. Isolation and purification of each GTE and epimer were accomplished by various column chromatographic and semi-preparative HPLC techniques. The antioxidant activity of each epimer with its corresponding GTE precursor was conducted in the three in vitro systems, namely human LDL oxidation, ferric reducing–antioxidant power (FRAP), and anti-2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical assays. The results of all three assays demonstrated that CG had similar antioxidant activity with its precursor ECG, while GC was less potent as an antioxidant than its precursor EGC. Regarding EGCG and GCG, the antioxidant potency was similar for both LDL oxidation and DPPH free radical assays, but GCG was statistically less effective than EGCG in the FRAP assay. For EC and C, the latter had less anti-free radical activity in the DPPH assay, but in LDL oxidation and FRAP assays the antioxidant activity was similar. Oral and intravenous dosing of GTE–epimer mixture led to increase in total plasma antioxidant capacity in rats. In general, both epicatechins and epimers had low bioavailability (0·08–0·31) and most of the observed differences between epicatechins and their corresponding epimers were small, even if they were statistically significant in some cases. It was concluded that the epimerisation reaction occurring in manufacturing canned and bottled tea drinks would not significantly affect antioxidant activity and bioavailability of total tea polyphenols.


- Recommendations
 Color Code: What Color Is "Brave"?
 On a recent branding project, a client asked if we knew of any scientific studies on the meaning or perception of color. Momentarily silenced by the brilliance of the question, and kicking myself that I hadn't thought to ask this question myself, I said "No" and immediately began to search.
 What I quickly learned is that the "science" of color theory, or color psychology, is an area that has much room left for exploration. Color is everywhere: fashion, advertising, food packaging, cars, décor, sports team colors, just to name a few. Understanding people's perceptions of it is complex, confusing and quite challenging.
 In the West people wear black for mourning, while in the East (China in particular), white is the color of mourning. In many informal surveys, the majority of people name blue as their favorite color. It's claimed that red and orange make you hungry because they are "warm" colors and thus stimulate the appetite (ever notice the main colors used by fast food restaurants?).
 There is a study on how wearing red jerseys seemingly resulted in a sports team winning more than when they wore blue ones. You can read about it at Der Spiegel and National Geographic. In the sports jersey study, one theory suggests that red intimidates the opposing team because it's a signal of strength (based on male strutting in the animal kingdom). Another suggests that is stimulates the winning team. But this doesn't explain why the "donate" button on so many websites is red. We suspect that organizations have done some A/B testing and determined that red got better results than the competing color—perhaps because it captures attention.
 But, is red really red? Scientists from Arizona State University published a study on the differences in how men and women see the color red in the American Journal of Human Genetics. The study shows that while men tend to see "just red," women see a much wider range of colors, such as burgundy, tomato and crimson. There is a gene that lets us see the color red, and women happen to have two copies of it sitting on the X chromosome. Men have just one copy. So I have to wonder how the sports jersey would fare with female teams.
 A man named Faber Birren appears to be the father of Color Psychology. Trained at the Chicago Art Institute, he first tried to become a landscape painter but realized he didn't have a talent for it. Instead he became an industrial color consultant, keeping diligent records on color trends for items such as paints, furnishings, and plastics. He wrote numerous articles and books on subjects such as how color can reduce fatigue, heal or even reveal information about personalities. And he had a large influence on the development of factory and other workplace environments.
 The most scientific source I found regarding a comprehensive approach to understanding color perception was a formal academic research project by a man named Joe Hallock, who is currently a user experience designer with Microsoft. His project consists of a detailed and properly controlled survey of 232 people across 22 different countries, and is full of pie charts and graphs that clearly show trends.
 It identifies differences in how men and women perceive color (men tend to dislike purple), how our color preferences change as we age, how colors relate to certain concepts (such as bravery), and how color may relate to a person's online activities (such as shopping, making a donation or sharing). He was unable to attract enough people to obtain meaningful information about cultural differences—though that had been a primary goal at the beginning. Nevertheless, what he did learn is fascinating, and incredibly useful to the practice of branding and marketing.
 It's important to understand that the perception of color may vary widely based on multiple factors: age, gender, cultural identity, time of day, type of lighting, scale, environment in which it is displayed, structure and function of the individual eyeball/brain connection and more.
 For example, in Hallock's study, he discovered that purple is one of men's least favorite colors, but it's also a color they associate with the concepts of bravery and courage. This is interesting in that it underscores the subjective nature of color perception. Here, it seems as if the generic idea of the color "purple" is not liked by most men, but the association of a Purple Heart medal with bravery and courage puts the color into a different context, and changes their response to it.
 To successfully use any information about how people perceive color we must first have a strong understanding of the audience demographic, combined with knowledge of the specific goals of the client.
 Armed with that information, we might then begin to have an idea of the best color choices for a logo for a nonprofit organization that supports war veterans, or for a for-profit organization that supports the human resources departments of multimillion-dollar companies. We might better know what color to make the "donate" button on a home page, or the general color scheme for a business card.
 About the Author:
 In 2002, Marcy launched WireMedia to provide strategic communications to organizations that work to improve lives, communities, and environments. Marcy's expertise is in communications strategies, creative concepts, and technical solutions. With a strong background in both design and technology, her deep set of skills includes online campaign strategy and concepts, website creative and technical planning, ad campaign strategy and concepts, and brand strategy and development. Over the past decade, work under her creative direction has won numerous Pollie Awards from the American Association of Political Consultants. And a logo design under her creative direction was selected to appear in the 2011 Typography Annual from Communications Arts magazine. Marcy designed the course syllabus and taught website design & technology courses for over seven years at Parsons School of Design and at the New School Online University. An active member of the National Association of Women Business Owners – Los Angeles, she currently serves on the communications and education committees. Marcy holds a Master of Fine Arts in design and technology from Parsons The New School for Design and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She lives in Los Angeles, CA and enjoys practicing taekwondo, painting, and wine tasting.
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Debugging Non-Python Mainloops
Because of the way the Python interpreter supports debugging, the debug process may become unresponsive if your debug process is free-running for long periods of time in non-Python code, such as C or C++. Whenever the Python interpreter is not called for long periods of time, messages from Wing IDE may be entirely ignored and the IDE may disconnect from the debug process. This primarily affects pausing a free-running program or setting, deleting, or editing breakpoints while free-running.
Examples of environments that can spend significant amounts of time outside of the Python interpreter include GUI kits such as Gtk, Qt, Tkinter, wxPython, and some web development tools like Zope. For the purposes of this section, we call these "non-Python mainloops".
Supported Non-Python Mainloops
Wing already supports Gtk, Tkinter, wxPython, and Zope. If you are using one of these, or you aren't using a non-Python mainloop at all, then you do not need to read further in this section.
Working with Non-Python Mainloops
If you are using an unsupported non-Python mainloop that normally doesn't call Python code for longer periods of time, you can work around the problem by adding code to your application that causes Python code to be called periodically.
The alternative to altering your code is to write special plug-in support for the Wing debugger that causes the debug server sockets to be serviced even when your debug program is free-running in non-Python code. The rest of this section describes what you need to know in order to do this.
Non-Python Mainloop Internals
Wing uses a network connection between the debug server (the debug process) and the debug client (Wing IDE) to control the debug process from the IDE and to inform the IDE when events (such as reaching a breakpoint or exception) occur in the debug process.
As long as the debug program is paused or stopped at a breakpoint or exception, the debugger remains in control and it can respond to requests from the IDE. Once the debug program is running, however, the debugger itself is only called as long as Python code is being executed by the interpreter.
This is usually not a problem because most running Python program are executing a lot of Python code. However, in a non-Python mainloop, the program may remain entirely in C, C++, or another language and not call the Python interpreter at all for long periods of time. As a result, the debugger does not get a chance to service requests from the IDE. Pause or attach requests and new breakpoints may be completely ignored in this case, and the IDE may detach from the debug process because it is unresponsive.
Wing deals with this by installing its network sockets into each of the supported non-Python mainloops, when they are detected as present in the debug program. Once the sockets are registered, the non-Python mainloop will call back into Python code whenever there are network requests pending.
Supporting Non-Python Mainloops
For those using an unsupported non-Python mainloop, Wing provides an API for adding the hooks necessary to ensure that the debugger's network sockets are serviced at all times.
If you wish to write support for a non-Python mainloop, you first need to check whether there is any hope of registering the debugger's socket in that environment. Any mainloop that already calls UNIX/BSD sockets select() and is designed for extensible socket registration will work and is easy to support. Gtk and Zope both fell into this category.
In other cases, it may be necessary to write your own select() call and to trick the mainloop into calling that periodically. This is how the Tkinter and wxPython hooks work. Some environments may additionally require writing some non-Python glue code if the environment is not already set up to call back into Python code.
Mainloop hooks are written as separate modules that are placed into src/debug/tserver within WINGHOME (the Wing IDE installation directory, or on OS X Contents/Resources in Wing's.app folder). The module _extensions.py also found there includes a generic class that defines the API functions required of each module, and is the place where new modules must be registered (in the constant kSupportedMainloops).
Writing Non-Python Mainloop Support
To add your own non-Python mainloop support, you need to:
 - Copy one of the source examples (such as _gtkhooks.py) found in src/debug/server, as a framework for writing your hooks. Name your module something like _xxxxhooks.py where xxxx is the name of your non-Python mainloop environment.
 - Implement the _Setup(), RegisterSocket(), and UnregisterSocket() methods. Do not alter any code from the examples except the code with in the methods. The name of the classes and constants at the top level of the file must remain the same.
 - Add the name of your module, minus the '.py' to the list kSupportedMainloops in _extensions.py
Examples of existing support hooks for non-Python mainloops can be found in src/debug/tserver within WINGHOME.
If you have difficulties writing your non-Python mainloop hooks, please contact Technical Support via _URL_ We will be happy to assist you, and welcome the contribution of any hooks you may write.
Debugging Non-Python Mainloops


text:
Threat Assessment Team
The Threat Assessment Alert Team (TAAT) is dedicated to a proactive, coordinated and planned identification, prevention, assessment, management, and reduction of interpersonal and behavioral threats to the safety and well-being of students, faculty, staff and visitors of Roxbury Community College.
Threat assessment is designed to be a preventative process used to identify warning signs and intervene before something preventable happens. Cases are NOT managed on a first-come, first served basis. Rather, all cases are triaged and the most serious cases are managed first. All cases, regardless of the immediacy, will be reviewed and managed in the manner most appropriate for the situation.
In the event of an imminent or significant threat posed, the matter should be immediately referred to the College's Office of Public Safety and/or the Boston Police Department. This document outlines the process the team will follow upon receiving a referral for threatening, problematic, or concerning student behavior.
The College has a commitment to ensure that no retaliatory actions are taken against any person or persons who submit a referral form to the team.
- Kevin Hepner, Vice President of Administration and Finance
- Charles Walker, Interim Executive Director of Human Resources
- Ruth Hines, Health Services Coordinator
- Cecile Regner, Interim Vice President of Student and Academic Affairs
- Oscar Walker, Director of Public Safety
Identifying and Responding to Student of Concern
Signs and Symptoms for Students of Concern
- Erratic behavior, including infrequent class attendance or failure to follow through with responsibilities.
- Increasing dependence on a faculty or staff member, parent, or other person (by demanding excessive amounts of time and attention).
- Social isolation, withdrawal, lethargy.
- Inability to focus on a specific topic in a conversation or activity.
- Disorganized thinking and speech, feelings that are inappropriate to the situation, or other evidence that a student is "out of touch with reality".
- Expression of feelings of persecution, paranoia, or strong mistrust of others.
- Disruptive, explosive, or disrespectful behavior.
- Signs of excessive alcohol or drug use.
- Abrupt change in manner, style, or personal hygiene.
- Overtly suicidal thoughts and/or statements expressed verbally or in writing.
- Statements about harming someone else.
- Expressed uncertainty and anxiety about emotional stability, family situation, and/or relationship problems.
Guidelines for Responding to a Student of Concern
- Share your interest and concern openly and directly.
- Set clear limits about your role with the student.
- Maintain a student's privacy, but do not promise confidentiality.
- Help a student tell his or her story. Offer the opportunity to listen to what is on his or her mind.
- Demonstrate an understanding of what the student discloses.
- Statements made by the student regarding an intention or plan to harm self or others must be reported.
- Inquire as to how the student is attempting to respond to the problem. Help develop response options together.
- Consult with peers, colleagues, supervisors, deans, Dean of Students Office or others if you need additional perspectives before or after talking to the student.
- Suggest a referral to the Student Health Center, Dean of Students Office, or other community resources.
- Follow up as appropriate.


Guest Post: Somewhere to Go - The William Herschel Museum (Bath)
Here's a guest post by Colin, who's an author, a maths tutor, and the owner of quite a cool twitter handleIf you've been somewhere interesting that you think would be a good place for other Blogstronomy readers to know about then why not write a review yourself? Get in touch!
By Mike Young, via Wikimedia Commons
Herschel used a'scope a lot like this one to
There are - as far as I'm concerned - two kinds of museum. There's the "oo look! Touch and play" kind of museum; and there's the "crazy display of mad wee things" kind.
The William Herschel Museum in New King Street, Bath (, £5 to get in [How much to get out? - TK]) is firmly in the mad wee things category. Dedicated to the life and work of 18th century astronomer William Herschel (whose discovery of Uranus was a gigantic coup for his telescope-building business), the museum gives a glimpse into the world of Georgian science.
The museum spans three of the five floors of the modest townhouse where Herschel and his sister, Caroline, did their early work. You start in the basement, where Patrick Moore narrates a short video putting Herschel into context, before you wander through the remaining rooms, laid out roughly as they would have been in Herschel's time. The kitchen, for instance, is right next to Herschel's workshop, where the cracked tiles show the injuries of a mirror-making accident; these are next to a gallery full of rather neat astronomical artwork by Chris Williams overlooking the garden where Uranus was discovered. Upstairs, you've got the rooms where the Herschels lived and worked, with many of their tools, instruments, replica furniture and clothes - as well as the odd bit of paraphernalia vaguely related to Herschel's musical and scientific careers.
By NASA/JPL/Voyager, from Wikimedia Commons
... 90 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 kg of stuff that no-one
had noticed before.
The walls are covered with satirical prints of the day - sadly, without much context or explanation, which is my major disappointment with the museum. The artefacts - from Herschel's tools to newspaper cuttings to astrolabes to military serpents - are amazing, but almost completely devoid of context.
The late 18th century was - largely - a rotten period for British science: Newton had been and gone, and Babbage was just around the corner; Harrison, Watt, Jenner and Dunlop are the only memorable British names that leap out at me from a list of inventions and discoveries of the time. Meanwhile, on the continent, Euler, the Bernoullis, Lagrange and Laplace were busy inventing modern maths, Franklin was sorting out that pesky electricity nonsense in the colonies... while, as far as I can see, Britain cried about losing the USA and fretted about Napoleon*.
Even the Herschels were originally Hanoverian and only ended up in Bath because of the burgeoning music scene. There's no sense of how important discovering Uranus was (there are only nine planets in the solar system - counting Pluto, of course [Which means there are only eight planets in the solar system... TK] - we're sitting on one of them and we've known about at least five of the others since antiquity), and very little about the actual astronomy he did.
If you're looking for a hands-on museum of astronomy, you won't find it at the Herschel. However, on a 'look and gawp at the mad wee things' level, it's a wonderful glimpse into the life of a genius who isn't as well-known as Newton and Babbage - but probably ought to be.
* I'm good at this history lark!
 1. I have been to the William Herschel museum! I thought it was great - very intimate and interesting.
 2. I've never been. Must put it on the list...
 3. If you go to Bath, the Roman Baths are well worth the entrance fee - especially with Bill Bryson's commentary.
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Use of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) in consumer products is resulting in NPs entering drinking water sources. Subsequent NP breakthrough into treated drinking water is a potential exposure route and human health threat.
Objectives:This study investigated the breakthrough of common NPs, silver, titanium dioxide (TiO2), and zinc oxide (ZnO), into finished drinking water following conventional and advanced treatment.
Methods:NPs were spiked into five experimental waters: groundwater, surface water, synthetic freshwater, synthetic freshwater with natural organic matter, and tertiary wastewater effluent. Bench scale coagulation/flocculation/sedimentation simulated conventional treatment, and microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) simulated advanced treatment.
Breakthrough of NPs into treated water was monitored by turbidity removal and inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).
Results:Conventional treatment resulted in 2-20%, 3-8%, and 48-99% of silver, TiO2, and ZnO NPs or their dissolved ions remaining in finished water, respectively. Breakthrough following MF was 1-45% for silver, 0-44% for TiO2, and 36-83% for ZnO. With UF, NP breakthrough was 0-2%, 0-4%, and 2-96% for silver, TiO2, and ZnO, respectively. Variability was dependent on NP stability with less breakthrough of aggregated NPs compared to stable NPs and dissolved NP ions.
Conclusions:Although a majority of aggregated or stable NPs were removed by simulated conventional and advanced treatment, NP metals were detectable in finished water. As environmental NP concentrations increase, we need to consider NPs as emerging drinking water contaminants, and determine appropriate drinking water treatment processes to fully remove NPs in an effort to reduce their potential harmful health outcomes.
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October 6 @ 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
We know that leaders have a significant impact on creating a culture of inclusiveness within a team or department. In this session, we will explore the foundational elements of inclusive leadership. What does it look like? How does the leader cultivate her or his own inclusiveness and, even more important, create a team environment where the contributions of all members are valued and nurtured? Pre-registration required in myTraining. This is a program of the Managing at UF: The Supervisory Challenge.


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Anne of Denmark was the wife of James I, the first of the Stuart monarchs. Anne was born on October 14th, 1574 at Skanderborg Castle in Denmark. She married James by proxy in August 1589 though the actual marriage took place in Oslo on November 23rd, 1589.
James thought of himself as an intellectual and academic. It is said that he found Anne frivolous and less than academic. With little to bond them, James preferred the company of his favourites though he always ensured that Anne lived the life as befitted a queen. Anne shared her husband's view that monarchy should live the lifestyle of monarchy. She spent large sums of money on clothes and jewels. Anne also ensured that her eldest son, Henry, heir to the throne, was equally lavished with gifts and symbols of what James called'magnificence'. Anne spent large sums of money on Somerset House (her residence in London) and re-named it Denmark House. Neither Anne nor James had any real understanding of finance - both believed that if they needed something, they should have it.
The early death of Henry in 1612 meant that Anne's second son, Charles, became the heir to the throne.
Anne died on March 4th, 1619 aged 44. She was buried in Westminster Abbey.


"Be Cool Man"
Physical Environment
Physical Characteristics
Bicol is the fifth administrative region under the Integrated Reorganization Plan (IRP), which was implemented through Presidential Decree No. 1 in 1972. Generally located at the midsection of the country or at the southern tip of Luzon, Bicol lies within coordinates 122 to 124.5 degrees longitude and 12 to 14.5 degrees latitude. It is bounded northwest by Quezon Province, east by the open seas of the Pacific, southeast by Samar Sea and southwest by Sibuyan Sea.
The region is composed of four mainland provinces and two island provinces. It has a total of seven (7) cities and 107 municipalities subdivided into 3,471 barangays. Politically, 14 congressional districts subdivide the region.
Land Area
The region's land area of about 1.8 million hectares is roughly 6.04 percent of the country's 30 million hectares. Around 69 percent or two-thirds of the region's land area is part of mainland Luzon while the rest is the combined land area of the island provinces of Masbate and Catanduanes.
Camarines Sur has the largest land area with 548,60 hectares or 30 percent of the regional area while Catanduanes has the smallest with 149,216 hectares or 9 percent.
As to municipal areas, Labo in Camarines Norte has the largest municipal land area of 58,936 hectares followed by Milagros in Masbate with 56,530 hectares. In contrast, Camaligan and Gainza both of Camarines Sur, have the smallest land areas of 468 and 1,475 hectares respectively. Among the seven cities in the region, Sorsogon City is the largest with 27,611 hectares followed by Ligao City (24,675 hectares) and Masbate City with 18,800 hectares.
The region's topography may be generally described as ranging from slightly undulating to rolling and from hilly to mountainous. Bicol is endowed with numerous mountains and volcanoes. The most famous, Mt. Mayon in Albay, has the highest elevation at 2,462 meters above sea level. Other volcanoes and mountains dominating the countryside and their corresponding elevations include: Mt. Malinao (1,548 meters), Mt. Masaraga (337 meters) and Mt. Catburawan (473 meters) in Albay; Mt. Isarog (1,966 meters) and Mt. Iriga (1,143 meters) in Camarines Sur; and Bulusan Volcano (1,560 meters) in Sorsogon.
In Camarines Norte, a rolling to rugged terrain surrounds the plains of Labo, Talisay, Vinzons and Daet. This rugged topography stretches from Mt. Labo to the Camarines Norte-Camarines Sur boundary and thence to a rolling strip along the western coast of Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon. The rugged landforms of Eastern Bicol, Cordillera in the northeast extending from Calinigan Mountain (Caramoan Peninsula) to Mt. Mayon, on the other hand, separates the plains of Lagonoy, San Jose, Goa, Tigaon and Sangay from Bicol Plains. The Bicol Plains, a main physiographic feature in the region, is a wide depression that trends northwesterly from the western slopes of Mt. Mayon and stretches across the central part of Camarines Sur. Three lakes–Buhi, Baao and Bato—are located within this valley.
Small patches of plains that are utilized for lowland farming intermittently break the rolling terrain in the western coasts of Albay and Sorsogon. In Sorsogon, the most noted physiographic feature is the fertile Irosin-Juban Valley, which is surrounded by rough terrains of Bulusan Volcano in the southeast and Mts. Juban and Batuan in the southwest. This valley is also noted as schistosomiasis and filiariasis outbreak areas. Such water and mosquito-borne diseases pose a big threat to public health in the area.
In the islands of Masbate, the relief conditions are almost similar in all three islands (Ticao, Burias and Masbate). The terrain ranges from slightly undulating to rolling and from hilly to mountainous. In each island, rugged topography is concentrated on the north and gradually gives way to hills and rolling areas in the south, southeast and southwest. The highest point in the province is the conical peak of 700 meters above sea level located in Masbate, Island.
A rugged topography in its central core generally characterizes the island of Catanduanes. Along its coastal regions, narrow strip of plains are found. A narrow depression both in the northern and southern cores.breaks the rough terrain of the island in its midsection.
Coastal Area
The region's coastal area is deeply embayed. This is characterized by the presence of numerous bays and gulfs. These are: the Ragay Gulf, San Miguel Bay and Lagonoy Gulf outlining the coasts of Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur; Albay Gulf and Sorsogon Bay in Albay and Sorsogon. In addition, the region is endowed with natural harbors, which serve as refuge for ships during heights of weather disturbances in the vicinity.
Volcanoes, Faults and Earthquake Zones
The distribution of faults, volcanic and earthquake belts in the region is shown in Figure 3.03. A parallelism between the Bicol Volcanic Belt, the Philippine Fault Zone and the deep Philippine trench can be noticed.
The Bicol Volcanic Belt or Chain spans a total of 240 kilometers from Camarines Norte in the north down to Sorsogon in the south. A total of sixteen volcanoes approximately 24 kilometers apart, lie along the 200 kilometer chain which runs parallel to and west of the Philippine Trench.
There are three active volcanoes, which have erupted within the past 600 years) and their last recorded eruptions are: Mt. Mayon (2001); Mt. Bulusan (1988) and Mt. Iriga (1628).
Most famous among the active volcanoes is the majestic Mt.Mayon with its near perfect symmetry, fiery outbursts and destructive mudflows. It consists of deposits formed basically by four major volcanic activities: airfall disposition, pyroclastric flows, rain triggered debris flows and lava flows.
Mt. Iriga, with a peak of 1,143 meters above sea level, is likewise, of the stratovolcano type. The main historical event for Mt. Iriga was a large volume debris avalanche in 1628 AD, which dammed the Barit River and created Lake Buhi presently known as the habitat of the smallest edible fish in the world, the sinarapan.
Bulusan Volcano, located near the central part of Sorsogon province, peaks at 1,550 meters above sea level. Its last eruption was in 1988.
Associated with non-active volcanoes are geothermal fields. Tapped for power generation, these fields operate geothermal power plants in Tiwi and Bacon-Manito area in Albay and Sorsogon, respectively, for a combined Total Generating Capacity of 512.574 MW and 317.67 MW dependable capacity. Sources of geothermal power are Mt. Malinao in Albay and Pocdol Volcano in Sorsogon.
In addition to its location along the volcanic belt, the region lies near the center of the Philippine Fault Zone (PFZ), which is a major earthquake generator in the Philippine Archipelago. The zone, about 1,300 kilometers long, is characterized by a bundle of parallel to sub parallel active faults confined with a narrow zone trending north-northwest and south-southwest. It is characteristic of an active fault, like the PFZ, to generate potentially destructive tremors since those are shallow-seated or occur near the earth's surface (less than 80 kilometers deep).
Another major source of earthquake in the region is the Philippine trench. A trench is defined as a long, narrow and generally steep-sided very deep depression in the ocean floor. The axis of a trench marks the position of a subduction zone, where old oceanic lithospheric plates begin their descent into the earth's interior.
A study conducted by Efren A. Uy and Benito T. Punsalan published in 1987 indicated that the Bicol Region is prone to earthquakes of Intensity V from the above-cited source zones.
Climate and Weather Disturbances
Based on the Modified Corona's climate classification system, three climate types occur over the Bicol Region, as shown in Figure 3.04. Type II is experienced over the eastern coasts of the region directly facing the Pacific Seas including the island of Catanduanes and the whole of Camarines Norte. These areas are characterized by the absence of dry season with a very pronounced maximum rain period generally in the months of December and January. There is not a single dry month in these areas. A dry month is defined as a month with less than 50 mm of rainfall. A month with more than 100 mm can still be considered as dry if it is preceded by three or more very dry months.
A Type III climate is characterized by not very pronounced


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Learning more about Australia's children
- Minister for School Education
- Minister for Early Childhood and Youth
This week more than 7500 government and non-government schools across Australia will start taking part in the world's most comprehensive collection of information about the development of Australia's children.
Minister for Early Childhood and School Education Peter Garrett today visited the Mount Rogers Early Links to Learning Playgroup in Canberra to launch the second data collection for the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI).
"Australia is the first country in the world to have collected comprehensive and population based data on young children across the entire nation," Mr Garrett said.
"The second national AEDI data collection is ground breaking because, for the first time, governments and communities will be able to track progress in their work to improve the health, education, social competence and emotional development of children across Australia.
"It's a vital tool for educators, Governments and the community, as it helps us understand the importance of early intervention and provides information about the support children and families need.
"It's time to get the basics of early learning right, because we know that by supporting children in the years before school we greatly increase their chance of a successful transition to school as well as being happy and productive in their later years," Mr Garrett said.
The AEDI measures five key areas of young children's development: physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills and general knowledge.
Mr Garrett said the Gillard Government made an important investment with the first national implementation of the AEDI in 2009 and has committed to collecting this data every three years with an investment of $28 million for each cycle.
"We're already seeing some incredible programs being delivered across Australia as a direct response to the 2009 results, including the Early Links to Learning playgroup in Canberra, which offers literacy and numeracy support to children before primary school at no cost to parents," Mr Garrett said.
"The AEDI is just one part of the Gillard Government's national reforms to early childhood; from our commitment to giving all children access to 15 hours of early childhood education and care for 40 weeks a year by a university-trained teacher by 2013, to improving staff to child ratios in child care and the qualifications of those staff."
The 2012 AEDI data collection will occur from May to 31 July 2012, during which time teachers in schools across Australia will complete the AEDI Checklist for all children in their first year of full-time school. Results of the data collection are expected in 2013.
For more information on the AEDI go to _URL_.


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The night sky is variable. Some nights are grey and overcast, some filled with stars, yet others are busy with the movement of clouds on weather fronts. Long shutter speeds are the key to capturing imaginative and beautiful images of the sky at night, so be patient and this kind of photography will become second nature to you.
Due to the Earth's rotation about its axis, it seems that the light from stars moves in circles around the celestial pole. These movements are detectable after about 5 to 10 minutes, and can be traced by your camera in the form of a streak. To photograph this magical effect, you need a sturdy tripod and lots of patience. Focus the lens to infinity and set the camera's mode at Manual or Bulb shooting mode. With the use of a cable release you will capture the stars moving across the sky. These exposures can be a few minutes to several hours long. If you keep few things in mind, such as the timing, composition, and power of the battery, you can make photographing star trails simpler for you.
Find the Right Location
The best place to view and photograph the night sky is in the rural countryside because cities have artificial lights which cause a phenomenon known as light pollution. You need to get away from artificial lights in order to see the stars well. A truly dark sky is preferred, but artificial lights keep the night sky from being truly dark. Many beginners aim at capturing the longest star trails by keeping the shutter open for long periods of time. However, they tend to underestimate the impact generated by ambient light in the sky, which can be hard to notice at times. In addition, residual light (such as moonlight) can have a devastating impact on long shutter speed photos. This is because when you keep the shutter open for say, nearly 20 minutes, an hour after the sunset, the camera may perceive it as a day shot. Similarly, a full moon night photo with an exposure time of around 10 minutes could also look like a day shot. Therefore, it is best to attempt such a picture with either a new moon, or well before the moonrise or after the moonset. The light emerging from the stars would be more evident at this time and the picture would be perfect.
Use Long Shutter Speeds
When photographing the night sky with a long exposure, exposures of 15 minutes or longer will show the rotation of the Earth. You'll need a wide-angle lens and a sturdy tripod, of course. You'll want to use a cable release to eliminate camera shake of any kind, as it will RUIN your photo. Focus the lens to infinity and set the camera to B "Bulb" shooting mode. Set your aperture to f/4 for optimal results, and depress the remote to open the shutter. You should keep your ISO at 100 to keep the digital noise at a minimum, because the sky is so dark and less prone to producing digital noise when the exposure is above 15 seconds. To complete the photo after your desired elapsed time, depress the remote again, and release the shutter.
Auroras and Polar Lights
Photographing the atmospheric phenomenon of aurora borealis is a challenge for photographers. This difficulty is due to frequent spectacular changes in the brightness of the light. The charged solar particles move very fast and sometimes get hidden making it impossible to shoot them. However, if you follow these tips, you will be able to get the best aurora borealis photos. Anchor your camera on a strong tripod to keep it steady for longer exposures. Set the ISO at the range of 100 to 400. Shutter speed can be as long as 30 seconds depending on the amount of light available. Do not rely on the built-in light meter, which is better left for day time use. Although any kind of lens will do for aurora borealis photography, you should choose a wide-angle and faster lens.
As the light begins to fall, look at the cloudy skies. Watch the colors and how they merge though the cloud. Even though it is dark, you should try using an 80A blue cooling filter to enhance the blue cast of the sky and to reduce the yellow cast from the artifical lights. Use a wide-angle lens and opt for longer exposures. You can first try a few test shots, and then assess them carefully on your digital camera. You should be able to decide on the best range of exposures to capture some good photographs of an overcast sky.
Metering after dark can be a problem, so make sure you choose the best option for your particular situation. If the conditions are both light and dark you need to use spot metering for an accurate reading. If the darkness is even you can use center weighted or evaluative metering. Don't use flash if you can help it as this can affect the resulting image, creating an area of the photograph that is over-lit. Manual and Bulb modes are the best shooting modes for this kind of photography.
Night skies should always be photographed with the assistance of a tripod. Don't forget to buy a cable release or a remote control for taking the picture – this is important because some shots will take up to 30 seconds or even more. Your lens ideally should have an infinity focusing mode and your camera should have the ability to do a mirror lock up - a feature in which the mirror in the camera moves out of the way before the shutter is released. This feature eliminates the vibration that occurs when the mirror slaps up into the camera housing. A wide-angle lens is the best choice for night skies, and a zoom makes it even more versatile.
When taking pictures of the night sky, remember that patience is as important as is the ability to look at an image's composition critically and decide what you need to change next time to make it better. As we stated earlier, the process of finding the right exposure length for the image you want is going to be a process of trial and error (in terms of lens length, shutter speed, aperture setting, as all three allow for different effects). With long exposures of over 30 seconds, a cable release is necessary to ensure tack sharp final images. For additional variety and perhaps better photographs of stars in the sky, you might want to try a few B&W shots. Dress warmly if the weather is cold, because sitting still on a cold night is much colder than walking in the cold, so extra layers may be needed. Remember to take a flashlight with you so you can adjust your camera in the dark. The more images of the night sky you take, the more you will learn the best way to photograph them.


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|Title||Energy Efficiency Design Options for Residential Water Heaters: Economic Impacts on Consumers|
|Year of Publication||2011|
|Authors||Alexander B Lekov, Victor H Franco, Stephen Meyers, Lisa Thompson, Virginie E Letschert|
|Institution||Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory|
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently completed a rulemaking process in which it amended the existing energy efficiency standards for residential water heaters. A key factor in DOE's consideration of new standards is the economic impacts on consumers. Determining such impacts requires a comparison of the additional first cost of energy efficiency design options with the savings in operating costs. This paper describes the method used to conduct the life-cycle cost (LCC)and payback period analysis for gas and electric storage water heaters. It presents the estimated change in LCC associated with more energy-efficient equipment, including heat pump electric water heaters and condensing gas water heaters, for a representative sample of U.S. homes. The study included a detailed accounting of installation costs for the considered design options, with a focus on approaches for accommodating the larger dimensions of more efficient water heaters. For heat pump water heaters, the study also considered airflow requirements, venting issues, and the impact of these products on the indoor environment. The results indicate that efficiency improvement relative to the baseline design reduces the LCC in the majority of homes for both gas and electric storage water heaters, and heat pump electric water heaters and condensing gas water heaters provide a lower LCC for homes with large rated volume water heaters.
Conference Paper, 2011 ASHRAE Winter Conference, January 29-February 2, 2011
|LBNL Report Number|| |


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As America's minority population continues to expand and evolve, so does the desire for workplace environments that are equitable and fair for all employees. Increasingly, employers are establishing internal organizational structures to address the unique needs and issues of this diverse workforce.
These structures, known as Employee Networks, Affinity Groups or Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), are found in 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies and are gaining additional business support throughout the country. ERGs offer employees an opportunity to network, address common issues and concerns, and receive support from those who share similar backgrounds, interests or experiences—including disability.
EARN's ERG toolkit can assist employers in understanding the benefits and how-to of disability-focused ERGs. For more information about ERGs, read Fostering Disability-Inclusive Workplaces Through Employee Resource Groups.